32

Sensitive content ahead. Reader's discretion is advised.

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Nandini

“Are you ready, Nandini?” Manik asks me, and I nod at him.

“It is time, Manik. I need to do this. For myself. But more for Aastha,” I tell him, taking a deep breath when he rings the doorbell.

I wait with baited breath until the door is opened by my father.

When he sees Manik, confusion mars his face, but when his gaze falls on me, his face contorts to have the expression of hatred on it.

It pinches my heart to see such hate for me on my father’s face, but I shake myself out of it, remembering why I am here.

“What are you doing here?” He asks, his voice making me realize that I am not welcome in his house.

Heck, the way he is looking at me, I feel like I am not welcome to even be in his vicinity, let alone inside his home.

“Let’s go inside and talk, Mr. Iyer,” Manik says to my father, his voice tight with anger.

“I won’t allow her in my house,” Papa says.

The look of pure hatred he gives me while saying that makes me feel as if he has slapped me.

“Why do you hate me so? Why?” I ask, before I can stop myself.

“The nerve you have to ask that question, Nandini. You took away my only child from me, and yet you wonder why I hate you?” He shakes his head at me. “Are you really that dumb to not know why I have absolutely nothing but hatred for you in my heart?”

“Are you sure you want to do this outside your house, Mr. Iyer?” Manik interrupts us. “Nandini and I have no problem in talking here because we are not in the wrong. But I am sure your neighbors will have a very low opinion of you once they find out about the disgusting thing you have done and why we are here.”

“What do you mea—”

Before Papa can complete the sentence, Maa interrupts him.

Coming to stand beside Papa, she glares at me.

“Let them come inside, Subhash.”

Saying that, she turns and walks inside, without saying anything to me or Manik.

“Why did you give my address to Rishabh?” I ask as soon as I enter the house with Manik closing the door behind us.

Maa sits on the couch in the living room, loudly sighing as she disinterestedly flips the pages of the magazine that she took from the table in front of her.

The way she sits without even glancing at me, it makes me wonder if she even heard my question.

Papa also sits beside her on the couch, not so much as even glancing to Manik or me, let alone answer my question.

I signal Manik to stop when I see him stride toward the couch.

I know he is also angry with my parents, and understandably so. Even I feel that I will explode with rage any second, not only because of their action, but also because of how they are reacting right now.

After knowing that they were the ones who not only gave Rishabh my address but also told him to hurt me, I had felt betrayed and angry.

But seeing them like this currently, without even a trace of regret or remorse whatsoever for their actions has me positively seething.

So, without wasting one more second, I walk to where they were seated and yank the mangazine off my mother’s hands, throwing it on the other side of the room.

“What kind of behavior is this, Nandini?”

Both of them glare at me, standing up from the couch, finally giving me their attention.

“When I first found out about you telling Rishabh to hurt me, I felt so angry that I thought then that if I was able to get out of his trap and meet you two, I would shout at you, even shake and berate you for doing that to me, your own blood, your own daughter.”

When I see Papa about to argue, I raise my hand to stop him. “I know what you are going to say. That you two do not consider me your daughter, right?”

“That’s right,” my mother says, her voice booming in the living room. “Why the hell should we consider you anything, anyway? You are the reason why my son is not with me right now. Giving birth to you was the biggest mistake of my life.”

I stagger back when I hear her hate-filled words.

I had expected this. Had expected them to spew these stinging words at me.

But I had not expected those words to still have such potent power to hurt me. I didn't think they could still evoke a such waves sharp pain to wash through me.

Manik immediately walks to me and holds me, and I lean to him for a few seconds, taking deep breaths and waiting for the sting to lessen.

“After you killed our son, we could have thrown you out of the house and left you on the streets to beg. But we did not.” It was my father who spoke.

“We never abandoned you. Even though we never wanted you in our life, we put a roof over your head, even provided you education, fulfilled all your basic needs.

“But being an ungrateful brat, you took away our only happiness, our only son from us. Even after that, instead of throwing you out, we did a favor to you by getting you married off to a rich guy on whom you are currently leaning.

“You want to know why we gave Rishabh your address and told him to hurt you?” Papa walks closer to me and although Manik starts stepping forward to protect me, I lightly push him to the side, wanting to see what my father will do.

