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 died mysteriously.

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. At mid-night, Nihar wakes up Kusum. Indira Devi is sick and they must leave. On the way 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.

 

Part 7 : dew and the Mist

 

‘The rains drizzled the whole night. Warmly, and softly treading into her heart.’

 

Kusum stayed awake till midnight thinking about a having better life with Nihar. She wanted to reach him, to normalise their relationship as early as possible. Restlessness and excitement forced her to wake up early in the morning.

Eager to see him first in the morning, she looked for him and found him working in his Study. Seeing him again she went into fix state, not able to decide if she should go inside or not. Grappled with her impasse, she twisted her dupatta, looked here and there until he noticed her.

‘Why are you standing there? Come inside.’ He almost ordered her.

Nervously she looked at him but then gathered all courage to go inside.

‘Tell me.’ He asked.

Apprehensively she asked, ‘Nihar, do you need anything?’

‘No, Thanks.’ He said and again turned his eyes to his laptop.

She could not think of what to ask further, how to continue their conversation. Finally, she gave up and turned to leave.

‘Something is surely wrong with you today.’ He shouted.

Surprised, she turned back and saw a smile in his eyes.

‘What do you mean?’ She retorted.

‘Today for the first time you have entered inside my Study and have cared to know my needs.’ His eyes twinkled and her cheeks warmed upon his direct take.

She could not think of an answer and fumbled for words. ‘Woh, Dadimaa….!’ and she bit her lips hard to stop.

‘What Dadimaa…?’ His eyes darkened as he raised his eyebrows a bit.

‘…. Dadimaa told me to take care of you…!’ quickly she replied and turned her back as she did not want to see a mocking smile on his face.

But he came in front of her, and she was forced to face him as his eyes stared at her deeply.

With a twinkling smile, he said, ‘Kusumita, don’t feel pressurised with Dadimaa’s expectations. Do what you feel is right. Don’t worry about me. If I need something from you, I shall come to you, I simply don’t pretend…’

His smile confused her. She hurriedly left his study and returned to her room. 

 

The next day morning, again she woke up early. She wanted to prepare breakfast for him and went to the kitchen. The cook Ramj was very much surprised to see her and could not hide his excitement.

He asked, ‘Bibiji, do you want anything?’

Hesitatingly she asked, ‘Ramji, can you tell me what breakfast Nihar likes?’

‘Bibiji, normally eggs and toast but today he has left early morning. Don’t you know?’

Ramji, the head cook of the house was quick to make her realize that she does not know anything about her husband. She felt so stupid. YES! Dadimaa is right, she is not a good wife, she doesn’t even know what her husband does, where he goes.

‘Irresponsible!’ She shouted to herself and came out of the kitchen.

She had so many questions about Nihar. Even after a few months of their marriage, she hardly knew anything about him. She badly wanted to talk to someone, she could only think of Sneha who could probably fulfil her quest. She went to Sneha’s room.

Sneha smiled as she entered her room.

‘Yes, Kusum!’  

‘Sneha, I want to talk to you about something personal.’ And Kusum locked the door.

Sneha was confused with her secretiveness and looked at her questioningly.

‘Sneha, I want to know about Radhika.’

‘Radhika?’

‘Yes, Nihar’s first wife.’

Sneha hesitated for a while and then replied, ‘Why don’t you ask brother?’

‘I feel awkward to ask him. Please tell me about her. What happened to her?’

Sneha was still hesitant but on Kusum’s continuous persuasion agreed.   

Sneha said in very low voice, ‘Kusum, I was very young when all this happened. I only know that they were very much in love. Brother and Radhika were childhood friends. I have heard, he was crazy about her, the same was true about Radhika. But then during their honeymoon, she met with an accident and died.’

‘Oh!’ 

‘It took many years for brother to come out of her loss. Dadimaa was very adamant to get him married again. She stopped eating. So, brother agreed.’

She was not pleased to hear the reason behind their marriage but she didn’t show her unhappiness to Sneha and smiled at her, ‘Thanks Sneha.’ 

Kusum then returned to her room. She sat down on the chair and tried to collate the information given by Sneha.  She remembered what Nihar had told her about love during their trip to Agra. Surely, he was in love with Radhika.

‘I misunderstood him’.  She felt awful and wanted to reach him.

 

The day passed in restlessness, and so the night. He did not come for the dinner, and it made her more restless. She would look at the watch after every few minutes. It was almost midnight when she heard his car entering. Quickly she opened the door.

He was surely surprised to see her, frowned, and asked, ‘You? Why are you awake?’

‘I was worried for you.’

‘I am fine. Please go to sleep.’

The sternness in his eyes scared her, but she remembered her resolve and asked. ‘I want to have your cell phone number.’

 ‘I see, you have taken Dadimaa’s advice seriously…!’ and he laughed.

She was embarrassed and immediately took fast steps to move away but he caught her hand and brought her very close to him.

He asked, ‘Anything more you want to say?’

She was dazed by his closeness, ‘NO…’  Quickly she replied and freed herself. She quickly ran towards her room, and once inside, she locked the door.

‘Take a deep breath…!’ she reminded herself, and her eyes went to the mirror in front of her.  She could feel him standing behind her, with his eyes gazing mischievously at her. Her cheeks were suffused with red colour, and her eyes turned dreamy.

 

The next morning, she woke up early and headed to the kitchen. She prepared breakfast as she wanted to surprise Nihar. Soon everyone came in – Dadimaa, Sneha, Mohit and Nihar. She served the breakfast to everyone and waited eagerly to hear from them, especially Nihar.

Nihar looked at her and then at Dadimaa, ‘Dadimaa, what have you told her? Her behaviour is very abnormal since yesterday. She wants to be my babysitter.’

Dadimaa looked at Kusum’s anxious face and started laughing. Everyone joined.

Kusum was embarrassed, holding her tears back she ran to her room.

To her surprise, Nihar followed her.

‘Kusumita, please listen…’ He shouted but she did not stop.

He entered inside the room, ‘Kusumita, I didn’t mean it.’ But she didn’t look at him. She did not want to show him that she was hurt. She closed her eyes tightly, to stop the arrival of a flood of tears. But despite her effort to stop them, they arrived.

He came closer to her, wiped away her tears and lifted her chin, ‘Look at me.’

She softly opened her eyes. His black eyes intensely gazed at her as the warmth of his breath hit her. And then he surprised her, as he kissed her lips slightly.

Eagerly she submitted herself completely but soon he broke off with a jerk.

‘Kusumita, I am getting late for work.’ And he left hurriedly.

Puzzled by his withdrawal, she nodded.

 

 

Rakhi Sunil Kumar

 

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