The Lawyer In The Kitchen.

Bridge Chapter 3.B

I knew this was a fact but having to think on that line in front of Raghunath uncle made me feel awkward.

"Suvarna maybe one day you will be able to forgive me for what I did all those years ago."

Raghunath uncle had turned away and his back was facing me now. Even without seeing his face I could feel how difficult it was to talk about this.

"Uncle there was no way you could have known the fate of the flight my parents took. Please stop blaming yourself for what happened to them." I mean every word I had said. It had not been his intention to harm them, it never could have been.

"I was not talking about your parents."

I frowned in confusion at his words. He half turned towards me so that the left side of his face was visible to me.

"I was talking about taking Shishir away from here and making up stories about the reason." He said his pain and shame evident in his voice. "I have no excuse Suvarna except that I had been scared to lose him like I had lost my best friend. My fear had made me selfish and irrational in thought."

He turned around to face me now "And to be honest Suvarna, I had underestimated the depth of your bond with each other. I had not given much thought about how you two would be pained. In had been pretty sure that with time you both would make new friends and move on as children normally do at that young age."

I looked down not having any idea how to respond to this. Maybe the correct response would have been 'it is okay uncle.' But I could not bring myself to say that. To me it had not been okay, it never would. I cold now understand the reason for him being paranoid, but there was no way that I could ever agree to what he had done to have been correct or justified.

I could let that be behind us now, since things were sorted now between me and Shravan and we were now in love and engaged to be married.

"About your letters," he looked at me straight in the eyes. "I had thought they must have been just childish interactions." He exhaled heavily "I had not been bothered nor did I have any idea you had written so consistently every year."

I felt a flare of anger at the memory of undelivered communication to my best friend that had made him so bitter towards me, other than the fact that I had been tricked into lying to him about leaving for London. I bit my lip to stop myself from uttering something that I may regret later.

"I can understand your emotions with regard to my actions Suvarna, but please believe me when I say I had not known they meant so much to the both of you. I have no idea what the contents are, but from the way Shishir has reacted I know how precious they are to him."

I nodded slowly. I know he really had not realised he would be hurting us. "If I could change anything I would Suvarna, but unfortunately we cannot change our past actions. But can we make a fresh start? Can you trust this uncle of yours once again?"

For a few moments I kept quiet before smiling and lifted my hand and stretched it forward "Sure uncle. I know your intentions had not been to harm or hurt me."

After the truth about how he had taken care of Papa's shut down hotel and had stood by me to get it back I had no doubt he had never stopped caring for me.

He smiled and lifted his hand and shook mine formally before opening his arms and I readily stepped up for a hug.

It felt good, like old times. A time when he had been among the closest people in my life.

He pulled back and looked behind me his smile turning to a chuckle. I turned around to see my Nanu sitting on a chair with his feet up in the air as Kitty bounced around happily.