Chapter 37

Aman’s brows furrowed in confusion.  He wasn’t expecting Priya to refuse to believe him.

“Why don’t you believe me?” He asked. Priya stopped and turned back towards him.

“Because I don’t. You could just be saying all this because you want me to forgive you so badly.” Priya countered.  Truthfully, she no longer trusted him enough to go by his word.

“That’s not fair.  I wouldn’t lie to you again.  I saw how well that went the first time.” Aman replied.

“Aman, I don’t trust you anymore.  You can’t gain my trust back just by changing your story.” Priya explained.

“I’m not changing my story, Priya. I thought I did sleep with her, honestly.  It’s not true though.” Aman said.

“I still don’t believe you.” Priya repeated.

“What if I hadn’t told you about the affair when I did?  If I kept it a secret all this time and let that night at the motel just happen, would you have ever forgiven me?” Aman asked seriously.

Priya paused.  That night...Aman had refused her because he felt guilty about cheating on her.

“You..” Priya was speechless.

“You wouldn’t have.  And I wouldn’t have expected you too.” Aman cut her off.  “And what if I’d never told you I’d had sex with her?  If I’d said I’d only kissed her, you wouldn’t be this angry.  You wouldn’t have done what you did last night while trying to get revenge.  You would have forgiven me by now.”

What Aman said made sense.  The fact that he wouldn’t allow their relationship to reach the next level without being completely honest with her melted Priya’s heart.  Kissing another woman was still cheating, but did she have the right to be this angry? They weren’t even in love with each other.  If she wasn’t in love with Aman, why did she feel so hurt by his infidelity?

“Priya, say something.” Aman said, breaking Priya’s thoughts.

“I...I don’t know what to say.” Priya said.

“Do you believe me?” Aman asked again.

“I don’t know.” Priya admitted.

“Do you at least believe that I’m not a bad person, that I made a mistake?  And I’m truly sorry.” Aman said, pleadingly.

“Aman, I never believed you were a bad person.” Priya said quietly.

“Priya,” Aman moved closer to her, “how do I fix this?”

Priya looked at him.  Was she taking things too far?  Should she just forgive Aman and forget about the whole thing? After all, it was just kissing.

“I...I just...I need to think.” Priya said.  She honestly didn’t know how she felt about the whole situation.  Did she believe that he’d only kissed the other woman? Why had he brought her back here then?  Is she still angry?

“Fair enough.” Aman relented.  He turned to leave.

“Aman,” Priya stopped him

“Yeah?” Aman turned back around to face her.

“If I’d kissed another man, what would have done?” Priya asked.

Aman paused to think.  He walked closer to Priya and slipped his arm around her waist.

“I’d be mad.  I’d yell at you.” Aman replied, pulling her closer.  “And then I’d go break him in half.”

Priya blushed at Aman’s possessiveness.

“But I’d forgive you.” Aman added.

Priya felt guilty.  He’d just admitted that he would forgive her if she kissed another man, yet she didn’t feel that she was ready to forgive him.

“No pressure, but I do hope you’ll do the same someday.” Aman said.  He kissed her on the cheek before he walked back to his room.

Aman woke up the next day feeling miserable. All he wanted to do was talk to Priya.  Living in the same house as her without being able to have a civil conversation with her was hell.  He didn’t understand why felt the constant need to be around her, but he did.   At breakfast, she barely looked in his direction.  He tried to make small talk in an effort to launch a conversation, but Priya hardly gave him any attention.  He wondered if all that thinking she had done last night worked against him.  Everything he’d told her was true. If she’d made the same mistake he did, he would’ve forgiven her eventually.

Priya couldn’t sleep last night.  She kept thinking about whether or not Aman deserved her forgiveness.  It was noble of him to stop them from consummating their marriage under false pretenses, but he still hurt her.  She did realize while in deep thought that she loved Aman.  She had finally learned to love him. And she loved him even before he confessed about his affair.  That night in the motel was going to be her way to telling him that she loved him and trusted him.  She knew she couldn’t tell him now, however.  He didn’t love her.  If he did, he wouldn’t have felt the need to cheat on her.  She looked over at Aman over the breakfast table.  He was trying so hard to have a conversation, but she just wasn’t into it.

