Till now you have read – Kusumita  a young girl from a poor family is forced to marry Nihaar Singh who is heir of a rich family of Delhi.  Soon she comes to know the reason behind their marriage as Nihaar has a dark past, his first wife’s mysterious death. 

Indira Devi, grandmother of Nihar, notices the awkwardness in their relationship, and forces them to go on  their Honeymoon to Agra. At TajMahal, Nihar talks about love. On the way back they meet with an accident which makes Kusum fearful of Nihar and she runs away from him. Later Nihar saves her from a few goons. They return to Delhi.

Kusum talks to her sister Bindiya, and decides not to doubt Nihar anymore. She makes breakfast for Nihar, and he mocks about her change in attitude. 

 

Part 8 : dew and the Mist

‘The dense mist was all over the place, while the dew looked for a rock to fall on!’

 

Kusum anxiously looked at the wall clock, it was past mid-night but Nihar had not come back. Her cheeks warmed up as she remembered their kiss in the morning. She was very eager to see him, and closed her eyes as the emotions overwhelmed her.

Suddenly she heard the sound of a vehicle stopping in the entrance, quickly she got up and opened the door.

But soon she was disappointed as saw Mohit getting down from the car. He smiled at her, and asked, ‘Kusum, Waiting for Big Brother?

She nodded.

 ‘So, how is going with Big Brother? Does he get angry with you?’

She remained quiet.

He came closer and almost hushed in her ears. ‘Kusum, just be careful. He can do anything when he is angry. You know, everyone in this house is scared of him.’

Kusum retorted, ‘Mohit, you are completely wrong about Nihar. He has never shown his anger to me and also, I don’t find any truth in what you told me about Radhika.’

Mohit was surprised by her tone. He warned her, ‘I am not lying about Radhika. You don’t know the truth yet and you will never come to know about it; because in this house no one speaks against him, no one wants to speak the truth.’

She replied, ‘There is no truth in it. They were in love.’

Mohit laughed and said, ‘who told you? Nihar married Radhika because she was the only child of a rich business man. All her companies were to come to him after her.’

She was stunned. Had never thought about it but her heart refused to believe what Mohit said, and once again she defended Nihar, ‘I don’t believe you.’

Mohit came close to her, looked into her eyes, and said, ‘Why don’t you find out details about Nihar’s companies? You will find that previously it was all in Radhika’s name. Also, do you know he was just twenty when he got married? Why was he in so much hurry?’

She was now confused.

He continued, ‘He was an ambitious man. He wanted to expand his business empire. He wanted to show everyone that he is the rising business star.’

‘Mohit, I don’t believe you. I know you and Nihar don’t like each other that’s why you keep poisoning my mind.’ Her nostrils flared.

Mohit shrugged off, and said, ‘Yes, it’s true. We don’t like each other but it’s only because of the ways he used to build his business empire.’

‘Mohit, I am from a poor family. What motive he has for me?’ She wanted to defend Nihar hard.

‘I don’t know what his plans are. I am trying to guess, but you, please stay careful.’

Doubts again engulfed her, and she turned quiet.

Mohit came closer to her, kept his hands on her shoulder. ‘Kusum, I care for you, believe me.’

She tried to show a brave front and smiled meekly.

He nodded and left.

She sat on the sofa, confused. Sometime back she actually was so much at ease, looking forward to meet Nihar. But now she was in deep doubts.

Suddenly she saw Nihar standing at the door. His eyes were fiery, dismayed. He ignored her completely and went inside.

She could not understand any reason for his anger. She also came back to her room, and tried to sleep.

 

+++++

 

The chirping of early morning birds at her window woke her up. She got up, looked outside, found it was very dark with a tinge of orange. She made coffee for herself, and sat in the lawn, watched the changing colours of Sky. But her mind dwelled upon what Mohit said, and what made Nihar was so upset. Nothing was making sense. She closed her eyes, and tried to listen to what her heart was saying.

She tried to reason to her heart that she must find out the facts by herself.

The resolve made calmed her.

She returned to her room, opened up the laptop, put on her spectacles and searched for information related to Nihar’s companies on the internet. She was bewildered as the information popped out on the screen. Yes…! On some of his company websites, it was clearly stated that it has been transitioned from Chopra Group of companies to Singh Industries.

