Page 35 of Substitute Bride

“It was good that you left her there; she will get some rest for a few days.”

Vikrant looks at her, but he doesn’t care much for her reaction.

He knows that she talks a lot to him in front of Jhankar, but she doesn’t like talking to him alone after his marriage.

He still hasn’t been able to calm Sharda’s anger completely, and he doesn’t know what else to do.

He quickly goes to his room, and as soon as he enters, he begins scanning the room properly.

While folding his shirt, he says to himself,

“You’ve got freedom, not from me, but the truth is, I’m getting freedom from your mess. Today, I can clean my room as I wish and manage it properly for a week.”

He immediately starts his work, but this is the first time he’s not enjoying tidying up the scattered things.

Normally, when he cleans his room, it gives him great satisfaction.

After trying to clean for a while, when he isn’t able to do it properly, he looks around the room where Jhankar’s belongings are still scattered everywhere. Looking at them, he says to himself,

“What’s the use of cleaning when, in a few days, you’ll come back and make the whole room messy again?”

He quickly goes to take a bath, and as soon as he comes back, his eyes immediately go to the sofa where she usually sits and works. But not finding her there, he rubs his fingers through his hair and mutters,

“How did I forget that she has gone to her parents’ house? This girl has actually messed up my mind.”

He quickly goes to the dining hall, where Sharda has already started her meal. Ravindra is not there. He quietly sits in his place, and while serving his food, he glances at the seat beside him where Jhankar usually sits. Sharda sees him doing this, so she softly says,

“Sometimes, by living together, you get used to someone’s presence.”

Vikrant suddenly looks at her and wants to nod, but he’s unable to do anything.

Sharda starts smiling lightly because she understands very well that this isn’t just a habit—Vikrant has started feeling Jhankar’s presence in his life very deeply, something he would rather not admit right now.

And Sharda also doesn’t want to force him to do anything; she’s just waiting for the time when Vikrant will realize it all on his own.

Jhankar is working when her mother comes to her with a glass of milk. She smiles at her, and Chitrali sits beside her and says,

“Jhankar, there's no need to worry so much. I know a lot of money has been spent on Papa’s treatment. Your education loan and the loan for this house are still pending. That’s why you’re working so hard—to repay all this as soon as possible.

But in all this, your health is also very important. Why don’t you understand?”

“You also try to understand that once all the loans are cleared quickly, then there will be peace—no tension, no problems of any kind.”

“But the way you are working, I fear you might fall sick with some other problem. You’re not taking proper care of yourself, not getting enough sleep or food. This is not the way to handle it.”

“Look, Mom, I understand everything very well, but you also try to understand, we had so many plans, and everything fell apart suddenly because of Brother’s departure. So, we have to fix that mess. What’s the harm in working a little harder?”

Chitrali shakes her head and leaves after pecking her on the forehead.

Jhankar keeps working until late at night.

Her eyes instinctively go to her bed, but she doesn’t see Vikrant there.

Because of that, she looks carefully at the bed, glances around the room, hits herself on the head playfully, and says,

“You’ve got this freedom after so much difficulty, and here you are looking for a rule book to follow. Just enjoy your freedom…”

