Cover Me In Sunshine🌅

3. The Cat's Out Of The Bag

Ram and Priya both were about to enter the room that's when Priya stopped Ram holding his hand.
Priya(looking straight into his eyes): Do you trust me?
Ram: I don't know Priya. Maybe.
Priya nodded with a sad expression.
Ram: Come.
Again Priya nodded.

They entered the room and saw a middle aged man with perfectly maintained beard, good looking guy sitting there. He looked at them and immediately stood up.
Abhay: Come in Mr. And Mrs. Kapoor.
Ram and Priya entered.
Abhay: Hello I'm Abhay Singhal. Private Investigator. I'll be handling your sister and your sister-in-laws case of accidental death.
Ram and Priya both shook hands with them. Ram gestured his to sit. They all sat down on the chairs.
Ram: Before you ask my wife anything. Let me tell you something, she's pregnant. I don't want her to take any unnecessary stress. If she wants to stay silent don't force her.
Abhay: Mr. Kapoor I already know that Mrs. Kapoor is pregnant and believe me I have no intention of stressing her out. Relax.
Ram nodded.
Abhay started scrolling through his ipad.
Abhay(looking straightly at Priya): So from what Mr. Aditya Shekhawat has briefed me, Mrs. Shivina Kapoor Mehra was pushed by Mrs. Priya Kapoor as claimed by you Mrs. Kapoor and she hit her head in the wall and died. All of this happened in the heat of the moment. Am I right?
Priya didn't say yes nor she said no.
Abhay: And your husband thinks you didn't do it. So I need to find who actually did it, why did it, how did it, and if you didn't do it why are you taking someone else's blame on yourself Mrs. Kapoor.
He again scrolled through his ipad.
Abhay: So here I've the brief data about all the members of your family. I'll say their names and relationships with you please correct me if I say anything wrong.
Priya looked at Abhay straight.
Priya: I'm ready to confess.
Ram(utterly shocked): What? Are you okay? Are you stressed? Did someone pressured you Priya?
Priya(looking at Ram): You were with me all the time since morning. No one is forcing me. You are right. Our Shivi deserves justice and by protecting the person who did it, I'm making the same mistake my....great mother made...so before it's too late I want to confess.
Abhay: Very fine. Tell us Mrs. Kapoor who did it?
Priya(taking a deep breath, with tears in her eyes): Ishaan.
Ram and Abhay(together): What?
Ram was too stunned to speak. The boy he absolutely loved, took away the life of his precious Shivi! It was too much to handle for him.
Abhay: Ishaan means your 13 year old nephew.
Priya nodded, looking straight to his direction.
Ram(tears flowing from his eyes): Ish....Ishh...Ishaann? Ishaan?
Abhay: Are you sure?
Priya: 100% sure as I was there when he pushed Shivi. But I couldn't protect her. I couldn't. My sister fell down in front of my eyes and couldn't save her. I promised Mr. Kapoor that I'll take care of her always. But I failed to keep my promise. She lost her life in front of my eyes.
Priya started crying heavily.
Abhay: Mrs. Kapoor please don't take stress. It's not good for you. Tell me if you're feeling okay then only I'll ask for questions.
Ram: Priya? Are you okay? It's not your fault. Please don't feel guilty.
Priya was still crying. Ram pulled out a tissue and gave it to her. Priya with unsteady hands wiped her tears, taking deep breaths.
Ram: It makes sense. Priya would have never taken the blame on herself if it was an adult. Ishaan is a child that's why....
Abhay: To protect him she took the blame on herself.
Priya was still sniffling looking downwards.
Abhay: Mrs. Kapoor I can assure you something if Ishaan gets his punishment it'll be for his own good. We can understand that he didn't do it deliberately. It was an accident. But you protecting him can never save him from the guilt he would've been feeling right now. You could of course stay in jail for him but can you minimize his guilt by doing that? An absolute no. And you are an adult, taking a blame on yourself means you've to face jail. But Ishaan is a minor. He will be sent to either juvenile center or he'll get community service tasks for a period of time. And in both he'll get psychological counseling which he absolutely needs. This shouldn't be the behavior of a 13year old. And his identity will always be protected for his future. These are the laws so that the child gets his redemption and in this way it wouldn't affect his future also. Now you tell me is it really worth it? Taking his blame on yourself? And in this condition? Even if you were not pregnant is it worth it?
Ram's face was blank. He didn't say anything.
There was a knock on the door.
Abhay: Come in.
An officer came with Shivi's phone and Laptop.
Abhay(taking them in his hands): Thank you Officer.
The Officer nodded and left.
Abhay: Mrs. Shivina Kapoor Mehra had claimed of domestic abuse from the family members before she died. Even if you confess by that claim your family will get punishment.
Priya was shocked.
Priya: But we all loved Shivi. Please believe me. She was never tortured in our house. Aisa nahi ho sakta. Yes our house could never provide her the luxury like her own house but she was happy there. She was happy with Akki. And agar aisa kuch hota toh Shivi pehle kyun chup rehti? It's a mystery to me also that why she behaved like that?
Abhay: If you feel alright can you please tell us what really happened?
Priya(nodding): So after MS and Varun's arrest...ummm you know about Mr. Kapoor's Dad's murder case right?
Abhay nodded and gestured her to continue.
Priya: Okay so after the arrest I went to my house to confront my mother about the fake statement she'd given 15 years ago. She of course tried to pacify me by saying how does it matter now look what is happening in the house as Ishaan and Shivi had a huge fight. Shivi told Ishaan that his father is a murderer and he'll kill her too. And that started the fight. I tried to make Shivi not to say all this as this could hurt him badly he's just a child who had no fault in that crime. But Shivi still didn't stop. She wanted to go home, she packed her trolley bag and started dragging it to the stairs. Then also they both were fighting and I was trying to stop them. Shivi also started saying things like my family torture her and they make her shut up about it and they only behave good in front Mr. Kapoor which are not true. I know I don't have any evidence to prove it but aisa nahi ho sakta.
Then I held Shivi's hand to stop her from going and told her to sit and we can talk about her problems with my family and we can sort everything out. But she pushed me and I fell on the stairs. Thankfully I held the stairs and stood up. But this actually made Ishaan say, "tumhe meri Priya maasi to dhakka dia ab main bhi tumhe dhakka dunga". And he pushed Shivi. Shivi was on the edge of the stairs and that's how.....
Priya couldn't say no more. She closed her eyes in pain.
Abhay: Can you tell me about Ishaan more?
Ram(firmly): I'll tell you. He's a brilliant boy with amazingly sharp brain but his biggest problem is his impulsivity. The first time I met him he's about to jump of a building because his family refused him to move back to Delhi. His behavior towards Shivi was always bad. I'm not defending Shivi here she also behaved immaturely with him. They always fought with each other. I loved that boy but he took away my child from me.
Abhay: What? That much impulsive? Mrs. Kapoor you did a very good thing by confessing the truth. Can you guarantee that in some days in the heat of the moment your nephew will not hurt anyone else? He needs immediate help! What were you thinking? By protecting him from getting his punishment you were putting all the people's life at risk! Don't get me wrong but with these kind of kids you can not guarantee that he'll never do anything like that again. Does his mother means your sister knows?