Manik steps to my side, with his hand still protectively wrapped over my shoulder, as my father approaches me with nothing but disdain for me on his face.

“We did so because we wanted you to suffer. We wanted you to live your remaining life in pain and humiliation until Rishabh finally killed you.

“Whenever we thought of our son, we also thought of his murderer. We thought about how his life was cut short so brutally while the sole person who led him to his death was living happily in a lavish mansion with her husband and enjoying her life.

“You snatched our son’s life from him, Nandini. That is why we wanted to snatch all the joys from your life. We wanted to snatch your smile, your happiness, your will to live. Everything.”

After he finishes speaking, there is an utter silence in the room.

I could feel Manik’s fingers curling over my shoulder and the way he gave me a squeeze, I knew he was silently coaxing me to be strong.

As I look at my mother, I see the same sentiment for me on her face that my father has.

Wiping my tears, I let out a wry smile.

“I had somewhere read that every child deserves parent, but not every parent deserves child,” I begin speaking, my voice hoarse, lips trembling, body shaking.

“I could not understand it at that time. I agreed about every child deserving parents, but I also felt ever parent deserves a child too. After all, they are the ones who made the child and brought them to the world. At that time, I thought every parent also deserves to get the love of the child whom they nurtured and raised.

“But now I know how right that statement was and how wrong my thinking was. Because in front of me are the two people who do not deserve any child.

“And what did you say?” I ask, looking at my father. “That you never abadoned me? That even though you did not want me, you put a roof over my head and fulfilled all my basic needs?”

I shake my head, furiously wiping the tears that again pour out of my eyes as I remember all the years I lived under the roof that my so-called parents put over my head.

“It would have been better if you had abandoned me. You could have gave me up for an adoption or could have left me at the orphanage. At least then, I would have consoled myself, thinking that my parents must have had some problems due to which they had to give me up. That way I would have never found out how disgusting my parents actually were.

“Even though you fulfilled my basic needs by providing me food, clothes, education, and shelter, you did not give me the one thing that every child craves.”

When I see both of them frown, I understand they never even considered about me needing that one thing. That is why they looked so clueless right now.

“Love,” I answer their unspoken question. “You never gave the love I craved. You never made me feel loved or wanted. Not once did you affectionately look at me or stroke my head. Not once did you tuck me in my bed. Not once did you tell me stories and stayed by my side while I slept.

“Vivek used to tell me the stories you told him at nights, and I would think then why could you not spare a few minutes to do the same for me. I used to see you two shower him with hugs and kisses, and I would wonder why could you not love me too that way.

“In the beginning, I used to think it was somehow my fault. That I must have done something so horrible which made my parents hate me. Otherwise, why would they love my brother, but never even look at me properly.

“But when I eavesdropped the conversation Maa had with her friend that one day, I understood me being a girl was the reason why you two never loved me.

“After finding that out, I was angry at myself for being a girl. I wondered why I could not have been a boy instead. Then my parents would have loved me. They would have also cherished me like they cherished my brother.

“I kept thinking like that for a long time, before I finally understood it was not my fault. As I got older, I started realizing that any child who comes to this world—be it a boy or a girl—is special. Once they bring a child to the world, it is every parents’ responsibility to equally love and nurture the blessing they are given.

“With that realization, I started to think of a way to make you two see it. I did everything I could to make you want to be proud of me. To make you love me and want me. But no matter what I did, it was never enough.

“It took time but I finally understood that it will never be enough. That I will never be enough to you two. And I also understood that it was not my fault. It was the fault of your regressive thought.

“Even with that cognizance, I never stopped expecting to be loved by you. I never stopped pining for the day when my parents would finally realize their mistake and embrace me with open arms. That is what hurt me to most—my expectations from you.

“But from this moment on, there will be no such hurt. Because, starting now, I disown you two. You are no longer my parents and I have no expectations whatsoever from you.”

Mr. Subhash Iyer shakes his head, folding his hand over his chest. “You think we care about you having or not having any expectation from us?”

Mrs. Vinita Iyer also nods at what her husband said, scoffing as she looks at me. “You are here to spew all that nonsense to make us feel guilty? Or did you expect us to suddenly realize how wrong we were our entire life and embrace the daughter we neglected all these years?

