Hello everyone...

Thanks to all for voting and commenting on the previous story. Mills & Boons 7 : Temporary Girlfriend (Posted on 17. Oct. 2024)

I don't know why, but I just wasn't in the mood to write anything. I tried a lot but I just couldn't find the interest. And I just wanted to post some story and this random short story came to mind.

There is nothing much in this story, but I hope it will entertain you guys for a few minutes.

Word Count 8495

Hearing the door open, Rishabh curiously looks up and sees Sultan walk in.

"Hey." Rishabh says as he leaned back in his chair and left the pen he was holding on the table.

"You came straight to office from airport?" Sultan asks curiously.

"Yeah." Rishabh replies.

"Are you avoiding Dad and Mom?" Sultan asks him as he sat down opposite to Rishabh.

Rishabh irately shakes his head. "I just don't understand why the hell can't they just accept that I don't want to get married."

"You can't just go on without getting married, right?" Sultan asks him.

"You got married. Did that make you happy?" Rishabh asks him.

Sultan sighs and mutters uncomfortably. "It is not going to be the same."

"You got divorced. And don't get me started on our parents' marriage." Rishabh tells him bluntly.

"It is not necessary that your married life also will be like that." Sultan says softly. "Just meet the girl and see."

"No." Rishabh says adamantly then seeing Sultan going to say something more, Rishabh says. "I'm very busy, Sultan."

Shaking his head, Sultan gets up and walks off.

**********

Evening, Rishabh and Sultan walks into their home and sees that they had guests over.

"Come, Rishabh." Mohan tells him smiling.

Seeing the young girl with the elderly couple, Rishabh frowns, understanding immediately what was happening.

"Sit, Rishabh." Radha tells him smiling.

Rishabh looks at his parents then he looks at Sultan and asks him. "Did you know about this?"

"I am not stupid to spring something like this on you." Sultan whispers in shock.

"Rishabh... Sultan... meet..." Mohan starts to say.

"I told you I don't want to marry anyone." Rishabh angrily says.

"What?" The man says, Rishabh assumed it was the girl's father.

"Rishabh... sit down." Mohan tells him in an angry whisper.

Rishabh turns to the three people and says. "Sorry for wasting your time. I am not going to marry you."

"Rishabh..." Radha says in shock.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't want to get married?" Rishabh asks furiously. "Why can't you let me be?"

Then without waiting for a reply, he turns around and walks out.

**********

Rishabh gets into his car and furiously starts driving his car. He keeps driving ignoring the ringing of his phone. As he furiously drove the car, he left the city limits and heads to the city outskirts.

He kept driving till he reached a secluded house. The watchman opens the gates seeing his car, Rishabh drives in and parks his car. He gets out and walks to the house as he pulled out his wallet and dug out the key. He unlocks the door and opens the door.

The moment he opened the door, he hears the barks and within seconds three dogs runs towards him excitedly.

The dogs starts jumping on him, Rishabh kneels down as he pets the dogs, white bullmastiff called Lady, black rottweiler called Ghost and white pug called Summer, all named after Game of Thrones.

Hearing his mobile ring, Rishabh irately switches it off. he walks to the bedroom and throwing his mobile on the dressing table and grabbing a towel, he goes to take a shower while the dogs waited outside the bathroom door.

**********

Rishabh was standing in front of the dressing table, in his towel as he just stared at his reflection. He was feeling so restless. His anger had died down but still he wasn't calm. He was agitated.

He hears the door open loudly. He turns back and sees Madhu run in excitedly.

"You didn't tell me, you were coming." Madhu says as she ran to him and hugged him.

Rishabh hugs her tightly.

Madhu happily looks at him and Rishabh leans down and takes her lips in his as he lead her to the bed.

**********

"You shouldn't have done that." Madhu whispers as she lay on his chest.

"Did you want me to sit and discuss about marriage with that girl?" Rishabh asks her outraged, almost dislodging Madhu from his shoulder.

"No, you could have gently told her that you didn't want to marry her. Your parents would be humiliated. Even them." Madhu tells him.

"They shouldn't have done this. I have been clear with them." Rishabh tells her.

Madhu sighs then hugging him tight, she asks him gently. "For how long are we going to be like this, Rishu?"

Rishabh tenses up hearing that and asks worriedly, "Do you have regrets, Madhu?"

"No... but we can't go on like this forever."

"You finish your studies first." Rishabh tells her.

Realizing that he wasn't ready to address it, Madhu says with a smile. "By the way, you had a narrow escape."

"What do you mean?" Rishabh asks her smiling.

"I was almost going to invite my friends over." Madhu tells him.

Rishabh leans up as he looked at her in shock. "Madhu, we have rules. No one else here."

"They kept insisting about wanting to see my place. I was feeling so forced that I almost gave in. In the end I told them my uncle and aunt won't like it." Madhu tells him.

"Madhu, this is our place. I don't want anyone else here other than us and the staff." Rishabh tells her.

"I know... but sometimes, I just feel so bored here. Last weekend you didn't come." Madhu tells him gently.

"Madhu, every chance I get I come here." Rishabh tells her. "Last week I had to travel for work."

"I know." Madhu says. "It is just me and the dogs at night, sometimes I feel like talking to someone. When you are traveling, you are so busy that we can speak only for a few minutes."

"Madhu, it is not easy for me also. Even I miss you and wants to talk to you and spend time with you." Rishabh tells her.

"I know." Madhu says with a sigh. "I guess I was just too bored. Leave it."

