Page 161 of 12 Years
‘When my parents found out about you and me twelve years ago.’
PAYAL SPEAKS…
‘I’m not in touch with him, Dad. I made a promise to you that day, and I haven’t broken it,’ I said.
Dad lay on the sofa in the living room, one hand massaging his chest. He held the other hand out towards me, asking for my phone.
‘Please focus on your health, Dad. Are you okay?’
‘Just give it to him,’ Mom said.
‘Why?’
‘I want to make sure you’ve blocked him,’ Dad said, his eyes shut. He seemed to be in pain.
‘I did block him. On WhatsApp and Instagram,’ I said. Not from my heart, I wanted to say but didn’t.
‘Show me,’ Dad said, opening his eyes.
I couldn’t believe that I was being made to go through this humiliation and being treated like a child. I handed him my phone.
Dad fumbled through the apps on my phone. ‘How do you check this, Yashodha?’ he said.
‘How would I know?’ Mom said. ‘You please don’t stress yourself right now. Dr Verma is on his way.’
‘I will be stressed until I know that haramzada is out of our lives,’ Dad said.
‘There’s no need to abuse anyone, Dad.’
He ignored me. He went through my contacts list. No Saket. He opened Instagram.
‘How do I check whether he’s blocked here or not?’ he said.
‘See my list of blocked people,’ I said. I opened the blocked list for him. Saket was the only one in it.
‘Good,’ he said. ‘Can you block him everywhere else too? Like your email and Facebook?’
‘Who blocks anybody on email?’ I said.
‘I just want to make sure. What’s your phone’s password?’ Dad said.
‘Why?’
‘Just tell me.’
‘That’s personal, Dad. Besides, I have my work emails on this phone. It’s all confidential stuff.’
‘I’m not going to check your work emails or anything.’
‘Why do you need the password then?’
‘To make sure I can check anytime that you’ve not unblocked him.’
‘Dad, I’m not a child. You cannot control me like this.’
‘Ah.’ He winced in pain.
‘Are you going to give him the password, or will you make sure he has a heart attack?’ Mom said.
