CHAPTER 15
Nidhi, was a little annoyed with ashu. He was ignoring her again. She couldn't understand how he could not see through mallikas act. She was sitting next to ashu on the sofa, while he was discussing his exercise regimen with the physiotherapist. Mallika, lost no opportunity to get near ashu. She had been attached to him like a leech, ever since ashu had gotten up this morning. And, Ashu, did not seem to mind mallikas constant need to touch and cling to him, and this bothered the hell out of her.
Ashu, had been wonderful, these past few days, ever since they had, made up after their first big fight. Her eyes got dreamy , as she thought about everything ashu had said to, and done for her. She had no doubt whatsoever, that ashu loved her. He had even hired a night nurse to stay with Mallika, so that he wouldn't have to leave her alone at night, and also so that Mallika would not be alone at night. These past few days, had shown her a different sideof her husband, his passionate and romantic side. It made her blush, when she thought about their recent nights together, she looked at him and he raised that eyebrow of his, and grinned, and it made her happy to know that no one but her knew that side of her husband but her. Ashu was looking at her with tenderness and love, and a hint of amusement, the cheeky devil knew exactly what she was thinking about, and was letting her know, that he knew. He was adorable. And she loved him. But he was also so gullible, especially when it came to Mallika. He had no idea what she was really like. Nidhi thought back to last night, she and Mallika had come to an understanding, Mallika knew that her act was up, nidhi knew she was faking. Nidhi, wanted to tell ashu everything, but she knew that she needed proof. She could not go to him with just her suspicions. Underneath, deep inside, she was still afraid that, ashu would not believe her over Mallika, she decidedthat she needed to have evidence, before she approached him.
Over, in the living room, Mallika, sat next to ashutosh and, gloated . Today, Ashutosh had totally ignored nidhi, and she loved the jealousy that she saw in nidhis eyes. She was more confident than ever that ashutosh cared for her. She knew that he valued her friendship, over everything. And that ashutosh, would not let anyone or anything come in between them, not even his pathetic little wife. Ashutosh had shown her over and over , by his actions, and even words, than if forced, he would choose her and their friendship, over his relationship with nidhi. She had loved the way he had kicked out nidhis grandmother, and told her to take her granddaughter with her. If she had been in nidhis place, and had and sense to pride and self worth, she, would have packed up and left. But no, nidhi had to stay, she was shameless. But Mallika thought, that no matter what she had to do, she would get ashu to throw nidhi out of his life and this house. Nidhi, should have realized long ago that she could never win, and if she had not realized then, she , Mallika would make sure she got the message. If she didn't , well then...maybe, more drastic measures needed to be taken. Mallika, was jolted out of her thoughts, by ashutosh, he was asking her opinion about, his therapy routine. She was thrilled, ashu had not even asked nidhi to stay in the room with him during his physiotherapy, let alone asked her opinion. God. It felt good to be a doctor again, even if only for a few, minutes. But she way she looked at it, the gains far out weighed the costs.
Ashutosh, was astonished, he was so surprised to see Mallika interacting with the therapist. Ther was no way an person (any person), especially a woman, who was battered by her husband, as badly as Mallika appeared to have been, plus physically and mentally abused, starved and locked up, and had episodes of hysteria and mania, such as she did, and also had memory loss, as she claimed, could have sat and talked with such intelligence. Also women abused by men that badly, tended not to let any man no matter whether farher brother, or husband, even the doctor, come close to her without screaming bloody murder. In fact these women often preferred lady doctors only to attend to them. And mallika, would not let nidhi i even withind 10 feet of her, infact she , not only touched ashu, she clung to him every chance she got. Abused and mentally unbalanced women did not talk the way she was talking ritght now, with the therapist. Her experience and knowledge, as a doctor, came through very clearly. Ashutosh, knew without a doubt, that Mallika was faking the, being mentally unbalanced act. He felt furious and betrayed. He never thought, that Mallika could be so devious, with anyone, specially him. Mallika had played him for a fool, right from the beginning, and, he had fallen for her lies, hook line and sinker. He, felt so ashamed, that he had ignored his wife feelings and apprehensions. He had believed in Mallika , and she had played him. She had been his been friend for so long, and he owed her a lot, specially for returning babas house to him, she had done it at the cost of making a pauper out of herself, how could he dismiss that, and the next second ashu thinks about nidhi andhow much hell mallika had put her through. Ashu was so furious, he wanted to call Mallika out, and expose her lies and deceits, right then. But he calmed himself down. He thought that he first had to gather some evidence, that he could put in front of Mallika, something so concrete, that she would not have any excuses, to justify or negate her act. He, decided that he needed to keep up with the act, of ignoring nidhi and paying attention to Mallika. He needed Mallika to trip herself, after which he would put the evidence in front of her, then he would tell her that he regretted that he had ever met her and had ever even considered her as his friend, and then with great pleasure, finally and permanently throw her out of their lives.