**********

Rishabh switches on his mobile in the morning and sees lots of missed call from his family. He doesn't bother to call them back. He returns the other calls as he walked to the living room and sat down.

He sees the maid keep his coffee on the side table. He looks up at her and tells her. "Tell Ravi to bring the dogs in."

"Okay."

He had hired the couple to take care of their home. The husband, Ravi was the watchman and also went to the market to buy things while the wife, Priya cooked and cleaned the house. They slept in the outhouse at night.

Rishabh remembers what Madhu had said about feeling bored and sees the dogs run in. The dogs were taken out for their morning walk and to take a leak. He quickly messages the contact and keeping aside his phone, he smiles at the dogs.

Three of them fight for his attention while he pampered them all at once.

Madhu loved dogs while he was more of a cat person.

Hearing the door open, they all turn to look at the door and Madhu steps out ready for college.

"You are not ready?" Madhu asks him as she smiled seeing her pets run to her.

"Going to." Rishabh says as he finished his coffee. "I didn't feed them."

"Okay." Madhu says as she bend down and kisses her pets one by one. "Come fast, I am hungry."

"Okay."

"Will you come back tonight?" Madhu asks him.

Rishabh stops and turns to her regretfully. "No. I'll go home."

"Okay."

**********

They were having breakfast when Rishabh's contact messages him with couple of photos.

He looks at them then he turns the phone to Madhu.

Madhu looks at the screen and her face breaks into a smile seeing dog photos. "Awww."

"Like any?" Rishabh asks her smiling.

"We are getting another pet?" Madhu asks him excitedly.

Rishabh smiles in reply.

"They are all so cute. I don't know which one to pick." Madhu tells him in excited confusion.

Rishabh chuckles seeing that. "If I wasn't worried about Ghost eating him up, I would have got a kitten."

"Awww this beagle." Madhu says as she gushes.

Rishabh takes his phone back and looks at it. "It is female." Rishabh informs her.

"Nymeria." Madhu says excitedly.

"You know, once in a while, it is nice to name a pet after Star Trek." Rishabh tells her.

Madhu grins hearing that. "You can name your cat after that."

"And have Ghost kill him? No, thank you." Rishabh tells her as he typed away on his phone. "Oh... he says it will take a little over a month. Is that okay?"

"Yeah." Madhu says smiling. Then she excitedly hugs him. "Thank you. I love you."

"Love you too." Rishabh says as he kissed her.

**********

Rishabh walks into his bedroom and he takes his mobile out. He opens the app he had kept hidden in his phone. He sees the living room and smiles seeing Madhu playing with the dogs. Then he sees her go to their bedroom. He quickly switches to the bedroom screen. He chuckles seeing Summer trying to get on the bed and Madhu scolding Summer and directing to Summer's bed while the other dogs got on their bed.

Summer wasn't completely trained like Ghost and Lady. They had got Summer just two months back. Rishabh smiles seeing Madhu scolding Summer and Summer sulking.

How he wish he could be there.

Rishabh grins noticing Madhu remove her top.

Hearing a knock at the door, he quickly closes the app and leaving his phone on the bed, he opens the door and sees Sultan.

"I didn't see you today." Rishabh says as he stepped aside for Sultan to walk in.

"I had somethings to take care of." Sultan tells him. "Where did you go yesterday?"

"Just..." Rishabh shrugs.

"Where?" Sultan asks him curiously seeing Rishabh be evasive.

"To a friend's." Rishabh tells him.

"Ah okay... which friend?" Sultan asks him.

"You don't know him." Rishabh tells him.

Sultan nods. "I did call your friends. They had no clue where you were."

"You shouldn't have." Rishabh tells him frowning.

"You left home without a word. We were worried." Sultan tells him.

"God, Sultan. I am not a baby. I can take care of myself. Stop smothering me." Rishabh tells him irately.

Sultan gets irritated hearing that. "Why do you treat us like your enemies? Just because Dad and Mom wants to see you married doesn't mean they are your enemies."

"I don't want to get married. How hard is for them to understand that?" Rishabh asks him angrily.

"If your reasons were right then they wouldn't be forcing you like this." Sultan argues. "Your illogical fears..."

"Illogical?" Rishabh asks him. "Daddaji divorced Dadi and married another woman. God knows what is happening between Dad and Mom. They are miserable together. The only reason they stayed together all these years is because of us. And you..."

Sultan looks away irately.

"We have known Trishna all our lives. She has been your friend. You married her and brought her home. And within a year, you cheated on her and you both filed for divorce." Rishabh reminds him.

"Our case is different." Sultan argues softly.

"Different?" Rishabh asks him outraged. "Our house is cursed. No woman that comes here, will have a happy life."

"You're being superstitious." Sultan tells him fed up.

"It is a fact. It is the truth of this house." Rishabh tells him.

"You are ruining your life with this nonsense belief." Sultan tells him.

"I want to sleep, Sultan." Rishabh tells him fed up.

Giving up, Sultan walks off. Rishabh immediately locks the door.

Right then, his mobile rings and he answers the call. "Hey."

"What were you arguing with your brother?" Madhu asks him.

"You didn't listen?" Rishabh asks her as he put his AirPods in his ears and reopens the app and looks at Madhu lying on their bed. He lies on his bed.

"After the last time, I accidentally clicked on the mic button instead of the unmute, I am scarred for life." Madhu tells him.

Rishabh grins hearing that. They had set up cameras in their bedrooms so they could see each other and kind of have an illusion that they were living together. The camera in his room was well hidden between the books. He had set up their bedrooms also identically though his bedroom in Kundra mansion, didn't have her stuff.

