Keeping the Promises (21 page)

Rishi reiterated; Dhruv smirked at him and headed towards the stage.

Angie looked down in shame as he saw them, having no courage to look into any of their eyes.

“Hey Vishal, I want you to meet Dhruv!” Mr. Shah introduced.

“How can I forget him? Because of him and his brother, I had to spend six months in jail,” he scoffed, putting a sarcastic smile on Dhruv’s face.

“I hope you learned how to drive after that,” Dhruv leered at him.

“Eat your food and go to hell,” Vishal grumbled.

“He’s leaving now, actually. We all are leaving. We are here to take our daughter, that’s all. After that, you can enjoy your food,” Mr. Shah said and grabbed Angie’s hand. Before she could understand anything, they started walking.

“Hey, hey, hey, what the hell is going on?” Rishi who was observing everything from a yard away, tried to take charge on his own uncle. But before he could reach Mr. Shah, Dhruv obstructed him underway and charged a punch to his face, leaving his nose bleeding.

“Now you know what I can do with my tiny muscles, consider yourself lucky that I’m not in my best shape. Let’s go Mr. Shah!” He groaned.

“Just a minute, Dhruv!” Mr. Shah said and walked towards his father.

“You had just one son who cared about you, dad. Today you lost him. And Motabhai, I’ll not allow you or anyone else to ruin my daughter’s life. You asked me to leave the house, I already did and now don’t even dare to look at my daughter!” He admonished, grabbed Angie’s hand again and turned to Rishi before walking out.

“Rishi, your mother never wanted you to be as ruthless and heartless like your father; but your lust for power eventually brought you down to his level. Your mother didn’t commit suicide because of the guilt of cheating your father; it’s a lie that you were told all your life. You are an embarrassment she hated in her husband.”

Dhruv was driving, Mr. Shah was sitting beside him and Angie was crying on her mother’s shoulder on the backseat, oblivious of where they were heading.

When they reached Mr. Shah’s new house, which was allotted by his company, Angie was completely dumbstruck by what was going around. They stepped out and Mr. Shah shook his hand with the
manager – along with a few other families – who were sent to hand him the keys of the house and the company car.

“Mr. Prasoon, I along with all our staff welcome you in our neighbourhood. Here are your house and car keys,” the Manager said while handing him the keys.

Angie, who was standing alongside Dhruv and his friends, went pale with her jaw wide open. Mr. Shah went to her and handed her the keys with a big ear-to-ear grin on his face.

“Seems like we succeeded in surprising my princess, right Dhruv?” She gazed at Dhruv as Mr. Shah quipped.

“Fair point! Well made, Mr. Shah,” Dhruv nodded his head with affirmation.

Angie broke into tears and hugged Dhruv and his friends as soon as she learned what they had done for her.

She then turned to Dhruv, “You know Dhruv, today I was missing her more than ever. As I was thinking about her, you guys entered.” She said and hugged his best friend, Dhruv, who was also missing M.

Hope you’re somewhere around, M!

She then turned to Shilpan, Harsh and Aakash, “Thanks for everything guys,”

“Ah, that’s nothing. We could have never let you marry that bastard, you know that. By the way Angie, Ansh…” Shilpan stopped in between; he was unable to finish his line.

“I know, refused to come and he doesn’t want to see my face; I know that too.” She shook her head and wiped her tears. Mr. Shah heard her and put his hand on her head.

“Everything will be fine princess! Now boys, if you could help us with the luggage.” Mr. Shah relentlessly moved her attention.

After setting everything by evening and demobilising herself from the jewellery and traditional
choli
, Angie and her mom were placing
their dishes on the table for dinner. There had been only a few occasions, out in restaurants where they had dinner together – never at home.

Angie was amused, sitting in her new house, considerably smaller than her old home but large enough to let them breathe freely.

“So princess, happy now?” Mr. Shah broke the ice.