“All you will ever get from us is hate, Nandini. Because you are the one who killed our so—”

“Stop it already,” I say, my loud voice interrupting her. “Stop blaming me for Vivek’s death.

“You want to put the blame on me only because you cannot face the reality,” I tell them. “And the reality is that although Rishabh was the one who actually murdered Vivek, you two are also partly responsible for his death.

“You like to play the blame game, right? So, let me also take part in it then,” I continue, noticing them stiffen, finally showing some emotion.

“I had told you Rishabh’s truth way back, before I said anything to Vivek, Mrs. Iyer. I had told you what Rishabh was doing to me.

“But you shrugged it off, not even caring to listen to me further. You even accused me of doing drama to get yours and your husband’s attention.

“If you two had taken me seriously at that time and taken me to the police to file the complaint, I would not have had to tell Vivek anything. Rishabh would have been behind bars or at least would have been under investigation.

“If that had happened, Vivek would not have stormed off the house that night to get Rishabh punished and Rishabh would not have killed my brother.

“So, there you go, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer. You tell me I am the reason why Vivek is dead. But in real, it is because of you two that he is not with us right now. You killed your son, not me.

“And as I said earlier. Not every parent deserve a child. That is why Vivek is not with you anymore and I have also disowned you. You are childless from this moment on, as you two deserve to be.”

Looking at their stunned faces with tears pouring out of their eyes, I wonder if I went a bit far. If I was too harsh.

But then I remember what they did and what they said to Rishabh.

With that, every bit of doubt vanishes from my mind.

They deserve this.

“You know. Not only do you not deserve to be parents, but you two do not even deserve to be called humans because you have not even an ounce of humanity in you.

“Agreed that you never wanted me and never loved me. But at least you could have considered me as a fellow human.

“I know you two must have felt scared when Rishabh came here, demanding to see me. I understand being in presence of someone as dangerous as him would have made you fear for your life.

“But when he left, you could have at least warned me. Even one anonymous text or call would have sufficed. Just one warning and I could have been prepared for it. Rishabh could have gotten caught and Aastha could have...,” I trail off, my voice getting choked as I remember Aastha. The way Rishabh had behaved with her. The way he had beaten her.

“Anyway, I know my words won’t penetrate into your thick heads, and I don’t want to waste my time and energy on you two anymore. I came here today to ask you why you betrayed me, but now that I have disowned you, nothing you say or do will matter to me anymore.

“The only thing I want from you now is the information about all the properties that Rishabh and his parents own. His parents were your friends, so you must know something that can lead us to Rishabh’s hideout.

“Oh and before you start saying that you won’t help me because you hate me, let me tell you we have a video recording of Rishabh admitting to you two helping him by giving him my address.

“The police have told me that if I press charges, there is a possibility of you two going to prison. So, if you don’t want me to send you to jail, you will have to help me in finding that man.”

I peer at them, hoping they took my bait.

Since they did not do anything else than giving my address to Rishabh, even if I press charges, and even if they get arrested, their lawyer might be able to get them bail because it could be difficult to build a strong case against them.

If they had been privy to Rishabh’s crime and had helped him in abducting me, that could have landed them in prison for a long time.

But they do not need to know that.

I gaze at Manik, who was still standing by my side. He blinks reassuringly at me, as if silently telling me that we will get the information that we need.

Nodding at him, I turn to Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, frowning when I see them looking at me with something akin to....

Wait. Is that remorse?

I shake my head, dismissing the thought.

Of course not. They aren’t capable of such emotion. That too toward me.

“Tell me, then. What is your decision?” I ask them.

I notice Mrs. Iyer stepping closer to me, and I frown when she suddenly raises her hand as if to keep it over my head.

Recoiling from the touch, I immediately step back.

Her hand also freezes midway and shocked expression mars her face as if she was herself surprised by what she was about to do.

Hurriedly putting her hand down, she also steps away from me, toward her husband, and gives him a small nod.

Mr. Iyer sighs and nods back at her.

“Ok. We will help you,” he says, looking at me, and I let out the breath that I did not know I had been holding.