Tere liye

ch-23

   Aranya and her parents went to one of the oldest ethnic Rajasthani restaurant to have dinner.They had night tour of the city after dinner. She was very happy to spend time with her parents. In those moments she forgot everything and was just having the best time. They came home at almost midnight. Aranya's mom stayed with her in her room,her father left them alone giving some privacy. There was one more reason for that. They wanted to know little more about Sidharth's behaviour towards her to get some clarity regarding his intentions as they have discussed earlier.

   " Aaru, can I ask you something?" Aranya's mom asked caressing her hairs who was sleeping on her lap.

  " Yes mom" Aranya replied with half sleeping eyes.

      " How Sidharth behaves with you? Please don't hide anything from me. I want to know every single details about him whatever you know. How is he as a person? Did he ever try to come closer to you or did anything which you found suspicious or abnormal? Did he try to behave like your husband or told you to behave like his wife at any instance? Did you have to go through any trouble because of him apart from this forced marriage thing?" Ayesha bombarded her questions in one breathe.

   After listening to her mom's questions, Aranya's sleep went away and she sat up stright facing her then she hugged her mother tightly.

  " Sweetheart what happened? You are scaring me. Did he do something which he should not? Please don't afraid to share. Just tell us, me and your father will not spare him if he had done something which he should not have. We are here, you don't need to be scared from him at all. Please speak or else I will get heartattack any moment just by thinking of all the worst possibilities." Ayesha pleaded to Aranya.

  Aranya broke the hug and looked at her mother. She took deep breaths then started speaking.

  " Honestly speaking mom, I don't know what to say about him? My mind is confused like hell and I am trying to figure out things about him but still not able to. He is like a big puzzle which I am trying to solve but failing miserably. But yes his behaviour does look suspicious to me most of the times as if he is hiding something from me and this feeling is growing with each passing days. I can't tell you what exactly it is but there is something for sure." Aranya shared her confusion with her mother.

    Ayesha got alarmed after hearing that.

     " What do you mean by hiding something? What made you think like that? Did he say something to you?" Ayesha asked keeping fingers crossed.

      " This is the problem, that he never gives straight forward answers and just ignore it if I ask anything. But the way he behaves, it feels like he knows me. I mean, I am not a stranger for him as he is for me. I know it must be sounding very absurd to you but trust me, his behaviour is even more absurd." Aranya replied.

  " Aranya will you stop talking in riddles and just tell me what I am asking? I asked you about him and his behaviour particularly towards you and you are just beating around the bushes instead of giving straight forward answers." Ayesha said with irritation and desperation.

  "If you are asking me things what he did apart from this forceful marraige and keeping me here then honestly, there is nothing against him. Yes, I admit, I still have so much anger in me for what he did with me and I will never forgive him for this but apart from this, most of his activities makes me suspicious towards him. For example, he doesn't even try to talk to me unnecessarily or do anything to grab my attention but at the same time he behaves so protective and possessively specially whenever there is some danger or trouble around me even if it's small one. I don't know how to feel about it? Neither I can say that he hates me nor I can say that he likes me but despite all of this,there is something very mysterious about him and I am not able to figure it out yet." Aranya told her mother everything.