Enough

4

Abhi leaned against the inside of his front door, suddenly finding his feet too heavy to keep moving. He knew Purab was still on the other side, desperate to talk to him. It tore at Abhi's heart to leave him there. But he'd just come back from seeing Aaliya off at the airport, and he didn't have it in him to deal with any more drama.

He pocketed his sunglasses and raised massaged his temple, trying to relieve an ache he'd had for days. Ever since Pragya had walked out of his life, he'd had to face a cascade of pain and trouble. It was almost a week later, and only now was he starting to pick up the pieces.

Aaliya was heading back to Australia, to start working with a friend of Abhi's who needed an MBA on his management team. It would distract her from her failed wedding and get her into a new environment so she could make a fresh start. Abhi hoped that it would also give her a different purpose in life, something beyond coasting on being his sister or pining to be Purab's wife.

Daadi had reached Ludhiana, and they'd even managed to have a civil phone conversation that morning. She hadn't said when she might return, but the acid anger was gone from her voice when she spoke to him, and she'd even told him to take care of himself while she was gone.

They hadn't discussed Pragya, which Abhi was grateful for because he had no idea how things stood with her now. She hadn't contacted him since she left, and he didn't know what her next move would be. Was she planning to initiate a divorce? Maybe she was plotting how to get the best settlement out of the whole mess? Or perhaps she was still busy looking after her mother, and hadn't made any decisions yet?

He felt guilty that he'd been partially responsible for making Auntyji collapse, though his sources at the hospital assured him that she was fine now. He would have made a point of arranging top care for her, if he hadn't been so distracted by everything else. By the time he'd tried to check into it, she had been released, and by all accounts the Arora family would be able to manage for now.

It felt strange to realize that his connection with them had ended just like that. It had only been two months since his whirlwind marriage, but in that time it felt like he'd become deeply entwined with Chashmish's family.

She was always using her mother as her excuse for sticking with him, so that when he occasionally felt bad for the way he treated her, he felt even worse thinking about her majboori. Then too, there was something deeply humbling and gratifying about how her whole family had welcomed him with open arms. Rockstar Daadi and Sarla Aunty respected and admired him just for being Abhi, the precious damaad who had accepted their daughter as his wife. Bulbul and Purvi were like the carefree younger sisters he had never realized he wished for, so bubbly and openly loving, so different from how distant Aaliya could be sometimes.

But of course he had been cheating them all with lies and pretence. He had played damaad and jiju for their benefit and to maintain his own cover, but he had never planned to stay married to Pragya.

And now everyone knew it.

He knew he should feel relieved about that. But, somehow, he just felt agitated and disappointed. For the truth to come out in such an ugly way just made things worse for everyone. Pragya had already agreed to leave after Purab and Aaliya's wedding, and Abhi couldn't help wishing they had managed to stick to that plan.

But one thing that he did feel relieved about was to know for sure now that Purab and Pragya had never been romantically involved. Learning that it had been Bulbul all along cleared up a lot of confusion for Abhi.

He had been wondering for weeks what they could possibly have seen in each other. Pragya was older and more reserved, not the type to draw Purab's attention let alone entice him to carry out a secret relationship. And although until quite recently he would have called Purab the model for any sensible woman's ideal man, Abhi had never been able to see him as a fitting match for Pragya.