Sentinels Of Love

Chapter 4: Sentenced To Love

Vishambhar Maheshwari was restlessly pacing the length and breadth of his room. By now Rajashree was sure her husband must have memorised the tile pattern on the floor. With a sigh, she straightened herself and walked in the room with a tray loaded with tea and snacks.

"Would you please give the floor some rest? You need to sit down for a while before it gives away under the continued distress you are causing it." She pointed out as casually as possible.

"I am causing distress?" He asked, annoyed at his wife.

"The tiles look pretty tired and worn out to me. Is there anyone else in the room, who could have caused it?" She enquired innocently.

"I am NOT talking about the tiles in our room!" He snapped. "I am talking about our daughter."

"Our daughter is causing distress to the tiles?" She blinked at him. "I don't understand, dear. How's that even possible? She didn't even come in since last two days!"

"That's exactly what I am saying. She hasn't been here for TWO DAYS. She hasn't bothered to talk to anyone of us for the last two days."

"What has that got to do with the tiles? Why are they being punished?"

"Why are you being so obsessed with the tiles? I am not talking about the goddamn tiles."

"I know. You are talking about our daughter and how she is causing distress."

"She is not causing distress, she is IN distress. All because of a stupid boy. It's all because of that idiot... that... that moron!"

"He has a name, you know." She raised an eyebrow pointedly. "And even if you choose not to say it..."

"FINE! Abir. Abir Rajvansh. And he is a jerk. How could he just break my daughter in the name of protecting his brother? For God's sake, his brother is not an infant who needs to be protected. Even toddlers can stand up for themselves! Kunal Rajvansh is a grown up man... a married man. He is married to one of our daughters."

"...and who is currently going through an identity crisis."

"Yeah..."

"Abir tried to avoid that."

"Hm."

"If not for Abir, things would have been worse for Kunal... and for our Kuhu as well."

"I know. And that's precisely what makes hating him so difficult. Oh God, why is it so difficult to hate him?"

"Probably because he was not being so selfish as we thought. Whatever he did was not something he enjoyed doing himself." She reasoned with him. "He didn't break our daughter's heart on his own free will. He was forced to do that."

"But that doesn't change the fact that our Mishti is a broken soul. He made her suffer for no fault of hers."

"Even he suffered. He is still suffering."

"I know that. I also know that he is a certified idiot!" She raised her eyebrows pointedly in a mock question and he continued, "Why? You are asking ME why he is an idiot? Because he is in love with my daughter and she is in love with him and he is not doing anything about it! And I can do nothing about it. Damn! What do I do? How do I fix this mess? What if I am able to fix it and he behaves in exactly the same way next time?"

"There won't be a next time." She stated calmly.

"Are you sure that he won't behave like a lunatic again?"

"I know." She said. "There can only be so many secrets in a family. I think they have had their share of secrets. There's nothing more left that can still threaten to pull them apart."