The Heart of the Matter Pt 11 /Pg 25 - Page 2

Kokila walked back into Modi Mansion and wiped her tears. She looked around at the fully decorated hall and smiled. Her dikhri was finally a married woman. After all the drama and chaos that had occurred recently she thought it would never happen. Hetal came over to Kokila and hugged her from the side.

"This house seems really quite without Kinjal now." Kokila nodded and the two women stood like that just admiring the hall for a few minutes.

"Mom, I'm very hungry. Can we please eat dinner now? In serving all these guests I haven't had a thing to eat all day." Jigar pouted at his mom and Kokila and Hetal laughed.

"Jigar Beta we will all eat dinner together as a family today. I have already sent Rashi into the kitchen and she must be setting the table right now." Kokila pulled Jigar's ear and the whole family laughed. They quietly made their way into the dining room to see the table had already been set with the food all arranged nicely on the table.

"Rashi!" Hetal called for her daughter-in-law to serve the food. Rashi came running down the stairs and everyone looked her way.

"I'm so sorry Mummyji. I was so busy with some last minute work I completely forgot Kakiji had asked me to set the table." She stopped mid-sentence and noticed everything had already been done. Hetal looked over at Rashi and understood right away Gopi had done all this. Rashi looked over at the table in sadness. She knew her little sister was gone too.  She suddenly didn't have an appetite anymore. Jigar looked over at the sadness in his wife's eyes and knew she wouldn't eat anything now. He nudged for her to sit down and put food on her plate. He glanced over and motioned for to eat. She nodded her head, but gently pushed her food from side to side in deep thought.

"Eat at least a little Rashi. Gopi Babhi ko bahut dukh hoga agar tum apni tabyat ka dyan nahi rakohgi toh. Phir mujhe daat padegi ke devarji yeh kya. Tum meri Rashiben ko dyan nahi rakte."(Gopi Babhi will be really sad to hear that you are not taking care of yourself. Then I will get a scolding from her. What's this Jigar. You aren't taking care of my big sister)  Rashi smiled over at her husband and quietly began to eat. She wondered if Gopi had reached home yet and had eaten. She was sure her mother had probably already scolded her for something or other. Her little sister had the heart of gold. She could never understand why her mother could never see it and now Ahem couldn't see it either. She looked over at Ahem and scowled. How could he do that to her sister? She was always so loving and dutiful.

Kokila looked over at the Gopi's empty chair in sadness. She wished there was something she could do to stop her daughter from leaving this house. She looked over at her son. Her son had always been the most important person in her life. She had always done everything and anything for him and his happiness, and for the first time in her life she was disappointed in him; in his behavior. How could he not recognize such a pure heart, such a gem.

"Kya hua Kokila tum kah nahi rahi ho?" (What's wrong Kokila you're not eating anything?) Kokila shook her head and resumed trying to eat, but nothing seemed to go down.

"I'm going to my room to rest. My head is spinning from all the commotion and I'm not feeling very hungry." Hetal nodded as she knew exactly what was wrong with Kokila. Her heart was also not willing to admit that Gopi was gone. Even on her last few minutes in this house she had fulfilled every responsibility of a Modi Bahu.

Kokila walked past the room once occupied by Gopi and looked inside. It was now filled with all of Ahem's items. Gopi had put everything back into place before she had left. She looked back at it with sadness in her eyes before walking into her room. On the bed she saw something that broke her heart. Her Gopi Bahu had left every piece of jewelry, sari, and present she had been given in this house. She threw the pieces on the floor and broke down. None of these items mattered if her Gopi wasn't there to wear them. They landed on the floor with a loud bang. Upon hearing the crash inside her room Ahem came running in to see what had fallen. He found his mother on the floor sobbing with one of Gopi's sari's in her hands. Ahem made his way towards her mother and put his arm around her. Kokila looked up to see her son and shrugged the hand off. She didn't want to see him right now because she was afraid she would say something she would regret later. "Tum yahan se jao Ahem please. Mujhe akela rehne do."(You go from her Ahem please. I want to be alone). Ahem looked down at his mother and he didn't want to leave, but he knew she didn't want him around. It was his fault Gopi wasn't here he knew it, but what could he do. He turned back and glanced at his mother before walking towards the   guest room. He looked inside to find none of his belongings there anymore. He then walked towards his old room and looked inside to find it exactly the way he had had it before Gopi had come into this house. He looked around in sadness. He felt like something was missing, but he couldn't quite figure out what. Something caught his eye and he made his way to the table. On it he found Gopi's mangalsutra and sindoor. He gingerly touched it, 'Why did she leave these here for me. What am I going to do with them? These are hers and hers only.' He snapped at that sudden thought. Why did he care where these were? They didn't mean anything to him? He grabbed the two and walked towards the trash can, but he didn't have the heart to throw them out. He walked towards his dresser and opened it up. He placed it gently in the box that he had stored all his memories with Anita in. He touched the contents inside but somehow they didn't hold the same meaning anymore. He took hold of everything else and threw them into the trash can before closing the box and putting it away. The nearly empty box held everything dear to him. He may not realize it now, but he will sooner or later. He walked towards his bed and opened up his laptop. He looked in the corner at the file he had never had the heart to delete. He double clicked and it opened up to a picture. It was picture of Gopi he had accidently taken at Kinjal's sangeet when she thought she was alone in her room. She looked so beautiful. 'Why am I looking at this? She doesn't mean anything to me.'  He quickly closed down the browser and shut down his laptop. He didn't want to admit it, but in these last few months Gopi had slowly made a place in his heart. Her love and concern for his family knowing she would be leaving it soon, had touched his heart. Those memories of Anita were slowly being replaced by memories of Gopi. He found himself thinking more about her as days passed by. She was gone now and none of it mattered. 'Now that she is gone from my life I won't think about her anymore. She kept coming to my mind only because she was always around. That's it Ahem. It was only because she was such a nuisance and always around. Go to sleep now. Tomorrow is a bright new morning for you. A new chapter in your life.' With that last thought Ahem closed his eyes and fell asleep.