Dark Night Dawning

Chapter 19

Khushi had no more tears left in her eyes. Her heart was breaking into a million pieces. Why was she wasting her tears on someone who had never trusted her? He had believed that she was a gold digger right from the first day. Though things had improved in the days before the wedding, Shyam's deviousness had revived that old distrust once again. But, the truth was ---- he had distrusted her even before Shyam.

She got up from her bed and looked around. She had a lot of work. The house had to be cleaned up thoroughly. They had only cleaned the beds a little so that the family could sleep for one night. She took the broom and pan and set herself to work. In a couple of hours she had managed to dust, sweep and mop the entire house. Though she was exhausted the physical labour had helped her to keep her mind off him.

Khushi went to the nearby store to pick up some grocery for the house. Tomorrow she would have to make a list of the things she would need for dabba service she was going to start the day after. When she came back home she realized that this was the first time she was going to be living all alone. She decided to stop thinking like that. She was going to forget everything that happened like a bad dream and start her new life with a fresh cup of tea. She had just filled the water in the pan when she heard the knock on the door. She went up to it and opened the door.

'Surajji?' Khushi smiled at Suraj glad to see a friend when she was feeling so lonely. 'Please come in. I was about to have some tea. Would you like some?

'You know I cannot refuse your tea Khushiji.' Suraj looked at Khushi's face and realized she was sad. He wondered if he should ask her.

'Is there anything you need Surajji?' asked Khushi.

'I actually came here to give you the address and phone no. of the office that needs the dabba service Khushiji. You will need to call them to introduce yourself.'

'Thank you so much Surajji!' Khushi remembered that Shyam had taken away her phone once they had left Delhi. She would have to get a new one. She made a mental note to have the landline reconnected.

As they sat there quietly sipping their tea Khushi realized that Suraj wanted to know what she was doing her all alone when the entire family had left in the afternoon. In this colony everyone saw everything. She decided she would avoid the topic until he asked her specifically. Suddenly someone shouted her name from the door way.

'Khushi Kumari Gupta!'

'Palak Mathur!' exclaimed Khushi excited to see her school friend, 'oh it's been so long!' the two friends hugged each other.

'Married life seems to suit you Khushi. You have become more beautiful though you seem to have lost a lot of weight. Don't they feed you well at your sasural?'

'Looks like someone is worried because she is getting married soon. Congratulations! Who is the boy? What does he do?'

'His name is Prateek Rastogi and he is from Mumbai. He runs a textile store there. I will be moving to Mumbai after marriage.'

'I am so happy for you Palak.'

'But I am not so happy about the fact that you didn't invite me to your wedding.' Said Palak pouting. Isn't it bhaiyya?'

'Palak!' Suraj berated his sister for being rude.

'That's ok Surajji,' said Khushi quickly coming he defence, ' it's just that everything happened very fast.'

'But tell me what you are doing here all alone? Mother told me she saw everyone leave in the afternoon. What about your husband? Where is he?'

Khushi stole glance at Suraj and saw that he was eagerly awaiting her answer as well. She didn't want to reveal the real reasons for her stay in Lucknow. She racked her brains trying to think of a valid reason. 'Actually, Arnavji decided to work from the Lucknow office temporarily. So I had to move with him. And since my parents' house was empty I suggested that we should stay here.'