"He was talking about marriage and all." Rishabh tells her.

"Hmmm."

Not wanting to talk on that anymore, he asks her. "How was your college?"

"College was fine. Same old. Did your parents say anything about the way you left yesterday?" Madhu asks him.

"Yeah, they did. It wasn't good." Rishabh tells her.

"Your behavior also wasn't good." Madhu tells him.

"Even theirs." Rishabh argues then grinning he informs her. "Summer is sneaking towards the bed."

"Summer!" Madhu irately calls as she leaned up.

Summer immediately runs back to her bed.

Madhu shakes her head. "She is a little dumb. She thinks she can sneak into my bed while I am wide awake and thinks I will not realize it."

Rishabh chuckles hearing that.

"I've to wake up early tomorrow. I've to reach college early." Madhu tells him.

"Okay, then you sleep." Rishabh tells her.

"Good night."

"Love you."

**********

Rishabh was busy working when he gets a message from Madhu.

Still in office?

It was a busy day in office and he had some pending work to finish.

Rishabh quickly dials her number.

"Hey..." Rishabh says.

"Hi... didn't see you in your room." Madhu says.

"Still in office. I am just wrapping up some work." Rishabh tells her.

"Okay." Madhu yawns. "I'll sleep then. Just message me when you reach home."

"Will do. I'll leave in a few minutes." Rishabh tells her.

"Okay then." Madhu says and hangs up.

Rishabh got busy with his work after that.

**********

Much later, Rishabh was on his way to Kundra Mansion when he reaches the cross road and on an impulse he turns the car towards his home with Madhu.

Much later, he quietly sneaks into their bedroom and sees Madhu sleeping and at her foot, Summer sleeping. He shakes his head with a grin and walks to the bathroom.

Ready for bed, he walks to their bed and softly wakes up Summer. "Get off the bed, Summer."

Growling in protest, Summer jumps off and runs to his bed.

Rishabh gets on the bed and hugs Madhu.

Madhu sleepily turns to look at him. "You didn't tell me you were coming."

"Felt like coming." Rishabh tells her as he kissed her.

Madhu smiles hearing that. She turns to him and hugging him, she sleep.

Rishabh hugs her and was dead to the world in seconds.

**********

"When did you get home last night?" Sultan asks Rishabh curiously as they met in office the next day.

"It was really late." Rishabh lies without looking at him.

"You left before anyone woke up." Sultan tells him.

"Dad wanted me to finish this by the end of the day." Rishabh says pointing at his work load. "So, I reached early." He had even skipped breakfast with Madhu.

"By the way, Mom was saying that you won't be coming with us to Bua's place." Sultan tells him curiously. "What happened?"

"I've other commitments." Rishabh tells him.

"What commitments?" Sultan asks him.

"I've told you, Sultan. I can't come." Rishabh tells him. Weekends were for Madhu. Last weekend he couldn't go due to work, he wasn't going to do that this week too.

"Where do you go off to during the weekends?" Sultan asks him.

"With my friends."

"Every weekend?" Sultan asks him pissed.

"Yeah." Rishabh lies. Earlier the lie had been fine, because they all had accepted that he was going on weekend trips with his friends to unwind. But now, when he blows off the family get together, that lie seemed to not work, but he couldn't change now without making them suspicious.

"Why are they so important than your family?" Sultan asks him.

"It is not about importance. It is about what I need." Rishabh snaps.

Rishabh mentally sighs, leading a double life was taking a strain on him that he for no necessary reason was snapping at his family to keep his secret hidden.

Sultan suspiciously looks at him. "I feel you are hiding something from us. Where do you go off to during the weekends? Where do you run off when you are angry?"

"I just want my own space." Rishabh tells him.

"Do you realize how hurt Dad and Mom are that you are not coming for family get together? That you don't spend time with them? That you are treating them like your enemy?" Sultan asks him angrily.

"I just need some peace." Rishabh tells him angrily. He knew he was being selfish. Both with his family and Madhu. But he couldn't bring Madhu into his home and ruin what they have with the Kundra curse.

Sultan furiously looks at him. "You selfish asshole. You are the one who is causing all the distress at home. You don't see anything beyond yourself."

"I am what I am. You don't have to stay here and tolerate me." Rishabh tells him furiously.

Sultan turns around and walks off.

Rishabh closes his eyes, furious at himself. He knew he shouldn't have said that to Sultan. Sultan was just trying to mediate between their parents and him.

But this fear of exposing Madhu to his family was making him paranoid. He had tried living without Madhu and he knew how difficult it had been.

He had met Madhu on his usual morning jog. She also jogged in the same route as him. First they noticed each other then they started casually smiling at each other, then slowly started greeting each other. One time, he had gone off for business and had missed a couple of days, that time, Madhu had casually asked about why he had been missing and they had started talking. Then they started jogging together.

They got to know each other. Became friends. Madhu was still in her college and was living with her aunt and uncle. They were planning to marry her off, that time she told him she loves him. He had rejected her. From next day, she had stopped coming for the jogs.

He started missing her, he realized even he is in love with her and how miserable life was without her. After a month, he had met up with her. Her family had fixed her marriage against her wishes and he told her about how no marriage survived in his family. Madhu didn't agree with his fears but then she couldn't marry the man her family had decided. So, she had left her family for him and agreed to their current arrangement.

**********

Hearing his mobile ring, Rishabh sighs loudly.

"Who is it?" Madhu asks him.

