Chapter 14: Chapter 14

I found myself in a very miserable condition. The situation was deteriorating day by day around me, and they tied both my hands tightly. I found myself left with no other option other than to follow Ravi's suggestion with a heavy heart. It was literally harrowing for me to separate both the daughters from me then.

But for the sake of them, I had to make that hard decision. They were equally not ready to go away from me to do their further studies in a boarding school. Eventually, I had to make a false promise that I would not let them stay in the hostel any longer. After that, somehow, they got ready to go over there with a heavy heart.

I remembered they were crying bitterly and profusely as well. And I found myself totally helpless. Actually, their friends used to amuse them by taking their father's name and making them cry there. Their friends and teachers had boycotted them as well. They could not cope with all those humiliations.

The schools were also showing reluctance to keep them in their schools. I felt the parents had adopted an aggressive approach toward my daughters, and they had to pay for their parents’s tussle. And school authorities had to bow to the parents' unfair demands. So my daughters had to pay for their parents' differences.

I felt terrible when I learned they had declared my daughters the daughters of polluted, and those charges tore me from inside into pieces. I felt as if someone was abusing me rather than them. I was finding myself helpless to protect my daughters from all those traumas through which they had to go through. And I was furious at myself. How had I become so selfish that I did not bother to think about what repercussions my actions would have on my daughter? But I had made up my mind that I would no longer stay with Ravi.

No matter what Ravi thought about me, I would try my best to get rid of him as soon as possible and join my daughter forever. I would not mind shifting to another city for the sake of them. And I was dead sure my new mother would undoubtedly support me in my purpose. But God had written something else into my fate, so what if it was against my wishes? Before I could broach the topic of divorce with him, one more secret was exposed. And that ceased me from moving ahead with my plan.

One day, Ravi got back from the office all of a sudden in the afternoon. I was at home that day for some reason. He was in a fit of anger. He rushed to the kitchen straight and held the hand of Hiralal, who was busy doing his chores. He dragged him from there to the drawing room by his collar. And gave him a good thrashing in front of all of us. Ravi kept whipping him with no hiatus as long as he did not lose his sense. And we were doing nothing but witnessing him being thrashed. None of us could move ahead to rescue Hiralal because, in no time, Ravi's goon circled them so that none could approach him.

There was no doubt about it that Hiralal was a man of the skin. Despite being thrashed so terribly, he did not break and open his mouth. If there were someone else in his place, he would certainly puke everything before Ravi. Somehow, I managed to reach him to rescue him. But it was of no use; Ravi held my hand tightly and took me to the corner. I was terrified and trembling with fear too. I was scared that I was going to meet the same fate as him.

By God's grace, my mother-in-law reached there. First, she dispersed the rush and fell over him so that none could beat him further. Then she gave Ravi a good scold for his brutal act and asked him to take him to the hospital as soon as possible. He was admitted to the hospital, which belonged to one of Ravi's friends. And so, he was rescued from the police case. I wanted to approach my new mother, but it was an arduous job full of risk. And it was not the right time to take the unnecessary risk.

I could not ignore the fact that Ravi would have put all the phones on record. I found myself entirely helpless and lonely at that time. Simultaneously, Ravi was looking at me in such a manner as if he was sure that I was also one of the accomplices in the crime against him. In fact, according to him, I was the mastermind of all the miseries. And he made a big mistake by taking me lightly. To do so, he wanted to break me psychologically. Until recently, I was clueless about all the happenings.

I was trying my best to avoid questioning Ravi about the reason for his brutal act on Hiralal, but I could not stop myself. Ravi was equally waiting for that moment when I asked him. He told me none other than my sly father had planted him here, and he had a feeling he was also somehow involved in wreaking him. He added,

"You do not know your father well. He is a nasty man, and he has been conspiring against me to finish me totally for the past ten years. It is just now that I have come to know that he has two wives, and he is still in terms with his second wife. He is a mean person. I have tried many times to make him understand that it is wrongdoing, but he does not listen to me. Now he is conspiring against me. He wants to destroy me at all cost. Your father's man has planted this Hiralal at our home to spy on me. "

I pretended as if the complete news were big, bewildering information for me, and I struggled hard to believe what he said to me right then. I could sense Ravi was playing his psychological game very prudently with me. He had a feeling that somehow my father was also involved in the whole conspiracy. That was the other thing ,he did not find any substantial evidence against my father or me to prove our accomplice. But his eyes always scared me with terrible consequences. I would meet the same fate the day he would get against me.