Jhankar is extremely tired, so she immediately lies down on her bed and falls asleep shortly after.

~~~

When Jhankar opens her eyes, she looks in front of her and then closes them again because she feels that she is still asleep.

She rubs her hands over her eyes to remove any slight blurriness in front of them so that whenever she opens her eyes, she can see everything clearly.

But when she opens her eyes again, she is still in her room at her father's house, where she has been trying to convince herself for the last three days that she is in the same room where she spent her childhood, not with Vikrant in his room.

She sits quietly and looks at her bed, where there is no trace of Vikrant, but she can feel him around her because she wants to feel him.

Why? She has no answer. She inhales deeply as she contemplates her situation.

“By staying with you, I feel like I've gotten used to you. Because of this, whenever I wake up in the morning, I’ve become so used to seeing you that now not seeing you feels a little strange. Anyway, with time, the habit will change again. There’s nothing major in it…

My biggest problem, however, is that I don’t like you.

Despite that, I can feel you everywhere. ”

Jhankar looks at the time on her watch and immediately frees herself as quickly as possible.

When she comes out on time, she looks carefully in the car.

Even today, Vikrant is not present in the car.

So she sits quietly and starts looking outside, keeping her eyes open, because sadness has taken a strange place in her eyes, which makes her vision slightly blurry.

Vikrant is working on his laptop, and a lot of frustration is clearly visible on his face.

He is continuously working. There are about three people sitting in front of him who have come to discuss something with him, but since he is busy, they cannot risk disturbing him.

So they are letting him work quietly and are sitting comfortably in front.

Over the past four days, Vikrant’s mood has fluctuated between positive and negative.

Yet, it’s undeniable that if someone offends him, it won’t take him long to react strongly.

Due to this, everyone is working very carefully.

While working on the laptop, he says to those people,

“Have any of you come here to see how I work? Do you want to publish this article in some magazine?”

“No, sir, you said you would like to discuss the blueprints for Dhanraj Mall yourself, so we’re waiting for you to finish your work; once you’re done, we’ll discuss it properly.”

“So, will all this be discussed sitting here when you know very well that everything should be properly displayed on the projector? Only then can we have a productive discussion. Otherwise, why are you here? Go to the conference room and quickly fix the projector so that the meeting doesn’t take much time. ”

“Sure, sir…”

No one wants to put their life in danger by staying there, so they immediately disappear as if they were never there. A boy comes in and places coffee for Vikrant and starts leaving when Vikrant suddenly shouts after seeing him.

“What kind of time is this to bring coffee for me?”

“Sir, five minutes ago you told me you wanted coffee, so I was watching you, and then you said you could drink a cup of coffee whenever you feel like it. Why are you so angry today?”

Vikrant immediately looks at the boy, who is barely 19 years old.

His father, who used to work with Vikrant’s father, passed away some time ago.

Ravindra has kept this boy here so that he can earn some money and continue his studies.

Vikrant enjoys talking to him, so he sits back, tries to recall everything, and still feels moody from the past few days.

Lightly touching the bridge of his nose, he says,

“Nothing. I’m just a little too upset. Maybe I said something because of that. Now that you’ve brought the coffee, I’ll drink it. Thank you—and sorry for scolding you.”

Vikrant stands near the big window and starts drinking coffee while watching the view outside. The boy is still standing there, watching him. Vikrant is aware of his presence, but he would rather not say anything to him. But the boy speaks to him with a smile.

“Did you fight with my sister-in-law?”

“Rajat… go…”

Rajat immediately leaves from there after hearing him, and Vikrant starts feeling very upset while looking outside. Then he takes out his phone and tells the members present in the meeting hall,

“I’m not going to take any meetings today. Clear everything. I’m leaving for home right now.”

Vikrant finishes the coffee and quickly leaves from there, driving himself to his mansion. As soon as Sharda sees him, she does not talk to him and remains busy with her work, but there is a smile on her face that she’s trying to hide. When he comes and sits next to her, she says to him,

“What happened today? You’ve come home very early.”

“I thought I should clean my room, so I came early.”

“Jhankar doesn’t scatter things so much that it’s taken you four days to clean the room, and it’s still not done. Come, I’ll accompany you today and ensure the room is properly cleaned.”

“You just take a rest; besides that, you don’t need to do anything. You know that I’m used to maintaining cleanliness. Anyway, when she comes back, she’ll arrange her things accordingly. That’s why, till she returns, I’m keeping the room as per my own convenience.”

