Chapter 7 The Invite

Arjun's PoV

I got ready and entered the elevator to go down. I called my PA to cancel all my morning meetings and work. I assigned my work to my subordinates to make sure nothing stops in my absence. When I got to the dining room, it was already 8 o'clock. Mom was busy bringing all the dishes to the dining table along with the cook. We have a cook and two servant maids to clean the house and do laundry. We have a driver and a gardener who will be in our home from morning 6 to evening 6.

"Amma, I have to leave a little early today. Praveen will bring Avni here. Take good care of her." I told mom.

"No worries, Ajju. I will take good care of her. How is Preethi?" Mom asked me.

"I am taking her to counseling today. She will be fine ma!" I told her.

"She should be. It is very sad this happened to her. Take care of her, Ajju."

"Sure ma!" I started eating while my mom served me.

"Ajju!" she called me.

"Tell me, ma!"

"Did you make any arrangements for finding a suitable bride for you?" she asked me.

"Ma, this will be my second marriage. I would prefer a girl of my age or closer to my age. It would be better if she is a divorcee just like me." I told her.

"Ajju! I ..." my mom started to object to it.

"Ma, it is only fair if I marry a divorcee. Who will be ready to be a second wife? That is not fair either." I tried to stop her.

"You are wrong, Ajju. There are many girls who would love to marry you. If you would allow me to find a perfect bride for you, I will make arrangements for it."

"Ma..."

"No Ajju. I wont accept a divorcee as your wife. My relatives in Tirupur are calling me regularly giving me details of brides that are ready to marry you." she said.

"Do they all know about my first marriage?"

"Of Course. They all know it, Ajju. Your first marriage also happened in Tirupur, remember?"

"Ma, please. Leave this to me. I will for sure marry. Now I have many other important works to tend to." I stood up and ran outside. It is so hard to settle things with mom. She is very adamant that I should marry and get an heir!

I have no such intentions to marry again and go through the agony all over again. The first time is more than enough. This 29 years is a problem. She thinks that I am still young to marry. If I drag the time for 3 more years, then I can state my age to avoid marriage.

I drove to pick up Preethi. I asked the doctor to come to the beach for a more natural scenery. When I went to her home, she was eating her breakfast.

"You are late!" I sat beside her and aunty asked me to eat.

"No aunty! I ate! Come on Preeth! Hurry up!" I hurried her.

Preethi didn't utter a word all through the drive and she got down at the beach.

"You wait here, Preeth. I will go park the car and come back." I asked her to stay there and went to park the car.

When I came back, I could not find her anywhere. I surfed the beach as far as I could see and she was nowhere to be found. I panicked and called her on her phone. After a full ring, the automated voice said she is not picking up the call at the moment.

"Preethi!" I shouted standing on the sand.

I called the doctor to know if she is already here. The doctor came to me after I told her where I am and that Preethi is lost.

"Don't panic, Mr. Arjun. We shall search for her." Dr. Smitha said.

We searched everywhere on the beach and found her walking from the opposite direction with some kids and a man. I ran to her to yell at her but as I neared her, I saw her laughing with the kids.

"Preethi, where did you go?" I whisper yelled at her.

"Sorry, Ajju. I was waiting at the place where you dropped me when I heard Harish struggling with these kids. I went to help him." she said meekly. I saw a trace of the bubbly Preethi peeking out of her gloomy face.

"Who is this?" I asked her.

"Oh, Sorry, Ajju. This is Harish. Harish, this is Arjun." She introduced us to each other.

"Hello, Mr. Arjun. I have heard a load of stories about you when we were in college. I am Harish, we went to college together." he shook hands with me along with the needed information as to how they know each other.

"Hello, Mr. Harish. I am glad to meet you. All your kids?" I asked him with a wink.

"Haha, no, Mr. Arjun. Nitvik, come here." he called on a little boy who came running to him.

"This is Nitvik, my son. They are all our neighbor kids. My office gives me a day off every week and I happen to take it on Fridays. So I take them all for a day out every week." he said with a kind smile.

"That is so nice of you. Hello, Nitvik. How old are you?" I asked the kid kneeling down to meet his eyes. He must be the same age as Avni or even smaller.

"Hello, uncle. I am 3 years old." he said and ran to his friends.

"Your wife?" I asked him.

"Ajju, you know what, Harish is a fantastic guitarist. Also he will ride a bike doing stunts. He was a football player just like you." Preethi interrupted me.

"My wife is no more, Mr. Arjun. She died in a car crash 3years ago." he told me while looking at Preethi with a smile. "It's ok Preethi, I am used to it now. It doesn't hurt me much nowadays. I am happy with Nitvik. He is my life now." he told Preethi. I felt sorry for him. Why is everyone I meet suffering? Why is no one happy?

