Love Happens

Chapter thirteen

Mumbai
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"I...." she started. The indescribable feeling of happiness overwhelmed her emotions. She wanted to blurt out everything and open her heart to him like an open book; after all, he's her husband. "I..."

"I know you don't. Why will you? You know nothing about me." Anand said. His words mashed the dreams she had started weaving. She had to comply with his words and nod in agreement.

"Of course. I know nothing about you. Why will I love you then? We know nothing about each other." She smiled through her tears as she replied.

"Whenever you want, you can go. After you decide, you can come to me, and I'll make sure I send you to your village safely." He wasn't knowing that the more he spoke, the more it hurt her because he was indirectly making her understand he doesn't want her in his life. He was telling her that only his first wife had total control over him.

"As I said, I was brought to this house to become a mother to our children. I will never leave. I will stay here." She voiced it and turned her back to him. Her tears became inconsolable. He rejected her once again, in front of her face. He reminded her that nothing would ever be between them.

"I won't deny you this. If you want it, I'll permit it wholeheartedly. You can become the children's mother, but keep in mind that nothing can ever go on between us."

She closed her eyes yet again to let a few more tears roll.

Anand was intentionally harsh to her because he didn't want her to mistake them for husband and wife. He wanted her to always keep in mind that he was not forcing her to stay; she chose it herself, and she can leave at any time she wishes.

"Fine!" she whispered.

She heard the sound of his abysmal footsteps going out before she sighed in disappointment.

She cried herself to sleep. The next morning, as usual, she woke up alone in the room because Anand sleeps in the guest room. She bathed, dressed in a green silk saree with jacquard work, and she didn't forget to apply the most important thing that differentiated her from other women. Vermillion. She stretched it along her hairline, putting on more than she needed. She finished getting ready and descended downstairs to go to the kitchen. She wanted to make breakfast again. She wanted to begin her relationships anew. This time, with complete honesty from both her mother and father-in-law.

She entered the kitchen. She saw the two people she met two days ago dusting the kitchen.

"Good morning." They exchanged greetings.

"You're here to cook again."

Shraddha smiled brightly with a nod. She did her business. She put her absolute best effort into trying to prepare the best meal. She put all her love inside, and again, she finished before the family woke up. She took all the dishes and juice to the dining table.

She left there to go and call Riya downstairs because, ever since she arrived, she has not allowed her children to leave the room or interact with Riddhima and Poonam, nor has she let herself come downstairs. She asked for everything from her room.

Shraddha knocked gently on the door. When she didn't receive a reply, she knocked again. Still, no voice from inside offered her permission to go in. Since Riya was her sister-in-law, more like a sister to her, she didn't think it was a big issue to go into her room without permission. She opened the unlocked door and dashed in. Surprisingly, Riya and her children were missing. She didn't want to panic just yet. She checked the empty bathroom. A thousand thoughts on where she went so early in the morning crossed her mind. She quickly went to the closet to check for their clothes. Nothing was in there.

Her eyes fell on a piece of paper on the table that was fixed there by a vase. She moved there and picked it up. As the writing was in Hindi, she could read it herself.

"Anand, Shraddha, whoever reads this letter, don't worry about me. I've thought all night about what Ranbir said. I don't want to give any of my kids to him, nor do I wish to return home. Moreover, this house is like a prison. I can't breathe properly. My kids don't have the freedom they deserve here. None of us is happy. For their betterment, I've decided to move out of Mumbai for a while. I won't share my location because Mother may find this letter before any of you, and she'll tell Ranbir about it. Anand, don't worry about me. We'll definitely meet again. But before we meet, I want you to find out something that I have buried for the last five years because of my anger. May God forgive me for hiding such a truth, but I couldn't help it because when I needed help from her, she turned her back on me. Supriya's death wasn't natural. She...." The rest of the words were erased from the letter.

"Leave my sight!"

Shraddha flinched at the scream of Anand she heard downstairs. The paper flew away from her hand as she turned into quick mode and rushed out. She descended the stairs and saw him yelling at Poonam while the poor girl was shedding tears, feeling remorseful for whatever she did.

Shraddha went there and intervened between them. "What happened, Anandji?" she asked. Her eyes shifted from him to Poonam, continuously waiting for one of them to speak.

"Her birthday is tomorrow. There will be no celebration. That's her punishment." he said coldly.

"Why? Is her result not good?" she asked.