"My cousin, Mukund." Rishabh tells her as he answered it.

His cousins had been calling asking why he hadn't gone for the get together at Bua's. It seems except for him everyone else was there.

Madhu listened to him speak as he made the same excuse again and again. They had been sending photos and videos of the jolly time they were having.

"Do you regret not going?" Madhu asks him after he hung up.

Hearing the question, Rishabh thought about it. He did want to go. He wanted to meet his cousins. Seeing the videos and photos, he knew he will have a great time with them but if he went then he knew he would miss Madhu. Regret being away from her. Guilty that he sacrificed their time together. then he looks at her and tells her with a smile. "No."

Madhu nods then she says with a dreamy smile. "You should have gone. It is so much fun to be with your cousins."

Rishabh looks at her and asks her worriedly. "Do you miss your family?"

Madhu thoughtfully looks at him then she shakes her head. "They were forcing me to marry someone I didn't want to. They wanted to finish off their responsibilities towards me and they just wanted to marry me off."

Rishabh moves to her and side hugs her. Madhu smiles as she snuggles into his arms.

"Though at times, when you are not here and Priya has also gone to sleep, it is just me and if you are busy then I feel so alone here. How much will I speak to the dogs? No one will be here to speak to. That time, I would think how it would be if I kept in touch with them." Madhu tells him.

"Why don't you try reconnecting with them?" Rishabh asks her.

Madhu shakes her head and asks him. "And when they ask where I am staying, what should I tell them?"

Rishabh looks away hearing that. "Do you regret choosing me?" Rishabh asks her softly.

Madhu shakes her head. "I'm happy with you. I know how life is without you."

Rishabh smiles hearing that. He kisses her on her cheek.

"Do you want to go out?" Madhu asks him. "I know you are missing your cousins. Let's go somewhere. It will keep take your mind off things."

Rishabh smiles. "Yeah, let's go."

"Where? The usual?" Madhu asks him.

They never went to the city, scared of running into people that knew him. So, they hung out around this area or went to Pune.

Seeing her looking at him, waiting for a reply, he asks her. "How about a staycation?"

Madhu smiles excitedly. "Let's do that."

"Do you have any place in mind?" Rishabh asks her smiling seeing her excitement.

"No, you surprise me." Madhu tells him excitedly. "And I will pack our stuff."

**********

Two weeks later.

Hearing the door bell, Madhu opens the door and stops in shock seeing Sultan at the door.

"I'm Sultan Kundra." Sultan tells her.

"I know." Madhu replies in shock. Her heart beating fast. "How are you here?"

Sultan steps in. Madhu moves aside as she stared at him in shock.

Seeing a stranger, the dogs come barking at him.

"STOP." Madhu shouts at the dogs. "One minute." Madhu tells Sultan then she takes the dogs to her bedroom and locks them up inside. They start barking loudly in protest.

Madhu turns to Sultan and asks him. "Does Rishabh know that you are here?"

"What is your relation to my brother?" Sultan asks her.

"You should be asking your brother that." Madhu tells him as she took her phone.

"I know whenever he says he is going off with his friends, when he doesn't come home, he spends his night here. Don't bother lying to me, I have had someone follow him." Sultan tells her then he asks her angrily. "What are you? His girlfriend? Or just...?"

Madhu turns red understanding the insinuation. "Rishabh will answer your question." Madhu tells him, feeling humiliated. She takes her phone and dials Rishabh. The phone starts ringing and she puts him on speaker.

"Hey Madhu." Rishabh answers her call.

"Where are you?" Madhu asks him.

"Office. What's up?"

"Your brother is here." Madhu informs him as she looked at Sultan.

"Sultan?" Rishabh shouts in shock. "What is he doing there?"

Madhu looks at Sultan, silently asking him to answer.

Sultan sighs and steps closer to the phone. " Rishu."

"What are you doing there, Sultan?" Rishabh asks him panicking.

"Who is she, Rishu?" Sultan asks him angrily. "Is she the reason that you are refusing to get married?" Sultan asks him then confused he himself answers, "But why would that be? Dad and Mom has always said that you can choose your life partner."

"It is not like you think, Sultan." Rishabh says hurriedly. "Madhu is just a good friend."

Madhu stops in shock hearing that. Her heart breaking that Rishabh even refused to acknowledge that he loves her in front of his brother. She had left everything, believing in only him and he refuse to accept her in front of another person?

Sultan looks up at Madhu and sees her eyes filled up.

"Sultan, just come back home. Don't trouble Madhu." Rishabh tells him, still panicking.

"You should leave." Madhu tells Sultan, as she fought her tears.

"Sultan..."

"I'm leaving." Sultan quickly tells Rishabh as he cut the call. He looks at Madhu, feeling guilty seeing her so broken. "Are you okay?"

Madhu looks away.

"He lied to me. Isn't it?" Sultan asks her softly seeing her so hurt after Rishabh called her a good friend.

"Please leave." Madhu tells him.

Sultan leaves and Madhu goes to her bedroom. She hears her phone ring, but she rejects Rishabh's calls.

She sits on the bed as she hugged herself, replaying how Rishabh had called her just a good friend. She bursts into tears.

"Madhu..."

Hearing Rishabh's worried voice, she looks up. Not seeing him, she realized that he was speaking to her from the camera.

"Madhu... why are you crying? Are you okay? Did Sultan say anything?" Rishabh asks panicking and getting furious.

Madhu gets off the bed and walks to the camera. "Leave me alone, Rishabh." Madhu furiously shouts at him as she angrily pulled off the camera cord, disconnecting it.

