Chapter 2
ARYAN
The clearing was still the same. Dead flowers spotted the field, dry green grass, the gothic-looking gateway to the abandoned Garden Entrance and not a single human in sight.
Just the way I like it. The way I wanted it.
This was my place. The place where I could be when I didn't want to be a part of the world. Sure it was quiet here, nobody in sight and no matter what day it was, or how busy the streets were, city noise never made its way here.
Here, I could relax. Here, I could just be.
But even coming here, I couldn't stop the range of emotions that were swirling in me. Or more like raging in me. The force with which I felt everything all at once gave me a headache.
As I leaned against my car, in the scorching heat, I glanced at the knife and the spare gun hidden under every seat of my car. My hands itched to stab something. Shooting things wouldn't give me the pleasure that stabbing something a thousand times would. The force, the exhilaration and the action would quench my blood thirst.
I couldn't come up with a reason to justify his demand even if I tried to. And I did. While storming out of the Thakur Mansion, as respectfully as possible, during the drive over to the Trecier Gardens, and for the past hour, standing in front of the entrance to the garden, all I have done is think. Try to understand where he is coming from, ponder over every little reasonable argument I could think of to defend his stance.
Nothing.
Kethaki and I hated each other and that was it. Plain and simple. There were no nuances to what was between us. Just that until we were teens, we were rivals in everything, and then, that rivalry gave birth to the hatred that ran in our veins.
As I stood there, my mind was a whirlwind of confusion and frustration. I never imagined that my father, of all people, would orchestrate something so... absurd. An assassination? Yes. A heist? Of course! Blackmailing politicians and businessmen? Been there, done that. But a marriage? Arranged, no less, to none other than my childhood rival. This notion sounded stupider than it sounded absurd. Something that was not expected of my father.
I saw Parth's car pull up before I even heard the sound of the tyres crushing the gravel and rocks under it. His car slowed down in front of mine and rolled the window down.
"Sulking again, Aryan?" Was the first thing that came out of that asshole's mouth.
I continued to stare at him, and like the top-class asshole he was, he held it. Then, he nodded and turned off the ignition. He stepped out, walked over to me and stood by my side. I looked away and faced the gates again.
"So, Vedika maa called me to look for you."
My eyes didn't stray away from the gates.
"Tara Aunty is worried."
Yeah, well she should have thought about me before they decided to ruin my life.
"Plates were broken again. Apparently!"
What was their obsession with plates? So what, if she throws things in anger? It was plates this time, and last time, but they didn't even know the things she had thrown at me before that.
I almost pulled my gun on her one time.
Parth placed his hand on my shoulder. "What happened there? Yes, you have stormed out of their place many times before, but never once, did Vedika maa ask me to look for you." He squeezed my shoulder. "So, tell me what happened? Did she cross a line too far this time? Do you want me to deal with her?"
I looked at him.
He removed his hand from my shoulder and nodded. "Not going near her. Message received."
I looked away, again.
He didn't say anything after that. He stood there, silently, beside me.
"Papa wants me to marry Kethaki."
Even though I wasn't looking, I could still see Parth, turning to look at me.
Slow, and cautious.
"I beg your biggest pardon?" Parth whispered.
I took a deep breath. "The lunch was set up by both our fathers, to drop this news on us. Everyone else knew. And, they all seem to agree."
He didn't say anything for a while, then said, "This has to be a joke!"
I turned to face him. "Have you ever heard my father joke about anything?"
Parth looked confused beyond doubt. "But it's you. And her!"
"Tell my father that. And her father."
Then, this motherfucker did the one thing I expected him to do, the first time he heard the news.
He. Fucking. Laughed.
He laughed like he just heard the joke of a lifetime. His voice boomed in the silence of the jungle and grated on my nerves.
"It's even funnier if you imagine it," he said in between laughs.
I guess, he was confused between the words, funny and scary. Because the way I see it, or imagine it, I see two separate rooms, a broken home, blood marring the walls and floors, with Kethaki's dead body lying in the middle of it, stabbed to death, with me looming over her. She would for sure be killed by my hands if we were left alone and she runs her mouth the way she did on a regular fucking basis.
"I mean, think about it! Kethaki as your wife! Your. Wife." He managed to get out while wheezing with laughter.
Wife my bloody foot! All she would ever be is my victim. A murder victim, to be exact.
