C2 2

Mithran reached home the next day, only to find his mother with red and puffy eyes.

How had his mother tolerated this for years, without a single word?

He embraced his mother, who cried again.

"Don't let him do that, Mithran. I won't be able to bear it," Amrutha Yadav cried.

"Tell me everything, Amma. I don't understand anything," Mithran asked.

"It began years ago. You were around ten years old. It was the time when your father's best friend died. He started travelling a lot. I thought he just needed time to move on from the grief. It wasn't until a few years later that I found out that he was involved with another woman. And that he has a child with her too," Amrutha said.

"And what did he say when you confronted him?" Mithran asked.

"I didn't. I never did," Amrutha cried.

Mithran took in a sharp breath. The place where his mother grew up is a real backward community. They had been taught to turn a blind eye to anything and everything their husband does.

He just didn't know how to feel.

His mother has been getting cheated on for years. And he now discovered that he has a sister.

A sister?

That feels so surreal.

He had always been an only child.

"Amma, let me talk to Appa. Maybe he has some other explanations. Maybe this is all a huge misunderstanding," Mithran tried to console his mother.

"Appa, can we talk?" Mithran asked as soon as his father walked in.

Madan Yadav smiled at his son.

"Sure, Mithran. Let me take a shower. I will be back in fifteen minutes," Madan said and walked into his bedroom.

The next fifteen minutes felt like fifteen centuries to Mithran.

"What happened to your mother?" Madan asked as he took a seat across from his son.

"Didn't you ask her?" Mithran asked sarcastically.

Madan frowned at Mithran's tone.

"When has she ever said anything to me?" Madan asked with a sad smile.

"I wonder why," Mithran said in a taunting voice.

"Mithran, if you have something to say, say it openly. Don't talk in under meanings," Madan said sternly.

"What do you expect her to do when her husband has been cheating on her for years?" Mithran burst out angrily.

Madan was shocked out of his wits. He stared at his son in horror.

"Cheat? What do you mean by cheating her?" Madan asked angrily.

"She told me everything, Appa," Mithran said.

"She told you what? Explain," Madan demanded.

"About your years-long extramarital affair and your illegitimate daughter," Mithran said.

Madan stared at his son blankly.

Mithran was confused seeing the pain in his father's eyes.

He expected denial. He expected guilt.

But not this.

"Appa?"

"She thinks I have been cheating on her? All these years, she thought!!" Madan whispered, his voice breaking with each word.

"What is happening, Appa? I don't understand a thing," Mithran asked in confusion.

"Did you also think that your Appa is capable of something like that?" Madan asked.

Mithran could only stay silent.

He, at least for a moment, believed that his father was a cheat.

"Amma seemed so depressed. So sure," Mithran said in an effort to defend himself.

"And so you believed it?" Madan asked, shaking his head in defeat.

"Then tell me what's happening, Appa. She heard you telling someone that 'you are my daughter.' What is the meaning of that?" Mithran asked.

"She doesn't have to share my DNA to be my daughter, Mithran," Madan said furiously.

"Who is she?" Mithran asked.

Madan took in a deep breath.

"Chaahat," Madan said with a soft smile.

"Who is Chaahat?" Mithran asked.

Madan took a deep breath.

"Someone very dear to me, Mithran. I love her just the way I love you," Madan said, and Mithran wanted to pull at his hair in frustration.

His father is not giving him any proper answers.

"Tell me who she is?" Mithran asked again.

"Well, you thought she was my daughter. A daughter born to me through an extramarital affair? Let it stay that way," Madan said, too hurt to give explanations to his son.

"Appa? I am going mad. Put Amma out of her misery," Mithran said.

"Then ask her to come and confront me," Madan said.

"Goodness. What is wrong with you two? Your marriage had been such a disaster because of a simple misunderstanding," Mithran said furiously.

"It was a disaster because of your mother's lack of trust in me. I can't believe that she has been thinking I have been cheating on her for more than a decade," Madan said angrily.

"What about you? Did you trust her enough to share about this Chaahat with her?" Mithran asked back, leaving Madan silent for a while.

"I have a reason for not telling her, Mithran," Madan said softly.

"Of course. Everyone has excuses. All these years of pain and heartache, just because of a communication gap," Mithran said in disbelief.

Madan remained silent.

"Why can't you just go and talk to her? Tell her the truth," Mithran asked.

"I will not. Not until she comes and asks me whatever she wants to know," Madan said stubbornly.

"Oh God! This is not her fault alone, Appa. The lack of trust was from both your sides. There is nothing wrong in trying to bridge the differences," Mithran said.

He can't believe that he is giving relationship advice to his father. It should be the other way around.

"I didn't tell her not because of my lack of trust. Because I didn't want to hurt her," Madan said.

"Why would she be hurt if you are looking after a child? She would have been proud of you," Mithran said, trying to put some sense into his father.

"There is a reason for that. But now I am ready to share it if she wants to know," Madan said.

"You know what? I am out of here. You two can sort it out yourself," Mithran said and walked out of his house angrily.

This has just cemented his decision to marry Isha.

A marriage needs friendship more than love.

His parents had love. But no friendship. No trust.

And that has ruined their marriage.

He will not let that be the case in his life.