Dushyant wiped off his tears and composed himself, as he continued,

'mom ko kabhi batane ki himmat hui nahi, isiliye unhe keh diya ki jo flight mili bhi phone aane ke baad, delay ho gayi. Possible hi nahi tha unhe sach batana without telling her about dad's affair, unki death ka itna shock tha mom ko, yeh baat toh unhe tod hi deti...'

He paused as his glare was fixed on the floor, after all, it wasn't like keeping this from him mother made him any less guilty in all these years.

'guilty feel karte ho? Lagta hai ki you are helping your dad in his mistakes by hiding them?' asked ishita with a very stern gaze at him, as his glance didn't move away from the floor when he replied,

'maybe...'

'isiliye aap mummyji se zyada baat nahi karte na, aap chahte ho woh aap se zyada attached hi na ho..'

' ishita har raaz ek na ek din khulta hai, aur jab unko yeh pata chalega ki woh pati jisse unhone apni puri zindagi dedi woh unhe dokha de raha, aur unka beta jo unse saalon tak jhoot bolta raha uss baap ki galtiyan chupane ke liye, tab tha bhi nahi jab unhe sabse zyada zaroorat thi uski, you think woh mujhse nafrat nahi karengi! You think kavin nahi nafrat karega mujhse ki maine jaan bujh kar usse akele yeh sab face karne ko chod diya tha uss waqt!' he yelled at the top of his voice, venting out all of the emotions he had buried inside.

'yeh sab pata hai kyun hua? Kyunki main selfish hoon, unreliable hoon aur trust karne ke layak nahi hoon! Nahi deserve karta main kisika pyaar...'

'aisa nahi hai..'

'aisa hi hai! Kyunki main sirf logon ko hurt karna janta hoon...do you think mujhe acha lagta hai yeh sab, apni maa se naa ke barabar baat karna, apne bhai ko pata nahi chalne dena how much i love him. I only do this kyunki agar unhe pata chal gaya na ki main kaisa hoon, woh nahi pyaar karenge mujhse...'

He paused to take a deep breath, not letting himself go down with his anger again. Ishita, seeing that he is calm enough to listen now, walked up to him, as she took his hands into hers and with her gaze fixed on him, said,

'dushyant, aapke aane se pehle na, main kabhi sochti nahi thi ki mujhe kya chahiye ya main kya chahti hoon, kyunki har situation mein aise kuch karne ka matlab hota not being there for my family who needed me. Chahe woh job karna ho taaki ghar mein stable income hoon, ya bas joh cheez pasand aayi na khareedkar paise bacha lena. Par phir aap aaye, yahan aapko pata chalta meri koi chuti si bhi wish hai, aap bas puri kardete the. Aur pehli baar aisa hua ki mere kuch chahne se kisika nuksaan nahi ho raha tha, aapke kaaran mujhe laga ki main kuch chah sakti hoon.'

She paused as she placed her hand on his cheek and continued,

'aapne mujhe joh bhi kaha, woh sab nahi matter karta iss sab ke aage, i still love you, i will still trust you, and there is nothing that will make me hate you because you, deserved to be loved, chahe aap maane ya na maane.'

A tiny smile crept up on his face as in front of his eyes there was someone who had assured him how even if the worst of his fears came to life, he'll be fine.

                                                     ***

'uhh, kavin?' said purvi awakwardly to the receiver on the other end of the call.

Kavin, who was trying to find a file in his messy desk, immediately stopped.

'what did you do?' asked kavin sternly, knowing exactly when this tone comes up.

'arre, tum aisa hi kyun samajhte ho jaise maine kuch kiya hi hoga?' revolted purvi, like a 5 year old defending themselves after getting caught by their parents.

'tum kabhi phone karti ho jab tumne kuch nahi kiya hota hai?' replied kavin, relaxing the sterness in his tone, just a little bit.

'have i ever told you how smart you are?' remarked purvi, trying to divert him.

'purvi, what have you done?' said kavin in a no-nonsense tone, he is very smart, indeed.

'dekho, gussa mat karna, huh.'

'tum mujhe gussa dilao mat, nahi karunga..' he said, as he caught hold of a file.

Purvi, mustered up all her courage, as she took a deep breath and muttered:

'ok, fine, uhmm, mummy ko pata chal gaya main pregnant hoon.'

'what!' exclaimed kavin, as he ended up dropping the file in his hand.

'i'm so sorry!' purvi exclaimed in the next breath.

'par kaise...'

'uhh, maine bataya...'

'what!' he sat in his chair by now in bewilderment, just face palming himself so hard.

'i'm really sorry...'

'arre par kyun bataya abhi!'

'arre woh nikal gaya moh se kavin behes mein..'

'yaar tumhari maa aur tumhari behes, pata tha marwayegi ek din!'

He said as he rubbed circles around his forehead, trying to think.

'aur ek bad news hai...'

'yeh good news thi?'

'bad news sunke decide karlena?'

'what is it?' said kavin, unwantedly ready to take whatever it is..

'uhh, meri mummy ne tumhari mummy ko bata diya...' said purvi, by now not even remotely scared, as she knew kavin was done getting angry by this point. He would just be fed-up.

'what!'

'aur..'

'aur bhi hai?'

'woh keh rahi thi tumhe ghar leke aayenge shaam ko..' stated purvi, as she closed her eyes, hoping for this to not get worse.

Meanwhile, kavin was just silent now, just fed-up. When he thought it couldn't get any worse, he was interrupted by his brother,

'oh bhai tu phone kyun nahi utha raha hai, mummy ko baat karni hai!' grumbled an annoyed dushyant as he entered with his phone that had mrs khanna on the other line.

Kavin hit his head on the pile of files in his desk hearing this, as dushyant was quick to understand what had happened, he was quick to come up with an excuse,

'arre mom meeting mein hai kavin, call you back.' he said as he hung up.

'please don't tell me mom ko pata chal gaya hai purvi pregnant hai!' remarked dushyant

kavin looked up to him helplessly, the guy has had too much for one day, as dushyant just sighed in distress.

'ho gaya siyappa!' he remarked, knowing very well what was about to happen.