Meanwhile, unseen by any of them, BB was standing in the corner, witnessing this whole scene. Ashutosh was ignoring nidhi again, and Mallika was using this opportunity to get near ashu again. Baba could not believe the extent of mallikas evil and sly nature. He still, could not believe all that Mallika had done, she had succeeded in fooling everyone, even him. They had all believed in her lies and drama of being a battered and abused woman. Baba, concurred with Col. Verma's assessment of mallikas nature, and also his concerns about nidhis safety. Seeing Mallika, now, as she was conversing with the physiotherapist and ashu, no one could say that there was anything wrong with her mentally or otherwise with her. Baba now too was worried, and like her father, he concerned about nidhis safety. The lengths Mallika had gone to, to hurt nidhi, was incredible, she was the reason CB had a heart attack and he had to be taken in the hospital, she had not cared even then, that he might die, for her the ends justified the means. He could not believe that he and ashu, had, dismissed nidhis misgivings and had given preference to Mallika over nidhi. When he thought of how much pain his actions had caused his granddaughter, he felt ashamed of himself. Well this whole situation needed to be resolved at once, baba needed to get ashu alone and talk to him, and tell him everything and show the proof that Col Verma had given him. Nidhis safety was at stake and, he could not afford to wait any longer.
After lunch, BB and HM kaka, went out , they said that, thay had some things to do and they would be back a bit late, ashu had retired to his study, claiming to need to finish some work, that was piling up. Nidhi was in her room, the dhobi had come earlier to deliver the clothes, she was hanging, some of his clothes in the closet, when someone knocked at her bedroom door. Nidhi opened the door and saw anji, she was standing ther and crying. Nidhi pulled her into her room, and sat her on the bed and gave her a glass of water. After nidhi had calmed her down a little, nidhi asked her what was wrong, anji said," nidhi I don't kow what to do, Dr. Rangnath's parents are hell bent on getting him to marry that girl, and he keeps telling me that, he loves me and that if we can't get married then he will go to the Himalayas and become a sanyasi, he has said this many times, and I kept laughing it off, and laughing at him, well this time iam afraid that he was really serious. Nidhi , I don't know what to do." Nidhi, thought for a few minutes,"anji, I have an idea, but you have to have a lot of courage to do it. And I don't think you will, so let's drop,the matter, you should go ahead with your original plan and try to Impress Rangnath's parents by becoming a gaon ki gori." Anji-"no nidhi I want to hear your idea, I will do anything, anything to get married to Rangnath. I promise.". N-"the way I see it anji, you have only one way, and since your parents have given their permission already, I think you should elope. Get married. Rangnath's parents will be alright after you have gotten married. They will realize that you are perfect for their son. And that you have everything that they want in a daughter in law." A-" may be , you are right nidhi. I will talk to Rangnath tonight and see what he feels about this. By the way, I have another favor to ask of you. I have to get this dress ready for my exam in the fashion designing course. I have made it your size, will you model for me, I need to see how it looks and fix it if their are any problems with it. " Anji, took the dress out of the bag she had brought with her. When nidhi saw the dress, she was very hesitant. She told anji that this was her Sasural and that she could not wear such a dress over here, plus the fact that ashutosh did not like her to dress like that, nidhi told her that the last time she had worn a dress in front of him he had called her an item girl. Anji-" but nidhi abhi toh you are free, BBand HM kaka are not home, and jeejaji is in his office engrossed in his work. Please no one will know, and we be quick. Please .". Nidhi couldn't resist, she remembered that in their childhood they had always played dress up and modeled clothes and done each others make up and hair, they used to have so much fun. So nidhi, put on the dress and anji did her hair and make up. They were having so much fun. Anji had turned on some music , at low volume, and nidhi was doing the catwalk, when the door opened and ashutosh came in. Anji and nidhi stopped in their tracks and stood still, nidhi looked at ashutosh with apprehension. Ashutosh, looked at his wife and nearly choked on his tongue. His wife stood their in a red dress, that nearly came up to the middle of her thighs, with almost no back and shoulders bare, thank god it had a high neck so everything in front was totally covered up, but it fitted her like second skin, almost as if she had painted it on, and to top it all off on her feet she wore the red shoes matching the dress with the highest heels he had ever seen in his life, he got dizzy just looking at them. Ashu wondered how she was standing in them let alone walking and dancing, as he had seen her doing just a few mins ago. Her hair was all piled on top of her head and her make up made her look exotic. All in all she was a bomb shell. He hoped that she was not planning on going out looking like that. She would cause a riot. Plus, he couldnt stand to have anyone else, specially men looking at her, looking like this. She was, for his eyes only. My god, she was going to cause him to have a heart attack one day. This crazy wife of his was always doing the most unexpected things, he didn't know how he could keep up with her. But she was looking sexy as hell and he wanted her. If only anji were not here.
