tough love

part one

A/N: Maybe one day I will learn how to disengage from media and not take it personally when characters I like behave downright stupidly. Until then, I am going to write and rant about it. (As always, unedited reactionary angry word vomit to the 28Sep ep, so apologies for any errors I might have missed!) 

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Manisha firmly stayed in her corner, hidden from view as Abhira and Armaan tried to disentangle themselves from each other. One day, the two fools would remember that their room was a foot away and had a door, but until then, she reserved the right to meddle.

Especially given that things were fast becoming worse than she could have ever predicted.

It was their first day as newlyweds, and here they were, mayoos and hardly spending a moment together. Even when fate itself conspired to give them a reprieve, holding them hostage with her mangal sutra caught on his shirt, they disregarded it, Armaan pulling away harshly to attend to Jethani sa.

It broke her heart a little.

Fine.

Looks like she had to do everything around here.

Walking up to Abhira, who was staring forlornly at her husband's retreating back, she said, "Abhira beta, sunn na. Meri abhi abhi Manish ji se baat hui. Woh tere pag phere ki rasm ke liye tera intezaar kar rahe hai. Waise toh bhai lene aata hai, par aisa karte hai, aaj bhai tujhe dene chala jaayega. Krrish gaadi mein wait kar raha hai."

Absolutely none of that was true. But it would be easy enough to get Krrish to drive Abhira to the Goenka house, and from what she knew of Manish ji, he'd never be opposed to a visit from his beloved par naatin. And Abhira desperately needed to get away from this house. In Manisha's opinion, the longer, the better, but even a night-long break might do the girl some good at this point. She had watched helplessly as Abhira's eyes dulled the minute she had to stop putting on a cheerful pretence for her heartbroken husband.

But Abhira was nothing if not staunchly loyal to her Armaan.

"Chachi sa, main Armaan ko iss haalat main chhod kar kaise jaa sakti hoon. Ghar mein already itna sab kuch ho raha hai, mera jaana mujhe sahi nahi lagta."

"Beta, rasm toh nibhaane padengi na. Tum jaanti ho, Mummy sa inn sab cheezon ka kitna maan rakhti hai."

Manisha crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping that Mummy sa's fear might be enough to do the trick. She looked at Abhira. The girl looked scared alright, but it didn't seem to be because of her Dragon sa.

"Kya hua?"

"Mujhe nahi lagta ki main wahaan jaakar par nanu se jhooth bol paaungi. Ki yahaan sab theek hai."

Turns out, her heart hadn't been broken enough already, fracturing further at Abhira's words. She could hardly make sense of it. How this house seemed to find fault in a girl whose only flaw was to love everyone around her, often at the cost of herself.

"Toh sach bol de, Abhira."

"Nahi. Par nanu pareshaan ho jaayenge. Main unke saath aisa nahi kar sakti."

"Ek baat sunn aur gaanth maar le, beta. Apne bacchon ke liye pareshaan hona maa-baap ka haq hai." She didn't say just how much she was exercising that very haq in this moment, concerned beyond belief for Abhira. "Unse yeh haq mat chheen. Aur kya pata, baat karne se mann halka ho jaaye?"

Abhira was unconvinced but still made for the door, taking almost the whole hour waiting for Armaan to let him know where she was headed. But he was nowhere to be found. Even as she left, she cast a final glance around for him, coming up empty. Manisha could only shake her head in disappointment, gently leading Abhira by the hand and helping her into the car.