Adultery NEMESIS

[Neelkantha]

Part 88 – The New Face Of Trouble

Pihu’s POV- Whenever I think that everything is fine now, there is no problem, then a new problem comes into my life. I got to know from Ani yesterday that the girl with whom he was in talks for marriage has suddenly refused to marry Ani. And that too just 7 days before their engagement. It was shocking for me to hear this. At first I felt that Ani was joking with me. But later I understood that Ani was not joking, he was telling the truth. That girl had really refused to marry Ani. And in this situation Ani asked me to come to the village. As per his request I caught the first bus of the next morning and reached the village. By then Bijan was also present there. But no one there knew anything. Everyone was as surprised as I was. All of us family members sat together and started talking. I asked Ani, “Ani, first you tell me everything in detail, what has happened.” Ani started saying, “Boudi (sister-in-law), after coming back from the city, I met Ankita, the girl I am going to marry. We talked. She is a nice girl indeed. Calm natured. Cheerful. A good homely girl. I liked her, Boudi. She also liked me. I even asked her if she could stay with me in Mumbai after marriage. Would she miss her parents? She told me that she is ready to stay with me wherever I live. She was very happy and excited for this marriage. She told me that she has seen all my short films and my only feature film. And she liked it too. She sat with me and talked about the film for hours. I was also enjoying talking with her. After coming to the village, we both started meeting every day. We also talked about our marriage and future life. About 10 days passed like this.” After saying this, Ani became silent. I said, “Then? Then what happened?” Ani started telling again, “Then I don’t know what happened suddenly, Boudi. Ankita’s house is in another village. We both used to meet every evening near the river on the edge of the village. We used to sit there and talk to each other. I used to leave home and go to the river bank. And she used to come to meet me from her home on her bicycle. Like every day, I went to meet her on the river bank yesterday. Sat there for long. And started waiting for her. Every day she used to come there around 5 o’clock. We used to sit and talk for one and a half hours, then we used to go back to our respective homes. But yesterday I kept waiting for Ankita to come there on the river bank till about 5.30. But she did not come. I thought that today she will not come to meet me for some reason. She should have told me this by calling me tomorrow. But she did not call me. I called her myself, her phone kept ringing, but she did not pick up my call. I found this a bit strange. Because ever since we have met, we become friends and since we exchanged our phone numbers, we have been talking on the phone every night till yesterday. Whenever I called, she used to pick up my call immediately. But today she did not pick up my call at all. I felt that maybe she has fallen ill. She might have fever or something. I should go and see her once. I went to her house. There I got to know a different story which left me stunned.” After saying this, Ani again became silent. All of us in the family were listening to his every word with full attention. As soon as Ani became silent, my mother-in-law asked him, “What did you find after going to Ankita’s house?” Ani started telling again, “When I reached Ankita's house, it was evening and it was dark all around. I went to her house thinking that I will go there and see that Ankita might be ill and she might be sleeping. But when I reached her house, Ankita's parents were both surprised to see me there. They were not expecting me there. They were shocked when I asked them about Ankita, why she did not come to meet me today. Both of them were shocked to know that Ankita did not come to meet me today. After that, I was also surprised to hear what they said. Because according to them, Ankita left the house to meet me in the afternoon like every day. And they thought that she was going to meet me. Now when they came to know from me that Ankita did not go to meet me today, they were shocked. They got scared that where Ankita must have gone after saying that she would meet me. Now I also started getting tensed. I kept on calling her number again and again. Her phone kept ringing, but neither Ankita nor anyone else picked up the call. Now, just like Ankita's parents, I too started feeling scared. I realised that there might be something wrong with Ankita. We will have to immediately inform the security officer about this. If there is really something wrong with her, then the security officer will take action. I somehow convinced Ankita's parents to go to the security officer."

