The Enchantress | COMPLETE | AbhiGya Fiction

8. Time and Tide

Pragya:

I never thought I was a believer of true love, I was a staunch believer of reality, practical life, always a 'what needs to be done' person over a 'what ought to be done' person. I have never even reacted like a lover, I never confronted my husband for infidelity, never even questioned my sister for her treachery, I was a scorned woman, but I knew duties and performed them to the best of my abilities. I had made peace with my disability to love or even fight for love, thinking I didn't have it in me.

Years later in my life, I realized that it wasn't true, I didn't confront my husband or even try protecting my relationship with him because, I had never truly been in love in the first place. Perhaps it was due to this self-ignorance that I had caught myself by surprise, much later in life, after Abhi and my encounter, when I found out about Abhi's closeness with Bulbul during their lunch date on his yacht.

It was at Bulbul's 'Sangeet' ceremony that was held one day before the wedding when Bulbul and Abhi performed a couple dance. It was the first time I felt irked; still oblivious to the possessive side of mine, I waved it aside thinking it was only a dance, it was supposed to look intimate, and of course there was nothing intimate in their relationship. I knew my half-sister was shrewd, she knew she was entering a love less wedlock, but what did she care, as far as love was concerned, she had found it in my husband and she was only looking for a trophy partner now. As much as that thought tormented me, I was still at peace, it wasn't a fresh wound, it wasn't new, and I was used to living with it by then.

It was a strange moment in my life, when I got to know about Abhi and Bulbul's closeness, by fluke. I was only passing by Bulbul after her dance performance, she was crowded by her friends, and they were teasing her about her visible intimacy with Abhi, it annoyed me a little that it wasn't only me, they were close enough for even others to notice too. However, what blew air out of my gut was her response to her friends. Her sly, manipulative, devilish wink saying, what her friends saw was just a 'trailer' she had filmed the full movie with Abhi!

I hadn't realized that I had stopped walking; it was a deja-vu so powerful that I had to struggle to keep my balance to continue standing. I felt a myriad of emotions hitting me all at once, there was defiance, outrage, hurt, pain, anguish, angst, jealousy, disappointment and at one point even numbness. I felt like I was existing at an alternate realm at the same time, and strangely, a few lines came to my mind, lines I had written in my first novel, the novel where I had put my heart out, my life out, the novel that was more close to my reality than I ever was aware at that point of time, also my only novel that tanked.

"She realised that she had never given up on hope of love. Even when her world stood completely still, she was a believer. She always was, only now she could feel it deep within her bones too. A quake was on its way." ~ Voice of the Ocean, Pragya.

I could no longer deny the evident. Standing amidst a crowded hall with his 'Sangeet' ceremony going in full swing, hearing from his fiancée that he had moved on as we had planned and found love in my arch nemesis, I had hit a realization that I knew was going to alter the entire course of, not only my life, but also my whole family's – that I, Pragya Arora Shrivastav, had finally fallen in love for the first time in my whole life – and I was in love with, not my husband, but my sister's fiancé, my best friend's younger brother – I Pragya Arora Shrivastav, was in love with Abhi Mehra.

The realization was as intimidating, as it was exhilarating.

Truly, I had realized that day, that a quake was on its way.

***

Bulbul:

I accept it, that I was lying. I didn't need to, but I was lying just to agitate my sister. Abhi and I had not gone all the way, during our time at his yacht. We couldn't, Abhi wouldn't; although I failed to understand why. I knew he wanted it, I was willing to give it to him but he resisted. He resisted saying we should wait until the wedding and I agreed, although I know him enough to tell that there had to be an underlying reason. I didn't bother too much to be honest; I realized he was trying to do the right by me – that meant something. It meant I was important to him. Maybe I was going to be in a loveless marriage, but I was most important for him, which is more than what Suresh could ever offer, with Aadi by his side.