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“Look at your mom. How could you do this to her?”
“How could you do this to Daadi, Dad? If I’m wrong now, you were wrong back then. Don’t you think?” I ask, and again there’s complete silence. “You both left her too.”
“Oh,” Dad clenches his jaw. “So, is this some kind of vengeance you’re taking on her behalf?”
“I would never do that to my parents,” I assure, reaching them and sitting next to Mom. “I love you, Mom, and you too, Dad. But staying here and waiting for my wife to make the first sacrifice is not my choice. I want to take the first step.”
Mom doesn’t say a word after that. She pushes me away and hurries to her room. Dad gets up, annoyed.
“You’re making a mistake, Vikram. Your life is here…”
“Maybe my life is here, Dad. It always has been. But now my soul is there, and without it, I don’t think my life will be any better. I have to go, and I wish you both could bless my decision.”
“I built this empire for you, Vikram, and you just want to leave it?”
“I’m not leaving anything. I’m expanding it to a place I want to live in. Besides, Devki Estate also needs looking after. So much is happening back there, and I can’t leave Maahi and Daadi to handle it all alone. I want to help them.”
Dad shrugs in disbelief. “You cannot stay happy without keeping your parents happy, Vikram.”
“Do you agree with that?” I mock. “I thought you and Mom had the happiest life here without Daadi in it.”
Dad glares at me for relating everything between us today to the mistakes he made in the past. He gulps down all the wine and heads back to his room. I know this didn’t go well, but I hope it will end with us all together someday, as a complete family.
MAAHI
Vikram tells me how he conveyed his settlement plans to his parents about staying in India for the next year. If it shocked me this much, I can only imagine what his parents went through.
“Your mom must have been shattered,” I murmur.
“She was. She didn’t even see me off to the airport. Dad was the only one who came, and he wasn’t very happy either.”
His voice stutters and his face pales, recalling that moment. “It was a tough decision, Maahi. All my life, I’ve loved and respected all their decisions. This is one decision of mine they can never support, and I couldn’t convince them either. They must be hating me so much for this.”
We’re settle on the dark red leather couch. I’m next to him, not very far but not close either.
“Hey.” I palm his cheek. “No parents can hate their children. They love them unconditionally, no matter how bad their decisions might be at times.”
“You think I took a wrong decision?” He frowns.
“Not for me or Daadi, but for them, yes. But I know why you did this. You want them to realize the mistakes they made regarding Daadi.”
He nods.
“They’ll come around, Vikram. They’re your parents, after all, and they’ll come around soon.”
“What if they don’t?” He looks quite serious.
“Then we’ll go back to them. We’ll find a way to bridge that gap between Daadi and them too.”
That gives him some hope.
“I don’t want to be Junior Meera Singh Grover, snatching a son from his mother.” I tease, hoping to bring a smile to his face. It works. He pulls me onto his lap, my legs on either side of him on that couch, and my dress barely covers my thighs anymore.
“Careful, Cub. You’re talking about my mother. I love her too much.”
“And me?”
I don’t know where that came from, but I need to know. He stares at my face intently, stroking his thumb over my lips.