Ani started speaking again, “But when we were leaving for the security officer station, Ankita returned home all of a sudden. Seeing her, we heaved a sigh of relief, but looking at her it was clear that something must have happened to her. Her face was full of anger and despair. Her eyes were red and there were tears in her eyes. She was crying. Seeing her, her mother started asking her repeatedly why she had lied to the family and left? Why did she not go to meet me today? Where did she actually go? But she did not answer any of the questions. She just kept crying continuously. Seeing her crying, I got suspicious. I asked her what had happened to her. Then she told me that she would not marry me. She was breaking this relationship. I should come home and tell everyone that we will not get married. Hearing all this from her mouth, I was shocked but along with that my doubts were confirmed. But despite my repeated asking, Ankita did not say a single word. She just kept crying and kept saying to me that she was not going to get married. I left from there and called Boudi and told her everything and also request to come the village next day." After Ani finished speaking, everyone remained silent for some time and started thinking. Then first of all my father-in-law said, "How can that girl break the marriage like this? She will have to give some reason. And after 7 days you both are getting engaged. I have called the priest. I have seen the auspicious time for your engagement. I have invited the people. Now what will I answer to everyone? This cannot happen. I will talk to the girl's father today itself. The girl will not be able to do such things as she pleases." Then my mother-in-law stopped him and said, "No, you will not talk to them. You will get angry in front of them. Things will get worse. Someone else from among us will talk to them." Then uncle said, "You are right. I think only the bouma (daughter-in-law) can talk to Ankita with a cool mind. She will understand her point and will also make her agree to her point. What do you say, should we send bouma to talk to them?" My father-in-law and mother-in-law both liked what uncle said. My father-in-law said, "Then it is okay. Bouma will go from our side. She will talk to that girl and convince her like Ani and agree to the marriage. This is decided." I said, "Then we will have to hurry up. Because only one week is left for the engagement." Ani said, "Boudi, you come with me to Ankita's house this evening and talk to her." I said, "Okay. Let's go today itself." Bijan said, "Should I also come with you two?" I said, "No. You may not be needed there. I want to talk to Ankita alone. From what I heard from Ani, it seems that the matter is really serious. Otherwise, the girl who was so happy and excited about her marriage, that same girl suddenly refuses to get married, that too without giving any reason, I am not able to digest this. There must be something behind this, which Ankita is scared and afraid to say to anyone. And I will try to somehow know the same thing from her mouth. So it was decided that today evening I and Ani are going to Ankita's house to meet her and know the real thing." Everyone agreed with me.

The same evening, Ani and I went to Ankita's house. I introduced myself to Ankita's parents, "I am Pihu. Ani's Boudi. Ani's cousin Bijan's wife. I live in the city with Bijan. That's why I have never met Ankita before today. Today I have come to meet her. I have come to talk to her." Ankita's mother said, "What should I tell you Pihu, since yesterday my daughter has returned from outside, she has neither eaten a single grain of food nor has she talked to anyone. She just keeps crying. If I or her father ask her anything, she does not answer. She just keeps crying. And she is saying only one thing, that she will not do this marriage. Daughter, now you try to convince her somehow." I consoled them and said, "Aunty, don't worry. That's why I have come. I will definitely convince Ankita for the marriage." After that I told Ani, "Ani you sit outside. I will talk to Ankita alone. If you are around, she will not talk to me openly and I will not know the real reason." Hearing me, Ani shook her head and said, "Okay Boudi, you go. I will sit here and wait for you." I went to Ankita's room. Ankita was lying on her bed. Seeing me enter her room, she got up and sat on the bed. She had never met me before today. That is why she was surprised to see me. I locked the door of her room from inside and went and sat next to her on her bed. And started looking at Ankita. Ankita must be 26 years old at the most. She was quite beautiful. Her height must be the same as mine. Her complexion must also be as fair as mine. But her boobs must be bigger than mine. She was wearing a churidar (kind of dress for girls). And I could see her big boobs peeking out from inside her churidar. Her eyes were very big. And there were tears in them. I looked at her and said smilingly, "Ankita, I am Pihu. I am Ani's Boudi. You have never met me before. That is why I have come to meet you." At first, Ankita did not talk to me at all for some time. She just kept crying while looking at me. Perhaps she had understood why I had come here. I gently wiped the tears from her cheeks with my hands and said, "Ankita, I have come from such a far distance to meet you and talk to you. And you are crying? Won't you talk to me? After a few days, you will marry Ani. And we will become sister-in-laws of each other. Won't you be friends with me?" Ankita then said in a low voice, "Boudi, I know you. Ani had shown me your photo. He had talked a lot about you." I said, "Is that so? What has he told you about me?" She said, “Lots of things. He told me that he respects you a lot. He likes you.” I laughed and said, “Did you feel bad after hearing this?” She said, “Why would I feel bad? I met him for the first time a week ago. But he knows you for three years since your marriage with his cousin brother. You are his Boudi. He can like you. What is there to feel bad about?” I praised her and said, “Wow! Ankita, you talk very well and deeply!! You are a sensible girl. Then tell me one thing, why are you suddenly behaving so childishly?” On hearing this from me, Ankita's whole face was filled with sadness and disappointment. She started crying once again. Crying, she said, “Boudi, please forgive me. But I cannot do this marriage.” I wiped her tears once again and said, “We all have understood that. But what we are not able to understand is why did you suddenly take this decision? Whereas you know very well that only one week is left for your engagement with Ani. And it is not that you were already unhappy with this relationship. If you were, you would have refused this marriage far earlier. And you do not go to meet Ani every day. You do not talk to him. You do not grow closer to him. As far as I can understand, something might have happened to you yesterday evening, when you left your house to meet Ani. Something must have happened to you on the way. Right?” Ankita did not answer this question of mine. She kept sitting with her head down. I understood from her gestures that my guess was correct. Something happened to her on the way. But what? That is what I will have to know from Ankita.