"I am sorry, Mr. Harish. I didn't know." I told him.

"Oh, It's ok." he said while the kids started whining. "Oh this is their limit. Nice meeting you, Mr. Arjun. We will see sometime later. Bye, Preethi. You have my number." he took leave from us.

"He is a wonderful man, Ajju. Poor him lost his love but still lives on for his kid. He said that if this is what is fated for him, he is happy to embrace it. I went to his marriage along with Avni. Avni was a year and a half old baby by then. We lost contact after that. She was a beautiful girl." Preethi started reminiscing about old memories.

"Are you guys ready for the talk?" The doctor came towards us.

"Sorry, Mrs. Smitha. I just got carried away." I turned to Preethi, "Preeth, she is Mrs. Smitha. I called her to meet you. Just talk to her. Tell her how you feel." I told Preethi.

"Hello Doctor. I am Preethi. I am so sorry to have taken up your time. I know this is counseling. But I think I don't need it. I was wrong to even think of taking away my own life. I understand it now. I was under too much pressure for the whole three months, doctor. I was not myself." Preethi talked like she is a different girl. I like this change but I wonder what happened overnight that made her talk like this.

"That is good, Preethi. You don't need counseling. I can see that. All the pressure that was building up inside you for the past 3months was making you heavy from inside. Talk, Preethi. Talk to someone whom you feel comfortable with. When you talk, you will feel light. Do things that will make you happy. Know one thing, you are not at fault. You made no mistake in your relationship, hence you are not to be punished or take up the punishment. You don't have to feel betrayed, Preethi. Just move on. Don't hold a grudge, that will only burden you. Let it go, you will feel free. My grandma will say something like, when someone wrongs you, you just have to be quick in forgiving them. Because the moment you forgive them, God will start his punishment for them. So just forgive him and move on." The doctor talked in a calm and serene tone. It was really soothing to even me.

"Thank you, doctor. You were right. I had no one to talk to all these days or I didn't want to talk about it. When I spoke to Ajju yesterday, when I voiced out my thoughts, I knew it was all absurd. I will not lock myself up anymore. I am not ready to forgive him yet. It’s 6years that he’s been deceiving me. But I am sure I will forgive him sooner than I thought." Preethi talked in a more clear voice.

"Then I have no work with you which is actually good for both of us. All the best for your new life. Every ending is an opportunity for a new beginning. Convey my regards to your kid.” The doctor took leave from us.

"Shall we go, Ajju?" Preethi asked me.

"Ofcourse, but tell me what happened all of a sudden?"

"The same thing I told the doctor. I truly wanted to die, Ajju. But when I said that out, I felt so ashamed of myself. I am not that weak. I am not that selfish. Why should I die when I made no mistake? I was feeling ok immediately after you left. Your slap sure did magic." she smiled and that was a genuine one.

"I am so sorry, Preeth. That was involuntary."

"I know, Ajju. I actually needed it. That acted as a medicine for my confused brain. I knew you would have arranged for counseling. That is why I didn't talk to you in the car. Your words are more than enough for me, Ajju. I was angry at you for taking me to a psychiatrist."

"Hahaha I sure thought that you went nuts yesterday." I told her for which she playfully slapped my shoulder.

"Harish gave me a boost too. Upon seeing him, I knew I could live happily. Harish and his wife were truly in love. If he can live happily despite losing the true love of his life, I can live happily too. I just lost a pretend love." she said, shrugging her shoulders..

"Who knows, Preeth. You may yet find the true love of your life." I told her.

"Hahaha may be, but so are you!" she said.

"Now I know you are perfectly alright. Get in the car, I have so much work to tend to. You already took up 2hours of my busy morning." I pushed her in the car.

I was working on my laptop when my phone rang. I looked at the time and it showed 4pm. It was mom. "Hello ma"

"Ajju, are you free tomorrow?" She asked.

"Why ma?"

"Our Kuladeivam temple Kumbabishekam(consecration) is taking place tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Me and dad are going. I wish you to join us, Ajju."

"I have a lot of work tomorrow, ma. But Sunday I am free. I can come on Sunday and bring you guys back here. Is that ok?"

"Double ok. Come home soon, Ajju!"

"Sure, ma. Bye!"

I got off the phone. Mom is very spiritual and she often tells me that we are not going to our kuladeivam temple on a regular basis and that is why our lives are in strain. I believe in God but not in going to temples and bullshits like if we don't go God will punish us. I cannot spend 2 days in temples but I can always spend time with my mom and dad in mom's native. I like the village setting and my grandparents and the people there. No doubt that I am eager to go there on Sunday. It will be refreshing.