Anji, saw the way ashutosh was looking at nidhi, and she saw, nidhi looking at him shyly and blushing.
So she went and hugged nidhi and whispered in her ear,"good luck, and enjoy." nidhi nudged her with her elbow, anji went up to ashu and said, "ok jeejaji, I'll say bye now. I am in a hurry. I have some work to do before I get home.". Ashu looked up and anji, he still looked dazed, and said"why are you going in such a hurry, I'll leave you two alone and go back to my work, both of you enjoy yourselves, I know nidhi misses you a lot. You guys need to spend more time with each other." Anji-"no jeejaji, I will come back again, but I really need to go now," she saw that ashu was staring at nidhi again, and smiled and bent down and told ashu," by the way jeejaji, I think you should close your mouth now, or lse you might catch some flies," saying this she laughed and closed their door and left.
Ashu, went up to nidhi, who had grabbed her sari, and was about to go into the bathroom to change out of the dress. A-"nidhi come here,". N-" I am sorry, I know, I know I looks like an item girl, and you don't like me to wear these type of clothes. But I was just modeling it for anji, this is part of the exam for the fashion designer course. She wanted to see how it would look, and she wanted to fix anything, in case there was something that didnt look right. And then we just got caught up, in it, hence the make up and hair. But give, me a minute, I will just go change, I'll be right back. She was about to leave, when ashu caught her hand and pulled her towards him, nidhi was taken by surprise, and because of her high heels, lost her balance and fell into hiss lap. She went to get up, she was worried about his knee, bit ashu stopped her. Ashu shifted her a bit so that she was sitting on one leg(the uninjured one)
And pulled her into his arms and brought her forwards, towards him, ashutosh kissed nidhi, with a passion that surprised her. It seemed to her nowadays that her husband was constantly surprising her. That she wanted her husband with an intensity so strong, that it shook her at times, was no surprise, the intensity of her love but matched the intensity of her passion, for her they went hand in hand, but to discover that he too needed her the same way, was a wonder. The past few days, he had shown her in many ways that, he wanted her and needed the closeness between them, as much she did. Nidhi, kissed ashutosh back, , then he left her lips to kis her cheeks and her neck, but the high neck of the dress came Inthe way, Ashutosh, moved his hands up towards the nape of her neck and untied the string that held the dress up and slowly slipped it down, he looked at her and said" I had better not see you wearing this dress, out side the room ever. This is for my eyes only. I swear to god nidhi, you are going to be the death of me one day. When I came in and saw you, my stomach nealy fell to my feet.