Kethaki wearing anything on her body that would represent her being married to me, be it a ring or Sindoor. Her name changed to Kethaki Rathore, and she is around me. In my home, in my room, sharing my bed.
No.
"And you? Oh God, I have a hard time imagining you as a husband, period. Be it anybody's!"
What the actual fuck?
I looked at him, and the expression on my face conveyed exactly what I thought. And this asshole? He saw it and laughed even harder.
"Brother, after years, I have learned to read your silences and your expressions. You can't expect your wife to do that, because in a marriage you say the things that are in your mind. Communication and all that shit," he said and leaned against the car even more.
"I have been here for half an hour and the only time you have opened your mouth to do anything was literally to inform me of Dev uncle's plans. But your feelings and emotions? Your thoughts? I had to guess. That's not very husband material of you, Aryan."
I narrowed my eyes. "That's because you are not my wife, Parth."
He smirked. "You were the same way with your girlfriends."
"Because they weren't there to have their ears open." Rather their mouths and legs. But I didn't say that.
"But you would talk to your wife?"
I didn't reply. Parth wasn't wrong when he said he couldn't imagine me as a husband. But no way in hell, would I ever agree with that fucker on this. Ever.
"You can't even say the big fat 'No' that you are thinking, asshole!"
My lips were sealed shut. He could blab all he wanted, but I wasn't falling for it.
"Alright," he started, then walked to stand in front of me. "What are you planning to do?"
There was only one thing to do. Parth knew it, and so did everyone else. Barging out of the Thakur Mansion was an answer enough. But this wasn't a deal I could reject by walking out of the room.
Anyways, a chance to reject Kethaki didn't come every day.
I almost smirked, thinking about it.
Maybe, this situation wasn't so bad. I could make the most out of it. I could say yes and see how she reacts. I could even revel in her misery for that period and put her out of it.
This time, I did smirk.
I pull a string and she shouts.
I poke and she curses.
I touch, and she goes feral.
"It's that look," Parth said and I turned to look at him.
"What look?"
Parth smirked. "You know. The one that comes over your face whenever you think of Kethaki."
Whatever look he was talking about faded, and instead, exasperation came over. Sometimes, I didn't understand why I allowed him to strut around me. His presence was as annoying as his words.
Parth shook his head. "How are you so oblivious to it."
I did not respond, instead, I sat in my car. He could yap all he wanted, but I had better things to do. I wanted to be done with this bullshit as soon as possible, so tormenting Kethaki was out of the question.
"Where to?" Parth asked as I buckled my seat belt.
"Where do you think?"
Parth nodded and stepped back. "I think you should consider it."
Trust Parth to say the most unhinged and absolutely wrong fucking thing to say, at the randomest of times. Out of everything I expected, every way I expected this conversation to go, I didn't, for a second, predict this. "What did you just say?"
"I think you should consider it."
That's it. That was it.
I shook my head. "Everyone has gone fucking insane!"
"Look. I know it might sound wrong and completely and utterly disastrous, but look at us. Look at the both of us. Think of Kethaki. Her parents, your parents! Our families, entire generations! Nothing in our lives is peaceful. Every single day, we deal with chaos. Hell, we live in it! But it also drives us. It fuels us and we love it. You love it the most out of all of us. So, maybe, getting married to Kethaki might seem like doom, but knowing you, Aryan, you wouldn't have it any other way."
I just stared at the man who claimed to be my best brother. The man who just said that utter nonsense couldn't be that man.
Ignoring him, I started the car.
"But whatever you decide, Aryan, I will stand by you."
Without sparing him another glance, or acknowledging his words, I drove off.
I was sure, it really was Vedika Bua who asked him to look for me. And, I knew that she would never ask him to force my father's decisions on me. Which meant only one thing. All that shit that came out of that asshole's mouth was something he believed in. That fucker really expected me to believe that the mayhem that would be our marriage, was something I wanted.
And not peace!
What a fucking moron.
The only reason I could think of to justify my father was this. He wanted me to have what he got to have with Tara Maa. I knew my parents never loved each other but their entire relationship was based on mutual respect, loyalty and trust. But his relationship with Tara Maa was based upon one thing and one thing only. Love.
I laughed.
