Married To A Stranger

Third Person Pov:

Tej reached his parents’ house after receiving a call from Karthik who asked him to assemble both of their families in one place. When he arrived at his home, he was greeted by a cheerful version of his mother chatting animatedly with his smiling father. He double-checked whether he was in a wrong house. But no, he was in the very same house in which he lived his entire life.

His house used to be calm, if it’s not, then it would be his father’s voice roaring around the house demanding for something or other when he was angry at someone. Unfortunately, that someone would always be his sister. He took a step back to knock so he could make his presence known but he knocked down a vase, which shattered into pieces gaining his parents’ attention.

What happened next, doubted his entire family life. His parents masked their cheery attitude with glum faces. They knew that he saw them and there is no reason left to pretend anymore.

His father was the first person to break the silence “What are you doing here? I thought you left us to take care of your boss” his voice roared. Usually, Tej would pretend like he wasn’t affected by his father’s voice, but today he’s positive that he was not afraid of his father.

The reason was still unknown to him.

Clearing his throat, he said, ” I want you both to come with me to Sreesha di’s house”.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“Is she okay?” His mother asked genuinely concerned, she immediately masked her face emotionless “I mean why do we have to be there? I’m not interested” she added shrugging.

“Yeah, Why? She must have done something to anger her husband or her in-laws. I swear if she did something stupid, I’m not allowing her in this house, consider she’s dead” his father said morphing his face into the void of emotions as well.

“If it is, I’m not going too. She must have done something wrong. She-” Tej cut his mother off saying “Stop it! You both are coming with me and solve the mess you created! I love my sister even though she’s not biologically mine!” Tej yelled, which made his parents rooted in the same place. No words exchanged between them. An eerie silence filled the room, and the only sound audible was from the 80’s wall clock hanging on the wall.

Tej continued “I’m not going to ask you why, not now, not here. But you have a lot of explaining to do… to Di who suffered enough through her entire childhood. Just come with me and clear this mess, it’s not too much to ask, is it?” His mother was too stunned to utter a word, but her eyes said a different story. She was afraid of the danger that would knock on their door any moment from now. She was afraid that the danger would crumple her daughter’s happiness.

Yes. Her daughter!

“Let’s go Yamini, it’s about time,” his father said gesturing towards the front door.

“What if -” he cut her off saying “we’ve done what we could, but it is time to fight back,” he said rubbing her back.

Witnessing his father’s unusual behavior, Tej stunned. He was used to his father’s dominance, rude and beast-like attitude but never in his life witnessed his father’s eyes filled with warmth, love and affection. Why now? What happened to change his nature towards his mother? Why was his mother had terrified expression on her face?

“Call your boss and ask him to come with us… to Shekhar’s Mansion,” his father said walking towards the front door supporting his wife to walk.

“H-how do you know about where Di lives?” Tej demanded.

“I’m your still your father,” his father said before signing him to unlock the car.

My father knows!

Sreesha Pov:

We’re 20 minutes away from our home. Karthik was being stubborn and didn’t utter a word from the moment we left Shimla. This is just too much to take in.

First Manoj wasn’t a cheater like I assumed.

Second, he was threatened to leave me.

Third, my parents were not my biological parents.

And the last thing I want was Karthik to be mad at me.

I can’t deal with this all alone. I need his support now. I want him to hug me and say everything will be fine even though I know it will not. I want him to kiss me erasing all the events that burst the happy little bubble I have been living in. I want him to scold me or even slap me for yelling at him, for supporting Manoj’s intentions.

But deep down I knew he wasn’t really mad at me. He was thinking, thinking about what I was going to do. What if he thought that I would leave him for Manoj?

What if he thinks I was supporting Manoj because I still love him?

Oh god!

He isn’t that stupid to think that I still love Manoj right?

What if…

“Karthik. Stop this damn car right now!” I yelled. The car stopped with a jerk.

“What now? We’re just a few minutes away from home, and there are people waiting for us” he said raking his fingers through his hair.

“We’re not going in there like this. We need to talk” I said placing my hand on his.

He took a deep breath and nodded before uttering “Talk”.

“What are you thinking, Karthik?” I asked him, looking at him, and he was trying to avoid eye contact at all cost.

“Nothing” he muttered.

“Karthik please”

“Oh you know the lack of concentration in the athletes about Olympics… we got only two medals and not to forgot there isn’t a gold medal in them. How could they? ” he said, sarcasm dripping in his words.

“Karthik,” I said dragging his name.