“I’m running out of words to thank you dad!” She replied as firmly as she could.

“So why is our princess still sad?” Her mother was the first one to notice,

“Don’t tell me you wanted to marry Vishal,” Mr. Shah quipped, trying to move her thoughts from the disparity.

“Jeez…papa! I’m just thinking about…”

“Ansh, we know that.”

“Hmm.”

“He’ll come back, just give him some time.”

“I hope so papa!”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to die single if he doesn’t come back.”

Without any reservation, she replied, “You know papa, I will!”

After dinner, Mr. Shah was sitting cross-legged, watching news when someone knocked the door. He stood up but Angie was swift in reaching the door. She was feared and dumbstruck by whom she saw there – Rishi. Had he come to hurt them? No, she couldn’t let him do it. She stood firmly obstructing his way in.

“What are you doing here?” She snapped at him and to her surprise, he didn’t revert. Instead, he looked down and remained silent.

Mr. Shah came from behind and said, “Cool down Angie, I called him here.”

Surprised, Angie went aside, making way for him. He came inside, sat on the sofa and asked for a glass of water. After consuming
two glasses of water, he looked at Mr. Shah and asked what he came for, “You said you had something related to my mother?”

Mr. Shah nodded, called out to his wife, and asked her to bring that letter. Neither Angie nor Rishi knew a thing about it. Whenever Angie asked her mother about what happened to Rishi’s mother, she changed the topic. All she had coaxed out in twenty-three years was that something terrible, really terrible happened to her, and Rishi was told – obviously by his father that her mother cheated on his father and committed suicide in guilt. But somewhere in his heart, he knew that his mother wasn’t like this. He was no more than five years old when she died and from those little memories he had of his mother – almost abruptly, though affectionate – he knew that she was a lovely woman.

He looked at his mother as an idol until his father told him the reason of her suicide – which he had to believe; and that commenced an immense hatred for his own mother in his mind and maybe, that’s why he hated Angel.

Angel was her sister and he protected her from everything which could harm her until she turned three, until his mother died and until his father deceived him about his mother’s death. He still remembered how he and Angie bonded together against all odds which were laid by his father and how his uncle helped them get out of it. When he first found out about her boyfriend, Anshul Bhatt, the first thing he did was a background check on Ansh. The reviews came good, and somewhere inside, he felt good for her. But then, he had to oppose her in obeisance to his father. He didn’t like abusing and insulting his uncle whom he saw as an inspiration while growing up; but then he had to. He was pleased to hear that his uncle was setting the date between Ansh and Angie; but then he wasn’t the only one who had heard his uncle’s conversation, his father too was standing behind him and at his behest he had to go with his friends with hockey
sticks and bats just to show his father. He wasn’t going to harm both of them and luckily, Dhruv came there and gave him the excuse of returning. He never felt offended by Dhruv’s insults, neither had he hated him. In fact, had he been in Dhruv’s place, he would have done exactly what he did, and he admired Dhruv for that. He knew Dhruv was an irresponsible spoiled brat, but could go to any extent for his friends and he believed that’s the characteristic of a good person. He certainly didn’t like Vishal. In fact, he hated him for trying to kill his uncle. He didn’t like to fight Dhruv at the hospital, but then he had to. He knew this was going all wrong, but then he thought she deserved to suffer, as his father suffered because of his mother. He was somehow pleased to see Dhruv there on her engagement. He was watching them from a distance and was pleased when Mr. Shah was taking her away. He already knew what they were there for; while his uncle and auntie were packing their bags, he had gone home and had seen them. But instead of telling his father, he waited for them to take his sister away. He didn’t want to intervene and stop them while they were leaving, but when his father stared at him with fuming red eyes, he had to obey him. He didn’t charge back at Dhruv not that he couldn’t, but he thought being seen defeated would ensure freedom for his sister, a sister he loved secretly but couldn’t protect openly.