"I got the first position. It's not happening because of you. You went and lied to him about me. When did I call you a disgrace? Why will you lie to my father about me? What will you achieve by ruining our relationship?" The velvety voice she used in expressing herself would make anyone believe she was innocent and Shraddha was telling lies. She was crying, looking genuine and naive.

Shraddha smiled, letting go of what had transpired. She leaned over with her hand to caress Poonam's cheek when she jerked away.

"Just tell my father I'm blameless. I didn't call you a disgrace."

Shraddha fell for her believable tears. It was clear she regretted what she said to her yesterday.

"When did I tell you Poonam called me a disgrace? I misheard. Poonam doesn't even know the word, much less talk about using it with someone. As for her birthday, it will be celebrated." Shraddha replied.

Anand was about to argue with her decision because he didn't want her softness to be the reason Poonam thought her behavior was justifiable, but Shraddha sent him a pleading look of not to talk. He beckoned her to follow him as he left the hall. After he left, Shraddha looked at Poonam.

"Can we be friends now?" she asked, extending her hand to her.

"Firstly, I'm not ignorant. I go to school, unlike you. I know what disgrace means, and I know when to use it. Don't think I'm in any way regretful. I will say it to you again. You're a disgrace. And believe me, I will remember this day for the rest of my life. My father scolded me for the first time because of you. You proved all the stories about the evil stepmother to be true. Get out of my sight." She pushed her away as she stormed off. Her voice was filled with rage, hatred, anger, and disgust.

Shraddha wondered why she deserved all of that when she had never hurt her in any way. Her words were indeed unbelievably unbearable, but in the end, she is only a child. We can't scold children now, can we?

She walked to attend to the call from Anand in the living room. The joyful spirit she had when she woke up disappeared just after she spoke with Poonam. Nothing seemed good any more. In life, she always loved children. Children will respect her for who she is, but in the case of Poonam, forget respect. She doesn't even like her.

"Shraddha, are you listening?" Anand's voice shook her. She realized she had dozed off into thoughts.

"Yes!" She pretended to be there.

He sighed. He conceded that her attention was not there. Nonetheless, he didn't want her to find out he knew she wasn't listening since asking for the reason would invade her privacy. "I punished Poonam because I wanted her to realize her mistake. You shouldn't have intervened. You've let this mistake of hers pass. If not today, she'll repeat it tomorrow because you showed her nothing will happen even if she calls someone a disgrace."

"No!" She chipped in between his conversions, as that wasn't her goal. She just wanted to prevent her from getting sad because her birthday was cancelled for a while.

"No what? Poonam isn't a child anymore. Whatever she does at this age is what she'll grow up doing. She can either make her life or ruin it. From her behavior, she's trying hard to ruin it. If she calls someone a disgrace who isn't you, they won't let it pass. They'll correct her more severely than I can, and I can't bear to see her get hurt by someone. Cancelling her birthday was the greatest punishment. I still stand by it. It won't be celebrated this year. Disgrace is a heavy word. She has to understand that tagging someone with it is prohibited from her lips. Unless we act harshly, she won't understand." He breathed and calmed down. "Let's not stretch this topic. Call Riya. We'll have breakfast together as a family."

The letter from earlier rang in her head. "Sister Supriya's death wasn't natural." She whispered.

Her words, one after the other, sank into Anand's thought system. They flew up, and he stared at her unbelievably. "Why will you say that? She died during childbirth." he replied, unsure of his answer.

"Riya has left. She wrote a letter, but half of it got erased. In there, she explained how Sister Supriya's death wasn't natural. But the explanation was erased. Do you think she was murdered?"

He exploded like a volcano with anger. The thought that someone killed his Supriya and Riya kept silent instead of telling him to punish the traitor, got him very angry. The veins on his neck popped and were very visible.

He turned and was about to leave to go find her wherever she was in the world to get the name of the traitor off her lips, but Shraddha held him back.

"I don't think we should believe it." She paused and sighed. Her eyes roamed around as she herself did not know how to put into words what she was about to say next.

Unaware, none of them noticed Ranbir approaching the living room where they were.

"Father told me Riya's first daughter isn't Ranbir's," she said. Unbeknownst to them, Ranbir heard the conversation.

"What?" he and Anand chorused in shock.

Shraddha's eyes enlarged when she saw the anger that clouded Ranbir's face as he curled his hands into fists.