Love Happens

Chapter nine

Mumbai
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"Shraddha, return to your room. How can you intervene between your husband and your father-in-law's conversation?" Mother admonished her with a berating tone as if she weren't part of the family.

"But Mother, Father is forgetting Riya is part of the family...."

She mandated it before she could finish talking. "The late Supriya never dared to intervene in things she wasn't included in. Instead of being here, go to your children and try to make them love you."

She met her mother's callous stare. She silently left from there to return to the room.

"Come Riya." Ranbir wore a fake smile as he began to take steps closer to Riya. Before he could reach her, Anand blocked his view with his dominant figure.

"Let him take his wife, Anand." His father warned him.

"I dare you to take a step forward." Anand's gaze was fixated on her husband. His face was stringent and rigid, which got Ranbir a little bit frightened.

"It's been long since she visited her family. She can stay here for the night. I'll come tomorrow to take her." he said.

"You won't ever take her." Anand clamored with full confidence.

"Who are you to decide her future?" His father heatedly exclaimed to Anand who was vexing him to the extent that he chose to bash him in front of everyone. "You're not her father. Only I have the right to decide her future."

"She's above eighteen. She has the right to choose what she wants in life. Neither you nor I have the right to decide that for her. And since she's decided to leave her home, I'm sure she's considered her decision many times. It will be for the good of everyone to let her stay here, or else when she leaves, I will leave with her. We'll then talk about how your image will be impacted." Anand said while sounding as calm as he could. He held his sister's hand strongly, and they continued walking into the house.

"She'll not stay here for long."

Anand ignored his father's cold bashing as he took his sister to her room, which has been locked for 12 years. Surprisingly, everything was neat, like someone goes in every day to get it cleaned.

"How can I repay you, brother?" Riya hugged her brother affectionately while crying.

"Who said there are debts between siblings? Wait here. I'll get the first-aid box from my room. We'll clean that bruise, and it will be better in a short time." He pulled away and left. Immediately, his father, who was hiding behind a pillar, entered the room. Riya was standing in front of the mirror to wipe her tears so that her children wouldn't see her in that state. She noticed her father's figurine behind her.

"Mr Kapoor." She conveyed it in a rigorous tone.

"Where is your shame? The fake self-respect? How can you stay in a place that doesn't welcome you?" He ferociously vocalized. "Where is the I won't return until there's a funeral? Is someone dead? Oh!" he muffled a mocking chuckle. "Your ego died, right?"

"I said those things out of anger. We can never stay angry at our loved ones, especially our parents. I forgave the fact you got me married to Ranbir as part of a business deal." she replied calmly.

"You know that man treated you right. I know how he behaved."

"At some point. He behaved nicely at some point, but he couldn't stay loyal to me alone. When I wanted to divorce him, you got my phone tapped so that I wouldn't be able to inform anyone. You threatened me with my old-time secret that should have been forgotten a long time ago."

"I'll still do the same. If you don't return, I'll reveal the truth."

"Go ahead and do it. This time, I won't mind my reputation getting stained because, along with me, you too will have a stain on yours." She grinned with a smirk.

"You're not as innocent as you portray yourself to be. I gave birth to you. I know how your mind works."

"Save me the trouble and leave." She folded her hands and continued. "I never called myself a saint. I am not foolish either. I refuse to stay in a loveless and abusive relationship. Maybe a slap is just a slap for you, but to me, whoever slapped me will pay dearly for it."

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Anand went into his room. Shraddha went hurriedly towards him and asked in a concerned voice.

"Has Father agreed to let Sister stay?"

Anand probed her face once. There was still innocence in it. Why was she still trying to act in front of him?

The thought made his blood boil. He hated two-faced people, and she was one of them.

He spurned her and moved to his closet for the first aid box.

"What have I done now?" Shraddha inquired to know why he was behaving so coldly towards her.

"I'm not your husband. You have no right to get information from me." he raved in a perilous voice and left the room.

Shraddha's eyes warmed up with tears, and they flew seemlessly downward.
"Why can't he be my husband? He smiled at me earlier. He complimented my food. Why is he giving me mixed signals that I'm not able to understand? What does he wish?" She blitzed her mind with questions.

"Anandji, I want to spend my life with you. I accepted your family as mine. I agreed to be a mother to your children. Why can't you love me despite all I've done?"