**********

Madhu knew that Rishabh would be on his way here. And she couldn't face him now. Every time, she had asked about their future, he had evaded answering her and today, she got her answer. He was never going to accept her in front of his family. She will always be hidden away.

She needed to think and take a decision. She needed space from him. She takes her phone and googles for a hotel.

Then gathering her dogs, she takes few of her stuff and asking Ravi to come with her, she leaves the house.

She goes to the nearby ATM and withdraws the maximum amount she could withdraw in a day. Rishabh had been generous with the money, so, she knew for sometime, she will be fine. She switches off her phone. Then taking her things and dogs from the car. She gives the car key to Ravi and instructs him to take the car back.

She had seen in movies, one of the way to track a person was through the car and phone. She didn't want Rishabh to find her before she was ready to face him.

After Ravi left, Madhu took an auto to the hotel. Knowing, Rishabh will look for her with her friends and family first.

She knew he would look for her. She knew he loved her but she will no longer be in a relationship that is so hidden and was suddenly starting to look so dirty and cheap.

**********

Sultan wakes up hearing loud banging on the door and Rishabh calling out to him frantically.

Sultan opens the door and sees Rishabh at the door.

"I thought you were hiding from me." Sultan tells him.

"I can't find Madhu. What did you tell her?" Rishabh asks him furiously and panicking and his eyes filling up.

"I just asked her who she is." Sultan tells him. "Who is she, Rishu?"

"Why did you go there? What right did you have? You should have asked me. You had no right interfering in my life." Rishabh furiously shouts at him.

"What is happening?" Mohan asks in shock.

They turn back and sees their parents standing near them.

Rishabh ignores them and turns to Sultan. "Madhu left home. She switched off her phone. She is not with her friends or her aunt. Where is she?"

"I don't know, Rishu." Sultan tells him in shock. Then seeing Rishabh so frantic, he tells him reassuringly. "We will find her, Rishu."

"You stay away." Rishabh furiously accuses him. "I kept her away from this house and one gaze of yours fell on her and I lost her."

Sultan furiously looks at him. "You didn't lose her because my gaze fell on her. You lost her because you called her a good friend. I saw how hurt she looked."

Rishabh stops hearing that, looking away, feeling guilty for that. "I hurt her."

"You did." Sultan agrees. "I asked her whether she is your girlfriend or something else. She said you will answer my question."

"What?" Rishabh turns to him furiously and asks him. "What did you mean by something else? How dare you, Sultan?"

"You kept her hidden from us." Sultan reminds her. "What was I to think?"

Rishabh murderously looks at Sultan.

"She looked so hurt and broken when you said she is just a good friend." Sultan tells him then he tells him upset. "Rishu, did you think I would go there without knowing what I was walking into? I knew you have been spending your weekends with her. And then you reduce whatever you have with her to being just friends?"

"Weekends?" Mohan asks in shock. "You were not with your friends?"

"No. He was with Madhu." Sultan informs him.

"Who is this Madhu?" Radha asks confused.

"And she is missing now?" Mohan asks in confusion and worry.

"She is." Sultan answers then looking at Rishabh, he tells him. "We'll find her, Rishu. Whoever she is, I can see that she is important to you, I promise, we will find her."

"But who is she?" Radha asks fed up.

Rishabh turns to his parents and informs them. "My wife."

"WIFE?" Sultan asks him in shock.

"You got married?" Mohan asks him in anger.

"Why didn't you tell us? Why did you hide from us that you got married?" Radha asks him in shock and hurt.

"Did you think that we wouldn't accept the girl you love?" Mohan asks him offended and hurt.

"I didn't tell you all because this family is cursed. I didn't want to lose Madhu." Rishabh angrily tells them.

"You told me your wife is your good friend?" Sultan asks him in fury.

Rishabh guiltily gulps hearing the question. "I just wanted you to go away from her."

"So, you lied?" Sultan asks him. "She looked so hurt when you belittled your marriage like that. Is it any wonder she left you?"

"If you hadn't come..." Rishabh says.

"Is your superstition more important to you than your wife's dignity, Rishu?" Mohan asks him furiously.

Rishabh felt himself drown in guilt realizing that in a moment of panic, when he lied, what it had caused Madhu.

"I always taught you to respect women, and is this how you treat your wife?" Radha asks him angrily.

"I couldn't let Madhu suffer like dadi did. You both are unhappy with each other. We know that, we see that." Rishabh tells them angrily.

"We have had issues and we have been working through them, Rishu." Mohan tells him. "Why is it so hard for you to understand?"

"If you didn't have us, would you have stayed together?" Rishabh asks him back in a challenging tone.

"Maybe not." Radha admits. "But to stay together was our choice. And Rishu, no marriage is easy. There will always be issues, you have to work through them."

Rishabh adamantly shakes his head. "What about Sultan and Trishna?"

Mohan and Radha looks at Sultan.

Sultan uncomfortably looks at them.

Rishabh turns to look at him. "Was Trishna happy here?" Rishabh asks him. "Has any woman been happy in this house?"

Sultan closes his eyes tired. Then he tells them. "Trishna and I decided to get divorced because we both realized that we were not attracted to each other. We tried a lot but neither of us could work it out. We tried counseling but it didn't work. We just didn't desire each other."

"So you cheated on her?" Rishabh asks him furiously.

"I never cheated on her." Sultan tells him.

"What?" Mohan asks in shock.

"But you said..." Radha whispers in shock.

