Silence followed for a few awkward minutes after that revelation. Suraj had sat down on the couch in morbid shock, and was still yet to recover. He kept staring into space, wondering about things that Chakor could make neither head or tail of. Deciding to give him some time to himself, Chakor busied herself in the kitchen, making a hot cup of coffee for them, the second time that evening. She glanced at the clock, half past 8, and she wondered whether to prepare supper.
Yuvi had had his dinner at the hospital, and Rishab had said he would manage. She hadn't wanted to have dinner that night, the events of the day had left her in a sour mood.
She would be lying if she said she hadn't been looking forward to seeing Suraj that morning, regardless of his thoughts on the same. She wouldn't deny it even now that his arrival had made her happy, much more than she thought it could.
Picking up the two steaming mugs, she walked into the hall, and found him dazed and in the same position she had left him. Anxious, she placed the cups on the tea table, and, after much contemplation, she sat down next to him, taking his hand in her own.
That broke him out of his reverie, and he looked at her, an empty look in his eyes. She had wanted to say something, but chose against it, letting him to pour his feelings out first.
He just sat there staring at her for what seemed like the longest time, till the empty look in his eyes was replaced by a lonely, longing look, and he buried his face in the hollow of her neck, before finally placing his head on her lap. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
Though he was facing her, he covered his eyes with his hand, and Chakor understood he was sobbing, for he shook lightly from time to time.
"I just... I just assumed that I was right and flew along with my opinion. I'm sorry I hurt you," he said.
His grief was evident in his voice. It hurt Chakor to see him that way, and though at first she had decided to restrain herself, her body seemed to move on its own as she leaned forward and kissed his forehead. The touch sent shivers down her spine, and he must have felt the same, for he removed his hand from his eyes and looked at her, pleading, surprised and hurt, all at once.
All she wanted to do was hold him and kiss him, like nothing had happened, like 5 years hadn't passed, but all the same, she had to accept reality.
Turning away from his heated gaze, she murmured, "Coffee." God, she wasn't even audible to herself now. Suraj slowly got up and straightened himself, reaching for the coffee mug. Slowly, he brought the cup to his lips, and again, silence engulfed the room.
It wasn't like the usual comfortable silences they had shared in the past, this was suffocating. Finally making up her mind, she uttered, "Do you want to know about...?" She didn't even have to complete her question, for Suraj had turned so sharply at her questioning tone, and the look in his eyes was enough for her to know his answer.
Slowly, she began, trying her best not to bring in the picture of that unfortunate day where they parted due to misunderstandings.
"Soon after I came back home from Graduation, my sister announced that she was a few months along. She had wanted to surprise me with the news," she smiled wistfully. "We had a great time when she was carrying Yuvi. Our father was happy after a long time when he heard the news. He started coming home more often, something which he had stopped when our mother passed away."
"Everyone was happy when Yuvi was born. He was the first good thing that had happened in our lives after mother passed away. But," she choked, "Things weren't so bright and sunny as Imli portrayed. For most of her pregnancy, she had stayed at our house, and not her in-laws place. Not that we didn't like her staying with us. But something seemed amiss."
"I noticed this for the first time when I saw her frightened look as an unknown person called my phone. She switched off my phone, and a few days later, when the same person had kept ringing, she threw away the SIM card. She had never looked so pale."
That explained why he wasn't able to get through to her, then.
"When I confronted her about it, she refused to tell me anything, and even dismissed the matter saying I was just imagining things. But a few days later, when Vivaan, her husband, called our father, telling him he would be taking Imli home for a few days, she vehemently refused. She asked me to make up a convincing excuse to tell her husband and when I opposed her behaviour, she..." Chakor paused for a minute, her eyes watery. Suraj held her hand, urging her to go on.
"She showed me burn marks on her thighs and legs, and her back as well. There were also the remains of a cane on her body and... God, Suraj! It was so painful to see them! And... and she was fighting it all alone for all the time she had stayed in that Hell! Not once did she tell even me, her sister, about anything, before that night. She was being ab...abused and she never spoke a word."
Chakor was wailing and Suraj was trying to calm her down. He was on the verge of breaking down as well.
"After Yuvi was born, it got worse. Vivaan neglected both his child and his wife, and would unleash his wrath on her as and when he pleased. Finally, when she could take it no more, she..." Chakor swallowed the huge lump in her throat as she continued, "She decided to kill herself, as well as Yuvi. Driving her car at insane speed, she... crashed into a tru... truck. She... died on the spot. But somehow, Yuvraj... he survived." She smiled fondly.
