Enough

9

Dr. Aman had told Pragya to answer Abhi's questions naturally, but not to expose him to emotional shocks.

It was their first evening home from the hospital, and Pragya was already finding this prescription impossible to follow.

Nearly everything Abhi asked her related back to her role in his life, and there was no way to explain that without exposing him to an emotional shock.

How was she supposed to tell him he didn't like her, when she was the one taking care of him?

How was she supposed to tell him he had married her for revenge, when he thought he was dutifully building a life with the bride his Daadi chose for him?

How was she supposed to answer just one part of any question, while avoiding the whole picture?

It was so hard she almost wanted to give up. How could she do the impossible?

But then she would look at his face, so open and sweet. All his familiar handsomeness was suddenly elevated by the lack of malice on his features. And she would think, I can't possibly hurt this man.

If she had to be creative with the truth, she would be. But she would not risk his health by blurting out anything that would cause him stress.

So when he asked what had happened at the beach, she truthfully told him they had never met before that night. She explained that it was all ittefaq (coincidence). She wasn't supposed to be there, and he had in fact rescued her.

She even started to tell him how wrong he had been to accuse her of trying to end her life over boyfriend problems, when in fact just that day Suresh had -

She stopped herself a moment too late, biting her tongue after Suresh's name had already slipped from her lips.

Abhi narrowed his eyes at her. "What did Surjeet do that day?"

Pragya tried frantically to think of a deflection. She did not want to talk about her failed love story with Suresh, it was too embarrassing. Before Abhi's injury, he would have mocked her about it, and she did not want to reopen that avenue between them.

"You were not attempting suicide over boyfriend problems, because Subhash did what?" Abhi persisted.

Pragya let out a huff of annoyance. "What is it with you and his name? You know very well that it's Suresh -"

"What did he do, Pragya?" Abhi's tone was brisk and commanding. Determination locked his mouth into a grim expression that made Pragya's heart twist. He was not going to let this go.

She couldn't lie to him. Reluctantly, Pragya offered, "I had a misunderstanding, at the time. I thought he was interested in me, and I was just getting over my broken engagement -"

"What broken engagement?"

Pragya winced mentally. She wasn't thinking and her whole life story was pouring out! If she continued at this rate, she would end up telling Abhi the truth about their marriage in the next five minutes, and then who knew what would happen?

Then again...telling him about her pitiful romantic history couldn't expose him to much emotional shock. He'd had nothing to do with it. She could use it to lead up to the arranged marriage backstory Tauji and Raj Bhaiyya had convinced him of.

She took a deep breath and chose her words carefully. "Before I met you, I almost married someone else the matchmaker had found for me. I called it off on the day of the wedding, because his family saw Bulbul and asked if they could have my mother's business as compensation for getting the plain-looking sister."