Love or Control

" I can't do this anymore, Mohit. I have decided to call off our engagement." Mohit stared at Riddhi, as she sobbed while fighting for words. Her eyes had turned red as she cried more than she spoke. The dark circles under her eyes indicated that she hadn't slept well last night or maybe even before that. Just looking at her pale and unhappy face made his heart cry. He held her hand gently. 

" Please don't do this to me. I love you, Riddhi." 

Riddhi pushed his hand away. 

" Do you think all this has been easy for me? I've thought about it a hundred times over and over again since the last few weeks. But I've had enough now. I really love you, Mohit. I've never loved anyone ever like this before. But now you have to make a choice. It's either me or your mother." 

" How can you even ask me to make a choice between you two? You both are equally important to me. I won't leave her and neither will I leave you." Mohit was annoyed by Riddhi's tone and his voice grew louder than it had ever did in his life before. He was furious. 

" If you can't leave your mother, then allow me to leave. I can't handle her constant interference in my life and her taunts every single day. No matter what or how much I do to please her or keep her happy, she is never satisfied. She purposely finds faults in everything I do. She always tries to put me down and make me feel unworthy of you. And guess what? This is happening even before we are married. She never liked me in the first place. And she never will." 

Mohit touched Riddhi's shoulder gently and wiped her tears. As she looked into his eyes, he held her face in his hands. " I know Maa can be pretty rough at times. But you've got to give her some time. She will eventually change her behavior one day. She isn't a bad person at all. You know she's had a tough life raising me as a single mother of an only child. She just doesn't have a filter while speaking. And she can be a bit possessive about me. All she wants is the best for me. And you too. You will realize that eventually." 

Riddhi pulled Mohit's hand away from her face as she stepped aside. " I am afraid your mother isn't possessive about you, Mohit. Either you are too ignorant or too smart to see through your mother's actions. Your mother is obsessed with you. Like crazy. She doesn't want you to get married to me. In fact, she doesn't want you to marry any girl for that matter. She just wants you for herself all her life." 

" What the hell are you even talking about?" Mohit's voice grew louder as he grew anxious. "Which mother in the world doesn't want her son to get married and be happy? Are you even in your senses?" 

" I am totally talking in my senses, Mr. Arora." Riddhi was now calm and her tears were gone. She wanted to set the facts straight. "You know I am. You're just pretending to be ignorant.You know everything. But you just don't want to accept the truth about your mother." 

" Whatever you are saying is completely baseless, Riddhi. There's no truth to it." Mohit grew distraught. He felt like running to some place immediately. He wasn't surprised when Riddhi told him that she wanted to call off the engagement. He had seen it coming and blowing in his face, one way or the other. In fact, this had always been his biggest fear. This time he had thought his relationship would stay for life. 

" I know about your previous two engagements, Mohit." Mohit looked at her, straight in the face. "Who told you?" That was all he could muster to say in a soft tone.

" That doesn't matter. Your mother was the reason for your failed relationships. She didn't let any girl live with you in peace. And she did the same with me as well. You hid it all from me. I will never forgive you for not being honest about your past. But I can understand why you did it. Maybe i would have done the same, if I were to be in your place. I am still willing to give us a chance if we stay separately, away from that woman." 

" That woman is my mother, Riddhi." Mohit's voice and fingers started shaking. He felt he was about to get a panic attack. He took deep breaths trying to control his anger and emotions. 

" I know she is your mother. And you can't leave her as she has nobody in the world except you. But you can leave me. You can find someone better than me. It breaks my heart to say this to you." Riddhi's eyes started watering again. " I love you, Mohit. But I can't live my entire life fighting for the love of a woman who isn't willing to accept me. Who doesn't want me in her son's life and will leave no stone unturned to put me down, humiliate me or poison my fiance about me. She has done it many times in the past with us and you know it well. Marriage isn't going to change her a bit. In fact, she would have made my life a living hell after marriage. And I can't let that happen to me at any cost. I am sorry." 

Mohit held Riddhi's hand before she could leave. " Why are you saying sorry? It's not your fault. I should have told you everything before. I wanted to tell you that I was engaged twice and the relationships didn't work out. Not because of me but because of my Mom. But I was scared. Scared that you would leave me. Look now. My biggest fear has come true. You are indeed leaving me for good." 

"I tried my best, Mohit." Riddhi let out a sigh. " I thought I could change the way your mother feels about me. But I am afraid I can't change a person who doesn't want to change in the first place. It's over between us. Take care of yourself." She looked at him and he looked back at her, one last time. 

Both didn't say a word further. Riddhi gave him back her ring and he did the same. She went away and Mohit just sat on the bench, staring at the ring he had placed on Riddhi's finger six months back. He pondered and pondered over what he could have done better to not let this situation happen with him, a third time. He lost track of time until he received a call from his mother. 

" I am coming home, Maa." He immediately disconnected the call, not allowing her to speak.

Back at home, he told his mother about what had happened. All she did was smile. Mohit stared at her blankly, trying to gauge her emotions and intentions. 

" Don't worry, Beta. Riddhi never deserved you in the first place. We'll find someone better than her for you."

" Are you out of your mind, Maa? I love her and rather than admitting your mistake, all you have to say is you'll find someone else for me. You expect me to just move on as if nothing ever happened. This is my life you are playing with. Do you even realize what you are doing to me and yourself too?" Mohit was anxious once again. He spoke so loud that even the neighbors could hear without even having to try. 

"Just calm down, Romeo." His mother was calm and composed, but her smile was wicked. " If Riddhi really loved you, she wouldn't have left you.Nor did Meenakshi and Priyanka. No girl will love you as much as your mother does. You want to get married. Just open your matrimonial profile. There are so many girls out there who are still willing to meet you." 

" Will you just shut up?" Mohit's anger leaped further. " You want me to start with this matchmaking meeting once again. I am sick and tired of your controlling behavior. I am already 38. My friends are all married and settled with kids. And here I am, still meeting girls because you keep interfering in my life and pushing away any and every girl who tries to come close to me. You don't let me be me and you didn't let Riddhi be herself too. You kept trying to change her just to please your oversized ego."

" I didn't push anyone away. Riddhi never loved you. She just wanted you for your money." 

" And you want me because you don't want me to share my money with anyone else except you. In fact, you don't want to me to share my life with anyone else except you. Riddhi isn't the one who is selfish. You are. I let her go because I love her. And I am the one who is at fault who allowed you to treat her like trash and not taking a stand for her when I knew you were always wrong. I didn't treat her right. And I deserve to go through all this." 

" Don't forget you are speaking to your very own mother, Mohit. Look at what that girl has done to you! Turn you against your own mother."

" No girl has ever tried to turn me against my own mother, Maa. It is my very own mother who has turned me against her." 

" Mohit! Mohit! Listen to me, Beta." Mohit's mother kept calling out to him but he didn't care anymore. He banged his home door loud and left her alone at night. He had no idea where he would go or who he would meet. He just felt at ease for speaking up for himself after all these years. His silence had killed him for long.