“Priya,” Aman said, breaking her train of thought.

“What?” Priya asked.  She had no idea about what he had been saying.

“Nothing,” Aman said, disappointed.

He stood to leave for work. Priya watched as he left.

“What the hell do I do?” Aman said in frustration.

“Damn! This is worse than one of those sappy afternoon soap operas!” Hiten exclaimed.  “So you didn’t have sex with that other woman?”

“No, I didn’t. It never happened.” Aman confirmed.

“All this drama and you didn’t even get any.” Hiten said.

“Hiten! Seriously,” Aman replied.

“Well, it was just some kissing.” Hiten said.  He wondered how Aditi would react if he kissed another woman.  He shuddered at the thought.

“She has a right to be angry.” Aman said.

“Yeah, but how angry?  You don’t even love each other.”  Hiten pointed out.

“But I’m her husband. The least I can do is stay faithful, right?” Aman said.

“Yeah it’s the least you could’ve done, I guess.  I mean, was a little kissing worth all of this?” Hiten asked seriously.

“Not at all. I wish none of it ever happened.  Priya is more important to me than having sex or anything like that.” Aman said.  He paused.  Did he just say that?  Sex was never everything to him.  He wasn’t dependent upon it, but he knew he needed Priya.

He looked over at Hiten, who had a very smug look on his face.

“What are you looking at?” Aman asked.

“You like her!” Hiten accused with a goofy grin

“What do you mean?” Aman asked.

“You’re falling for Bhabhi!” Hiten clarified.

“No, I don’t think I am.” Aman said defensively.

“You like her! You lii-i-i-ii-ke her.” Hiten said in a singsong voice.

“Shut up! She’s my wife.  I care about her.” Aman said.

“No! You care about her and you like her!” Hiten countered. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be begging her everyday to forgive you.”

“I don’t like when she’s upset with me.  I mean I’m a people pleaser.” Aman smiled.

“Uh huh sure you are.” Hiten said, not agreeing with him.

“So maybe I do like her, so what? We’re married.  If we like each other, then it’s great, right?” Aman said.

“Does she like you as much as you like her?” Hiten asked.

Aman thought about it.  If Priya did have feelings for him, she wasn’t showing them right now.  Right now, she was angry with him.  That night in the motel room though...maybe there were some feelings there.

“I don’t know.” Aman said truthfully.

“Maybe you should find out.” Hiten suggested.

“You just have all the answers, don’t you?” Aman asked.

“Hell yeah! You know it!” Hiten replied happily.

“There’s no point in asking her how she feels about me now.  She’s angry with me.  She’ll probably say she hates me. I don’t know if I can handle that.” Aman confessed.

“Aww you’re so cute.” Hiten pinched Aman’s cheek.

“Get the hell away from me, you freak!” Aman pushed Hiten’s hand away, trying to stifle a laugh.

“Seriously though, ask her. The worse that could happen is she hates you.  If she hates you, you win her back. If she doesn’t, your job just got a hell of a lot easier.” Hiten said.  He always made sense.

Priya stared blankly at her bed.  How did these get here?

“Kamla,” she called for the head maid.

“Yes ma’am,” Kamla came scurrying up the stairs.

“Were these here when you cleaned this room this morning?” Priya asked.

“No ma’am.  They weren’t here when I left. How could they have gotten here?” Kamla replied.

“When did you clean?” Priya asked.

“This morning, while you and sir were having breakfast.” Kamla answered promptly.

“Aman must have sneaked up here after breakfast then.” Priya said to herself.

“Ma’am?” Kamla didn’t hear what Priya had said.

“Nothing, you can go.” Priya dismissed her.

