Next day, early in the morning, Nandini, Dev and Niren came to wish Myra for her birthday. Whole family had a gala time. Nandini had herself baked a Red Velvet cake for Myra, whereas Dev gifted her a beautiful diamond necklace. Latest apple watch and LV bag was from Niren as her birthday gift.
They had lunch together which again was cooked by Nandini. She made sure to make most of the things from Myra's favourites list. Her simple gesture made the birthday girl teary remembering her own biological mother, moments she spent with her mother and grandmother made her emotional. It was after a long time her special day was celebrated like this.
Late at night after dinner the trio left for their home after a long celebration.
"You must be very tired, my birthday girl." Neil wrapped his arms around her shoulder leading her to their room.
"Yes."
"Where is your little body guard? I haven't seen him for a long time." Neil looked around.
"He is sleeping in our room. Yesterday as well he slept too late and in the afternoon, you and Niren kept him so busy that my baby could not have his afternoon sleep." Both entered inside.
Myra took a step towards her son's crib. He was sleeping peacefully clutching his favourite teddy bear. She smiled, kissing his forehead. It had become her habit to stare at his sleeping figure for hours and hours over the last 11 months of their marriage.
Neil stared at his two precious from back, just a smile on their face spread calmness in his heart. He carefully took out a velvet box from his side of the night table and took a step towards his wife.
He circled his one arm around her waist from back whereas with free hand he held her hand. He kissed her knuckles and slipped a diamond ring in her ring finger.
"Neil" she was surprised.
"You are my wife... but you don't have a wedding ring. Soo..." He pulled her on his chest. He remembered the day when they both got married legally. For any onlookers it was like, just two parties sealing some business deal. But today, he understood it was destiny who had sealed their fate on that day.
He kissed her forehead. "You are my sunshine. Always stay with me."
"Always!" She clinged to his body, burying her face in his strong chest.
Neil was gazing at the ceiling, his cold, discreet eyes fixed at far. He was caressing her hair gently but his mind was running with marathon speed with thought going around all over. Myra was sleeping peacefully in his arms, her steady breath indicated to him she had slipped in a deep slumber.
"I am sorry Myra." he kissed her crown.
He carefully started making her sleep on her other side, releasing himself. He tried to get up but felt a tug on his t-shirt. She had clutched his shirt in her fist. He smiled at her habit.
"But I have to do this Myra. For us." He again kissed her forehead mumbling against her skin and reluctantly released her hold over his t-shirt.
He got up from bed to admire his wife, he gulped. He closed his eyes momentarily, taking a deep sigh he turned towards the door. He came out after locking the door from outside. Taking the stairs he moved towards the study room. He took a few printouts and started walking towards the guest room. He was passing the kitchen entrance when an idea popped in his mind earning a devil smirk on his face.
Meera was tosseling in her bed, it was her birthday too but none of them had wished her till now except her twin sister. Her twin sister had visited her in the morning with a request to stay inside her room as her sister's in-laws were going to come to celebrate her birthday.
While going out of her room, Myra had stopped for a moment, she had wished, "Happy birthday Meera."
Just three words reminded her birthday two years back. Neil had decorated their entire penthouse with balloons and flowers. Cake, candle light dinner, expensive gifts were all ready for her welcome, but Meera was spending time with her friends drinking and clubbing. When she returned in the middle of the night, she saw the cake was untouched, candles had melted and Neil's was sprawled over the living room's couch.
After two years, she was regretting every blunder she made in the past. Today, when she saw her ex-husband and his family celebrating her twin sister's birthday, a dagger in her heart. Her jealousy, her hatred reached its all time high peak.
She was pacing in her room annoyingly when she heard a knock on the door.
'Who could be at this time?' with a thought she took steps towards the door.
Meera's eyes widened on their own accord looking at the person standing in front of her.
"Neil" words were out even before she realised.
"Ms. Meera Sehgal... you are our guest. But sorry, I couldn't invite you for my wife's birthday celebrations. You know... it was a kind of family function." His thunderstorm voice flinched Meera at her place. Neil was standing taking support of the door frame holding a plate filled with the cake.