I raised her face and holding both her hands in mine said, "Look Ankita, I am also a girl like you. That is why I do not have much problem in understanding what girls say without being told. Like now I am realizing that my guess is correct. But if you do not tell me about this openly, then how will we solve this issue? You do not want to marry my brother-in-law Ani, okay. I will break this marriage after explaining to everyone. But after that? What will you do then? Will breaking this marriage solve all your problems? Will you be able to live like before? Tell me." Ankita listened to everything I said and then she said, "Boudi, I agree with everything you say. But believe me, I have no other option left except taking this decision. Even if I agree to do this marriage, I will not be able to live peacefully with Ani. He will never let me live in peace." I was shocked to hear Ankita's words. What is she saying? I said, "Who? Who will not let you live in peace? About whom are you talking?" Ankita became more scared after hearing my words. She said, "Boudi, I cannot tell you about him. Forget about you, I cannot tell anyone about him. If I tell him, he will destroy my life." I consoled her and said, "Ankita, don't be afraid. Tell me everything openly about what has happened. If possible, we can also take the help of the security officer." Ankita became more scared on hearing the name of the security officer. She said, "No Boudi, if we go to the security officer, the matter will get worse. I will not be able to do anything else." I said to Ankita, "Ankita, first you calm down. And tell me everything with a cool mind. Trust me, I will not tell anyone else about this." Ankita kept quiet for a while and kept thinking, then said, "Boudi, what I am going to tell you, I have not even told my own mother. Please keep this thing to yourself." I said, "Trust me. I will not talk about this to anyone. Not even Ani. This is my promise to you." Ankita started telling her story. As she continued telling her story, I was more and more surprised. Ankita said, "Boudi, our village head has a son. His name is Piyush. There is no other boy in our village who is a ruffian like him. He keeps on enjoying himself with his father's money along with his other ruffian friends. He sits with his bike at our bus stand since morning. And keeps on misbehaving with the girls of the local. And if anyone opposes him, then he teaches him a lesson with his friends. There is not a single girl in our village who has not been affected by his evil eyes. Every girl keeps herself away from him. God does not know when he will cast his evil eyes on whom. He was after me many times, but I did not talk to him much. Then your father-in-law talked to my father about my marriage with Ani. I agreed as soon as I heard it. Because I knew that Ani lives in Mumbai. And I wanted to get out of this village somehow by getting married. That is why I agreed to marry Ani at once. But Piyush got a hint of this. He came to know that I am getting married. And after a week I am getting engaged to Ani. He had also noticed that I go to meet Ani every evening. Even yesterday when I left the house to meet Ani, I did not have any slightest idea that a trouble would be waiting for me on the way.”