Love. What was love? Dadi never accepted their relationship, even though she claimed to love my father. My father married my mother even though he loved Tara Maa before he met my mother. Love was the source of their unhappiness. While my father was happy with Tara Maa, it made Dadi unhappy. My father loved Dadi, for which, he married my mother, and lost himself.
Love was complicated. And I didn't want that complication, so loving someone, and getting married to that person, was out of the question.
Marriage, however, wasn't. I could deal with marriage. Which is why I would even entertain this topic whenever Papa brought it up. I wasn't opposed to marriage.
Just not yet. And most definitely, not with her!
It really was that simple.
I parked my car in their garage, for the second time in one day. The sun was setting and the clouds were orange. I walked over to their main door and rang the bell again. It was Arti Aunty, this time.
I knew my family was still here, and yet I asked, before I stepped inside, "Is my family still here?"
"You know they are here, Aryan. Come on in," she said and stepped to the side. Sometimes, I forgot how blunt and direct Arti Aunty was.
I walked in, and to my surprise, none of them looked sullen or even angry. All of them had, what I assumed, were glasses of their favourite alcohol. They were having a conversation, and from the bits and pieces I could pick up, none of them conveyed their concern over Kethaki, who, I was sure, was in her room, throwing stuff.
"I thought you went home," Papa said.
"I didn't."
"I can see."
Silence.
My father looked me dead in my eyes and refused to speak. But his eyes said a lot. He was waiting. Waiting for me to broach the topic.
And I wasn't a fucking coward.
"I am not marrying her."
Papa took a sip of his Vodka. "Yes, you are."
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose.
I heard a door slam open, and my alleged future bride walked out. I have always been at the receiving end of the crazed look in her eyes. Even now. She strode to the middle of the living room.
My eyes were locked with hers. I didn't want to look anywhere else.
Sure, she was an angry princess who subjected most to her fury, but with me, it was different. It wasn't just anger. With me, her gaze always turned lethal, filled with so much poison that I was left with no choice but to drink it. And I wanted to drink it.
Sometimes, I craved it.
The passion she harbours was only for me. Just me.
Her fury for others lacked emotions. It was all mechanical. It was all intellectual. But with me, it was her soul. I could stir her to her core. Only I could do that.
Then, she turned and looked at everyone else, including my father. She looked everyone in the eyes, then looked at her father, and simply said, "I am not marrying him."
I smirked. "A rare moment in history. We are in agreement."
She didn't look at me. Still stared at her father.
I didn't like that. I didn't like that, at all.
I almost changed my mind and took back my words, just to rouse a reaction from her.
"You know you don't have to think about it and make a decision today. Think over it. Then, give us an answer by this weekend," said Viraj uncle.
She huffed. "I don't have to think about it, papa. I feel this in my bones. Every part of me is screaming No!"
Such dramatics. "There is no other option for us, uncle. We don't want this."
"Think about it, Aryan," my dear father said as he got up from his seat. "Otherwise, I would have to force this decision on you."
My eyes narrowed. "You can't force me."
"I can't?" He asked, tilting his head.
I just stared at him. Then it clicked! "No!"
"Give me your decision by the weekend, Son, or the Murthy's deal will be gone from your hands."
This time, I let my rage surface. My fist clenched and my blood boiled. Now, this entire situation was turning into a joke.
"So, you will take away Murthy's deal from my hands, if I don't marry her?"
"I never said that."
"Then what did you say, Papa, because I am having a hard fucking time understanding everything that is coming out of your mouth today!" Motherfucker! I can't believe I just said that! "I am sorry."
"You are angry. I will let it go."
"Still."
He smiled. "Take the time we are giving you, Son. Think about it, hard and logically." Then, he turned to Kethaki, his voice softened, and said, "Decisions like these aren't taken on a whim or with your emotions. Even people who love each other and have been together for years make these decisions logically. So, take the time, Beta."
"You have a history, a past," Viraj uncle said. "And yes, we are all aware of it, but what I am talking about is your past. Your life. As two individuals. Separate from your feelings and opinions of one another; individuals who were the Head Prefects of your school, whose partnership is talked about, still."
Neither Kethaki nor I spoke.
And for the second time, in one day, Kethaki turned around and dashed to her room and I headed to my car.
Papa wants me to take the time to think about it? Fine! I will!
But, that wouldn't guarantee that my answer will change.
I am not marrying Kethaki Thakur, and nothing would change that!
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