"What are you doing here? Neil." In a moment Meera gathered her trembling self, while wearing a mask of an unfortunate poor soul.
"I just came with the cake" He showed her plate. "And that reminds me my wife Myra is your twin sister. Right?" He stood straight, keeping his sardonic eyes on her face. "Which means it's your birthday as well."
"Neil, please go from here. If Myra sees you here at this time, you will be in deep shit." Meera warned, faking her concern but inwardly she was rejoicing as it was for the first time Neil was at her doorstep alone.
"You don't have to worry about Myra. I know how to handle her." Neil rolled his eyes.
"It's just 4 more days for my stay in this house... why do you want to stake your blessed married life for me?" again a fake concern from a witch.
"Since when did you start thinking so much about someone else? This concern does not suit a selfish girl like you." He forwarded cake plate.
She denied shaking her head.
"Yes, you will say this because you neither knew the truth yesterday nor do you know it now, nor have you ever tried to find out." Meera turned and stepped inside making a way for him to enter inside. She smirked inwardly as he was again trapping himself in her web of lies. He kept the cake plate on coffee table.
"You and the truth... this is the funniest joke of the world." He stepped inside her room. "How many more lies will you tell?" He threw the printouts on the nearby coffee table.
His sudden outburst made Meera flinched in fear.
"Our marriage, our love, our relation... and how can I forget your lies around your pregnancy and then the big day of your walking out... was that not enough that you came up with the next set of lies... Your medical condition. Where do you get the strength to tell so many lies?" He roared like a lion accusing her with anger filled eyes.
"Ohh, so you already know. But don't you think that Mighty Neil Singhania was late this time?" She turned to face him and continued in a whimpering tone, "Last time, you probably didn't take this much time to belittle me." Meera has learned to fill her eyes with crocodile tears over a period of time.
Just a mere mention of their past, wobbled Neil's feet. His painful days when he had closed himself in dark, with no hopes for life, with a dead heart resurfaced from his memory line making him breathless for a moment.
"So you are saying that whatever you did was not wrong." Neil gathered himself physically as well as mentally counter arguing.
"It was wrong... it was evil." Fake tears started streaming over her cheeks. Her voice turned shaky, "And unfortunate too."
"Wow! I was unfortunate, I was the one who had faced the worst betrayal of my life from the person to whom I gave my everything. I loved you from the bottom of my heart but you... you were enjoying it with your boyfriend... And now please don't say it was all fabricated as I have seen you openly making out with him in the hospital corridor."
"You saw only what he wanted to show you."
"Who is he?" He demanded.
"Ryan Martins"
"What the fuck? What does he have to do with this?" Neil could not believe his hearing ability.
"He was just my business rival"
Meera smiled smugly. "After Mumma and Papa's divorce, Mumma took Myra with her. I was left alone with Papa. I don't need to tell you how my father is? While growing up I was all alone. His way of life was in front of me so I thought this was the only way to live. By every passing day, I turned selfish, I never respected any elders, never understood the importance of relationships. I gave a shit to everyone. I was living my life on my terms and I was happy with it... Drugs, alcohol, partying and clubbing was only my life."
Neil kept on staring at her trying to peep inside her soul to find the truthfulness in her words.
"I was in Paris when I first met Ryan through a common friend. I... I ... I thought of him as more than a friend." Meera conveniently misled the gulping hard. Hoping the person in front of her could not uncover her true intentions.
"We... we ... we were in a physical relationship." Meera bowed her head but did not miss to pass a brief look at Neil. He did not move his eyes from her face.
"But then... Then he dumped me after some time. He threw me out of his life as trash when he found a new interest... I came back to Canada thinking to move on and then I met you through your Mom and my Papa. And you showed me what true love felt like..." Meera raised her teary eyes to match his emotionlessness. She smirked inwardly when he slightly jerked at his place at the mention of their first meet.
"I never wanted to hide my past from you but Papa did not want me to risk the upcoming promising deal between his company and Singhania's. So he forced me to keep my mouth shut... But, it was killing me." Meera was calculative, revealing each and every word. She knew Neil was too sharp to capture anything wrong.
