Page 79

Story: Substitute Bride

A masked man gives Jhankar a box and leaves. Jhankar looks around carefully, as if ensuring no one has seen her. She quietly puts the box in her bag and starts walking towards the gate, where she waits every day for her bodyguard and often Vikrant too. She is walking slowly towards the gate and looks ahead, where Vikrant is standing. He is wearing dark glasses. Seeing this, she smiles lightly, but Vikrant is probably not paying attention to her, because even though he is looking ahead, he doesn’t seem to see her. There is no smile on his face when she smiles. Because of this, she feels disheartened. As she starts to approach him, a bandaged hand catches her attention. She immediately runs to him.

“What happened…”

“Nothing. Hurry up and sit down. I have to go for some more important work.”

“Your hand is hurt. What were you doing that got injured?”

Vikrant takes off his glasses, looks into her eyes, and replies.

“It’s very normal for us to get minor injuries. But when some people cause major ones, they hurt a lot more, so much so that we stop caring about these smaller pains.”

Jhankar doesn’t understand what he means but quietly sits in the car. Vikrant is driving himself despite his injured hand, prompting Jhankar to say:

“Why didn’t you ask the driver to drive today?”

“I don’t need your advice. You do your work, and I’m doing mine.”

Jhankar doesn’t say anything more and sits quietly, but she knows very well that not only must Vikrant’s hand be hurting, it might also still be bleeding. As far as she knows him, he likelyhasn’t even shown it to a doctor. She is worried about him but doesn’t want to say anything again and risks hearing more of his bitter words. She turns to look at her bag on the back seat, wanting to check the phone inside it. She had kept her bag on the back seat before sitting in the car, but due to Vikrant’s rude behavior today, she wants to distract herself with something. That’s why she opens her seat belt and leans back to grab the bag. Just then, Vikrant stops the car abruptly, causing her to jerk forward—but he quickly places his injured hand on her head to prevent it from hitting the dashboard. The move causes him a tremendous deal of pain. Jhankar immediately looks at him and grabs his hand, asking with concern:

“What are you doing?”

“What are you doing? Do you have any sense? You unbuckled your seat belt in a moving car. What if there had been an accident?”

“Vikrant…”

“Stop talking nonsense. What do you think of yourself? You just do whatever you feel like. I’ve allowed you too much freedom to act as you wish. Get it into your mind that everything you do is because I allow it. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

Jhankar stares at Vikrant closely. He pushes her back into her seat, buckles her seat belt, and drives the car faster until they reach the mansion. Jhankar gets out without saying a word. Vikrant watches her. Ever since she mentioned divorce, he hasn't been in his senses. He immediately follows her because he wants to ask about it.

“Jhankar…”

“Mind your own business, Mr. Vikrant Dhanraj…”

Vikrant stares at her in shock. Jhankar stands in front of him and, looking into his eyes, says,

“I’m not your servant who will obey just because you order me or ‘allow’ me to do something. I am the master of my own life, and you should’ve understood that by now. One moment you talk nicely, and the next you say whatever you want—I won’t allow that anymore. No matter how powerful you are in this world, you don’t need to show that to me. If you don’t have the manners to talk properly, then don’t talk at all. If you’ve had a difficult day at the office or fought with someone, don’t take out your anger on someone else. I’m your wife… sorry… I forgot, I’m not your wife. That just slipped out. You forced me into this marriage four months ago, and in those four months, a lot has happened that made me think maybe you were a good person.”

Vikrant comes toward her in anger, grabs both her arms, and says,

“Jhankar, don’t provoke me further. I don’t want to hear any of your nonsense. Yes, I know I said too much in anger, but now you should control your words too. Just remember—you’re not going anywhere.”

Jhankar tries to pull her arms away but can’t. She looks into his eyes and says angrily,

“Leave my hand right now, Mr. Dhanraj…”

“Jhankar…”

“I said, leave my hand.”

Seeing her seriousness, Vikrant slowly lets go. Then Jhankar clearly states:

“Sharda Maa’s health is much better now, and I don’t think I need to continue pretending to be married to you any longer.”

“You’re crossing the limit…”

“Of course I am. When someone else crosses a line, they never see it—but when the other person finally speaks up, it’s suddenly ‘too much.’ You remember very well that it was you who asked me to pretend to be your wife. Maybe now you’ll also remember why.”

Vikrant can no longer listen properly—his mind is clouded by the fact that she’s talking about leaving him. Before he can respond, Sharda, who has been listening from her room but doesn't want to interfere, finally steps out to stop things from escalating.