Malaal-Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

“Varun?”, Gopi asked distressed.

“Yes. His name is Varun. He’s richer than us it seems. Rashi has an affair with him, I should’ve about it long back.”, he cried.

Each family member was not ready to believe what Jigar was saying.

“Have you gone mad? How can you be so sure!”, Hetal asked him in anger.

“I heard her say ‘I love you’ to him on phone. I checked her phone to see a lot of calls and she always behaved as if she was keeping a secret from me. Then one day, I followed her. I saw her meet him and he gifted her a puppy with an ‘I love you’ collar. She took the puppy to her mother’s house and don’t we all know how greedy her mom is? She was also with her in this plan.”, he said and tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Oh my God!”, Gopi said and lost her balance in disbelief.

“Gopi, are you okay!”, Ahem asked her as he held her.

“I am okay Ahemji. But I know what it actually is.”, she said and turned to Jigar.

“You have been victim to a great misunderstanding Devarji. A very, very big misunderstanding. And after listening to what I have to say, you would live all your life in regret.”, she declared with tears in her eyes.

Jigar looked at her in confusion. “Misunderstanding?”, he asked hesitantly.

“I had heard a conversation between Radha and Rashi.”, she starts.

She then narrates how Rashi wanted to buy a puppy for him and Varun was just the dealer.

“She wanted to give you a surprise and that explains why she was keeping this as a secret and gave the puppy to Mamiji to keep it with her till the anniversary. And that ‘I love you’ was probably the message on the collar.”, she said with tears in her eyes.

Jigar felt the ground slipping from beneath his feet. He just couldn’t accept the fact that he had punished Rashi for something she never did. Moreover did something to her for which she would never forgive him. He wasn’t ready to believe that he had himself burnt his life down and broken Rashi’s heart to irreparable levels.

“No Bhabhi, that’s not possible. No it can’t be-“, his voice choked.

“It is Devarji. A relationship is always about trust and when you say that you love someone, you mean that you would trust them in any situation. Rashiben needed your trust once and all you gave her was pain. Maybe she would never forgive you.”, she said. Suddenly her eye caught Radha, who was standing in one corner. Her face looked nervous and that’s when Gopi realised something. She took quick strides towards Radha and stood infront of her. 

“Radha.”, she said, her voice strict. Radha was shaking by now. She saw a look of conviction in Gopi’s eyes, that told her that Gopi won’t believe if she lied.

“Radha...did you do it deliberately?”, she asked, each word stressed with a deadly tone.

Radha couldn’t think. As if she froze in time. 

She finally opened her mouth to say,” I never liked Rashiben.”

Gopi slapped her tight. Everyone was taken aback.

“You didn’t like her so you ruined her life? You created misunderstandings between her and Devarji? And even killed their children for this?”, Gopi screamed.

The last phrase hit Radha. Although she knew that her body language has given away her cover, she wouldn’t accept killing the children or asking Varun to get Rashi raped because these were serious crimes and she would land straight in jail. So she kept her calm and continued, “Yes, I created differences between them to hurt Rashiben but I didn’t kill the children. Why would I, the Varun affair was creating enough differences between them already. I swear on Kanhaji.”, she said with crocodile tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I am ashamed to call you my sister. You turned out to be a snake. Why...”, Gopi cried.

“Radha. Your time in this house is over. You have given us enough pain, God knows what more you would do. Get out of our house right now.!”, Kokila said loudly and grabbed Radha by her arm. She dragged her to the door and pushed her outside. She closed the door on her.

Jigar sat on the floor and kept his head in his arms. He sobbed loudly and cried, “I am sorry Rashi! Please come back...I am sorry!”

Everyone had tears in their eyes and Hetal came to hug him.

“Ma, why did I do this? I would never forgive myself. Rashi would never forgive me. She hates me by now...she...might be alone somewhere. You know how she is, she would need someone. I can’t believe this.”, he cried. 

He slowly stood up and went upstairs to his room. He sat by his bedside and looked at Rashi’s broken photo frame. He picked it up and hugged it, “I love you Rashi. I am so sorry...”

“You are a lier Jigarji. A big lier.”

“You never loved me Jigarji, and would never be loved till you die.”

He couldn’t get her words out of his mind. He had to find her, or else he would die.

The next morning, everyone was looking for Jigar and he was nowhere to be seen. Everyone had apprehensive thoughts in their minds when they suddenly saw Jigar enter the house. He was holding a puppy in his arms and was going up the stairs when Hetal called him.

“Jigar dikra.”

He stopped and turned, his eyes looked dead, covered with the black dark circles like shrouds.

“Where have you been and what’s this?”, she asked.

“Mom, I checked everywhere, the bus station, railway station, everywhere. I also checked whether she has made some money transactions or not but she hasn’t. Mom, have I lost her forever?”, he asked.

Her Mom shook her head. Just then Ahem spoke up, “Jigar, have you looked up hotels and all? Maybe, Rashi’s in the city itself? See, we’ll go today to look for her. But this puppy...?”, 

Jigar looked at the fur ball in his hands. “He’s the one Rashi had brought for me.”, he said.

“Bhai, will she return?” , he asked.

“She will.”, Ahem replied, his voice far from convincing.

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