The Accidental Wife Read online

  Shashank suppressed a chuckle and said the only thing that seemed to concern him. “She certainly sounds like a rare gem, Rihaan. What about her family? We’d like to talk to her parents.”

  “You don’t have to worry about them, Dad. I’ve checked them out already. They are great, just like their daughter,” Rihaan confirmed quickly. He didn’t want his father to launch into a prolonged investigation.

  His mother having recovered a little, smiled fondly at Rihaan. At least he was getting married was probably what she was thinking. “Alright,” she said. “But I wish to see her picture and, I’d also like to know her name.”

  “It’s a surprise,” Rihaan said mysteriously. “Just have a little patience and trust me. Next month you’ll get your wish.”

  ***

  Two weeks later Rihaan couldn’t fathom why people got married, least of all why they conducted these ridiculously-long ceremonies. He’d flown into New Delhi earlier than his parents to meet with Deepika before they met her.

  What he discovered was that his wedding was utter chaos. It was a nightmarish ordeal which lasted over four days, or a few weeks if he took into account the day his mother had first dangled her sword over his head and coerced him to get married.

  He’d hoped to keep matters quiet but that proved impossible. Shobha had made certain that everybody she knew (even the remotest acquaintance) was invited to come and give their blessings to her son and his bride.

  Uncle Rajbir had been waiting for him at the airport and apparently had the next few days pretty well chalked out. Rihaan was allowed no say in any matter whatsoever and found himself subject to various rituals and customs that frightened him half to death, almost reducing him to tears.

  All his relatives had a field day at his expense. His mother, who along with the rest of his family was caught in a snowstorm in Europe (she’d gone wedding shopping in Paris when every damn thing was available in NYC) seemed to be directing everything by remote control.

  Fortunately, his future wife’s family had come to his rescue. He was relieved when he learned they weren’t much into tradition.

  On the second day after he landed, Rihaan slipped the ring he’d bought in a hurry at Tiffany’s on Deepika’s finger and she had seemed pleased. In truth, she was more ordinary-looking than he had assumed (makeup can do wonders apparently and pictures can be doctored). Nevertheless, he was content when she assured him with a toothy smile that he’d get exactly what he’d bargained for.

  On the third day, she signed her name alongside his in front of a registrar and the deal was official. On the fourth, the whole bloody thing was concluded with a wedding ceremony to please the hearts of all the traditionalists. Unfortunately or fortunately for him, his parents were still missing in action. But they’d watched everything live, thanks to the miracle of high tech and the internet.

  And before he knew, it was all over. Rihaan had joined the ranks of hapless and bemused married men.

  But somehow it all didn’t quite gel for him. Something had gone wrong, yet he couldn’t put his finger on it.

  So when it came time for his wedding night, leaving his cousins and miscellaneous relatives behind to rejoice in drunken revelry, Rihaan headed to the room on the second floor of his uncle’s house specially decorated for the purpose singularly determined to pull the veil off the disquieting mystery—his so-called wife.

  He found her on the balcony. “Deepika?” he ventured tentatively.

  She stepped out of the shadows.

  But the girl who stood in front of him was certainly not the one he thought he’d married, and to make matters even worse, she was definitely not ordinary-looking.

  She was stunning!

  Just as his eyes affixed to her face, the wheels of his brain drew to an abrupt halt. What a face it was. That of an enchantress, no less.

  Bathed in ethereal moonlight, with dark, wavy hair of shimmering black silk that flirted with her smooth and dewy complexion; regular, well-defined features; huge, luminous eyes that sparkled; lustrous lips, full and moist that curved into a mocking smile and…brought him crashing back to earth!

  Goddamnit! This was exactly what he had been guarding himself against! This girl, this stranger, had already knocked him off his moorings when he was least prepared for it. Beautiful creatures like her should not be allowed to roam free on the streets, in particular creep unannounced into unsuspecting men’s bedrooms! What was she doing here?