"If we told you all the truth, then you all would just keep telling us to work through it. We tried. We realized that we wanted each other to be happy and we shouldn't tie us down into a compromise. So, we lied that I cheated." Sultan tells them.

Mohan and Radha looks at each other in shock.

"What is happening with them?" Radha asks Mohan in shock.

"Why did you have to lie to us like this?" Mohan asks his sons. "Have we ever come in the way of your happiness?"

"Dad... Mom..." Sultan gently tells them. "I knew, it would be a shock to you. You will try to convince us to give our marriage one more chance but in the end, I knew you would support me. But Trishna's parents, she knew they will never support her in this, saying marriage is more than this. Compromise is a necessity in life. That is the reason I lied."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Rishabh asks him.

"Did you tell me when you got married?" Sultan asks him back.

Ignoring her sons, Radha turns to Mohan and holds his hand. "Mohan, I don't care what he thinks. But he was saying Madhu is not with her family and friends. She is hurt. She might be alone. We have to find her."

Mohan nods as he glared at Rishabh.

**********

Early next morning, Sultan stood outside Rishabh's and Madhu's house. The servant let him in. He walks in to see Rishabh looking so broken.

"What are you doing here?" Rishabh asks him.

"You left without telling us." Sultan tells him as he walked to Rishabh and sat opposite to him.

"I wanted to be here, when Madhu comes back." Rishabh tells him as he looked down.

Sultan doesn't say anything hearing that.

"She will come back." Rishabh tells Sultan, understanding his silence. "Even if it is to tell me that she doesn't want me in her life, she will come to tell me that."

Sultan nods.

"I called her friends and her aunt. They have no idea where she is." Rishabh helplessly tells him.

"They knew about your marriage?" Sultan asks, frowning, wondering if they were the only ones who didn't know about it.

Rishabh shakes his head. "When I was friends with Madhu, that time I had met her friends. They think that I am just a friend that Madhu hangs out with. Her aunt and uncle, Madhu left home and they were not in contact with her."

"We'll find her, Rishu." Sultan gently tells him.

"What if she left town? Where will I look for her?" Rishabh worriedly asks him.

"Dad and Mom have gone to meet the police. Technically, it is not 24 hours since she has been missing, but Dad is going to ask them to look for her unofficially." Sultan informs him.

Rishabh nods his head.

They remained silent while Rishabh kept trying to call Madhu. But she had her phone off.

"This place is awfully quiet." Sultan tells him confused. "Yesterday, it wasn't like this."

Rishabh looks up at him then looking back at his phone, he tells him. "Madhu took the dogs."

"Oh... yeah... 3 right?"

Rishabh nods as his eyes filled up. "Madhu loves dogs. Every time, she told me she felt lonely here or bored, I got her a dog. To make up for it, to cheer her up."

"This place is so far away from the city. Does she have any friends here?" Sultan asks him.

Rishabh shakes his head. "All her friends are in the city. The commute to college takes up a lot of time for her, so she never got the chance to meet anyone around here."

Sultan shakes his head in disappointment. In his fear, Rishabh really kept Madhu isolated.

Hearing his phone ring, Sultan answers the call.

"Hello Dad... okay... yeah okay... yeah, I am with him... I'll send you the address." Sultan tells him.

"They are coming here?" Rishabh asks looking up at him.

"Yeah." Sultan replies typing on his phone.

"Why?" Rishabh asks confused.

Sultan gives him a look and tells him. "They might be mad at you for getting married like this, but they are still worried about you."

Rishabh guiltily looks away. "I couldn't lose her. I couldn't take a chance."

Sultan ignores what he said and tells him. "I'm sending you a number. He is the SI of this area. Send him a photo of Madhu, her ID proof and call him, he wants to ask you about Madhu's last known whereabouts and some other details."

Rishabh quickly does what Sultan told him. "Last I know of her is that she had used the ATM nearby." Rishabh informs him.

"Maybe they can trace from there where she went off to." Sultan tells him.

Rishabh hopefully nods as he dialed the number.

Sultan sat by as he listened to Rishabh answer the questions of the SI.

Finishing the call, Rishabh hurriedly stands up.

"What happened?" Sultan asks him.

"He mentioned that he will check the hotels in this vicinity. I'll go check there. What if Madhu is staying there?" Rishabh asks him.

"There is going to be lots, which one will you check?" Sultan asks him. "And do you think that even if you go to the hotel they will divulge the information about a guest?"

Rishabh furiously sits down and says. "What am I supposed to do? I can't simply sit here like this."

"Wait a minute." Sultan says realizing.

"What?" Rishabh asks him eagerly.

"If she is staying in a hotel then it has to be pet friendly. We should look for pet friendly hotels." Sultan tells him as he quickly searched on his phone.

"Yeah." Rishabh says feeling a rush of hope, that would narrow down their search.

"Call the SI and tell him that." Sultan instructs him.

**********

"You go up." Sultan tells him as they stood at the hotel lobby. "I'll inform Dad and Mom and wait for them here."

Rishabh nods and he turns to walk off. then stopping, he turns to Sultan and hugs him. "Thank you."

Sultan hugs him. "Just remember, Rishu, that we are your family. Your happiness is important to us. We wouldn't ever want to see your marriage fail. We would do everything in our power to safeguard your marriage."

"I never thought you all would..." Rishabh says as his eyes filled up. "No women has ever been happy in our family. In that house. I was scared of that curse."

"There is no such thing as curse." Sultan tells him. "You need to realize that your fear is what caused so much problem in your marriage. Not any curse."

