Retrouvaille: An IPKKND FanFiction

Chapter Seven: Trust

Khushi sat on the edge of their private pool and dropped her legs in the water. She had her hair bunched up in a loose bun, her salwar was pulled up to her knees and her dupatta was wrapped around her like a shawl. As her eyes traced the patterns her feet made against the water, her mind recalled Anjali's quick visit to her a while ago. She adjusted her dupatta around her when a gentle breeze caressed her demure form and welcomed the slight tingle that passed through her by the lone draught given that they were still in the middle of the hot Delhi summer. Her mind wandered aimlessly along the ripples that her movements sent across the pool. By the time the water bounced across the edge of the pool, she noticed her thoughts had eventually converged onto her recent conversation with Anjali.

"Khushi ji," she heard Anjali say politely as she plopped herself on the recliner, "I wonder if you have misunderstood. Shyam ji loves our family. He is an honorable and self-respecting lawyer. I know he is not big on making profits off the cases he fights and I agree that he often needs financial assistance from Chottey, so I can see how you may have held him responsible for – for whatever that happened. Chottey said he wanted the property? Khushi ji, I know he has been good to many people. And I know he wouldn't try to harm someone as important to me as my brother."

An accidental splash of pool water pulled Khushi out of her thoughts. She couldn't forget Anjali's face as she had urged her to believe Shyam. She was not able to forget Anjali's desperation to make her see her point-of-view. Nonetheless, Khushi was relieved that Anjali at least appeared to want to know the truth, even if it meant she had to be proven wrong while defending her husband's integrity. Khushi wasn't naïve enough to assume that everyone will believe her against the son-in-law of their house from the get-go.

"I respect your opinions of Shyam ji, Di," Khushi pleaded her case when Anjali had continued to praise Shyam, "But that doesn't mean he wouldn't do what I told everyone. Or that he is incapable of doing so."

Khushi had been cautiously assertive. After her decision to bring Shyam's truth in front of the family all by herself just a while ago, she had to make Anjali see for what her husband really was. She knew it won't be easy, but doing so would be the first step in the long journey ahead. She was not going to back down at the first opportunity when Anjali had come to speak to her on her own. She had learned the consequences if she does not speak the truth the hard way. After all, her contract marriage was the culmination of her decision to keep the secrets to herself. And there was no way to know if their runaway wedding or her husband's kidnap was the worst that could have happened because she had kept quiet. Shyam was perfectly capable of twisting her into silence and turn the family's current bewilderment in his favor. And she wasn't about to hand over her defeat in a platter to him. Not when he had tried to murder her husband.

"But," Anjali argued. "Shyam ji can't – "

"If you know and believe in him so much Di, then why do you think he hasn't tried to defend himself in front of the family? Why didn't he say anything yesterday? Where has he been all day? Surely, it should have been important for him to clear everyone's doubts – if everything I said is really just a misunderstanding? Knowing what I know about him, Di, and his silence on the matter, I can only assume that he has gone out to clear his tracks so that I can't prove him guilty when the time comes. Would I be wrong to think that by being absent, he is taking an advantage that I am not feeling well, that I am worried about the health of my husband and my husband is worried for you and me and his work?"

If there had been a time when Khushi had truly wondered how Arnav and Anjali were siblings, given the stark contrast between their attitude and behavior, Anjali's next words had successfully erased any doubts from her mind. Anjali was Arnav Singh Raizada's sister. She was rational, objective, and strong.