It was early Sunday morning when my father turned up at my house one day. As usual, he was indifferent toward me, and so was I. My eyes turned red when I saw him. Even he was feeling uncomfortable seeing me. Even without his mentioning anything to me, I did not take much time to get the bloody purpose behind his coming. His arrival disturbed me totally from the inside, and he was equally aware of my profound hatred for him.

He was well aware that I considered him accountable for the ruin of my biological mother, my new mother, me, and many other people who were associated with him. He was nothing more than a lewd man in my sight. I literally felt like kicking him out of my house then. I did not bother to serve him even a glass of water and ceased the staff from doing so as well. Ravi did not take much time to get over my vehement dislike for him, but he preferred to just ignore it.

He did not stay there for more than an hour. I did not offer him a chair to sit on and kept him standing all the time until Ravi did not appear and asked him to sit. I did not understand why it was necessary to ask about his well-being. I just exchanged a few words with him and moved from there.

He told me that Ravi had called him there for some personal work. His presence was annoying me. It was difficult for me to accept him. But yes, I remained sitting there while he was having a word with Ravi, although I could feel he was hesitating and alluding me to leave that place; I just ignored all the indications. Consequently, he had to talk to Ravi before me reluctantly.

I knew it seemed to both of them that I was behaving impudently. Then I did not care anymore, and I wanted to convey the same message to both of them. What to talk about breakfast? I did not understand that it was also to ask him for water. After his leaving, I asked Ravi if I did not want to see that man here. And Ravi assured me it would never happen again. Although his new discovery of eliciting the truth from me did not benefit him in reaching the game's mastermind.

Over six months had passed with my mother-in-law staying there. Then one day, she showed her desire to get back to the village. I was not happy with her idea of getting back; even then, I got ready quickly at that time. After she left, I got very lonely at home, and the house began to bite me. I did not feel like coming back home anymore from work. I began to spend more and more time in my office. I missed both my daughters terribly, and I was very engrossed at work, totally forgetting them. But the whole thing was burdensome.

I felt as if I was all alone at home, despite having a trail of staff. The colossal house began to bite me. I used to die to meet them. A number of times, I used to lock myself into their room alone and cry there bitterly for a long time. I waited until last Saturday desperately to pay a visit to them. I spent all day long with them. Ravi also accompanied me there. There we had a lot of fun. I felt they had adapted themselves to an unfamiliar environment very well.

There, they made many new friends. They loved to share with me all the pranks they played in the hostel and the punishments they received if they were caught in their misadventures. Ravi also shared his experiences from school with us, and he made us laugh a lot. We did not come to know how the time flew there.

My business was running well. I was making enough money out of it. Since I began to make money, I had become more and more frugal. I had stopped using the credit card of Ravi anymore. I undoubtedly had enough money in my account; even after that, I did not feel like doing expenditures like my other friends used to do and enjoying their lives. Shopping excursion, kitty party, nothing used to entertain me anymore as it used to do earlier. I could feel day by day I was getting poor and confined.

Ravi also noticed those drastic changes in me, and he appreciated my new persona. Other than that, he also helped me with running the business smoothly. His ideas were no doubt superb. And I brought those ideas into execution as well and benefited immensely. Then I started thinking about expanding my business.

We began to commute to the office together in the same car to get the opportunity to spend some time together. However, that was my pure thinking. In the morning, we had our breakfast together. On the way, we talked a lot about kids, business, staff, and many other things. But we consistently inhibited talking about each other's likes and dislikes directly and indirectly. But I could feel we were getting close to each other.