  He wrenched himself out of the haze. There wasn’t any way he could afford to be unsettled in his well-planned life. He cleared his throat twice before he found his voice. “You aren’t Deepika. Where is she?”

  “Yes, you guessed right,” she spoke in a low soft tone. “I’m not Deepika. She’s gone. I am Naina.” She paused for effect. “Good bye, Rihaan. Nice to have made your acquaintance.”

  She turned to slip past him.

  He stepped up to bar her way; his reflexes getting their act together before his brain did. “No…wait! How…how can you say she’s gone? She’s my wife for crying out loud!”

  She cast a pitiful glance at him. “Yes, she’s gone. And no, she’s not your wife. I was the one sitting in the mandap. Don’t tell me you didn’t know that already.”

  Rihaan closed his eyes. He felt his heart take a free fall to his gut and continue to sink further. What he had fervently hoped to be a delusion of his conscience had turned out to be true. The worm of suspicion had begun to wiggle itself into his psyche as soon as he’d taken his seat beside his future wife on the marriage stage. But he’d ignored it. He realized now, for starters, she looked a lot slimmer than he remembered. He’d rejected the notion quickly, attributing it to some miracle diet drug.

  What intrigued him even more was when he noticed her face shrouded in the ghoonghat throughout the ceremony. Surprisingly, she had suddenly turned very shy. But when it was time to tie the mangalsutra around her neck and place the vermilion streak on her forehead; he had caught a glimpse of her face and those strikingly luminous eyes, and all his misgivings were confirmed.

  Rihaan teetered against the bedpost. He had been thoroughly duped, hoodwinked, ripped off, two-timed, etcetera.

  “Are you okay?” Her hand gently gripped his arm, in concern he supposed but she appeared to be laughing silently at him.

  “Hell!” He wrenched his arm away. “This isn’t funny at all!”

  She looked chagrined. “I’m sorry. I know you are badly shaken. But Deepika couldn’t think of a better way out.”

  “Way out of what? Anyway, where is she now?”

  “I told you. She’s gone.”

  Yes, she was gone. But he had too many questions that needed to be answered. And now.

  “All right, so she’s gone. But what about her parents? They were there when Deepika and I signed the marriage certificate. Are they involved in this charade as well?”

  “No they are not.”

  “Then…then why did they not come forward to identify you when they knew you weren’t their daughter? Don’t tell me you fooled them, too.”

  Naina offered a wry smile. “Perhaps they didn’t recognize me, or more likely, they chose not to. Perhaps they didn’t come forward because it would cause them dishonor and shame.”

  Rihaan could comprehend that. To declare that the bride was not their daughter could mean major loss of face for any parent.

  “But why this big farce? Why did Deepika find me through a marriage portal, ask me to come here and sign on the marriage certificate, if all she intended to do was not get married at all! Why?”

  The girl who called herself Naina (if that was really her name) looked exasperated. Two flattering spots of red surfaced on her cheeks. Digging into her purse, she pulled out a small notepad, briskly jotted something down and handed it to him. “Here, this is Deepika’s cell. Call and ask her yourself. My job is done. I’m out of he
re.”

  “Job?” Overcome by an immense fury, he glowered at her. “What job? Do chicks get paid nowadays to do stand-ins at weddings?”

  “No, and I don’t do stand-ins!” She shot back with equal vehemence. “Deepika didn’t pay me a dime! I was just trying to help my friend and I truly regret it. It seemed like a harmless prank. Now I know it was in very bad taste. I apologize sincerely, Rihaan. But really, I have to go now. It’s getting late. Please call her. I’m sure she’ll be expecting to hear from you.” She made another bid for the door.

  “Oh no, not so fast sweetheart!” he said, snatching her arm. “Deepika can go to hell as far as I’m concerned. I’ll have nothing to do with spineless selfish cowards who don’t think twice before hurting others. She has betrayed my trust…and you…,” he shoved her roughly onto the bed, “…my ‘Accidental Wife’ will supply me with the explanation I deserve.”

