Page 74 of The Unwanted Husband
His aloofness made her wonder if there was another woman he wanted to marry last night at the ceremony? Could he still marry them?
Her stomach twisted and she automatically leaned closer as they walked hand in hand past the two double doors that wereopened upon their arrival. To her utter shock, what was to be a somewhat small family only gathering was a much larger affair.
It was all Ashok’s family, his uncles and aunts with their families. She noticed some distinguished members of the community were present and noticeably the other brides who were at the ceremony yesterday were in attendance.
Isha was so glad she had chosen a dress that was not too simple. She was also proud of herself that her spiteful act of showing off her body to tease Ashok came in handy as even the beautiful women were casting admiring looks her way.
Unless they were for Ashok
The moment she realized that possibility, she ran her free hand up his arm as she tightened the hold on their clasped hands. As if that was a signal she sent him, she looked up at him and he looked at her at the same time and the way he smiled, she thought she was going to melt to the ground.
How the heck did he get her to feel like a lovesick puppy?
In spite of how jittery he made her feel; she didn’t fail to catch the unhappy looks on the potential brides from the ceremony. Never once did she think she could be irrational, never in a million years for a man or his attention.
As they walked through the long dining area greeting people along the way, she noticed Amuktha and Sasikala were holding the twins and that gave her a new found confidence. In that moment, she didn’t care that the man who she longed for was faking his affection as part of the charade but the fact that the kids have found the part of the family who can give them the much needed love, she felt like there was nothing else to be bothered about.
CHAPTER 25
It had been a few days since the wedding ceremony and Isha had fallen in love with the island. The environment, the beautiful ocean reminded her of San Francisco where she spent a major part of her life. Since the time she arrived in India, she had felt disconnected with her family back in America, but with Ashok’s family, it felt like a fresh start to new affections. The family was kind and caring, and even his older sister Aravinda had warmed up to her to the point she could have a casual conversation with her.
The east wing of the royal residence had become her sanctuary, with its floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the endless stretch of the turquoise water. She’d fallen completely under the island’s spell. She had converted her old room into her office so she could continue working on building the case against Paramesh Saini and there would be moments when she would think about how much she would miss the place when she would go back to California.
She loved the setting she was in as she would always hear the kids in the background when she worked. The twins ended up spending a lot more time with her and they were her dates for every evening since their uncle, her now her island official husband, was missing in action. She was the one who was there for their bath time and bed time routine and shockingly she enjoyed it so much. There was no way she would have enjoyed the twins so much if she didn’t have the help of both their nannies who took turns to watch and entertain them. It was a distraction from her stressful work that she had started catching up on after being away for ten days. The longest she had ever been disconnected completely from work.
After the wedding night, she barely saw Ashok for half a day. After the extravagant lunch the family hosted, he disappeared under the pretext of an urgent business matter. She got a bit of a public display of affection with a kiss on her forehead before hugging her and the twins in his classic group hug.
She didn’t feel the need to ask him how long he had to be away and somewhere deep down she knew she needed the space to sort out her raging thoughts. Since then, he called her every night like it was a ritual but they only talked about the twins. They had nothing else to say.
It was nothing but a physical pull they each other felt and the itch had to be scratched. That’s it. And it’s done.
Isha took the opportunity to finish filing the case against Paramesh Saini. The one other thing that was keeping her in India. Varun and Nina had taken what she sent to review it before her father’s first lawyer would review it. Mr. Bopanna was as passionate as she was about the case.
Although the case had been ready to be filed for weeks, she waited to submit it when they were on the island. She still could not push away the thought that she lost her parents and what was left of her immediate family in similar accidents. Both were cars that went out of control and no other vehicle or condition was involved.
After sending off the paperwork of the case, that evening she decided to spend time with the family, especially to have the family hang out with them during their meal time. She needed the distraction and if Ashok was going to be taking care of them and the business, he is going to need the family’s involvement to raise the twins. That was the plan all along but for him to dropeverything and be away on business, didn’t mean the plan would change.
Every meal was served in the main dining hall and Ashok’s parents sat down every time and depending on who was around the rest of the family members. Even the one-time Ashok and she joined the family for lunch, the kids were fed prior so they would just hang out with everyone else. She made the executive decision to have the kids eat with the rest of the family no matter how much of a mess they would make on the antique dining table.
That evening she dressed up in a semi traditional outfit, one that was worn by the islanders. A long flowy linen skirt, paired with a gauge material loose fitting top and locally made jewelry that Ashok’s mother had gifted her as part of a pre wedding ritual.
Her eyes fell on her phone like she was expecting Ashok to call. She shook her head when she saw the three fives on her screen.
“I will believe this if I really see a welcoming change.” She had started noticing the numbers a bit more now.
She looked at herself one last time and was happy with the light touch of makeup, the eyeliner making her eyes pop and the large oxidized silver hoops adding bling to her simple outfit. Knowing she would have a gazillion stops on her way to the dining hall with the curious twins in tow.
As expected, the kids wanted to touch or pull on everything they saw and she was proud she was prepared. At one point the twins decided the toy with a jade succulent that was growing in a pot. To her surprise, both were fascinated by the plant and didn’t want to budge.
Isha nodded at both their nannies to step away when they both refused to move away from the pot. She placed her hands on both their heads and said, “Okay kiddos, you have thirty more seconds before we have to go.”
She knew it was only her being delusional that the little ones would have any sense of time but she decided she was going to talk to them like she would to any other adult because she didn’t know how to speak toddler language.
As expected, they would not budge and she tried to distract them, pulling one twin away to look at something else but something about that little succulent plant fascinated them. When they didn’t show any sign of wanting to step away from the plants, an idea crossed her mind.
She took a step away from the twins and said, “Guess who is back from their business trip.”
Still nothing and she finally started calling out Ashok’s name as she walked backwards toward the dining hall. Her plan to lure them away from the plant seemed to work as they looked away from the plant in her direction and smiled.