Why are you always doing this to me. You don't have to test my need for you, you know I want you all the time, I think you look sexy even a sari, but when you wear something like this, well... Suffice to say I can't control myself, so you had better be careful, otherwise just be ready to bear the consequences of your actions. " N-"but, I thought you didn't like me in these clothes last time you called me an item girl!" A-"I called you that, cause I thought, that you would be offended and get angry at me and wouldn't wear something like this again, but now that you have, you have to pay for your actions." N-"if I get this kind of response, I think I will need to buy a lot more dresses. Hmmm, maybe I can get anji, to design me some special ones.". Ashutosh, looked at his wife and laughed, she was an absolute delight, childlike and innocent one moment, and a sexy temptress the next. A-"ok, mrs. Mathur, if that's what you want, I'll be more than happy to,oblige." with that he started kissing her again, he had just started to pull the dress down, when suddenly the door to their room slammed open, Mallika stood their there, staring at them. Ashutosh, pulled nidhi closer and retired the strings to her dress. He saw that nidhi had tears in her eyes, he could not stand that. He was furious at Mallika, he knew that she had done it on purpose, he could see the mirth and triumph, in her eyes. he also saw the embarrassment on nidhis face and misery in her eyes, this time Mallika had gone too far.
Mallika, I want you to get out of our room now. And do not ever come back, unless invited. You have gone too far this time. I know you understand what I am saying. You are getting better now, I know that, and you know that. I understand, you have fears and insecurities, but I also understand and know that your sense of disorientation, is not there anymore, there fore you are fully aware. And you know what you did just now. Ok you probably could not control yourself, or maybe you panicked when you did not see me around, but this was inexcusable. You need to knock before you enter somebody's bedroom.". M-"but ashutosh, this is you bedroom, I don't need to ask permission to come here, I can do anything I want this is my home also you said so." A-"no Mallika, I said this is just like your home also. Mallika this is nidhis house. And while you can go wherever you want in here, you are not,allowed in this bedroom, unless nidhi, gives you permission. And Mallika, if,you keep on making scenes and barging into our bedroom and tearing up pictures like you did last time, I will send you back to the hospital. I know that you are still not well, but I am getting better now, and I will be returning to the hospital soon, and I will not have nidhi trying to deal with your tantrums and acting out on your resentments towards her. Now please leave and go back to your room, I will come as soon as I can."
Mallika, was surprised at the way, ashutosh, had spoken to her, but she too admitted to herself, that she had gone too far, she had overstepped her bounds, by a huge margin, no one would have tolerated that. She knew that ashu, would be annoyed, but she had never expected him to get this angry. She had gotten to complacent , because of ashu's behavior this morning, and had acted impetuously. Well she needed to be very careful, and she needed to take things slowly. She did not want to alienate ashutosh, she couldn't afford to. But, it had all been worth it, the misery, and shame, in nidhis eyes had been like a soothing balm on her wounded soul She would be very careful in the future, very careful, indeed.
Nidhi had gone into the bathroom to change, when she came out, ashu was waiting for her. When he saw her, he held out his arms, nidhi ran into them, and ashutosh enfolded her tightly into her embrace. Nidhi started crying, she had never felt more humiliated in her life. She also felt bad, her husband just let mallika go, even after she had barged into their room, and interrupted them during a very privqte moment. She felt very hurt at his behaviour. Ashu knew what she must be going through, even though he was so furious at Mallika he could have thrown her out that instant, he knew that he had o wait, he had to wait, for Mallika to fall into his trap...and then, he would take,great pleasure in ousting her out of their house, but until then he had to put up,with her nonsense. He just hoped his wife kept patience with him until then, but if push came to,shove, and he saw that things were getting out of hand then he would tell,her everything, and explain to her why he was doing what he was doing. He knew he had hurt her again today, and he felt so bad about that, but he needed to finish this once and for all, he wanted Mallika out of their lives permanently. He loved nidhi so much, that her being in pain, broke his heart,but he didn't have a choice."I love you nidhi, more than life, you are my life. Please understand and trust me. I am yours for now and always, and you are mine. No one will ever come between us. No one..." nidhi held him tight, he felt her tensed shoulders relax , and she let out a long sigh, and turned her head and kissed ashu's neck. "I love you too, husband mine, I love you too."
That evening, after nidhi had gone to JS, this time ashu sent her in his car with the driver(he wasn't going to take any more chances with her safety), BB. Called ashu to his room. When ashu came BB said" ashutosh beta come in , I need to talk to you about an urgent matter." when ashu came in, BB closed the door and locked it. Ashutosh, looked up surprised, he had never seen his baba lock any door like that before. Ashu looked up at him questioningly . BB put a file in front of him and said"beta, I want you to read this file, and then we need to talk "
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