“Oh, that’s good. Anyway, maybe she doesn’t keep her things as clean as you do. She’s always busy; she doesn’t really know how to keep a room tidy… Because until now, her mother has been doing all that work. She gave her full freedom to focus on her studies and fulfill her dreams…”

“No, it’s not like that. She knows how to keep things clean. It’s just that I’m used to a slightly higher standard of cleanliness. That’s why I’m arranging the room in my own way.”

“I talked to her today, and she was telling me that she doesn’t want to come this Sunday and will stay with her parents for a few more days.”

Vikrant suddenly looks at her, and Sharda pretends to be very busy. Then Vikrant immediately goes to his room. Sharda laughs while covering her mouth, but she calls Jhankar, who quickly picks up her call.

"Hello, Maa… How are you?"

"I am absolutely fine. How are you? I’m missing you a lot. I haven’t seen you for four days. It feels like it’s been ages."

"I miss you too. I’ve just become too busy with some things here because it’s very important to get a few things done as soon as possible."

Sharda listens to her words carefully, smiling as she responds to her.

While talking to her, Sharda glances at Vikrant, who immediately walks away. Sharda understands very well that Vikrant is missing Jhankar, but here, Sharda remains confused about Jhankar’s feelings, which makes her smile lightly as she says to Jhankar,

"Let me hang up now because I heard the sound of Vikrant’s car. I think he has arrived. Maybe he’s unwell."

Before Jhankar could ask anything, Sharda hung up the phone.

"Sharda Maa… What happened suddenly…"

Jhankar keeps trying to call Sharda again and again, but she is not answering her phone.

Since she cannot do anything special at this time, she quietly resumes her work in the office, although she is unable to concentrate fully.

In the evening, after coming out of the office, she continues trying to call Sharda repeatedly.

She gets a little frustrated and starts mumbling.

"What happened to Vikrant, that Sharda Maa has become so busy with him that she’s not even picking up my calls?

My phone battery is already draining… I don’t understand why people don’t keep their phones with them.

If someone is calling, they should at least answer so the other person doesn’t get disturbed. ”

As she gets closer to the car while continuing to mumble, her attention shifts to the front, where Vikrant is standing and looking at her.

When she sees him, her eyes widen, and he also watches her very closely.

Vikrant stands directly in front of her, and when she doesn’t move forward at all, he steps closer and says to her,

“Why do you only like to do two things—either mumbling or doing nothing after that?”

“What are you doing here? Sharda Maa said you’re unwell.”

“Sharda Maa told you that?”

“Yes, she said you came home early and that she would have to check what happened to your health.”

“She must’ve been joking with you, because I usually don’t come home early, and today it just happened to.”

“Earlier you never came home early, and now you’re coming home all of a sudden. What’s the reason behind this? Now that you’re alone in the room, you’re enjoying it to the fullest… That’s good. Enjoy it while it lasts, because I’m not going to come back for many more days.”

Vikrant observes her face closely after hearing this, then looks at her from top to bottom, prompting Jhankar to place her bag in front of her protectively while staring at him. He then tells her,

“Looking at your condition, it seems as if you’ve been ill for years. And even in such a state, you talk so much nonsense—this is a tremendous talent in itself.”

“Very funny… But please don’t try to act funny; you’re not funny at all.”

“But just now you said it was very funny.”

Jhankar, who was heading toward the car, abruptly stops, turns around, and begins staring at him. Vikrant continues looking at her. Jhankar walks up to him, looks into his eyes, and speaks softly.

“Wow… You obsess over words too badly… Fuck your ass… Now I’ve told you that, but technically it’s not possible… Think wisely…”

Vikrant bursts into laughter at her words.

Jhankar immediately turns around, suddenly realizing what she just said.

She closes her eyes tightly in embarrassment and presses her lips together to stop herself from laughing, but Vikrant’s laughter is so loud that, even after sitting inside the car with the windows closed, she can still hear him.

Vikrant laughs wholeheartedly, then gets into the car.

Jhankar turns her face to the other side and completely ignores him, then asks,

“What are you doing here?”

“Actually, Sharda Maa hadn’t eaten her favorite ice cream in a long time, so I thought of getting it for her since the doctor has already allowed her to eat everything.

That’s why I came here. And since it’s your office time, I thought I’d take you along too.

Feeding you some ice cream might also help cool down your mind so these strange thoughts in your head can work better. ”

Jhankar doesn’t say anything at all, and like every day, she’s just looking outside the car.

Vikrant, who was trying to glance at her again, suddenly looks ahead, then abruptly pulls her toward himself with a jerk.

She falls into the gap between the seats, and he throws himself on top of her. There’s a loud noise echoing.