Time to face the Music! (Part 2)
Time to face the Music! (Part 2)
Taken aback at the sudden vehemence, Yash spread his hands gesturing that he was clueless.
"I am referring to the girl whom we just met. Vindhya is her name, right?" she asked.
Yash's guard immediately went up. Few minutes ago, he had thought that everything went smoothly and was in fact happy about it. Then why was Mriga getting all riled up about nothing.
While he stood there racking his brains about what to say, she couldn't hold it in anymore.
"On various occasions, you had the opportunity to tell me about the girl being your family friend but you didn't. Instead you played down your association with her to the extent of her being nothing more than a recent acquaintance or a fellow student. On one occasion, you even distracted me with another topic rather than talk about her. I dare you to deny this," she said forcefully.
Yash extended his palm indicating her to stop talking.
"But that's exactly who she is. Our parents have been good family friends for a long time but she and I met up recently. I don't understand what is the big deal?" he huffed.
Mriga narrowed her gaze and countered, "Are you sure? Is that all who she is? Then pray tell me why is it that her friend seemed to hint at something else? And also, why did you omit to tell me about you meeting her on the same evening when your mother had thrown a party. I am assuming that if your families are so close, she must have been invited as well. But as your girlfriend, I haven't heard even a peep about it. Does that not strike you strange, rather the word is - suspicious?"
Without letting him interject, she continued, "Not once did you introduce us. If I hadn't brought up the topic, you would not have volunteered to tell me anything about partying with her or enjoying the goodies sent specially for you."
Yash blew a sharp breath and spoke up, "You are blowing this way out of proportion. There is nothing going on between Vindhya and me. She is well aware of the fact that you are the one I like. As for the other things, you and I have hardly gotten a chance to catch up with each other. When would I have told you about these inconsequential things?"
"Inconsequential? Let me tell you that your 'friend' walked upto me a few days ago and insinuated that she was more than just a good friend of yours. Tell me why would she do so? Just because I choose to ignore things, doesn't mean that I don't realise them," her tone was agitated now.
Yash was taken aback at her words. He didn't want to believe what Mriga said but he knew that she was not the kind to make up stuff in order to prove her point. But he was also sure that Vindhya would not jeopardies his relationship after bailing him out in front of his mother. Maybe it had been a misunderstanding. No wonder, she was reacting like this at the moment.
Thinking hard for a minute, he decided to come clean about the whole issue before Mriga misunderstood him even further. He hadn't wanted to tell her initially because he was worried that she would either get worried or misconstrue the whole thing. Now that the topic had been broached, he would not hide it any longer from her.
"Listen, you erhm… you are right about a couple of things but wrong about the most important bit. The absolute truth is that I like you and only you. It is also true that Vindhya is aware of it. I haven't hidden anything from her. The part which I held back from telling you was about the uh… the discussion amongst the parents about err… that is, about a marriage alliance between the two houses. So…" he tugged at his, sheepishly.
Mriga didn't let him complete the sentence and shrieked, "Marriage alliance??? You mean SHE and YOU??"
At his confirming nod, Mriga felt her legs give way. She swayed slightly and he immediately reached out to support her. Moving out of his reach, she sat down on the muddy road with a thump. Her mind went spinning as the events of the recent past started making sense to her. The girl's mocking, all knowing smile, Yash's evasive behaviour…. everything.
"And you didn't think that it was important enough for me to know this? Or were you waiting to surprise me at your engagement ceremony? Wait a second, the party which you went for… was that to announce the alliance? I must say that you have a really understanding fiancée. She doesn't mind that her guy is two-timing her, that too in front of her," by now Mriga was shouting.
He covered the distance between them in a long strides and stooped down to hold her elbows with both his hands, firmly.
"Let me go. I don't want you to…" she started to wiggle out of his hold.
Only to be stopped by his harsh tone, "Listen to me. Stop making foolish assumptions without listening to the whole thing. Your immature attitude was one of the reasons why I didn't want to tell you about it in the first place."
Mriga's hurt eyes looked at him and she said softly, "Oh! I am immature? So this is my fault?"
Yash released her arms and sat down besides her.
"You know that's not what I mean. I only wanted to say that I was well aware that this issue would cause misunderstandings between us and that's why I had not spoken about it till now. If my intention had been to cheat, I wouldn't have told Vindhya about it in the first go itself. Like I said, she knows about it and has been really kind and understanding. At this moment, I am trying to figure out how to tell my mother about us. The most important thing is to get her approval and then nothing can take you away from me ever," he said in a gentle voice.