“What?” He asked “You wanted me to talk and I did. What is it now? Let’s get going” he added, I got the hold of his hand before he ignites the engine again.

“Talk to me Karthik,” I said sighing, my patience wearing thin and the stupid husband of mine was acting like a stubborn kid. The silence in the car was deafening, all I wanted to do was get out of here. I sighed unbuckling the seat belt, Karthik gripped my hand before I unlock the door.

“It’s not safe here,” he said sighing.

“I can manage myself, don’t worry about me,” I said trying to avoid his eyes. This is too much to take in. He was behaving as I’d cheated on him.

“Sree, let’s go home, people are waiting for us… for you,” he said gripping the steering hard that made his knuckles turned white, and the other hand’s grip tightened around my wrist. It hurts but not more than the pain I went through when he was silent. His grip hardens a little a wince escaped my lips.

Hearing my wince his eyes travelled to our hands, he immediately let it go saying “I’m sorry Sree, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m sorry” he apologized taking me into his surveying the damage. It would definitely leave a mark.

“You’re already hurting me Karthik, just not physically” I mumbled looking at how perfectly our hands fit together.

“Sreesha,” he said dragging my name.

“Why are you behaving like this Karthik? Are you mad at me because I defended Manoj -he winced hearing Manoj’s name- or do you think I was going to leave you for him?” His eyes went wide listening to my words.

“You do, don’t you? How many times do I have to repeat these words Karthik? You’re my husband, and I love you. Just because I defended him doesn’t mean I love him. He was my friend for years before we started going out. Why don’t you trust me enough Karthik?” I ended up yelling at him.

He sighed tracing his thumb on my forearm “Sree, I trust you more than myself. I admit I was mad when you defended him and told me to back off but not anymore. He was a nice guy, and all but you loved him Sree. I was insecure when it comes to you. I don’t know how to explain this to you, and I want you to be happy no matter what… I love you too much to put you through the misery once you went through. I know first love would never die and it kills you when you let go of it, It breaks every ounce of confidence in you and crumbles you like a piece of trash. When I got to know that he wasn’t at fault the first thing that crossed my mind was, what if the feelings you had for him resurface? I just hardened my heart, Sree” he said avoiding eye contact.

I was in tears now. I don’t know what to think of my stupid husband. Should I be glad that he put my happiness before his or should I slap him for thinking about me leaving him?

I decided to follow the later one. I slapped him hard across his cheek. Before he could utter a word, I grabbed his neck crashing my lips on his. I was too angry and happy at the same time.

Is it possible to be happy and angry at the same time, with the same person, for the same reason?

If he was stunned at my sudden outburst, he became a statue when I started kissing him might I add angrily? It took him a few seconds to return the kiss and should I mention with the same intensity and as if showing who was boss here. We fought for dominance for a while, when his hand reached my exposed waist tracing and pinching it, I lost it. I gave into him and let him lead me.

“If this was the way you’re going to let your anger out, I should start making you angry every second of our lives,” he said leaning his forehead on mine.

“You won’t be fortunate to get a kiss next time. I might end up killing you for thinking about leaving me. I’m so much in love with you Karthik, can’t you freaking see that in my eyes? Or are you too blind to figure out my feelings for you or are you too ignorant about my feelings towards you? A blind could see and tell I was in love with you. I fell for you the moment you said that you would wait for me until I was ready and that you were sorry for not asking for my consent about our marriage. I trusted you even when I saw a girl in your arms, and I know you would never cheat on me. Even though it had been a few days of our marriage, I trusted you around Anvika and Julie because I know the look on your face when you look at me is far most different when it compared to the way you look at the other female population. All I wanted you to do was trust me in return; I would never think about leaving you, Karthik let alone cheat on you. Is that too much to ask?” I said hitting his chest repeatedly.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry ” he said eat time I hit him; he didn’t stop me.

“The feelings I’d for Manoj were not even remotely equal compared to how I feel about you. I’m not even sure if I loved him back then. I was too engrossed in a bubble of happiness that there was someone that would love me. I was too desperate about the feeling of being loved. I thought I was in love with him, but I’d no idea what love was until I meet you. You showed me what love is and how incredible one would feel being in love. I’m not only in love with you but our family too. Get this through your thick skull Karthik, and you’re never going to get rid of me even if you want, you’re stuck with for the rest of your life” After my long speech I found my husband’s mouth hanging open. I reached his chin pulling him for another kiss.

The people in the mansion could wait…