Chapter 2

As he drove to Pragya's house, it was all Abhi could do to keep his attention on the road. His mind kept playing back the conversation he'd had with Purab the previous evening.

Purab had not wanted to tell him anything. Abhi had asked him for the full story of his relationship with Pragya, but Purab had just said "What does it matter now, Bhai? Aaliya is my present and future. For better or worse, we'll make it work." He looked tired and sounded resigned, and for the first time Abhi really saw how unhappy Purab was. He began to wonder if it had been a mistake to put so much pressure on his best friend...and had he made the wrong decision for his sister's life?

But Abhi didn't want to get distracted with other concerns; he just wanted answers about Pragya. So he pressed Purab, insisting that he didn't want secrets between them anymore. He asked Purab how he'd met Pragya, how long they'd been together, whether she'd taken money from him. Purab tried to avoid and redirect the questions, but finally, he lost his patience and blurted, "It was never her! It was never her, Bhai. I loved Bulbul."

And then the whole story finally tumbled from Purab's lips. How he'd met Bulbul through work, and she'd gotten the wrong idea about him, but misunderstanding and arguments somehow turned to attraction and hope. How he'd meant to tell her about Aaliya, how he'd meant to tell Abhi about Bulbul, how time had somehow got out of his hands. How he'd been shocked to see Pragya as Abhi's bride at their reception, and how he'd been ready to tell Abhi everything then and there. How Pragya had stopped him, and convinced him that they couldn't say anything - to protect Bulbul. How Bulbul had requested him to marry Aaliya, for Pragya's sake and for fear of their mother's health given Pragya's past failed relationships. How for him, Pragya was first Di because of Bulbul, and then Bhabhi because of Abhi; how Aaliya had been completely wrong in her assumption that he had ever been romantically involved with Pragya.

As he listened to Purab, Abhi felt his doubts and confusion start to clear...only to be replaced by shame, guilt, and a growing determination to fix everything...somehow.

Abhi was appalled by the role Aaliya had apparently played in all this, but that was a problem to solve later. Instead, as he brooded over Purab's revelations during his sleepless night, he thought about what a negative picture had been painted of him. Pragya and Purab had thought that he would harm Bulbul. How could they believe that? What could he have done to an innocent young girl whose only crime had been loving someone unavailable to her?

It was impossible to imagine taking any kind of revenge on Bulbul, even with Aaliya's hysterics to motivate him. Bulbul was so sweet and open, so lively and playful that he never would have believed she was scheming for Purab's money. She was young and immature and naive, and if he had known that Purab had fallen for her - he would have understood.

But somehow it had been so perfectly easy to misunderstand Pragya. It had been possible to imagine mature, self-possessed, reserved and enigmatic Pragya as a scheming gold-digger. Because she was older, and less open...and less pretty.

That was it, really. Aaliya had seen Purab and Pragya close together and assumed they were involved. And she hadn't seen what a handsome, dynamic young man like Purab could see in an older, more serious, normal-looking woman like Pragya. So she had assumed it was all about money, because somewhere along the way, Daadi and Abhi had failed to teach her that there was more to life than money.

And then Abhi, out of blind love for his sister, had taken revenge on Pragya...an innocent girl whose only crime had been to marry to please her mother rather than herself. And that was no crime at all.

Pragya had borne all his torture, his taunts, his flaunting Tanu in her face. He'd been cruel about her looks and her personality and her character. According to Purab, she'd done it for her sister and her mother. But why, then, had she also done so much for him? She had covered for him with the police, even trying to use her own jewels to pay off that paanwaala. And she had supported all his lies to Daadi, right down to that last morning, when she didn't once take Tanu's name as one of the problems between them.

For all the answers he finally had, Abhi found himself stuck with one, new, much harder question - how could he make up for all that he had done?

The more he thought about the kind of future Pragya was facing, the more he felt ashamed of himself. The courts might accept a no-fault divorce petition, but with her complicated past, society would surely find something to blame on Pragya. She would be seen as the celebrity cast-off, the defective woman who just couldn't make any relationship stick. Even if some man some day managed to look past all that, the families of potential suitors would always hold the fact of her previous marriage against her. No one would know or care that it hadn't been anything close to a real marriage.

Abhi faced the ugly truth that somehow he had become the villain in Pragya's life. Pragya had had two broken engagements but never a real love story, and now because of him she would have to add a failed marriage to her list of heartbreaks. He remembered all the little things she would do for him, seemingly automatic wifely habits like folding his clothes and bringing him coffee. He thought about how seriously she had taken the role of Daadi's bahu, doing her best to fulfill all her relationships with his mostly indifferent relatives. He realized that during Aaliya's wedding preparations, she had often gone out of her way to meet his demanding sister's every little wish, as if she were really a loving bhabhi catering to an adored nanad.

Pragya had wanted to make the marriage work, even though she found out it was a lie on the very first night.

And that made him angry.

He felt guilty and confused about his own actions, but thinking about the choices Pragya had made, he started wondering, why hadn't she fought harder? If she'd done so much to be a good wife and daughter-in-law, why had she just quietly walked away when he told her to? She could've told him everything the day after Purab and Aaliya's wedding. She should have stood up for herself and for the truth. She had certainly earned her place as his wife, even if he didn't want her there. She didn't deserve to spend a lifetime being blamed and looked down on for what really been an extended act of sacrifice for her sister's safety and his sister's happiness. So why was she willing to end everything with all these secrets still in place?

Finally Abhi reached Pragya's neighbourhood. He knew there wouldn't be enough space to leave his car in front of the house, so he found somewhere a bit distant to park. He put on his sunglasses and walked quickly, hoping no one would notice him. He didn't have time for fans this morning.

As he was about to cross the road across from Pragya's house, he suddenly heard her voice.

"Please try and understand Suresh. I can't marry you."