After saying this Ankita became silent and after some time she started speaking again, “When I reached the end of my village, then I saw Piyush walking on the road with his bike. I was stunned as soon as I saw him. He stopped me on the way and said, ‘Wait. I have to talk to you about something important.’ I became even more scared after hearing his words. What could he have to do with me at this time of the evening? I told him, ‘I don’t want to talk to you. Let me go.’ After hearing my words he started laughing loudly. He said, ‘I know that you are going to meet your future husband like every day. Today will you give him a gift from me? Maybe he will like this gift very much.’ I became a little nervous after hearing his words. I said, ‘What kind of gift?’ Piyush said, ‘I have sent you a photo on your phone. See it yourself and also show it to your future husband.’ I opened my phone and saw that he had sent me a photo. When I saw that photo, I was stunned after seeing it. It was a nude picture of mine." I was shocked to hear Ankita's words. I said to her, "What are you saying?" Ankita again said while crying, "Yes Boudi. I am telling the truth. Piyush has some nude pictures of me." I said, “But how did he get your nude pictures? You did not do anything wrong with him…” I could not finish my sentence before Ankita interrupted me and said, “No Boudi, believe me. I have not done anything wrong with anyone, let alone him, till date. Actually, this is a year old incident. It happened during last Holi (festival in India). On Holi, all the girls of our village play Holi together. Last year also, I was playing Holi with those girls. Then Piyush came in between. And on the pretext of applying colours on us, he started touching us inappropriately. I did not like this. I slapped him hard. He got angry and went away from there. I thought that he must have learnt his lesson. But I was so wrong. After playing Holi, all the girls went to take a bath in the pond. When we girls were taking a bath, he secretly took nude pictures of me and other girls. And with the help of that, he has done wrong things with every girl by blackmailing them. Now ever since he came to know that I am going to get married, he has his eyes on me. He told me yesterday in clear words that if I think even a little about my and my family's respect, then I will have to agree to him. Otherwise... " I said, "What will he do otherwise?" Ankita said, "He has threatened me that if I do not agree to him, then he will distribute my nude photo to everyone in the village and will defame me. Hearing his words, I started crying, then he told me, 'Don't cry. There will be no use in crying in front of me. I will give you all the photos on one condition only.' I said, 'What condition?' He replied laughingly, 'Nothing special. It does not matter to me whom you are marrying. But you will have to spend the wedding night with me only.' I was stunned to hear his words. What is he saying? He said, 'Don't be so surprised. I know that there is still a week left for your engagement. Spend a night with me before that and get rid of me. And if you ignore my warning, I will create a ruckus on the day of your engagement. I myself will give all these nude pictures to your future in-laws and will lie that you have had sex with me many times. Now think, what will you do. And if you go to the security officer, then understand that you are finished.' I got scared after hearing his words. Now you tell me Boudi, what I should do now. It is better to break this marriage than to face disgrace." Saying this, she started crying again. Wiping her tears, I said, "Don't cry Ankita. I have dealt with such rogue boys before. I am aware of boys like these. You don't worry at all. Your marriage will definitely happen. And it will happen on the decided date. And I will get all your nude pictures from him. And that too before your engagement." Ankita said, "If this happens, I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life. And whatever you say, I will agree. But how will you do this?” I smiled and said, “Don’t worry about that at all. I will take care of everything myself. You leave all the worries aside and just start preparing for your engagement and marriage. I will do my work.” Hearing this, Ankita heaved a sigh of relief. I took leave from her and came out of her room. As soon as I came out, everyone started asking me what happened. I assured everyone and said, “There is no need to worry, you all prepare for the engagement. Ankita has agreed to my point. Her engagement will take place on the decided date. Next week.” All became happy to hear me. Ani and I left their house. Ani said, “Boudi, what has Ankita told you?” I told her, “Ani, I cannot tell you anything about this right now. But know this much that the danger is not over yet. We will have to do something for this.” Ani said, “What will we have to do Boudi?” I said, “That is what we have to think about. But whatever has to be done, you and I will have to do it together. We cannot add a third person to this. Not even Bijan. Let's go home first, I will think and find a way, later I will tell you what we have to do." Ani did not say anything else. I understood that now I will have to do something to save Ankita from this new trouble. (Contd.)

 

[Next Update is on Thursday (15.01.26) between 11 am to 2 pm]