"My dad however... he couldn't take the news, and the very same day... he died after suffering... a cardiac arrest."
Suraj enveloped her into a hug, and she cried and cried, poured all her contained feelings that evening. For 5 years she had suffered with no one by her side. But not anymore. 'I'm going to get her out of this place, and this kind of life!' Suraj thought determinedly in his head.
She calmed down a bit, and softly whispered, "Vivaan refused to accept his responsibility, he refused to accept his son. Which was a good thing, I would never have let that son of Satan raise my nephew! Even today, he hasn't seen his son's face, and I don't plan to ever let them meet." Chakor grit her teeth towards the end.
Somewhere in between, Suraj had begun to hold a grudge on Vivaan as well. "But recently, he's been trying to meet Yuvi by hook or crook."
That shocked Suraj, and he pulled back from the embrace to clearly see her face. "After all this while?" He raised his eyebrow. Surely the guy didn't have his paternal instincts kick in after FIVE long years.
"Because of the property." She answered, to which he raised a brow. "My father had divided his property equally between Imli and me, and after Imli's death, the Will says that her share would be transferred to her children."
"Vivaan's family was quite in the higher circles till now, but then, all their other illegal trades were exposed and both his father and him were put behind bars. All their so called wealth was gone in an instant, and even after they got out from Jail, no one was ready to work with them, hence this drastic decision of acquiring his son's property." She ended, a sour look on her face.
"When did this start? Him trying to find... Yuvi?" Suraj somehow didn't want to address Yuvi as that beast's son.
"A couple months ago. He even came to my work place one day," she added solemnly. Suraj was now in high alert, and balling his hands into a fist at the audacity of that guy, he breathed out, "Do you have a picture of him?"
He said each word slowly. He didn't expect Vivaan's picture to be in the house, but Suraj right now couldn't think rationally. He wanted to do just about anything to make sure that the next time this psycho tried to approach His woman, he could step in between and give him a piece of his mind... and probably a piece of his hand as well.
She nodded slowly, and this surprised him. She went into her room and using a stool, she got out what seemed to be an old diary from the top shelf of the cupboard. Slowly, she flipped through the blank but dusty pages, and fetched what seemed like a photo.
He reached for it and took it from her hands, and at that exact moment, both Rishab and Yuvraj barged in, the latter like he had been fed too many chocolates, which he had.
Yuvi jumped on Chakor, saying things like 'Chocolates and cars and music' and Suraj could only wonder what the duo had been up to. Rishab said he should be heading back, since tomorrow was a week day after all, and it was already past nine. Chakor protested and tried to convince him to eat something, but he said he had already had supper while he had been out with Yuvi.
Rishab left soon after, not before sharing a brief conversation with Suraj about their schedule tomorrow, and that he should have adequate rest, since he had just arrived today and for sure he would have jet lag. Rishab left with a 'Bhabhi ka khayal rakhna,' which almost earned him a light punch from Suraj.
After seeing him off, Suraj made his way into the hall, searching for the photo he had hidden when Yuvi had come in. He had placed it under the tea table and now bent down to reach for it. He could hear Chakor singing a lullaby and putting Yuvraj to sleep in the other room. Finding the photo, he pulled it out and sat on the couch to examine it.
It was a photo taken during her sister's wedding, a family photo.
On the right were, who he supposed rather, her father, her and her sister in the middle, along with her husband, and probably his parents to the left. Suraj's eyes paused for a long time on the groom.
So that was Vivaan, he mused, as he burnt his image into his head.
Chakor, having successfully managed to put Yuvi to sleep, returned to the hall, only to find Suraj, staring, boring holes into the photo with his eyes. Amusedly, she thought he had figured out who was Vivaan and hence the reaction. Little did she know.
Suraj was not looking at Vivaan anymore, rather, he was looking at his parents, one of them, at least.
.
.
.
The last man on the left, standing in the place of the groom's father, a man who he had once known, the man who was responsible for his mother's death, the man who had abandoned his family.
The man he once called 'Father'.
Yes, there he was, Kamal Narayan Rajvanshi, his own father, his arm around another woman, standing in the place of the groom's father.
Destiny was surely playing with him.
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