She picked up the elegant bouquet of red and white roses that sat on her bed.  The card said two words: ‘I’m sorry.’ Priya took them to the window and placed the flowers on the window sill.  She stood there for a moment, staring out the window.  She wished Aman’s gesture was one of sincere affection rather than an apology.  She had to admit Aman knew how to be romantic when he wanted to be.  If only he’d be romantic because he loved her…

She walked downstairs, wanting to be around other people.  She watched as the maid cleaned around the house and the chefs prepared meals for the day.

“Kamla,” Priya said.

“Yes ma’am.” Kamla came and promptly stood before Priya.

“What did you do before you worked here?” Priya asked, genuinely curious.

“Ma’am? I do not understand.” Kamla was confused.  No one had ever wanted to talk to her about her life before.

“Your past. What was your past like?” Priya asked again.

“Well, I lived in India before working here. I was married...very young.” Kamla explained.

“You came here after you got married?” Priya asked.

“Oh no no. I husband was an architect in India.  We lived in a small village, and he would commute into the city to work.  He was my best friend.” Kamla said, reminiscing.

“What happened to him?” Priya asked

“He died in an accident at a construction site.” Kamla said sadly.

“Oh! I’m so sorry,” Priya replied.

“We never had the chance to have children.  We’d only been married for a few years when it happened. I was still young.” Kamla said.  She seemed like she was reliving the good memories she had with her husband. She kept narrating parts of her life with him forgetting that Priya was even there.

“What did you do after he died?” asked Priya curiously.

“I started working as a maid, of course. I worked for Sir’s father for years. I practically raised sir.” Kamla said.

“Really?”  Priya asked.  She had no idea that Kamla had known Aman for so long.

“Yes, when he came home from boarding school, I always took care of him.  He wouldn’t allow anyone else to come near him.  He was always a troublemaker.” Kamla said with a smile.

“Why did you never marry again?” Priya replied.

“I spent so much time working, I never really got that chance. Then I got too old.” Kamla replied.

“So you came here with Aman when he moved?” Priya asked.

“He wouldn’t let me refuse.” Kamla grinned.  “I didn’t want to leave India, but he wouldn’t leave without me.”

“That’s so sweet.” Priya commented.

“He’s a very sweet person.  We were very poor and lived in a bad area.  He brought all of my younger sisters to London and provided them with jobs.  He wanted to do the same with me, but I think he needed me here, so I refused and continued being his maid.” Kamla explained.

“You gave up such a wonderful opportunity just to stay with Aman?” Priya asked in disbelief.

“Wouldn’t you?” Kamla answered.

Priya knew in her heart the answer was yes.  She’d do anything to stay with Aman.

At work, Aman couldn’t focus on much.  He and Hiten were working on a groundbreaking business proposal, but Aman was of little help.  He went through the day in a haze.  He couldn’t stand that Priya was still angry with him and that she no longer trusted him.  He needed to get out of the office, but he didn’t want to go home to Priya when she disliked him so much.  He decided that the best thing for him to do right now was to take a drive, a nice and relaxing drive outside of New York city.

He sat in his car and trudged through the New York City traffic until he had driven away from Manhattan Island.  He wasn’t about to drive all the way to upstate New York even though he’d love to be on the open road right now.  He continued to drive, letting his thought travel to Priya.  How much longer would she be angry with him? Did she like the flowers?  He wished she would’ve called him and thanked him for the roses or even rebuke him for the futile apology.

Suddenly, a the car from the adjacent lane swerved into Aman’s lane and crashed into his car.  Aman’s car slid over the road and crashed into an oncoming truck, which caused his car to flip over before careening onto the side of the highway.

One, Priya LOVES Aman!!!  Two, Aman just got into a car crash! OMG! What’s gonna happen next?  Btw, Aman is NOT about to lose his memory. That’s too cliche even for me.  And Aman and Hiten are too funny even in serious situations, don't you think?

My birthday is Monday! It would be awesome to get tons of likes and comment for my birthday! Hint hint ;)

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