"You married her?" she repeated slowly, coming to terms with the truth that was more than she could have imagined or feared. That he took her to his bed. Even that she was pregnant with his child. But married? Devdas to a mere tawaif? Bound by the most sacred bond. Not just for this life. But many others. He just kept adding burden to her soaring heart and she wondered what will happen next, what will he say the will finally make her heart stop beating with exhaustion. It kept going still. For now.
"Yes," he said. "Little over a year ago. I.... thought I would write you a letter about it but... Chandramukhi stopped me. She said that you don't deserve more pain. That every day that you may hope will do you good."
She just wanted you to herself! Paro thought viciously. Nobody could be that considerate and kind. Nobody.
"And this is supposed to be better?" she said out loud, bitterly.
"This was never planned," he answered and kept tagging a bit of his sleeve nervously. "We didn't mean to leave that village. For several months more at least. But our in-laws - yours and mine - decided the things differently."
"What do you mean?"
He narrated the story to her. Lot less dramatically than it actually had been. But could words really explain the fright, the speed of it all? No. And it was not necessary. She needed to know Ram came as a shadow in the middle of the night, unexpected and definitely not welcomed with open arms. She did not need to know his first reaction upon seeing Chandramukhi was a fit of uncontrollable anger.
.............
"Have you two gone mad!" he kept screaming as he violently grabbed Devdas by the collar and refused to listen to reason for a few minutes. But then even he realized some things were out of ones hands. "This makes things complicated," he said finally. "But in the end I always believed one gets what one deserves. Grab what you need. You need to move. Tonight. Now."
"Why?"
"Because you choose your friends like you sleep with my sister!" Ram barked. "Without thinking about consequences! Your friend Chunilal may love you, but he also loves his drink. And brothels. And company. And if all that comes together and the company happens to be that dark thakur you are both so familiar with, then what happens?"
Devdas and Chandramukhi exchanged a look full of horror.
"He got drunk and told him.... we are together.... here...."
"Exactly! I only got to know by chance. The group he promptly hired to kill you happens to be friends with me. One of them mentioned hasty preparations. They will be here by morning. Hell! I almost killed the horse to get here! I hope you have some in the stables. If not I'll go and steal from the village before you grab your things. It's just too bad they probably already know I went ahead to warn you. They will not waste a minute more."
"I can't possibly ride a horse," Chandramukhi said, deathly pale.
"But you can get killed?" Ram snapped, annoyed, nervous. He almost seemed..... to care.
"Can't we get a carriage?"
"Too easy to track down. You need to be gone. They will not give up that easily. They will hunt you down. I know them. They have been paid and they hate to leave a job unfinished. So no carriages. Horses have to do for now. Maybe we will find something else along the way. Now," he threw a coat over his sister's shoulders, "if you want to take something with you, get it now. He goes first, we will follow."
She pushed him away. "Are we not going together?"
"They will be asking for two men and a woman. If we split it won't be so easy for them to ask about us. And in case they are still after us even then, they too will have to split. Which may play into our advantage should there be a confrontation."
