Page 73 of Love after Marriage

This made him angrier. He murmured to himself, “Fine, if she does not care for me and our feelings, I don’t care either. Let he

r do what she feels like. She does not want to talk to me…okay, fine, so be it. I don’t care for her either.”

Two little children throwing tantrums!

He turned towards bhabhi. “Bhabhi, let’s all eat. She will join us later.”

As they ate lunch, Deepak missed her. He was unable to not think of her. He thought to himself, It was all my fault. Why did I behave like that with her? I knew she was angry with me, and now…oh, I messed up everything. What have I done? Will she even return before I leave this evening?

These thoughts worried him. Since he was leaving that day, Kusum made rice kheer as a dessert, per tradition, and he ate half-heartedly. After lunch, everybody gathered in the family room, and she was not home yet.

“Where is this girl? It is already 3 p.m., and she’s not home yet,” asked Sashank.

Everybody waited for her. Deepak had to leave in a couple of hours.

~ ~ ~

At her babuji’s house, Roshni was very angry and disturbed, and she cried. Her monologue started. “What does he think of himself? Why is he pretending to be affectionate with me when he has a girlfriend in the US? How can he be so deceptive?”

Her thoughts took her back to the Lonawala trip. If he is being deceitful, why did he not misbehave with me in Lonawala? He was such a gentleman. Why was he being romantic with me? What is he trying to accomplish? I have already given him permission to get married to whoever he wished, then why? Why?

Several questions in her mind but no answers!

She realized it was 3 p.m. I should leave now. He will be leaving in a couple of hours, and I don’t want anybody to suspect anything, she thought to herself and left her babuji’s house.

Roshni arrived home at 3:30 p.m. Deepak was relieved to see her. She was calm as she entered.

“Roshni, it was getting late, so we all ate our lunch. Why don’t you eat something? It is really late,” said Kusum.

Roshni told Kusum she wasn’t hungry. She completely ignored Deepak and went to her room. Deepak followed her and locked the door from inside.

He came closer to her. “Roshni, do you know how concerned I was? Why did you leave without informing anybody?”

“I told Sashank bhaiya,” she replied.

“Can you even fathom how agonized I was? What if something had happened to you? What if you just left and…and…” He paused.

“What if I just left?” She looked back at him very angrily. “Don’t worry; I’m not going anywhere until our agreement ends.”

Deepak was confused and worried; his emotions played havoc on him. He did not know how to answer her, but he was very tense. He paced back and forth, then looked at her. “Roshni, I will not forgive myself…especially if something happened to you or if you go away. Please don’t behave like this.”

Roshni was calm now and realized she may have overreacted too. She did not respond to him and just walked away.

~ ~ ~

It was almost time for Deepak to leave. Everybody was at the dining table, enjoying hot bread rolls and chai. Kaki had made bread rolls specifically because Deepak had enjoyed them the last time she’d made them before he’d left for the US in December.

The deep fried bread was crispy, and the combination of spicy potatoes stuffed in the roll was tempting. Kaki made mint chutney and had tomato ketchup to go with it. OOH! What a combination! Everybody relished the snack along with hot chai.

Deepak waited for Roshni to sit next to him, but she avoided him. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. In front of everyone, he said, “Roshni, why don’t you sit here next to me? You were not here for lunch too! Come, sit here, please.”

All eyes were directed towards her. She was embarrassed, and quietly she sat next to him. Very lovingly he tried to feed her hot bread roll, but she had a stern look. He was being romantic again, and very soon he realized she was unhappy. He whispered an apology to her.

After they finished eating, Deepak loaded his suitcase in the car and did one final check of his hand bag, verifying that all the papers he needed were there. Soon after, Sashank, Kusum and Roshni left for the airport to drop him off.

At the airport, Sashank, Kusum and Roshni waited in the lobby while Deepak checked in. Deepak joined them after checking in the baggage. He had a little more than an hour before he went in for security.

Kusum looked at both Deepak and Roshni, and on the pretext of finding some food and chai, took Sashank with her, leaving Deepak and Roshni alone to talk.

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