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Chapter 2
RK slowly opened his eyes. They felt heavy and his head was pounding. Gradually his vision cleared and he saw the walls of the room he was in. He didn't recognize the place. He heard a muffled sob coming from his right. Slowly he moved his eyes in the direction until he saw a girl huddled in a corner a few feet away from him on the bed, her back to the wall and her head on her knees. She was wrapped up in a bedsheet and her hair covered her face so he couldn't see her, but her soft crying voice was familiar. It was her! - he suddenly realized, remembering the voice in his head while he was asleep. She wasn't crying in his dreams alone, she was actually crying.
Suddenly RK remembered everything that had happened earlier that evening. He had returned from London a day ahead of schedule. He wanted to give Deepali a surprise and bought a gift for her from the airport. She had been distant with him over the last few months and he wanted to work on his marriage, which had been difficult right from the beginning. It was an arranged marriage. His mother - no, his step-mother who RK had worshipped all his life - had fixed their alliance, and he had dutifully agreed. Theirs was a quick marriage, but Deepali had seemed okay with it before the marriage, though she was very reserved. The day of their wedding, she told RK she wasn't comfortable with the marriage and needed time to adjust. RK had understood and tried to give her time and space. They slept in different rooms, though connected by a door, and for almost 2 years he had tried to become friends with Deepali and tried to work on their relationship. But she never gave him a chance. She told him she needed more time to be his wife, even though to the outside world and even to the rest of his family she was Mrs Rishabh Kundra in every way. She was friendly with Radha and Sikander but didn't even want to talk to RK. She used to spend lakhs every month on RK's cards for her shopping, but never bought anything for him, or even asked him to come with him on her daily lunches, parties and shopping trips. Still, RK never forced himself or anything on her.
Then, 2 years back, things changed. Deepali herself came to him and expressed a wish to take their relationship forward. She had cried, she apologized and she even said she loved him because he had been so understanding. How happy RK had been then - it was almost the first time he had been acknowledged by his wife and he genuinely wanted their marriage to work. Things were good for a few days - maybe a month or so - amd RK even took Deepali out for a week's honeymoon. He got to know all his wife's tantrums and expensive tastes, but he could afford them and he wanted her to be happy. They slept together, but there was no passion between them, so in a few weeks the sex died down and had reduced to less than once a month over the past few months. The fights, on the other hand, went up exponentially. Nothing he ever did seemed to be right or make her happy. All these months, RK had been perplexed trying to understand where he had gone wrong.
Until today.
Until this evening when he saw Deepali in bed with Sikander and later, when she confessed she had never loved RK and had only married him for his money. The money, 50% of which he had willfully transferred in Deepali's name a month after she had told him she loved him and wanted to give their marriage a chance. Everything had seemed so happy at the time, and RK thought as his life partner, Deepali deserved her rightful share. How wrong had he been!
Deepali's words still rang in his ears.
"You thought I loved you! You...you impotent loser of a man...I must say I have never met someone as stupid as you Mr Rishabh Kundra. I always loved Sikander but couldn't marry him because your idiotic father left everything to you, instead of getting Sikander and his mother their fair share. So Sikander and mummyji got me married to you, so we could all enjoy on your money. This bed...it's always been mine and Sikander's...and you would have never moved from your room to share this if Sikky didn't need the money to launch his movie. And guess who is going to be his heroine!
You're a fool Rishabh Kundra. You have been married to me for almost three years and never once did you try to demand your right as a husband. Never once did you ask for your wife in your bed. You know why - because you are a loser. You are a loser husband, a loser businessman and a loser man. I am so glad that you found out everything yourself, I was going to send you a divorce notice anyway. I was tired of this double life - pretending to be your sweet wife! Now me and Sikky can live peacefully together!"
Rage and shock flowing through his veins; he had raised his hand to slap Deepali, but had been stopped by Sikky, "Don't hit her bhai, unless you want her to call the police and put domestic violence case on you. Will only make the divorce easier."
"Sikander...you...she was an outsider, but you're my brother. We are family...how could you.."
"What family are you talking about?" Radha answered from behind him "What respect did your father show his family...me and Sikander? 10%...10% was the share he left for us. Even though I married him when I was young and beautiful and nursed you, a 2 year old child. I gave him my whole life. But he...even when he was alive, he used to spend half his day grieving for your mother. It was as if me and my son were nothing for him. And then he died leaving the business in your hands and me to simply take care of you. Don't you think I want my real son to be married and leave happily? But which girl would have married him, given how dependent we were on you and your businesses. But not any more! Now my son has his rightful share! Now I can end not only this drama (pointing to Deepali) but also this (pointing to herself and Rishabh)...Deepali, Sikander and I will be leaving to our Colaba house, which is now just ours, tomorrow morning. You can live here!"
"Maa..."he had muttered, but the words had choked. RK felt as if the ground under his feet had given way. Everything that defined his existence - his
family, his mother, his wife - had turned out to be a lie.
"You knew?" he had managed to say, still shocked at the realization that Deepali and Sikander's affair was an open secret that her mother had possibly orchestrated. Radha nodded, and when he saw her smile a little, his heart had shattered forever.
Somehow, he had stumbled out of his home and found himself at a five star hotel bar. RK never drank a lot, but tonight he had drowned himself in alcohol, hoping somehow to numb the excruciating pain in his heart and silence the questions that hurt his head. It didn't seem to help much, though, as a ferocious rage inside him continued to rise.
Lies! Deceit! How many years had his mother - no, his step-mother - lived with him pretending that she loved him and cared for him? She always used to say RK was her favorite, and RK had always obeyed every word from her. All fake! Just like Deepali, whose every word had been a lie. Three years! Three years he had been married to the woman and he hadn't seen through it all. Did they mock him - Deepali and Sikander - every night as they made love in his marriage bed?
Eventually, the evening culminated into him stumbling into a man who offered him an escort - a call girl - for the night. He vaguely remembered the man now. He had begun shown him pictures and RK had been ignoring him until for some reason, RK had stopped on the last picture. Something about that face and those eyes rekindled the pain in his heart. They seemed to mock him with their apparent innocence, and RK remembered every single moment he had been fooled. He was told that girl was expensive, but he didn't care. He just wanted someone to channel his rage on. And then...
Gawdd! RK's head pounded even more as he closed his eyes and remembered flashes of what happened in this room, only a few hours ago. She was crying and screaming, he was almost sure of that, but somehow he hadn't heard any of it earlier. Slowly, he reopened his eyes and moved slightly to face her, still lying on the bed. The movement, although slight, made her suddenly jerk back. She looked up, and RK's eyes met with hers.
RK's first thought was how beautiful the girl was. Dishevelled hair, puffy red eyes and the fear on her face notwithstanding, for a few seconds RK couldn't do anything but admire her mesmerizing beauty, forgetting entirely everything else. Then she blinked, and he came to reality. He saw the scratch marks on her arms and neck and wondered if he gave those. He had been brutal, like a beast, he recalled. He remembered the rage, though strangely he couldn't feel any of it right now.
She wiped off her tears immediately, as if scared of the consequences if she didn't.
"You...", she hesitantly asked, looking perhaps at what must have looked like lust in his eyes, "...you want more?"
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