Rishabh gulps hearing that.

"You go." Sultan gently tells him.

**********

"I told you to leave me alone." Madhu tells him fed up as she opened the door for him.

"Madhu... I am sorry. I know I messed up." Rishabh says as he followed her in.

Summer runs to him and keeps her paws on him excitedly, while Lady and Ghost stood next to Madhu, barking at Rishabh, showing solidarity to Madhu.

Every time they had a disagreement or fought, the dogs would sense it and side with Madhu.

But this time, they didn't fight in front of the dogs. Rishabh sighs realizing that Madhu had been crying and that is the reason the dogs were pissed with him.

Rishabh rubs his hands over Summer to calm her so he could speak to Madhu.

"Madhu, I am so sorry. When I found out Sultan was there in our home and Sultan asked me, in that panic, I lied. I just wanted to keep him away from us." Rishabh tells her as he walked to her.

The dogs starts barking, one for attention and the other two as warning.

"QUIET!" Rishabh shouts, wanting some silence, so he could speak to Madhu.

Summer stops while the other two barked.

Madhu gently runs her hands over the dogs. "Stop." Madhu murmurs. And they immediately stop.

"Madhu..."

"How long do you expect me to stay hidden, Rishabh?" Madhu asks him hurt.

"Not any more, Madhu." Rishabh tells her as he held her hand.

Madhu pulls her hand away. "I thought you will overcome your fear when you realize that we have a happy and good marriage but you told your brother that I am just a good friend?"

Rishabh's heart breaks seeing her tears.

"Do you realize what he thought of me then? You disrespected me and our marriage." Madhu accuses him.

"Madhu, I am so sorry." Rishabh tells her, feeling guilty and horrible for what he did.

"For how long, Rishabh? What will happen when we have children? Will you call them your good friend's children?" Madhu asks him.

"Madhu, do you think I would ever do that?" Rishabh asks her as he held her hand.

"I never thought you would disregard me or our marriage." Madhu tells him.

"Madhu, in a moment of panic, I said that. I shouldn't have. I know. I am very sorry." Rishabh tells her. "Please trust me, Madhu."

"I left my family and married you in secret, trusting only you, Rishabh." Madhu reminds him.

Rishabh closes his eyes hearing that. "Trust me, Madhu, nothing is more important than you for me. I've told my family that you are my wife."

"You did?" Madhu asks him in a shocked whisper.

"You left me. My worst fear had come true. Nothing else mattered to me." Rishabh tells her as he cupped her face.

"You told them that we are married?" Madhu asks him in shock.

"Yes, I did." Rishabh tells her.

"I was going to tell you that I want divorce." Madhu tells him, still in shock.

Rishabh stares at her in shock and asks her. "Can you live without me?"

"I could not live with you disrespecting our relationship, our love, our marriage and me." Madhu tells him.

"Please don't leave me, Madhu." Rishabh begs her.

Seeing him like that, and the courage it took him to tell his family about their marriage, Madhu gives in and hugs him.

"I love you, Madhu." Rishabh tells her in relief.

"I know." Madhu mumbles.

Hearing the bell ring, Madhu and Rishabh move apart. Madhu curiously looks at Rishabh.

"That would be Sultan and my parents." Rishabh informs her.

"What?" Madhu shouts in shock.

Rishabh smiles and starts to walk to the door.

"No, wait." Madhu says panicking.

"What happened?" Rishabh asks her confused. "You always wanted to meet them, right?"

"Look at me? I am a mess." Madhu tells him frantically as she wiped her tears. "Wait." Madhu says and runs to the toilet.

Rishabh follows her and sees her washing her face. Then brushing her hair.

"Madhu, relax."

"Rishabh, they are meeting me for the first time. I want them to like me." Madhu tells him.

"They already like you, Madhu." Rishabh tells her. "It is me, that needs to get back into their good grace."

Madhu looks at him in confusion.

"You're not the only one I hurt." Rishabh tells her sadly. "Even my parents and Sultan are disappointed that I didn't accept you as my wife openly."

Madhu couldn't help her smile. "I am not feeling sorry for you. I feel happy."

Rishabh chuckles. "Can I open the door?"

"Yeah." Madhu says with a nervous smile.

Rishabh walks to the door and opens it.

"Is everything okay here?" Mohan asks Rishabh.

"Yeah." Rishabh replies with a smile as he stepped aside.

They step inside and the dogs runs to them.

Radha yelps seeing three dogs and moves behind Mohan.

Rishabh quickly grabs Summer and Ghost. "Mom is scared of dogs." Rishabh tells Madhu.

Madhu quickly holds Lady. She opens the bathroom door and pushes Lady inside. Rishabh guides the other two dogs inside and closes the door. The dogs starts barking in protest.

Madhu turns to look at Rishabh's family.

Radha and Mohan smiles at Madhu and walks to Madhu. Madhu nervously smiles at them.

"I'm your husband's father, Madhu." Mohan tells her with a smile.

"And I'm his mother." Radha tells her.

"I know. Rishabh has told me about you all." Madhu tells them smiling.

Radha hugs Madhu then Mohan hugs her. Madhu turns to look at Sultan.

Sultan walks to her and hugs her. "I'm sorry, Madhu. I came to you because I knew he would never tell me the truth."

"You don't have to say sorry, Sultan bhaiyya." Madhu tells him smiling. "You didn't know anything about us."

Rishabh turns to his parents and tells them. "Thank you. Madhu was thinking of divorcing me." Rishabh hugs them. "I am sorry for hiding Madhu from you both."

