Mine

Chapter 22

Mr Sudeep choked his saliva listening to Abhimanyu. 'You knew!? When did you find out?' 'I knew about it even before this whole fiasco started. When she lied to me the first day after I got my consciousness back.' 'You mean all the while you were aware that Nidhi was the one who helped you.' 'Precisely, jiju... Precisely.' I knew from day one that my Pari was the one who accompanied and stood as my pillar. My doubt was cleared when they were busy discussing acting as Ridhi outside the secluded corridor of the male's restroom.' 'Then why didn't you tell or confront anyone about it?' 'Well, I really thought any one of you would speak about it, but you all were hard nuts to crack. No one even breathed about it.' 'How did you certainly know that was Nidhi?' Listening to his question, Abhimanyu's smirk grew wider.

'Who knows her better than me? As a matter of fact, my wife has a weird habit... she doesn't apply cosmetics, so she doesn't smell like chemicals because her skin is allergic to those perfumed chemicals. She's more herbal. Till this very moment, I couldn't get enough of her sandalwood smell. Her face has the smell of rosewater and she still uses neem toothpaste. She has always smelled like a wildflower. My wildflower. Do you know till now she drinks saffron milk at night?' He smirked again. 'Not only that, she has the ability to show nonchalant behaviour and masks her emotions adeptly. Trust me, she's a master of it, which normally Ridhi fails.' He took a long breath before saying, 'she has been very affectionate and warm towards me even when I was being difficult to handle.'

'I was all broken and shattered. I knew you all were there but I couldn't help myself from drowning in darkness. I was drowning in self-pity, I was so much devastated when I knew my fiancee was clearly cheating behind me. I was angry for being crippled and unable to lead a normal life. I abhorred myself for being useless in every sense. I started to pull stunts, showed tantrums to everyone. I became headstrong and hard to control when people pinpointed my physical incapabilities. I clearly lost it when people question my working ability. I had succumbed to everything alone until she came residing in my life permanently. She came as a light into my darken life. I was unknowingly falling for her. Before realising anything, I fell really hard for her to the extent that I didn't want to lose her at any point in my life. She became my lifeline, jiju.' He said pushing back his tears. His brother-in-law was quite taken aback looking at Abhimanyu's intensity for Nidhi.   

'Trust me jiju, I tried my best to avoid her, but the more I went away the more she came closer. I slowly began to get closer to her. Albeit she came to me as Ridhi, she couldn't behave like her, all classy, sassy and bossy. Nidhi was a perfect partner even with imperfections. Nidhi was soft and kind-hearted, sensitive and sensible, modest, adaptive and her most prominent quality-beauty with a brain. I knew she was stressed about our issues; she was sad that she cheated and pretended to be Ridhi. She's worried that I would be heartbroken if I knew the truth. So I started to behave casually with her, simple hugs and innocent kisses startled her in the beginning, she would stay stiff, but later on, she started to reciprocate them. 

She never failed to show how important I am to her. I somehow guessed she likes me, too. Nevertheless, she didn't confess her feelings toward me. Up to one day, when she came here, she confessed to her friend that she loves me on the phone. Then I decided to make her mine in every sense, to protect her and to cherish till death do us apart.' He chuckled. 'Immediately upon she confessed her love and said he would die for me, I lost it altogether. That's when I behaved like a caveman forcing her into the traditional marriage. You know she hasn't known that she's already become, Mrs Abhimanyu Chatterjee four months prior to that.'