  For the very first time since they’d met those gorgeous eyes looked nervous. “It’s a very long story…”

  Rihaan pulled a chair in front of the door and settled himself comfortably in it. “I have all night to listen.”

  The Long & Short of It

  Naina braced her arms on the edge of the rose petal strewn mattress of the antique four-poster bed and scrutinized the man sitting between her and freedom. He stared right back, his sturdy chin resting on tented fingers, his eyes filled with such intense anger and indignation it made her insides tremble with fear. But she didn’t look away, she wasn’t a coward.

  Deepika had not only deceived this guy, she had pulled wool over her own friend’s eyes. She had told her that Rihaan Mehta, doctor par excellence, was fat, short and ugly. While in fact he was just the opposite—tall, well-built, and incredibly good-looking—the kind that made one’s throat run dry and pulse go pitter-patter. She’d also been told that he was ‘a nose in the air SOB’ who was too full of himself.

  Naina wasn’t exactly sure if that definition was true. So far his behavior seemed perfectly appropriate under the circumstances. He was angry as hell and truly justified to be so; after being cheated by the girl who had promised to become his wife.

  Haaye is ladki ne mujhe kahaan phasa diya? (What kind of soup has this girl landed me in?) Why didn’t I consider everything before I agreed to take her place? He’s not going to let me go anywhere.

  Her heart thudded wildly when her restless fingers came in contact with the silken petals. Good Lord! What if?

  She glanced at him. What if he’s a rogue, a degenerate who preys on women? How could Deepika have taken the chance to place me, her friend, in such a situation? How could she do this to me?

  Naina tried hard to deduce his intentions. But Rihaan’s expression had become inscrutable and she didn’t like that at all. She hoped, as Deepika had told her, that he was a cold-blooded automaton, who was completely immune to the allures of the female sex. At least, she hoped he remained that way till she got herself out of here.

  “I can’t wait forever, woman. Get on with it!” Rihaan’s voice rang out sharp like a bullet, startling Naina out of her musings.

  “What do you want to know?” she asked.

  “Everything from the beginning. For starters, where is Deepika?”

  “She has run away, absconded. Eloped with her lover.”

  Rihaan looked perplexed. “Eloped? I don’t understand. Why would she advertise in the matrimonial? Why did she insist on me coming here and signing on the marriage certificate? She could have as well completed the whole farce and then fled. Why the in-between?”

  Naina interlaced her fingers under her thighs to keep them from trembling. She couldn’t make sense of the situation herself, though she was trying her best. If she could paint a sympathetic picture of Deepika, perhaps then this man would feel kindly towards her and let her go?

  “Deepika is…you know, a sentimental sort of girl. She didn’t want to participate in the ceremonial wedding and take the saat pheras with you. It held a lot more significance to her than a piece of paper. Then she’d have felt ‘really married’ and it would have been harder for her to leave. So she asked me to take her place and I helped her out.” She hoped he bought the ridiculous explanation.

  ***

  “So in effect you are my wife and not her. It seems like she has done you in as well as me,” Rihaan said feeling strangely amused. What a bloody anticlimax!

  “Maybe, if you wish to say so,” Naina retorted. “But I’m not planning to stay and carry it through. I was absolutely serious about not marrying anybody, and most definitely not you!”

  She then had the grace to look embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I know this whole situation is very crazy and upsetting. You got the hard end of the bargain. You were the unlucky scapegoat.”

  “What the F***!” What? Me, a scapegoat? Rihaan Mehta, the brilliant sought-after neurosurgeon has been made a royal fool by a mere slip of a girl! How had he been so bloody naïve? “I can’t believe this! You and your friend deliberately plotted to trap me in this mess!” Rihaan exclaimed, springing out of his chair and moving menacingly toward her.

  She shrunk back, ducking away from his long reach. “Please calm down. It wasn’t my idea. Really. It was Deepika’s and you just happened to be available. You just wanted the label of a married man and didn’t really want a wife. She didn’t really want a husband.”