"I don't know how we will ever get over the fact that you got married without telling us, Rishu." Radha tells him upset.

"Or that you thought we will disrupt your marriage." Mohan tells him hurt.

"It's not that." Rishabh quickly tells them.

Mohan puts up his hand. "We came to meet Madhu. Not you."

They all sit down to speak.

"So, you two have been married for almost a year?" Sultan asks them in shock.

They nod their heads.

"Radha and I were speaking." Mohan tells them. "We have no idea how to ease away Rishu's fears. So, we were thinking, maybe you both stay separately..."

"No." Madhu says quickly.

They all look at her in confusion.

Madhu looks at Rishabh and tells him. "The only way you are going to get over your fear is by staying in that house and us having a good marriage. Otherwise you will always have this fear."

"Madhu..." Rishabh starts to argue.

"I never believed that your house was cursed or the marriages in your family is cursed. Whatever the problems we had, it is because of your superstition. I don't want you to live in fear. I want you to have faith in us, our marriage and the family, Rishabh. I'll come with you only if it is to your family home." Madhu tells him.

"You both lived your life the way you wanted, now live the way she wants." Sultan tells Rishabh.

Rishabh sighs and nods his head. "If that is what you want." Then as a last minute ditch he turns to his mother and tells her. "The dogs will also come with us."

Madhu worriedly looks at her mother-in-law, she couldn't give them up.

Radha worriedly looks at Rishabh and Madhu then she hopefully looks at Madhu and tells her. "I am sure, you can train your dogs to stay away from me."

**********

Few days later

Rishabh sighs as he sat in his room. He hears a soft groaning from Ghost. He turns to look at the dogs. "Yeah, even I don't know what is taking her so long." Rishabh tells them.

The dogs lie on the floor as they waited.

"Yeah, even I feel she has no time for me ever since we came here." Rishabh mumbles. Then tired of waiting, he gets up and walks out of his room.

He finds Madhu and Sultan sitting together and laughing and chatting with each other.

"I thought you had gone to get water." Rishabh tells Madhu as he leaned on the door frame.

Madhu and Sultan turns to look at him.

Madhu smiles and shows the bottle of water. "I was speaking to Dad and Mom. They wanted to show me the gifts that they plan to give everyone at my aunt's place tomorrow."

Rishabh nods.

"Then I ran into Sultan bhaiyya and we just started chatting." Madhu tells him, realizing that he had been waiting for her for a while now to go to bed. She gets up as she turned to Sultan. "We'll discuss this tomorrow."

"Okay." Sultan smiles at her.

Rishabh and Madhu starts walking to their bedroom.

"So, what were you guys talking?" Rishabh asks her curiously.

"Sultan bhaiyya was telling me that he is seeing someone." Madhu tells him.

"Really?" Rishabh asks surprised. "He never told me."

"Did you tell him that you got married?" Madhu asks him back.

Rishabh gives her an embarrassed smile.

"It is going to take them a while to forget and forgive what you did. So, till then, they won't be sharing any secrets with you." Madhu cheekily tells him.

"But they will share with you?" Rishabh asks her with a grin.

"Oh yes. They all love me." Madhu smugly tells him.

"Not as much as me." Rishabh tells her as he pulled her close.

************

Epilogue

Rishabh pampers the Persian cat. And the cat snuggles to him.

He feels someone brush against him legs and looks down and sees the Ragdoll cat brush up against him. He smiles and picks him up and lovingly calls him, "Crime Master Gogo."

"What are you doing here?" Madhu asks curiously as she sat next to him.

Rishabh turns to her and sadly smiles. "I was just missing the dogs."

Madhu's smile drops hearing that. She sadly side hugs Rishabh as she thought of her pets.

They all had died and she had decided not to have any more pets because the pain she went through when all four of the dogs died was too much.

Rishabh smiles at her as he kept the cats on his lap. These cats were their son's.

Rishabh smiles as he thought of his younger son, Laksh. In a lot of ways, Laksh has taken after him. He was an introvert, loved cats and classic Hindi moves like him. And was a little bit of a coward, Rishabh thought with a mental chuckle.

And he has the penchant of Madhu's to name his pets after his favorite film villains. The cats were named Crime Master Gogo, Gabbar Singh and Mogambo.

"You two aren't ready yet?" Laksh asks as he walked to them.

"We'll be ready in no time." Madhu tells him.

"Go fast." Laksh says as he leaned down to rub his cats lovingly. "Koel is frantic."

Rishabh groans. "I hate this party."

Madhu chuckles. "For a man who lived in fear that marriage will not survive, and you dare say that you hate our 25th wedding anniversary party?"

"Yes." Rishabh grumbles.

Madhu and Laksh grin seeing Rishabh so grumpy. Koel had hinted that she wanted to introduce someone special to them and ever since then Rishabh has been in a grumpy mood, fearing that his precious daughter was going to be snatched from him.

"I am telling you now itself, Madhu, I want a ghar jamai." Rishabh tells Madhu as he stood up and handed the cats to his son.

"Aren't you the one who was so sure that no marriage will survive in this house?" Madhu teases him.

"Dad and Mom have been married for 50 plus years. We have been married for 25 years. Sultan and Dipali bhabhi has been together for as much as time. How can you be so superstitious after all that?" Rishabh asks her, frowning in disappointment.

*** The End ***

Like I said, just a crappy story. I really wanted to write something and wanted to keep it short. This is the only idea I could come up with.

Please leave your comments.

- Lazy