𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟖: 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞

~"घर से चले थे
तो ये बात हो गयी
जाने क्यूँ उनसे मुलाकात हो गयी
नज़रें ऐसे वो टकरा गयी
के हमें आशिकी आ गयी
आ गयी
के हमें आशिकी आ गयी
यार की दिकसी भा गयी
भा गयी
के हमें आशिकी आ गयी"~

Reyaansh Malik

" I'm going to California tomorrow." I spoke to Mom who was sitting in her cabin, sipping on her coffee early in the morning.

" On honeymoon?" She passed me a wide grin.

" To meet the investers for the resorts there." Her face fell and she rolled her eyes. " Shoo away." She mumbled before passing me the file for the project.

" Bring me some scented candles and chocolates from there. They are my favourite." She said and again went back to her coffee.

" Okay, I will. Should we have dinner together tonight? Mahira is also going for some project to Chandigarh. She won't be home till the next month." I spoke while getting up from my chair, taking the file from the table. " Okay, we'll be at yours."

My eyes widened. " At the penthouse? Why?"

" Because I want to. I want to see how well my son is settled down in his house with her wife."

Wife. That word has been constantly nagging me from the time I filled Suhaana's hair partition with the vermilion. She was bickering with me for something as stupid as the small amount of vermilion falling on her nose but I was focused on her. I never knew her, neither did I at that point when she was walking towards me, behind her veil, looking at me and neither when my breath hitched seeing her in that lehenga, in the moment where I had always dreamt myself, but with someone else. And still, when my thoughts should have been how that marriage was something we both didn't want, my only thought was how she looked the most beautiful in that wedding attire. She was my bride and thinking that filled my chest with pride. Why? I don't know. Maybe because she looked the most gorgeous in that bridal lehenga than I had ever seen anybody, even than the women I had once loved with my heart. Or maybe because she looked at me with those eyes that told me that the same war was raging inside her as mine.

" Hello, Mr. Malik?"

" Huh?" I looked at Mom, who leaned back in her seat with a slight smirk on her face.

" Dreaming about your wife?" Again that word.

" Absolutely not. I'm going now. I'll wait for you guys at home." I said and strolled out of her cabin and into the elevator. I straightway want to the basement parking lot and to my car before driving to my penthouse. It was already evening as I pulled out of the building and the hustle bustle of the outside world hit me. The sky was the mixture of different hues. It was rarely that I notice the things around especially around me but when I do now, I remembered the day I noticed the evening sky for the first time in a while. The first day after our marriage. She was out of the room, downstairs and I was still there, sitting on the bed. She had just become a part of my life now and I wasn't ready to accept that.