Trust in Love

Chapter 54

Abhijeet's POV

"Di..did...you...do...al..all...th...is?"

With great difficulty,  I stuttered out the words through trembling lips.

Broken will be a small word for what I was feeling right now.

I looked into the eyes of my first love, pleading with everything in me to negate what I just heard.

I was hoping against hope that maybe....maybe there is a misunderstanding but it crashed down severely against her one reply.

"Yes"

I staggered and would have fallen if not for the strong hold of Megha.

In that moment, she looked like a stranger to me, the caring and loving mother was gone. In it's place stood a proud and arrogant woman.

There were thousands of questions roaming around in my mind but the lump in my throat was making it difficult for me from voicing it loud.

I could only stand there staring at her impassive face with overflowing eyes.

Silence dominated after this bombshell which was finally broken by Ram Chettan.

" Why,Amma?....Why?What made you take this drastic step? Out of all of us, you loved Abhi the most and you yourself plotted against him"

His voice reflected the pain and anger he was going through.

I glanced around at my family. Each of us had varying degrees of emotions on our face but predominantly disbelief and hurt.

My eyes finally stopped at Amma who was still standing mum.

But enough was enough. Today all secrets SHOULD  come out. Even if it breaks us, it is better than living a lie.

"We need answers,Amma and you owe us" I stated determinedly.

But all our questions were met with her infamous silence and our patience were wearing thin with each passing second.

"Your mask has been ripped open but still there is no match for your arrogance. Anita, I don't have any expectations  from her but at least you tell them the truth. They deserved to know"

Hearing her voice, we all turned to look at Priya and her last statement made us switch our attention to Chettathi.

"Chettathi, even though the real culprit had been unveiled, our questions still remains the same.
Please I beg you to tell us the whole story. " Megha pleaded from beside me.

With nervous eyes, she glanced at each one of us staring at her with only one emotion, helplessness.

Releasing a defeated sigh, she looked at Amma.

" I warned you to stop this game of yours. You always preached about the betterment of the family....look around with open eyes.....Do you see anyone happy? There are only shattered pieces of broken hearts. Hearts of your sons who witnessed another face of their dear mother...."

Looking back, her eyes clashed with Raj Chettan and a lone drop fell from her eye seeing his subdued stance.

" I am sorry, Raj. I still don't know whether I did right or not but I went with what the circumstances demanded...."she trailed off

"Don't hold back . I want to know everything ....from the beginning...."

Even though Raj Chettan's voice was low, there was a dangerous  glint to it.

Taking a deep breathe, she revealed a past which shook the very foundation of our being.

"From the beginning, your mother could never accept me,Raj. For her I was , am and always will be the imperfect match to her perfect son because I was not Priya"

The insinuation was not lost on us and I couldn't stop myself from reacting.

"What Absurdity!" 

I also could see the shock on both Raj Chettan and Ram Chettan's face.

"It is not absurdity. Even though it was not official, the truth is,our marriage was decided by our mothers"

Listening  to Priya, we were all dumbstruck especially Raj Chettan.

"I... ummm...Priya....me....us..."

I could see Raj Chettan stumbling over words , trying to explain but Priya beat him to it.

"You don't owe me an explanation,Raj, as you were unaware of the same but I won't lie, it hurt when you got married."

"No Priya, you do deserve an explanation and an apology. I agree I was not aware of it but Amma was the one who gave you this unwanted dream, so in a way I too am responsible being her son. But I wanted to clarify today, even if Amma had proposed our alliance to me, I would have declined. For me, you were my younger brother's best friend and I thereby looked at you like a little sister. Nothing more....nothing less....I am sorry"

"Dont be. My heart was not broken, just hurt as I was in love....." she trailed off

As we looked at her shocked, she continued with a mischievous smirk,

".....with the idea of being part of this family"

Even though Priya tried to ease the atmosphere, still I could sense the turmoil and awkwardness Raj Chettan was feeling at this new piece of information. 

Forgetting my hurt, I moved towards him and held his hand in support as did Ram Chettan.

He looked at us in relief and then turned to Chettathi,

"Why didn't you ever ask me?"

His voice sounded pained

"I thought many times but I couldn't bring up the courage. One day, finally I asked Abhi albeit indirectly. His reply was sufficient for me to deduce that it was all in Amma's mind but still I was not comfortable whenever Priya came. I felt sidelined but I didn't take it to heart until Megha and Meenu entered our home. Her dissatisfaction, her little taunts were now taking another form and it reached head on the... da..y I went in...to ea...rly lab..our....." Chettathi's words quivered at the last sentence as her mind travelled back to that time

"Did you see, Chechi, how happy my Ram and Abhi is....Alas..! If Raj had married Priya, then today he would also have been as happy"

Anita's heart clenched with pain as she listened to Amma. She held onto her swollen belly for comfort

" I agree even though Anita is a nice girl, Priya would have been a better match"

" No question about that,Chechi. My Raj is so good but God did bad with him. I know he is compromising in life. If his father was not in support, I would have done something but then she got pregnant"

" Leave it....What use taking about the past that we can't change"

They went about in their talks, unaware of the poor soul they have crushed mercilessly, 

In that moment she realised that even if she lay down her life, she will always fall short.

Everyone stood flabbergasted as another bitter part of the past was revealed .

In addition to the pain of betrayal, Raj Chettan was feeling the burden of failure. His eyes were sending thousands of apologies to Chettathi who was finally letting go of her anguish.

With emotions haywire , I looked at the woman who was my epitome of love. I couldn't reconcile her with the woman who gave Chettathi this much pain.

With just bits and pieces, I am having hard time to cope , so how will I survive the rest?

Is it really worth knowing? I started questioning myself.