Page 101 of Entangled Vows
“Do you know the truth about what happened to my mom?” Vikram asked, his voice carrying the sting of the past.
Mahika’s gaze was locked on his. “I knew she left your dad, but not the full story. I never asked Suraj as he hated talking about it.”
A hollow laugh escaped him, his lips twisting in bitter irony. “Of course he didn’t..”
She leaned across the table and cupped his cheek with tenderness. “Vikram… tell me what happened.”
He took a slow breath, his gaze far away. “My parents were crazy about each other. They fell hard and got hitched. Everyone knew they were totally smitten. But then life happened, and things went south.”
He stared at his drink, lost in thought. “At the time, my dad was completely focused on building the business. He worked non-stop and travelled extensively to build the empire he had dreamed of. He figured giving my mom everything—money, comfort, a fancy house—was enough to make her happy.”
Mahika listened quietly, then got up and went to sit next to him. She intertwined her fingers with his and looked down at their hands as Vikram kept talking.
He spoke almost under his breath, “Mom wasn’t exactly thrilled with Dad’s money-making lifestyle. She pulled away, smiled less, and barely laughed. She’d just sit at the table and... stare into nothingness. I didn’t really understand what was going on when I was fourteen, but I could feel that she’d changed.”
He sighed, sounding bitter. “I really tried hard... aced my classes, told her I loved her, tried to make her smile. I thought that maybe if I tried hard enough, she’d be happy. That I could fix it.”
Mahika’s heart ached thinking about the boy he’d once been, the hurt plainly visible on his face.
“Then, one night… it all fell apart. I could hear loud voices. I remember hiding in the closet, listening to it all. That’s when she dropped the bomb that she was in love with someone else… a college friend she’d known for years. According to her, he had always been there for her, unlike my dad.”
He swallowed hard.
“On that day itself, she packed her bags. Before leaving, she came to my room. Said she loved me… that she would always love me. And then… she took Suraj with her and left.”
Mahika went still. “She took him?”
He gave a bitter nod. “Just like that. No explanation. No choices. Suraj was seven years old, and I was fourteen. I couldn’t understand why she picked him and not me? I kept wondering if I wasn’t good enough for her love… if I’d ever been. It brokesomething inside me. She left me with Dad, and I pretended I was fine… but I wasn’t.”
His eyes glazed over as he looked up. “Six months later, she showed up again. Not to see me, though. Not to explain anything. She just dropped Suraj off, like he was a burden she could no longer carry. She was moving to Dubai, but he wasn’t going with her. She didn’t even bother to walk him to the door; she simply left him on the doorstep. And when I opened the door, he was standing there, suitcase in hand, staring up at me in confusion.”
Mahika’s eyes welled up. “That’s... awful.”
Vikram’s voice was rough with emotion. “It destroyed me. My father… he had become distant, a shadow of himself, by drowning in work. And I hated her for it with every fibre of my being. But what was worse was…” His throat worked as he swallowed with effort, “…that I started to feel this dislike… this quiet hatred for Suraj. Not because of anything he did, but simply because he was the one she chose… instead of me. It felt… so unfair. Like he had received my mother’s love that I so badly wanted for myself.”
He covered his eyes with his hands, as if trying to trap the pain inside.
“Years later, you came to our house. And you and Suraj… you just clicked. It was like the past had repeated itself. It was always the three of you—Suraj, you, and Ishika. Laughing and sharing that easygoing, close bond. And me? I was just an observer. The fourth wheel. Invisible, once again.”
Mahika leaned close, her hand softly covering his heart.
“Vikram, I’m so sorry for what you went through… and for making you feel left out. I didn’t know. I never imagined you wanted to be around us.”
He spoke in a thick voice. “Not all of you… just you. I wanted to be around you, and I was jealous. Suraj always had a part of you that I didn’t. And that made me hate him, all over again.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “You were hurting. I get that now. That said, Suraj isn’t selfish. Vikram, he’s never said anything cruel about you. He admires you. He really does.”
Vikram replied quietly, “I love him too. Yet, there are times when I still feel angry. He had already forgiven my mom and had stayed in touch with her. But I… I couldn’t. I still can’t.”
Mahika’s fingers traced along his jaw, her voice soft but firm. “Have you ever told him any of this?”
Vikram shook his head. “No. When she brought him back, I couldn’t even look at him. I was watching my father fall apart and was busy trying to hold myself together. And there he was, a constant reminder of everything I’d lost. I shut down. I became bitter and started hating everything connected to her… even the empire my father had built. I blamed it for breaking our family. That’s why I never joined it.”
Mahika cupped his face, her touch anchoring him. “So it wasn’t that you didn’t care. It’s just… it hurt too much.”
He nodded. “Dad understood. That’s why we fought so much. He kept asking me to come back. But I couldn’t. Every corner of that office building reeked of what destroyed us as a family.”
Mahika exhaled. “I had no idea. Suraj and I became friends when we were nine, and he never told me any of this. AndI never asked either, because I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it.”