Mrs. Shah came with a white paper and handed it to Rishi. Angie was observing her brother as he was reading it. First his eyes went wide, astonished, then tears started falling from his eyes. By the end, he was growling and squeaking in pain.

“This is…” His voice chocked, leaving him unable to finish his words.

“Her suicide letter. She wasn’t the one who cheated; your father was shamelessly disregarding every single vow of their marriage. He was someone you can call a molester, abuser, beater, cheater - everything. She committed suicide just to get rid of him. She loved
you, but perhaps her love for you was overshadowed by her sufferings. This letter was kept away from you because of your father and my father who was as helpless as he is now,” said Mr. Shah, putting his hand on his shoulder and within no time, he broke into his uncle’s arms.

Angie was still surprised to see everything. Rishi then turned towards her and held her hand.

“Please forgive me, truffle!” A single word, within no time, brought tears to her eyes. This is what he used to call her before he started hating her; when he used to take her out for walks, when he was her guardian angel and how could he forget that it was Rishi who gave her the name – Angel.

“It’s okay Rishi Bhai! I don’t blame you, especially after knowing all of this.” She caressed her brother’s hair and hugged him. She felt stronger now, and experienced the same feelings she had when she used to play with him, when she used to be a little princess of her brother.

“I promise you truffle, I promise you, I’ll get him back.” He offered firmly, but his voice was grouchy because of crying.

“No need of that Bhai. I have you now, which is a bigger reason to celebrate.”

She rubbed Rishi’s back; he was finding it hard to stop his sobs. She then went to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water.

After an hour or two, Rishi stood up to leave, promising to come back the next day. He said it would be impossible for him to stay with his father anymore but Mr. Shah made him realise that he was now the only one who could run his family business and to keep his father away from destroying it. That he was the last ray of hope for their family and he had to stay there to look after his company.

O
n their convocation day, Ansh and Angie were finding it hard to face each other and were sitting far from each other, which brought a big gossip meat for their peers. However, at the time of lunch in the campus mess, Dhruv sitting beside Angie instead of Ansh was a bigger topic of gossip.

“You should probably be sitting with him. You’re catching more eyes than me, Dhruv!” Angie suggested.

“Since when did you start worrying about other people, my friend? Or maybe you don’t. You’re worried about him aren’t you?” He muzzled.

Angie shrugged off the words.

“You know, there’s no point lying to you! So, now you know why I’m telling you should be sitting with him. He looks quite angry about this.”

“I’m not giving him what he wants Angie. I’m giving him what he needs. Besides, he has Shilpan, Aakash and Harsh with him.”

Angie was playing hide-and-seek with Ansh’s eyes. Dhruv who had no intention to interrupt them was eating his meal when his phone beeped.

“Nirali?”

“Hmm…”

“So, finally, huh?”

“Nothing like that Angie, she’s just a friend.”

“I was told – of course by you – that you loved her, right?”

“I was fifteen then. Right now, I’m in love with your best friend only.”

“So if I want you to be in love with her, I might have to make her my best friend?” Quipped Angie who didn’t know then that every single word would come true afterwards.

Even after lunch, everyone was unable to leave the campus mess due to heavy rain. Ansh was standing at a distance with his eyes lingering on Angie. They were clearly missing their moments in rain, and Angie, for whom her entire future was shoved in absurdity, was standing alongside Dhruv who was looking after her just the way M had.

Had M been in her place, what would she have done? Just wait for him to come back to him?

No, she would have advised her otherwise. M had just made one mistake which had caused her a distance of seven months from Dhruv. After that, M told her many times not to wait for things to come back. If it doesn’t, then it never will. She tried to think what would it be like to have her around? What would she tell her?

And she had her answer. She was going to talk to him and finish it once and for all – either way. She walked up to Ansh and Dhruv followed her; she was standing before the person she loved and she wasn’t going to be weak. She knew what she had in her mind and she said it.