  Turning away from her, Rihaan leaned his forehead against the wall in an attempt to control his rage. He had to know the rest of the story, and that wouldn’t happen if he got carried away by anger.

  He swung back and saw her sitting on the bed, her sensible jean-clad legs crossed over feigning an appearance of nonchalance, though her frazzled nerves were betrayed by her pursed lips. Decidedly, she possessed much more courage than that rotten Deepika.

  She cast a wary glance his way. “Deepika is really a very stupid girl. She made the mistake of falling in love.”

  “Oh…so falling in love makes someone stupid?”

  “Yes. Especially if you fall for a man like she did. A loser! A spoiled, rich brat who thinks he’s all that! Who drives around in flashy cars making girls like her swoon! He promises them the world, but in truth he can’t earn even a decent day’s living. I hate such men!” Her face was flushed and her eyes sparkled with fiery emotion.

  Rihaan was glad that he didn’t belong in that category; he’d definitely not want to be a victim of her spite. “So why didn’t she marry him?”

  “Because she couldn’t. Her parents don’t like losers. But she was in too deep and that creep was pressuring her; so were her parents. They were beginning to get suspicious. She had rejected several excellent matches, each one better than the previous and she knew she couldn’t continue doing that forever. She was in a bind.”

  Naina fidgeted with the tassels of a heart-shaped cushion. Rihaan waited patiently.

  “Then Deepika had a brilliant idea. She pretended to succumb to her parents’ wishes but stipulated that she’d choose her own groom. She couldn’t risk agreeing to one of the matches they’d chosen, ‘cause if she had they’d be subjected to endless ridicule and ostracized by the entire community. Her parents agreed. She placed an ad online and found you.”

  Naina smiled at Rihaan. “You were heaven sent. Perfect credentials, stinking rich doctor, a neuro something or other, and best of all you lived outside the country.”

  “A neurosurgeon,” he corrected, “and no, I’m not stinking rich. I work very hard for what I have.” He was feeling worse than ever, wishing he had taken better precautions instead of acting so carelessly.

  She shrugged her delicate shoulders. “That’s beside the point. I wonder why Deeps preferred that fellow over you.” Her gracefully arched eyebrows met together in a frown. “Perhaps that’s why they say love is blind. I’ll never let it happen to me though.”

  You can’t predict the future, Ms. Naina, he smiled
. She seemed to strike off on a tangent easily. “You were saying…?”

  “So she found you, or you found each other. You didn’t balk or ask questions when she asked you to come over here. Her parents didn’t complain, rather they were delighted with her choice, and more so when they met you in person. She even applied to get the marriage certified and registered, thus assuring her parents she was indeed serious. So, to not find her sitting in the mandap must have come as a tremendous shock to them.”

  “Aren’t they losing face now?” Rihaan asked.

  “For all practical purposes, their daughter Deepika is married. I’m quite sure very few besides you and them noticed the switch. Therefore, if they keep it to themselves, everybody will think that their daughter left with her husband and is living happily abroad. She’ll probably own up in good time.”

  It took several moments for Rihaan to absorb the information before he erupted. “Wow! Amazing, and as you said, brilliant. I’m stumped! Would have never come up with that myself. But what I want to know is, did she ever think about how I will feel after all this?”

  Naina looked distinctly uncomfortable. “She didn’t, at least I don’t think she did. She…she called you a snooty bastard who really didn’t want a wife. A maid or a robot would have served the purpose equally well. So I don’t think she felt bad about it.”

  Rihaan was fighting hard, very hard, to keep his emotions in check. The gall of the girl to treat him so shoddily. After all he’d gone through for her. And this woman to be so casual about it all! She seemed as bad as her friend. Were all females this heartless?

  “All right, Ms. Naina. You seem to have analyzed the situation to perfection. Your friend and her immature adolescent romantic illusions. Me, the handy dumb unsuspecting snooty bastard push-over, and even her parents with their hopes for a secure future for their daughter now permanently dashed. So tell me, how does an insightful, candid and intelligent girl like you allow yourself to be ensnared in this unholy mess?”