She sunk into the chair, closed her eyes thinking deep.  Her heart not ready to believe what she saw. ‘Kusum, you are very much in danger! Mohit is saying the truth…! What would you do now?’ Her scary inner sense warned her.

‘I must give a chance to Nihar to explain.’ And she decided to talk to Nihar.

As soon she him arriving, she went to his Study. She found him staring the ceiling, completely engrossed in himself. She hesitated for a moment but then decided to go ahead on what she come for. She called him, ‘Nihar, I want to talk to you.’

He changed his posture and smiled at her. ‘Yes, come in.’

She sat on the chair. Not able to decide on how and where to start. There was a moment of deep silence, of indecision, as he stared at her deep hazel eyes. Then he broke the silence, pointed her to the ceiling.

 ‘Kusumita, do you see that spider?’

She was confused, and looked at where he was pointing to.

‘Do you know what he is trying to do? He is trying to come out of his own web and more he tries, more he gets stuck in. It’s so confusing for him.’  And he laughed out loudly.

She felt a strange closeness to the spider. She is in no different situation than the spider is in. Again, a deep silence developed between them which he again broke.

‘So, you wanted to talk to me?’

She was not sure if she should talk, but then she saw edginess in his eyes and tried to find words to frame the statement. Looking into his eyes, she said, ‘Nihar, I don’t know where to start.’

‘Go head.’ He sounded impatient.

‘Since my arrival in this house, I am looking for an answer.’

‘What?’

The impatience in his eyes made her uneasy.

‘Nihar, I want to know, why did you marry me?’

‘Kusumita, what kind of question is this?’ He was agitated.

‘No, it’s very important for me to know. I am not from a rich family. My family is nowhere near to yours.’

‘But then did I ever let you feel it?’

‘No.’

‘Am I not taking care of you?’

‘Yes, you are.’

‘Then why are you asking?’

‘I want to know the reason. You could have married any other girl. Why me? ‘

His eyes deeply probed her for a while, she waited and waited for the turbulent storm to pass, but he did not speak a word silent and removed his gaze away from her.

She wanted to cry out loudly; she knew it, he will not answer it. What could he say? She understands it very well. She controlled her tears and got up. He caught her hand and pulled her towards him. Shocked, her eyes widened with surprise.

Without batting his eyelids, ‘Because I liked your eyes…!’

She was now shocked till death. Never had she thought that he noted her anytime. She always felt, for him she was just like one of the furniture pieces lying in this big palace. She was awestruck and then his both hands went around her waist and brought her very closer to him.

Looking into her eyes, he spoke in a very low voice, ‘Kusumita, first time when I met you, I don’t know why but I liked you. Your eyes spoke without speaking and I liked the vivaciousness in them. I felt, they will understand me. I felt, I knew them.’

She could feel truth in his eyes and her mouth opened up with surprise but then she remembered what Sneha had told her.

‘But I heard Dadi-maa forced you into this marriage.’

‘Yes, that is the truth. I would not lie to you but when I saw you, it was an instant liking.’

She pinched herself hard, not able to believe in what she heard.

To reassure, she asked, ‘Nihar, are you telling me the truth?’

His eyes darkened. He lifted her chin and brought his lips closer to hers. As they claimed her lips, all her nerves suddenly went numb erupting all what was stuck inside for so many days, and she returned his kiss with equal intensity.

Suddenly she remembered what Mohit had said about Radhika and she came out of his embrace. He was annoyed as if he didn’t like her breaking off. His impatience, she could see on his face.

‘Nihar, I want to know about Radhika.’

He frowned, ‘Kusumita, I don’t want to talk anything about Radhika, it is private to me.’

‘Why can’t you talk about her?’ Her eyes turned red with anguish.

He firmly looked at her, ‘Kusumita, I told you, and that is it.’

And she could not control herself, she blasted taking out all what was troubling her for last so many days. ‘I know it, why you don’t want to talk about her. You married me because of your bad reputation. You wanted to shut off what people were talking about you and you wanted a girl from a poor family, who will not raise her voice. Right…?’

He was unperturbed, ‘Kusumita, Leave. I don’t want to talk.’

‘No Nihar, you are lying to me.’

‘I said go. Leave.’ His voice suddenly pitched high.

Infused with anger, she left the Study.

 

Rakhi Sunil Kumar

 

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