Love Happens

Chapter seventeen

Mumbai
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The morning opened in the children's bedroom. Poonam woke up from sleep, but a sharp, unrecognizable pain hit her in the stomach. She groaned loudly. As a result, she woke Riddhima.

"Ahhh! Call Father. Tell him Shraddha has poisoned me. I'm in pain." She hardly finished delivering her sentences without wincing. The pain in her stomach was increasing. It was a different type of pain she had never experienced before. Riddhima, seeing her sister in such an unbearable state, got up and ran outside. She reached her father's room, badged inside, and ran over to him on the bed. She tapped on him without stopping until he opened his eyes.

"Father!"

Anand's eyes enlarged horrifically when he saw fear and tears in his daughter's eyes.

"Shraddha has poisoned Poonam. She is in immense pain." she said.

"What?" Anand said this while hurling the duvet out of his body and getting up. He thrust his feet into the slippers near the bed and left the room alongside Riddhima.

"Will Sister be alright?" Riddhima asked her father as they went into their room.

"She will be my child." Anand replied and went to Poonam. She curled herself into a ball, moaning every second while her hand was clutched against her stomach.

"Father, Shraddha has poisoned me. I'm going to die." She squeezed her sheet to lessen the pain, released it, squeezed it again, and kept repeating the process while not being able to rest in one place.

Shraddha woke up from sleep, and the first people she thought of checking up on were Riddhima and Poonam. She left Riya's room and started walking towards theirs.

"Shraddha wants to kill me. She has poisoned me. The pain is unbearable." she wailed. It fell directly on Shraddha's ears as she said it when she arrived in the room.

Shraddha was too shocked to speak. She stared at them with her jaw dropped open in bewilderment.

"She poisoned me." Poonam kept whispering as she cried.

Anand noticed someone's presence behind them. He turned and saw Shraddha there. His face hardened, and his tone of voice became harsher. He got up, grabbed Shraddha's arm tightly before she could make sense of what was happening, and clutched it tightly. Shraddha winced softly from the pain.

"What did you feed my daughter? You poisoned her, didn't you? I was so foolish for not believing her the first time she said you could poison them with the food you cooked. You proved she was right. You poisoned her, didn't you? What type of poison did you give her? Tell me so that I can prescribe the antidote."

Shraddha blinked once, twice, and three times. What was he accusing her of? Why did Poonam assume she poisoned her?

She was about to defend herself when she saw little drops of blood on her bed. She opened her lips to inform Anand about it when he spoke.

"You want to kill her, right? You're just so selfish. You don't care about anyone except yourself. Because you want to have me, you're willing to kill my children since they're not yours. You poisoned her. You regard them as stepchildren, and deep down, I know you hate them both. You only act caring toward them when I'm around. Now tell me what you gave Poonam."

Shraddha sighed. She gently took Anand's hand off her wrist and went towards the bed.

"Don't approach me. You gave me poison." Poonam shouted to her. Shraddha nonetheless didn't stop. She reached the bed, and she moved Poonam away to the side.

Anand saw the blood on the bed, so did Poonam and Riddhima.

Poonam gasped loudly. "You see, Father. My blood has started spilling. She also cut me after giving me the poison." she voiced.

"You think I see the children as stepchildren?" Shraddha delicately spoke. "You thought I poisoned Poonam when it's evident she just hit puberty. I don't know what or why you are so angry with me that you accused me of such a despicable thing. I can never think of hurting them. God knows I've tried to love them like their mother or friend. It's not my fault they don't want to accept me. Our marriage was a lie from the start. And now, you don't wish for me to be your wife, nor do you wish for me to become the children's mother. I have nothing left to do in the house. I will return to Ladnun today and forever. I don't wish to go, but after all your family members showed me I am unwanted, there's no reason for me to stay again." Her eyes moved to Poonam on the bed. She sent a brief smile. "Don't worry. I didn't poison you. You won't die. It's the course of nature taking place. I'm glad you're growing into an adult. Goodbye."

Anand maintained a strong, rigid face as he looked ahead. He wanted her to leave, and thank God, she was finally going away.

She wasn't expecting him to stop her. Maybe leaving their lives was for the best. They were only destined to live together for a while and, after that, separate forever.

As she slowly walked out of the room, she cried without tears. At last, her heart has been broken again. Never to be mended. She has fallen in love with Anand, and now she must teach herself to fall out of love with him. It will be hard, definitely, but not impossible.

"Shraddha!"

She walked lifelessly in the hallway.

"Shraddha!" the voice that called her earlier shouted a little louder. She shivered and shuddered out of her thoughts. She whirled back and saw Anand's mother approaching her.

"I'm leaving. There's nothing more to discuss." she said.

"Where to?"

"Home. Where I will be respected."

"With whose permission?

"I wish to go. I came for Anand, and he doesn't want me, nor do his children."

"You indeed came for Anand, but don't forget who brought you here. I did. And believe it or not, we paid your mother for it, so at least before going, repay us the money with interest since you're canceling the contract before completing it."

"How can....I have no money."

"You must pay before leaving or you stay here until the deadline for your leave. The decision is yours." she informed and sauntered past her. Shraddha exhaled tiredly.

She didn't give her any room for decision. The only option there was to stay until the election. It will now be harder to ignore her feelings for Anand when he is around her.

Her eyes filled with tears. "How can I ignore him when I see him?" she thought.

"It's necessary because he'll never love you. The age gap between you both is enough to give you a reality check." a part of her mind spoke.

"I don't care about the age gap. I love how he is." she murmured to herself and then stayed silent and still for many minutes in deliberation.

"What I care about doesn't count. It is what he cares about, and he doesn't care about us." her inner voice was filled with sorrow as it spoke to herself.

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