Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The car pulled up by the hospital entrance, and Varsha and Shaurya carefully walked her to the car. The driver got out of the car and turned around. To Kuhu’s delight, it was none other than her beloved brother, Nishant. 

“Nanchak? Aap yahan?” Kuhu said, with a smile on her face and tears of shock and happiness in her eyes. 

Nishant grinned and walked over to her, taking over for Varsha and Shaurya, holding her gently. “Kaise nahi aata main? Tum toh meri kungfoo ho!” He kissed her head, and Kuhu looked at her brother adoringly. 

“Haan Kuhu. Jab Nannu ko pata chala ki tumhe goli lagi thi, tab seedha London se Rajkot aaya. Pichle do mahino se woh yahin se kaam kar raha hai, taki woh tumhe dekh sake,” Jasmeet came up on the other side of Kuhu. 

Kuhu was touched. Her brother dropped everything for her, and that too for two months? “Maine aapko kitna miss kiya, pata hai?” Kuhu scolded Nishant. “Ab main aapko kahin jaane nahin dungi. #NeverEver.”

Nishant chuckled and guided her to the car, opening the door for her. “Until you recover completely, I’m not going anywhere, my kungfoo.”

“#Promise?”

“#Promise.”

Kunal reached home and without even taking a second to talk to anyone, went straight up to his room. Abir followed him closely. He reached Kunal’s room just in time to see him throw a vase across the room. 

“Nanko, yeh kya kar rahe ho tum?!” Abir said in shock. Ketki, who was nearby, came running hearing the noise. 

Kunal sniffled, his eyes red. “Bhai, apne dekha? Kuhu mujhse ek baat karke bina apni mai ke chali gayi. This is not done, bhai!”

He sat down on the bed, crumpling the sheets in his fists in anger. “Pata hai, main har vaqt uske paas tha. Kabhi bhi usse akela nahi chhoda. Aur woh?”

Abir and Ketki shared a look and went and sat on either side of Kunal. “Bhai, I know yeh bohot difficult hoga aapko-“ Ketki said, but before she could complete her sentence, Kunal looked at her, his eyes pained. “Difficult? Difficult bohot chhota sa shabd hai. Jo main abhi feel kar raha hoon na, uss ke liye koi word hi nahi hai.” 

Abir gripped Kunal’s shoulder. “Dekh Nanko. Tumhare paas do options hai: Ya tum Kuhu ko dheere dheere jaane do, ya phir apne haq ke liye lado.”

Kunal looked at Abir confused. “Haq? Konsa haq?”

“Pati waala haq, bhai. Aap Kuhu bhabz ke husband ho. Aapka bhi haq hai, unke saath time spend karna,” Ketki said, attempting to drop a hint. 

Kunal was left in deep thought. He had spent two months praying and pleading her to wake up. And now that she was awake, she had left him at the first second. Was this how Kuhu felt when he yelled at her on the night of their wedding? When he had betrayed her, cheated her, and left her all alone? Was she doing this to get back at him? To hurt him back?

Kuhu scrolled through her Instagram page, smiling at all of the pictures that she had posted with the Rajvansh family: Naanu, Ketki, Parul Maasi, Nidhi Maami. She stopped at the picture she had posted on her wedding day. She brushed her thumb over Kunal’s face and stared at the picture longingly. She quickly turned off her phone when Nishant walked into the her room. He sat next to her on the bed. 

“Kya dekh rahi thi?” Nishant asked.

“Woh… kuch nahin. Maine bohot time se kuch post nahin kiya, hai na? Toh mere followers pareshaan the,” Kuhu said, attempting to hide the trembling in her voice. 

Nishant began to talk about everything that had happened in the last two months, from Meenakshi’s trial, to Jasmeet’s obsession over getting him married off. But the whole time he spoke, Kuhu remained lost, and could only think about Kunal’s face when she said that she wanted to go to her family’s house instead. His broken expression, the pleading in his eyes. She had never seen anything like it before. What had he been thinking in that instant? Was he upset? And for what? The fact that she wouldn’t come home to his family? Or the fact that she wouldn’t come home to him?

“Kuhu! Tum mere baat sun bhi rahi ho?” Nishant said irritatedly, snapping his fingers in front of her face. She jolted out of her reverie, startled. “Woh… I’m sorry, main kahin kho gayi thi.”

“Kahan?”

Kuhu hesitated. Should she tell her brother, her closest confidante, about the divorce?

Nishant sensed her hesitation, and put an arm around her. “Tum mujhse kuch bhi keh sakte ho, I won’t judge you. I swear.”

So Kuhu told him from the beginning. How Kunal manipulated her into trying to break up Mishti and Abir, his betrayal, the fake marriage, and the divorce. She started crying after, and Nishant held her. He couldn’t believe his ears. She had gone through this much, and no one had even an inkling of it? 

“Kuhu, tumne kisi ko bataya kyun nahin? We could have helped you through it! Tum akeli nahin ho!” Nishant scolded her, upset with her for hiding her pain. 

“Kya batati main? Yahin ki kisi ne mujhe itna bada bewakoof banaya tha? Mumma can’t handle that, and you know it. And papa? He’ll just be furious. #AngryBird ki tarah. 

They both sat, silent. Finally Nishant asked, “fine. What will you do now?”

Kuhu didn’t know what to do. She was torn between running back to Kunal and trying to make it work, and leaving the marriage all together. One part of her was tired of feeling insecure about her place in everyone’s lives, and another part of her just wanted Kunal’s love and his family’s affection. But then she was reminded of Mishti. Even if she went back, it wouldn’t be the same. The people whom she called only her family were now Mishti’s family too. Was she even prepared to deal with the notion of sharing them with her? Would she even be happy doing that? 

She opened her mouth to say these things, but nothing came out. Instead she said, “pata nahin. Mujhe bas ab aapke saath time spend karna chahti hoon. Is that such a big ask?”

Nishant felt uneasy with Kuhu brushing it off, but he let her. She was recovering, he told himself. She needs the time and space to process. Just then, the doorbell rang downstairs. They heard Shaurya going to open the door. 

“Arey Kunal beta, tum?”

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