Chapter 20: Chapter 20

“What the hell do you have to say?” Anahita croaked, her voice sounded brittle and low as if She would burst into tears any moment. With that, Yuvraaj forgot why he came all the way here and asked quietly, “Why are you crying?”

“Because I am so happy. Satisfied? Now go.” She replied almost shutting the door. Yuvraaj played upon the opportunity and slipped his foot inside through the gap. He broke inside making her repel.

“When I ask something, answer me straightlaced. When I speak, look at me. When I say something, comply with it.” He intoned taking predatory steps at her after latching the door. Anahita successfully enjoyed the show and sighed. She perched on the bed and laid down facing the other wall.

“Anahita!” Yuvraaj called and she closed her eyes, pretending to sleep. Yuvraaj stared at her. She closed the distance between them and sat on her side. His hands reached up to turn her. Anahita didn't object when he turned her but she kept her eyes shut.

“Anahita, what happened?” He caressed her cheek. “Why are….you so warm?”

“Why do you care?” She whispered, trying to turn away. Yuvraaj held her shoulders and jerked up her to sit. He cupped her face and wiped her already dried up tears, “Now tell me, why are you crying? Are you not feeling well?”

She parted her lips only to be intervene, “Don't be sarcastic. Answer me categorically.”

“Why?” Yuvraaj glanced at him with hurt mirroring in her eyes.

“So that I can take care of posthumous shenanigans if you're planning to cry till death.” He played reverse psychology with her knowing that coaxing wouldn't work with her.

“Of course, that's what you all want.” She teared up again, “No one wants to see me alive. Everyone hates me, no one trusts me. What's the use of living if I am all alone?” She sobbed hiding her face in her hands. Yuvraaj slowly wrapped his hands around, waiting to be pushed if she had planned that but when she didn't, he held her closer and tucked her face in his chest.

Turmoiled with her emotional breakdown, Anahita surrendered immediately sheathing her hands around his waist and cried her heart out.

“No one trusts....me. Mom accepted whe....n Misti...aunty told that....I...might ha....ve cross..ed all limits w....ith Mukund, dad...didn't even...bel..ieve me and...now...he....he....cal...led me...wh..wh..whore.” She managed to spurt out interspersed with hiccups and Yuvraaj rubbed her back soothing her without uttering anything.

“Mukund, he said that?” He asked through clenched jaw and she nodded, hugging him closer.

“That bastard!” The ever so calm and composed Yuvraaj finally lost it and cussed. How possibly anyone dared to dishonor his wife?

“Why did he say it?”

“I...confe...ssed about...tha..that kiss. Anahita stuttered, still sobering up and if Yuvraaj was mad before, he was retarded now, he distanced their frames and greeted his teeth, “He cursed you because we kissed. How dare he? That...wait, why the hell did you tell him about it?”

“I was...guilty.” She mumbled, wiping her tears. Hurt seeped in Yuvraaj, my wife felt guilty after kissing me. His subconscious howled in pain, he didn't regret. He didn't feel guilty. He would feel ecstatic if it was her first kiss and he was the one to stole it. Though the chances were pretty low.

“You were guilty because we kissed?” He couldn't hide the pain and disappointment in his voice that made Anahita shiver.

“I was guilty on going behind his back.” That was the truth she never felt guilty for the kiss. The only guilt was of going behind Mukund's back but now, even that started to disappear.

“Come with me.” Without waiting for her affirmation, Yuvraaj dragged her from the room to their private beach villa booked officially for them.

***

Tranquil waves of the sea are said to be deftest in the art of alleviate one's pain. Traces of anxiety and plight are said to be ebbing away with the retreating poodles. The case was slightly counterproductive here, the pain that had enveloped Anahita in a vice grip, wasn't making her scarce.

Crying had made her nose red and her eyes had been puffed up, her once well coifed hair were dishevelled in bird nest, conspiring with the wind, blocking her way to see the deadpanned waters.

Melancholic, she was perched upon the wooden plank of the balcony and was admired the view lost in her own turmoiled notions.

She wiped her tears that were paving path of the ancestors and tugged her hair behind her ear, bringing her knees closer to her chest and wrapped her arms around her, slightly shivering in the pink weather. Her thoughts were all over the place. Yuvraaj had called a doctor just to get her examined if she were having a fever. She gaped at his worried face all the way while until it softened when the Doctor assured that all she had was a bit tension and weakness.

She failed to comprehend what should she think of Yuvraaj? What exactly was he? The man who had humiliated him before people about three hours ago or the person who cared for her as if she were precious to him. She was troubled, confused and broken.

“Are you planning to sit there and cry whole night?” Yuvraaj strode near her with snoopy steps and tried his best to curb the furor in his voice.

This was a bit much for him. His wife crying over another man didn't fit good with him. Since the time Anahita was with him, she had just been there physically because her mind was still dwelling on the skirmish happened between Mukund and her.

“I am asking something!” He repeated, prodding her to gain some reaction. Silence greeted him yet again. Anahita was lost in her thoughts that she didn't even realise his presence.

“C'mon! Get done with waterworks and I've ordered food for you. Feed yourself.” He added to make her feel good scooting next to her. Soft and chill breeze teased his bangs on the forehead and he propped his weight behind his back, stretching his arms.

“It's so serene, isn't it?” He whispered, closing his eyes and a muffled sob penetrated his ears. He scrutinized her wiping her tears rapidly through his peripheral gaze.

His fingers ached to touch her yet his mind suggested otherwise. Deciphering how she acted repulsively all the time, he kept hold on himself and didn't touch her. She might not like that, she might shout at him for advantaging her in her lowest point.

