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I don’t say a word because once again Daadi has proved she can trust no one. She misjudged me again.

“Watch your tone before you speak to Durga Raichand,” she warns.

“And you watch your tone when you speak to Aarav Raichand. In fact, I wish my father would have used this same tone to deal with you when he was alive and married to my mother. He shouldn’t have let you dominate over his life to this extent that all he ever did was mistakes one after the other. I wish he had that spine to stand against the wrong and choose the right.”

I swallow my tears as I see Aarav’s body trembling in a mix of anger and pain.

“You can’t talk to me like that,” Daadi snaps harder this time.

“Oh, I can and I will,” Aarav steps forward with a deathly glare. “Thank my wife that she asked me to choose between my revenge and my love for her. I chose the latter. I chose her because choosing you has always given people pain and suffering. My father chose you; he couldn’t do justice with my mother and she suffered. I won’t repeat that same mistake. So now you listen to me very carefully, Durga Raichand. If you can’t trust my wife, I don’t want you anywhere near her in the future. I’ll always be thankful to you for giving her a family when she needed it the most, but if in return you think you have rights to rule her life, let me tell you I won’t let that happen. Now the door is open so you may kindly leave.”

I grab Aarav’s arm, not letting him say or do any further. He has said enough. Daadi looks stalled at both of us before she walks out through that door.

*********************

How can I forget Mohit and I stayed in the same building, the same floor in London and he or Daadi could anytime visit his apartment and in turn barge into mine? I seriously hadn’t expected Daadi to show up at my door an hour back and ruin the smile and joy from my husband’s face. Now that was one hour ago and my husband is still in the shower. He had left immediately after Daadi dispersed and though I want to support him, he had shut me out. But not anymore. I know he is hurt. Even facing Daadi annoys him and no matter what, that will never change. I knock on the bathroom door and find it unlocked. He didn’t lock it? I thought he had, otherwise I would’ve intruded long back. I step inside the bathroom and find him under the shower in the glass cubicle. He’s still dressed, drenched, and it means he’s literally not focusing on anything but just trying to calm down. I walk inside, locking the door.

He gives me a cold glance before turning away from me again.

“Aarav, please,” I plead. “Don’t let this affect you again.”

This stretched silence between us doesn’t give me good vibes. So, I step inside the shower behind him and give him a hug. My satin robe drenches first, then my hair and body, but I don’t care. Soothing his pain is all I care about at this instant. I kiss his back over his drenched shirt and Aarav turns around and pins me to the glass wall.

“I couldn’t fight her when she demeaned my mother,” he says with his eyes locked with mine fiercely. He’s talking about Daadi. “I won’t let her do the same with you.”

I know. Aarav is angry that once again Daadi tried to dominate my life and humiliate me.

“I know,” I cup his jaw. “I know you won’t. I trust you, Aarav.”

I touch our foreheads while still holding his face in between my palms. I know this will soothe him, calm him down, and it does. His breathing shallows and soon something else takes over. He flips open the knot of my robe, discarding his own drenched clothes and makes love to me under the shower, showing the most subtle side of him which I never knew Aarav Raichand had before.

CHAPTER 40

Durga Raichand

Two days and Mohit is still not home. I told him I was here in London at his apartment and to come and see me, yet he wasn’t here. Last week, Mohit flew to London telling me his girlfriend Sofia needed his help. I stopped him, but he didn’t care. I don’t like Mohit getting deeper in his relationship with Sofia. I’ll never let him marry her. But I don’t think marriage is a concern for them. They have been living together at her place for the past one week and might never think of marriage in the near future. That’s why I came here to take my grandson back and until that happens, I won’t leave. I try his number again, but it’s switched off.

It’s been two days since that incident too where I got to know that Jhanvi and Aarav are together. I still can’t accept the fact that Jhanvi reconciled with that man. She knows how much I hate him, yet she chose him? Is love really blind? I shrug. I haven’t met them again since that day when I saw them together in Jhanvi’s room. But I saw them going out for dinner and when they returned after three hours last night, Jhanvi was in Aarav’s arms. These kids have no shame and fear of being caught in public. Anyway, if they have chosen to stay together, I am no one to pinpoint. For me, they both do not exist anymore. I have my grandson, Mohit. I don’t need anyone else. But I don’t know why I felt Aarav really loves Jhanvi because the way he stood up for her when I accused her, invoked a reaction which only comes from a man who is in love.

I am thinking too much about them. But for some odd reason, I can’t stop.

I pace in the living room waiting for Mohit to show up for no idea how long, and finally he returns.

“Hey, Daadi” Mohit grins, getting inside. He’s drunk, and ,what pisses me off is that he is not alone. Sofia is also with him.

“What is she doing here?” I storm to them. “Just ask her to leave this place now.”

“Why is she yelling?” Sofia asks Mohit, an annoyed expression lurking on her face.

“Don’t bother.” Mohit slides his arm around Sofia’s waist and draws her closer. I am stunned by his actions. How can he do that before me? Before his grandmother? “Look Daadi, this is my house and I can get anyone I like here. So, if you have a problem with that, I suggest you either shut your mouth or get back in your room.”

I can’t believe he said that.

“I see this girl has taught you enough to disrespect your family.”

“Sofia is a family, Daadi. She is my family. If you can’t accept it, I don’t care. Just get out of here if-”

I slap him before he completes that statement. He’s asking me to get out? His grandmother?

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