26. His cold facade

Happy Diwali. It's such a coincidence that I am posting this chapter today on such auspicious day.

This chapter is dedicated to men of our society. Although I don't know if I have any male reader but if not then girls this is for your future partner.

And if I have any male reader , please grace us with your presence 🙏🙏.

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It's been 12 days since Pratap  Singh Yaduvanshi left to heaven. Meera looked at Aashrit who was keeping himself busy with all the procession around him. Not once did he sit with anyone or shed a drop of tears. Everyone knew how attached he was to his grandfather. Even when he denied marriage, it was only his Dadu's order that he got married.

Meera looked at Revati and Shivansh who were sleeping in her lap with tear-stricken faces. Then she looked at Abhishek who had red eyes due to crying.

Every relative has gone home except their dadi bua who would be leaving tomorrow early morning.

At first Meera thought that Aashrit wasn't crying in front of many people but he would let his emotions out once relatives left and only her family would be there but that didn't happen. She would always look at his eyes whenever he went by her or was present in the same room but not for once she saw his eyes red or swollen due to crying as Abhishek would usually have. She was so engrossed in her thoughts when she heard some talk around her.

Rashmi's eyes filled with tears "I don't know how he is controlling his emotions."

Darsh put a hand on her shoulder "He is strong Bhabhi. He would overcome it."

Meera looked up and saw Aashrit entering the hall with his father and sat with the family.

Dadi Bua sat beside them and put a hand on his head "He is the king of this kingdom. He is no ordinary person so he doesn't need to cry. It won't suit him" Dadi Bua said caressing his head to which Aashrit just nodded.

"He is way too strong to shed tears," Darsh said

But someone specific didn't agree with their words who was none other than the wife of the man they all were talking about but she kept mum not finding it right to invade the conversation of the elders. She knew that they might not be understanding the effect of their words.

Aashrit took leave from the hall after some minutes. Everyone sat there for some minutes but one after another everyone left. Rashmi woke up Revati and Shivansh asking them to go to their room.

Meera went to the kitchen and put some milk on the stove while stirring some coffee in a mug, thinking about Aashrit all the time. She was thinking about his emotions. She saw how much he was attached to his grandfather. The look of disaster she saw on his face when they heard about their grandfather's loss. She saw the proud and stoic look he always carried on his face fading away when their grandfather was being tied for last rites. If he had no emotions attached then she might not be worried about his emotionless state but she knew that he loved him.

Her thoughts came to a halt when milk almost started boiling. She turned the stove off and poured the milk into the mug with coffee. She put both the cups in the tray and left for her room.

When she reached her room, she saw Aashrit typing profusely on his laptop. She went near him and put the tray beside his table. As she turned back, she peaked at the screen and found him writing some incoherent words. She knew he had no interest in doing any work but just did not want to show himself weak in front of her.

She stood beside him and called him "Aashrit ji"

He looked at her with some confusion because this was one of the few times, she came to talk to him or else it was mostly silence between them. He looked at her and raised his brows.

"Can we please sit on the balcony together? I want to spend some time with you." She said with so much courage considering it is really hard for her to show emotions like sympathy.

"I am busy," Aashrit said and again started typing.

Meera took a deep breath and spoke again "When we met for the first time you said you will fulfill all the duty of a husband. And I am asking for some time from my husband."

Aashrit looked at her with eyes red in anger thinking that she did not understand his situation and only thinking about herself "Don't anger me, Meera"

"But you are a King and a king never goes back on his words," She said with an expressionless face.

Aashrit took a deep breath and messed his hair with his hand while standing up, slamming his laptop shut, and went outside on the balcony and sat on the swing there.

Meera took a deep breath and thought " It's okay Meera, you can do it. You just need to express a little emotion. You might have never done it but he is your husband. You made some promises around the holy fire and now it's time to fulfill them."She thought and went outside with coffee in her hand. She gave him his mug of coffee and sat beside him thinking about all this.

"What now?" Aashrit said with anger clear in his voice.

"Just give me your company," She said looking at him.

Their eyes met and somehow she understood the inner sadness of Aashrit. He looked at her eyes and he felt like she was reading him through his eyes, and he moved his eyes quickly, looking at the moon sipping on coffee.

They sat in silence for some seconds.

"I heard the people who left this earth, become a star in the sky." She said looking at him.

Aashrit dry chuckled "Bullshit"

"It is. Because if they are stars, how would they reincarnate or get moksha?" She said looking at the sky. She put her hand on his which was on the swing getting his attention " Did you marry me because Dadu said so?"

"And what else could be the reason?" He said smirking at her

"Don't know? Maybe you had a girlfriend who left you and you wanted to show her you could do better without her so you married the first girl you got the proposal of or maybe you saw me somewhere and fell for me but didn't want to show it so you decided to send a proposal through your family" She said shrugging her shoulders.

He looked at her in utter disbelief not believing what he just heard "It's not a movie or a book, It's real life and no one does that in real life."

"It's not like many real people were in contact with me for me to know about real people's stuff," She said in a low voice which was barely heard by Aashrit.

"What?" He said not understanding her incoherent words.

She looked at him baffled and said "Maa told me that you once beat Abhi bhaiya so much just because he said Dadu gave him a chocolate."

Aashrit looked at her made an unbelievable face and said in a loud voice with disbelief " Really!! Abhi was wrong in this. He lied. He lied that Dadu gave him my share of toffee. Like, come on. It could never.........." And suddenly he stopped, realizing how he was behaving, and went silent.

Meera noticed the change in his behavior and understood the dilemma he was in. She wanted him to express his emotions today because she might not have the same courage tomorrow to comfort him.

" I was also a favorite of my Dadu," She said looking at him and Aashrit just nodded while she continued. " I mean he loved me the most in my whole house." She said with a little excitement "And when he left that was the last time I cried." Aashrit looked at her with some questions.

"Why last time?"

"Because he cared. And he was there when I used to cry to comfort me but once he was gone I had no one in front of whom I could cry ." She truly expressed her emotions without knowing but realized instantly that one should know about that and spoke quickly "I mean I had tauji, taiji who loved me a lot but I just didn't feel like crying" She said the last sentence covering up the blunder she was about to make.

"How old were you when he was gone?" He asked.

Meera looked at him and smiled "That's not important Aashrit ji," she said "What I wanted to tell you is that you have me in front of whom you could show your emotions. Whether you are happy, sad, angry or you want to cry." She said the last word looking directly into his eyes making him feel exposed.

"A king never cries. I am a man, Meera ji" He said with a fake chuckle trying his best to hide emotions, and looked at the front taking out a cigarette but putting it back recalling it made her cough.

"But a man is a human and he tends to have emotions." She said rubbing his hand in a slow circle.

"I don't"

"Why? Don't you miss Dadu? Don't you miss bickering with Dadu for his medicine? Or don't you miss Dadu stealing sweets?" Meera said to him in a little loud voice.

Aashrit looked at him with anger and stood up to leave saying "If you have nothing special to talk then I will leave." He said and left inside.

Meera held her head "It's hard Meera but you have to do it to get him out of this dilemma." She said and stood up with a determined thought.

She went inside and shut his laptop standing in front of him "Why don't you want to talk about it if it doesn't affect you?"

"That's none of your business."

"It is. I am your wife...." And she was cut before she could complete her sentence.

"A namesake wife. A wife who I married only to provide my state a queen." He said in a much harsh voice standing in front of her with raging heavy breath.

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