Outside the room, Anand darted into his sister's bedroom. He found her on the bed in a meditative posture.

"Sister!" he called out softly.

"Where are my children?" she opened her eyes and asked him with a serious voice.

"Before coming, I saw Mom feeding them food. They'll join you in a while." he replied, sitting beside her. "I'll clean the bruise," he said, to which she nodded. As he applied the ointment, she kept hissing in pain. He finished, and he hugged her.

"Why didn't you ever inform me that the man abuses you?"

"Supriya knew. I told her and asked for help from her through you. But my problems were never important to her."

Anand jerked his brows downward because he wasn't aware. Supriya has never mentioned it to him.

"You know I got married as part of our father's business deal. However, after marriage, I found Ranbir to be a nice man. That was after I told Father I would never return here since he doesn't love me. I thought so since he got me married to secure his future. I got to know Ranbir, and we fell in love. We gave birth to three children, but do you know he kept cheating on me from the day we got married until today? He keeps nightstands in his company. When I complain, he beats me mercilessly. My love for him had to fade since I know I'm not the only one in his life."

"Don't worry. Things will change from now on." He patted her back lovingly.

The children went into the room, thereby making Anand and Riya pull away.

"I will go. Take care. Until we meet at the breakfast table tomorrow." He sent her a small smile while getting up. She nodded her head, and he brushed the boy's hair on his way out.

He returned to his room. Shraddha was already waiting for him near the window. Sniffing his dominant aura, she closed her eyes, and more tears rolled out of them.

"Anandji, tell me honestly. Do we have a future together, or do we not?" she whispered.

Her question arrived unexpectedly when he didn't anticipate it. He replied. "Just like there are possible tenses, there are also impossible tenses. An example of the impossible tense is that the dead can never return to life. And another is that you and I will never have a future together."

"Why?" she whispered, despite being deeply hurt by his words. He had no idea how much his answer felt like a toxin in her heart.

"Because I hate you. Is that a good enough reason?" he said casually.

"Why do you hate me, Anandji?" she asked with a heavy heart. Her tears were endless, but also silent. She cried quietly without alerting him. She knew she wasn't strong enough to face him, and that was why she made her back become her face in front of him while she stared out the window.

"Because..."

She toiled for breath when he spoke.

"Because your mother and you accepted lots of money before she agreed to let you be part of this family. She collected gold, ornaments, money, cars, and houses, and you, despite knowing you were getting married and your image would be ruined in front of society, how could you agree to such a cheap contract? Father chose you to be my children's mother. How? How can I ever let you teach them what they taught you?

"When did my mother collect any of your money?" She turned and faced him. Her nose flared red due to her tears.

"Will you pretend not to be aware?" he exclaimed.

"It's a lie. I was told you loved me. Had it been for money, I too wouldn't marry you because one thing my mother always told me is that living with love is better than living with luxury."

He went to the closet and picked up the newspaper where the article about her was published. He threw it in her face. Shraddha took the paper that fell to the floor and looked at him in disbelief for his behavior.

"What is that, then?"

Her eyes scrutinized the newspaper word by word, and she then asked him what it was.

"It's nothing, according to you, right?" He was amazed by her calmness when her image had been ruined completely by the world. But then he remembered that they paid her for it. He chuckled loudly. "It is sad how people like you are ready to sell your respect for money. Staying in the same place with you feels like hell. God knows for how long I must tolerate you. Two years won't be a long time. We'll be divorced in two years." He blasted out of the room in anger.

"Ahh!" Shraddha wailed and screeched into a new season of tears. Her lips uncontrollably trembled, and her view became hazy.

"What is this? How did we accept money?" She looked at the newspaper but couldn't read a single word because it was published in English with high-standard words.

Anand went outside the house. The cold breeze blew his cloth, and it swayed from side to side. He walked without knowing his destination. The flashback of how his mother made him agree to marry Shraddha gleamed in front of him.

It was a bright Sunday. He was sitting on the lawn working from home, and his mother went to him and joined him.

"Anand!" she called out to him.

Yes, Mother." His gaze left his laptop, and they focused on her. They moved to the picture she was trying to show him of a woman she wanted him to marry. She has been showing him the picture since last month, but his answer always ended up being no, and he wasn't ready to change his mind any day because he promised Supriya there wouldn't be anyone after her.

"I know. You won't marry her, but...



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