"I didn't even realise when I fell for you... That moment I understood what true, pious love is all about, whatever I had with Ryan was mere attraction. My love for you added as one more reason to hide my past from you. We got married and I decided to bury my past but it didn't happen the way I had thought of. Two days after our marriage, I received an envelope... it... it had my pictures with Ryan in... in a compromising position. It had a letter, asking me to steal the amount for one of the ongoing projects from your safe. I got scared, I did not want to betray you but I also did not want you to know about my past. I became selfish. I didn't want to lose you."
"I started getting threatening calls. It was Ryan. I was in a dilemma... but then my love for you overpowered my decisions and in one low moment, I abused your blind trust on me. I thought it was only for one time. But it wasn't... It started happening oftenly. They even had cameras installed in our house to keep an eye on us, even our few old household staff was compromised." tears started streaming from her eyes continuously.
"I didn't have a choice but to obey their orders. It happened the same with Neev's birth."
"Neev's birth... You purposefully, bribed that doctor to do c-section prematurely even though there were no complications. You put my son's life in danger." Neil rebuked glaringly.
"I accept my sin, Neil. But I had a detailed discussion with my doctor to know if there was any harm to my baby... when she convinced me that there won't be any harm. I agreed." Meera turned defensive.
"Seriously? For your kind information, I have your video capture of making out with some random..." Neil countered.
"It was Ryan... I was forced to do it... When I got to know about my pregnancy. First of all, I was scared. Remember, I had asked you to keep it hidden because I did not want anyone to know about it... but Ryan got to know... When I left him... he turned obsessed with me. He did not digest the fact that I moved on from him... he wanted me back in his life. He was going to kill our baby..... He gave me two options either to save my baby or to leave you. He asked me to choose one between you and him. So I had to fake being in love with him...." Both shared a painful eye-lock, one remembering his horrendous past and other reminiscing her journey of betrayal.
"I am sorry Neil... I am sorry. I ruined our house... I left you. I left my baby.... But I had no choice" Meera burst out crying bitterly. "You can't even imagine how I lived without you too... Ryan took me to London. He kept on torturing me. He kept me locked in a dark room with an empty stomach for so many months. He used to come and beat me every day. One day when there was a spring somewhere, I took a chance and came out of his clutches. I wanted to come to you, to confess and share my miseries, I wanted to apologise to you... " she slumped down on couch crying bitterly.
"But you were far away from me and I didn't had money to travel back. Papa and Divya also did not maintain any relation with me. I was working with a hope to meet you and Neev. And on one day I saw you with Myra in London Mall with our baby. A mother inside me woke up after seeing my son. I could not control myself, so I decided I should meet my son once. I convinced Papa and Divya... I threatened them that I will inform the police about their illegal business and also give them proof. He then readied to help me." Meera wiped her tears.
"I know, I faked... I lied one more time but this time I did it for my son. And I am not ashamed of it." This time she spoke with utmost confidence.
Neil could not remove his inquisitive eyes from her face till the time she narrated her side of story. He could not understand the plethora of emotions rilled inside.
"And do you want me to believe in this?" After 5 minutes Neil spoke narrowing his eyes in sarcastic tone.
"No... Whatever I have done in our past... I cannot expect you to trust me. But still, I am thankful that you allowed me to stay here for almost a month with my baby. The memories of this one month are enough for me to live my entire life." She palmed her face, taking a deep breath.
"Now that you know the entire truth... I will be leaving tomorrow morning. I don't want you to suffer again... You and Myra should have blessed married life." She turned her face, hoping for some words from his side.
'Come on Neil, stop me.'
She flinched when she heard the thud sound of the door closing.
'Shit! I can't go out of this house...But I had to leave him with no options... He has to stop me.... If I go then he will slip away from my hands and then getting him back will be difficult.'
Morning sun rays, disturbed Myra's sleep. She stretched her hand to the other side, but it was empty. She woke up, blinking a few times she adjusted her vision with bright sunlight spread across her room. Absence of her sleepyhead husband drowned her in a confused state of mind.
