Hello, Mr. Major General (1)

Chapter 185 - Purge

Deepika was silent for a long moment. She decided it was
better to be honest. “…No.” She did not dare say “yes”—she had a feeling Shehnaaz would follow up with all sorts of bizarre questions to corner her.

“Did your mother leave a suicide note, then? You just have to answer yes or no.” Shehnaaz was now acting like a lawyer questioning the accused in court.

Deepika did not realize she was being led around by the nose. She hesitated, then shook her head. “No.”

“That’s strange. So your mother never mentioned the love letters to you when she was alive, and she didn’t leave a suicide note explaining the letters, either. How, then, did you come to the conclusion that your mother left the letters for you to find? Or that they were the cause of her suicide in the first place?” Shehnaaz neatly cleaved apart the connection between the scandalous love letters and Radhika’s suicide.

Deepika stared at Shehnaaz. She was feeling a little light-headed from Shehnaaz’s clever twists and turns.

The letters were obviously the cause of her mother’s death —they had been right next to her mother’s lifeless hand!

But Shehnaaz made it sound like the letters were completely irrelevant. How was that possible?!

What was going on?!

Kirat had been watching from the sidelines. She stepped forward to back Deepika up. “I don’t blame you all for not knowing this, but Deepika’s mother Radhika was a very kind woman. For the sake of Rita’s reputation, she decided not to expose the affair, even though Ashok was no longer around. She suffered silently under the weight of her secret for six years. In the end, she couldn’t take it anymore and committed suicide. She was an honorable woman—she never so much as breathed a word about the love letters when she was alive.

“…Deepika decided to expose the letters because she lost too much. You would have to be very selfish and vicious to blame her for that. You keep talking about how you were wronged, but what about her parents?! They lost their lives!”

Kirat had a point.

Several people in the audience had begun to nod in agreement. Kirat’s explanation made sense: it explained why Radhika had concealed the love letters for six years, and committed suicide without telling anyone about them.

Shehnaaz waited patiently. When the murmurs in the living room died away and the guests fell silent again, she said, in a loud voice, “That’s one way to interpret it. Your explanation is far-fetched, however, and riddled with holes.”

“How is it far-fetched? Or riddled with holes?” Deepika had
moved to stand next to Kirat without realizing it herself.

“This is obviously the only explanation. I know you want to
get in my Cousin Brother’s good books, but you shouldn’t play yes-man and agree with everything his mother says just because of that.”

“Projecting, much? You didn’t even try to get to the bottom of your mother’s death. Instead, you immediately began sucking up to an outsider, while abusing your own family,” Shehnaaz replied coldly.

Deepika immediately wished she hadn’t mentioned Sidharth; Shehnaaz was all the more ruthless when she saw his reputation was at stake. “I’m a law student, Deepika Shukla. I stand firmly on the side of the law.”

Kirat put an arm around Deepika’s shoulders in a display of concern and solidarity. She rebuked Shehnaaz by saying: “Well, here’s what I have to say, and I’d say it even if we were standing in court right now: Deepika’s mother killed herself because of those love letters. She committed suicide because the letters were too much for her to take!”