Yuvraaj could be counted in those men who have a very silent way of soothing someone. Preferably, he would hold you in his embrace and let you pour your heart out. He would rub your arms as a gesture that swear he would be with you yet you won't hear a word coming out from his mouth.

“I hate him.” Anahita croaked and sniffed, making Yuvraaj avert his attention to her. She kept her eyes right before the scenery.

“I hate him for slandering me.” She made him known, “I did all this for him. He couldn't come to pick me up at the day of our marriage and because he asked me to marry you, I did. Then how can he accuse me?”

Her eyes surfaced with pain, “I trusted him with all my heart and what he did! He slandered me and I know he thinks of me as such because one can't say things if one doesn't dwell on them.”

“I can kill him if you want.” Yuvraaj said seriously before he could do a mouth filter as that thing sounded very genuine to him. Except that, he didn't know what could make her feel good.

Anahita sneered between tears, taking a short look of him and scoffed, “Of course! Stab him on my behalf.”

It was the first time they'd discovered not to get on each other's nerve and to be heal their ailments. The smile which just had crawls up on her face dropped at instant as she recalled what happened in the reception. Yuvraaj wasn't a fool to miss the change in her, he pursed his lips.

“Anahita, I am sorry for -”

“Don't be. I told you one says the thing one thinks. Maybe I am low as such in your eyes.” She sported a sad smile, looking down on her toes and her fingers involuntarily rubbed them, “I am used to it by now. You are not the first one, that place was already acquired by my aunt.”

“I don't think as such of you. Why can't you believe it?”

“Fine, answer me then.” She gazed at his disturbed orbs which were definitely dark with remorse but she refused to acknowledge them, “Did you or didn't you book that room for Mukund? Didn't you bring me here for him? Didn't you plan to humiliate me like that way back?”

“I refute the third allegations.” He contradicted, “I accept that I brought you here so that you can easily leave with Mukund and no one would feel for. I booked that room for Mukund, so that I can observe him and be sure that he would not mistreat you.”

“You really thought that I will leave like that? You really thought I am that heartless to leave you in misery? You think that low of me.” She murmured. She was judged once again. Yes, she would've wanted to leave and started a new life with Mukund but not like that. Not like a coward anymore. She had already seen the consequences of deceiving her family, now she didn't want to do that to his family.

Yuvraaj dragged a sigh, raking hands through his coffee hair and gripped her shoulder making her look in his captivating deep eyes, “I do not think low of you, Anahita but my family is more important than you. I would rather hurt you in order to save my family.”

A part of her was broken again but the other gathered her and she looked at him with a new perspective. He was honest, banefully honest though. But his sheer honesty oozed from his words and eyes. He didn't sugarcoated his words like Mukund yet made her familiar with harsh reality.

I wish I could be a part of his family. Anahita confessed inwardly in his spell.

“You would hurt me?” She asked spellbound, her ears didn't hear anything else he uttered and he gaped at her, “This was the only thing you heard? I meant I would do that just in order to save my family but I don't plan to do that. Whatever I did in the reception was completely driven by anger, I couldn't bear the words when you said you were suffocating in my home. Anahita mom loves you like her own daughter, dad adores you and my sister runs behind you like a cosseted puppy and you say, you were suffocated. It just didn't get well with me.”

“I never said I was suffocated because of them.” She refused. “I was suffocated because of you.”

“Come again?”

“Back then, I didn't know your ulterior motive behind this whole honeymoon thing and then you were bossing me around everywhere. So I felt suffocated.” She came clean and for her own benefit added, “Not to mention the fact that I hate you.”

“Why do you hate me?” He was bemused. Every time she spelled it, it ripped his heart apart. Wishfully or not, she was his wife and the husband in him mourned when she accepted how much she hated him.

“Because you kissed me.” She replied within a blink as if the answer were impatiently waiting to roll out of her tongue.

“You hated me even before I kissed you.” He reminded her and smirked, “C'mon! Tell me how does it feel to always put the blame on someone?”

Anahita fell short of words. She had never categorize the reason to hate him. That was something she didn't find as precious to reckon over. It was etched in her mind way before her marriage that she hated him yet the reason of this immortal hatred wasn't classified yet.

Like a fish, she opened and closed her mouth multiple times but could not form a cohesive sentence to reply. Her inability of not being able to retort had particularly nothing to do with the teasing smirk adorning Yuvraaj's face and the tap dance his fingers were doing on her shoulder.

“You don't know why you hate me because you don't hate me.” He concluded, flossing a kiss on her cheek. He rose to his feet and left. Anahita sat dumb, staring at the his retreating back stupefied.

“You hungry?” He enquired, absconding inside their bedroom and produced himself a juice can from the refrigerator.

“Mmm?” Anahita expressed her incoherence, stalking him and he craned his neck towards her, “Are you hungry? I'm ordering food here itself.”

“No..I am not hungry.” She mumbled, walking to the cupboard and set her clothes inside. Yuvraaj poured water straight down to his throat directly by bottle.

“Of course! After all, you've made me pay twenty eight euros. That reminds me, how you've grown so much appetite? You used to eat barely three chapati back in home.” He asked wiping his lips.

Anahita didn't answer as this trivial issue of her appetite couldn't remove the previous conversation that was playing on loop in her mind. She pushed herself to dig the reason out for hating him. She was not suppose to revise her opinion on him just because he claimed that, yet he was not wrong, she acknowledged it.

“Italy is not suiting me.” She quips in double entendre and disappeared inside the bathroom to change her clothes.