"Where did he go early in the morning?" She talked to herself. She got up from bed.
After a quick morning routine, she came downstairs and straight went towards the kitchen.
"Good morning Myra" Julia wished her with a bright smile.
"Good morning Julia Aunty." Myra overlooked the breakfast preparations. "Aunty, have you seen Neil this morning?"
"Did he come downstairs? I have been here for the last hour and I haven't seen him." Julia replied concentrating on her work.
"Ohh ok." Her reply added more to Myra's confusion. "He might be in study."
Saying this, Myra went out of the kitchen. She entered inside study, opening the door, but the scene in front of her swiped the floor beneath her feet.
Neil's office mac was on the floor with a broken screen, one whisky bottle was on the floor which was smashed with shattered glass pieces all over the place. Another glass of half filled whisky was on the coffee table and Neil was sprawled over a nearby couch with his one leg hanging down from the couch.
"Neil" She shrieked with a sinking heart. She moved towards him. "What happened to you?" She tapped on his cheeks.
"Wake up Neil. Are you ok?" He grumbled feeling her taps.
"Ahh." he blinked his eyes, rubbing his throbbing forehead.
"Here take this." She came back with a glass of water.
"What happened? Are you ok? What is all this?" She was bombarded with back to back questions.
"Ahh nothing." He could not meet his red swollen eyes with her perplexed ones.
"Neil, are you ok? What happened?" her eyes welled up with tears. Her choking voice made him turn to face her.
He stared at her face for a moment and then pulled her in his embrace.
"Nothing Myra." He caressed her back. "Nothing.... It's just... just... about business." He found a convenient lie to cover up for the situation.
"Are you sure?" Myra asked, breaking their hug and staring in his eyes fr truthfulness. Whatever was the problem in the office or at home, Neil had never behaved in a chaotic way till today only exception was during their initial days of marriage.
"Yes." He faked a smile. "There was one issue in the office and I lost my control as I had few drinks at night." He got up from the couch again not meeting his eyes with hers. "I will freshen up." He stepped towards the door.
She did not reply back but kept her curious eyes on his retiring figure. She knew he was hiding something, but she hoped he would admit and reveal his problems to her.
Myra came out and went towards the kitchen to look after breakfast preparations. She kept herself busy but her mind was going back towards the morning incident.
Meera was accustomed with Myra's routine, she knew at 9 AM, her little sister would go from kitchen towards her room to wake up her son. She took a chance to use this exact opportunity.
"Meera, what is this?" Myra asked, when she saw her elder sister taking out a big pullover from her room.
"I am leaving, Myra." Meera brought out a mournful tone.
"Leaving?" Creased lines formed over Myra's forehead. "But you were supposed to go after three more days?" She asked.
"Yes... but... but I thought, if I have to go after couple of days, why not today?" Meera perfectly masked her cunningness behind her sorrowful face. 'Please, my idiot, emotional fool little sister stop me.'
"Ohh..." Myra's heart and mind started their own fight. Her mind was engulfed with concern for her sister's wellbeing but her heart grappled with an insecurity over her relation with Neil. After a long time, she felt the burden of losing Neil and Neev was going away from her soul.
"Where will you go?" She asked absentmindedly.
"Let's see. I have no place yet but I will find something for myself." By each passing moment, Meera was losing her patience as well as hope.
"I don't want to be a third string for your and Neil's relationship. Because of me, he had faced too much. Now I want him to live his life happily." She faked crossing her fingers.
"Hmm" Myra could not reply back but she cursed herself for being selfish, the same reflected in the form of tears in her eyes.
"Bye Myra. Have a good life my little sister." Meera hugged her twin.
"Take care of yourself." Myra replied back.
Meera roamed her eyes over the house. The house where she had dreamed to rule instead of her sister but her dream remained as memory only. She turned and pulled her pull over towards the main door.
"Meera, STOP. You are not going away." Both sisters turned to see Neil. He had his eyes fixed on Meera's retreating figure.
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