First Wife, First Love.

25. Truth Unfold.

"Why did you get back so late?" I ask and he looks up in surprise as he didn't expect me waiting.

"I... I... I had work." He says.

"You always have work, Vedant. But that never made you come home late without informing others about it. I had to lie because of you. Did you have dinner?" I ask.

"No." He says and I sigh in frustration.

"Get washed up and come down to eat." I say.

"I am not hungry. I-" He says, but I stop him.

"Ignoring me is not a solution, Vedant, but if you still want to do it, then fine. But at least not at the cost of your health. Come down soon." I say and go in the kitchen to heat the dinner.

Vimi puts everything on the table, then I tell her to go to bed. Vedant comes down and doesn't meet my eye and starts having dinner. I sit beside him and look anywhere but at him. As soon as he is done with dinner, I take everything to the kitchen. I take my time and then go up.

"I want to talk to you." Vedant says as soon as I enter our room and pats the space beside him on the bed for me to sit down.

I get in the bed but don't look at him and say, "Okay."

"I am sorry. I should not have said what I said yesterday. I didn't want to avoid you. I was just gathering enough courage to let you in. To open up. Dadi talked to me and she tried to indicate how you would be feeling. But believe me, Arya, my intention was never to hurt you this way. It just... opening up to someone is tough. It makes me overthink every time. Even though you are a very kind and sweet person, it makes me feel... scared." Vedant says with a pinched face, as if he is afraid of something.

"Why?" I ask softly.

He looks at me and says, "Because you are becoming important to me, Arya. And I would hate to see disappointment and disgust in your eyes for me. That would be something worse than my nightmares."

For a minute I try to process that even Vedant faces nightmares, but he never seems like he had. "Do you have nightmares?" I ask.

"I used to before you came, but then last night they came again." He says.

I take his shaking hand in mine and squeeze it, then say, "I don't want you to open up until you want to, Vedant. But what I do want is for you to know that I am your wife and you are my husband. You are important to me, too. We have exchanged vows to be there for each other and I don't take my vows lightly. You can never disappoint me. And disgusted? No chance. You are way too handsome for something like that."

He chuckles, then puts his other hand on our joined hands and says, "I was four when I heard my parents arguing for the first time. It was not big, as Mom didn't like to yell. Or maybe because she was too timid at that time. But when I turned six, I got to know some things. First, my parents argued that day because Mom came to know about Mayra's Mom and her ex-husband made an excuse, saying that she drugged him and it was not his fault. Mom forgot about it and they were happy for sometime. But it was his lie and it broke that day."

"Then?" I ask after a few seconds of silence.

He takes a ragged breath and says, "Ramya's Mom came into our life as his second wife. He married Ruha Kaur to get her inheritance as the company was facing loss and he needed money."

"Our... our wedding planner." I say and he nods and I realise why he was shocked and disturbed to see her there.

"He treated her the worst. Abused her. He took all his frustration out on her. She came to our house and begged Dadu to get her out of his clutches. I still remember the defiant look in her wife when that monster tried to take Ramya away from her. She literally kicked him." Vedant says with a dry chuckle.

"Dadu was angry for sure. He asked his son millions of questions and he said he needed funds. That is why he did it. Dadu disowned him and named everything in Mom's name. When he got to know this, he was angry and had no one to let his frustration out except for one person." He says and I hold my breath as he turns to look me pain in the eye and says, "Me."

"No." I say, my eyes welling up with tears.

"My Mom was still trying to mend her relationship with her husband and he was trying to get over his failure. One day when Mom had gone out, he took out his belt and said that I was too weak and pathetic to look after this empire. That my mother would never be good enough for anything. That she gave birth to a weak and pathetic boy. And he was right, because I was so weak and pathetic that I didn't see my Mom was trying to stay in this relationship for me and it was hurting her like it was hurting me." He says, and my heart hurts for them.

"Remember, I told you I wore a saree for a fancy dress competition? That was the day when that pain ended. I was changing when my Mom walked in and saw my back. She was shocked, but more than that, she was angry. She knew whose deed it was, and she took me into her embrace and said the words I was dying to hear. It's over. It's over. That's why I never burnt that picture because it was right after we made promises to be there for each other, no matter what." He says and wipes away my tears.

He goes to continue, but I stop him. "That much is enough."

"No. Let me get this off my chest once and for all. Mom filed for divorce and Dadu asked her to stay with them as he is throwing his son out. Life was perfect and one day news came that he was getting married again but Dadu can't let another woman's life get destroyed so he warned the woman but not before she faced the consequences of coming in contact with that monster. And that's how Saira came into this world. Nobody knows about Saira because her mother married her best friend and everyone in society didn't know about her previous engagement. So no one should know about it. At least she has a perfect family life." He says.

"When I first saw Mayra, I was eight, and do you know what came to my mind?" He asks with a smile.

"What?" I ask.

"That she is so like Mom. She is so kind and sweet, just like her name." He says and in that minute I realise what a struggle my husband has been facing his whole life.

He is caught between two people whom he loves the most and hurting anyone of them unintentionally is hurting him too.