Nandini

"Are you ready?" Vikrant asks me, and I nod at him.

"It's time, Vikrant. I need to do this. For myself. But more for Aastha," I tell him, taking a deep breath when he rings the doorbell.

I wait with bated breath until my father opens the door.

When he sees Vikrant, confusion mars his face, but when his gaze falls on me, his face contorts to have an expression of hatred on it.

It pinches my heart to see such hate for me on my father's face, but I shake myself out of it, remembering why I'm here.

"What are you doing here?" He asks, his voice making me realize I'm not welcome in his house.

Heck, the way he is looking at me, I feel like I'm not welcome to even be in his vicinity, let alone inside his home.

"Let's go inside and talk, Mr. Iyer," Vikrant says to my father, his voice tight with anger.

"I won't allow her in my house," Papa says. The look of pure contempt he gives me while saying it makes me feel as if he has slapped me.

"Why do you hate me so? Why?" I ask before I can stop myself.

"The nerve you have to ask that question. You took away my only child from me, and yet you wonder why I hate you?" He shakes his head at me. "Are you really that dumb not to know why I have absolutely nothing but hatred for you in my heart?"

"Are you sure you want to do this outside your house, Mr. Iyer?" Vikrant interrupts us. "Nandini and I have no problem talking here because we are not wrong. But I'm sure your neighbors will have a very low opinion of you once they find out about the disgusting thing you have done and why we are here."

"What do you mean—"

Before Papa can complete the sentence, Maa interrupts him.

Coming to stand beside Papa, she glares at me.

"Let them come inside, Subhash."

Saying that, she turns and walks inside without saying anything to Vikrant or me.

"Why did you give my address to Rishabh?" I ask as soon as I enter the house, with Vikrant closing the door behind us.

Maa sits on the couch in the living room, loudly sighing as she disinterestedly flips the pages of the magazine she took from the table in front of her.

The way she sits without even glancing at me makes me wonder if she even heard my question.

Papa also sits beside her on the couch, not so much as even glancing toward me, let alone answer my question.

I signal Vikrant to stop when I see him stride to the couch.

I know he is also angry with my parents, and understandably so. Even I feel that I will explode with rage any second, not only because of their action but also because of how they are reacting right now.

After knowing that they were the ones who not only gave Rishabh my address but also told him to hurt me, I felt betrayed and angry.

But seeing them like this currently, without even a trace of regret or remorse whatsoever for their actions, has me positively seething.

So, without wasting one more second, I walk to where they are seated and yank the magazine off my mother's hands, throwing it on the other side of the room.

"What kind of behavior is this?" Maa fumes.

Both of them glare at me, standing up from the couch, finally giving me their attention.

"When I first found out about you giving Rishabh my whereabouts and also telling him to hurt me, I felt so angry that I decided there and then that if I were able to get out of his trap and meet you two, I would shout at you, even shake and berate you for doing that to me, your own blood, your own daughter."

When I see Papa about to argue, I raise my hand to stop him.

"I know what you are going to say. That you two don't consider me your daughter, right?"

"That's right," Maa says, her voice booming in the living room. "Why the hell should we consider you anything, anyway? You are the reason why my son isn't with me right now. Giving birth to you was the biggest mistake of my life."

I stagger back when I hear her hate-filled words. I had expected them to spew these stinging words at me. But I had not expected those words to still have such potent power to hurt me. I didn't think they could still evoke such waves of sharp pain to wash through me.

Vikrant immediately walks to me and holds me, and I lean to him for a few seconds, taking deep breaths and waiting for the sting to lessen.

"After you killed our son, we could have thrown you out of the house and left you on the streets to beg. But we didn't." It was my father who spoke. "We never abandoned you. Even though we never wanted you in our life, we put a roof over your head, even provided you with education, and fulfilled all your basic needs. But being an ungrateful brat, you took away our only happiness, our only son, from us. Even after that, instead of throwing you out, we did a favor to you by getting you married off to a rich guy on whom you are currently leaning.

"You want to know why we gave Rishabh your address and told him to hurt you?" Papa walks closer to me, and although Vikrant starts stepping forward to protect me, I lightly push him to the side, wanting to see what my father will do.

Vikrant steps to my side, with his hand still protectively wrapped over my shoulder, as Papa approaches me with nothing but disdain for me on his face.

"We did so because we wanted you to suffer. We wanted you to live your remaining life in pain and humiliation until Rishabh finally killed you.

"Whenever we thought of our son, we also thought of his murderer. We thought about how his life was cut short so brutally while the sole person who led him to his death was living happily in a lavish mansion with her husband and enjoying her life.

"You snatched our son's life from him, Nandini. That's why we wanted to snatch all the joys from your life. We wanted to snatch your smile, happiness, and will to live."

After he finishes speaking, there is an utter silence in the room.

I could feel Vikrant's fingers curling over my shoulder, and the way he gave me a squeeze, I knew he was silently coaxing me to be strong.

As I look at my mother, I see the same sentiment for me on her face that my father has.

Wiping my tears, I let out a wry smile.

"I had somewhere read that every child deserves a parent, but not every parent deserves a child," I begin speaking, my voice hoarse, lips trembling, body shaking.

"I could not understand it then. I agreed that every child deserves parents, but I also felt every parent deserves a child. After all, they are the ones who made the child and brought them to the world. At that time, I thought every parent also deserved to get the love of the child whom they nurtured and raised.

"But now I know how correct that statement was and how wrong my thinking was. Because in front of me are the two people who don't deserve any child.

"And what did you say?" I ask, looking at my father. "That you never abandoned me? That even though you didn't want me, you put a roof over my head and fulfilled all my basic needs?"

I shake my head, furiously wiping the tears that again pour out of my eyes as I remember all the years I lived under the roof that my so-called parents put over my head.

"It would have been better if you had abandoned me. You could have given me up for adoption or could have left me at the orphanage. At least then, I would have consoled myself, thinking that my parents must have had some problems due to which they had to give me up. That way, I would have never found out how disgusting my parents actually were.

"Even though you fulfilled my basic needs by providing me food, clothes, education, and shelter, you didn't give me the one thing every child craves."

When I see both of them frown, I understand they never even considered me needing that one thing. That's why they look so clueless right now.

"Love," I answer their unasked question. "You never gave the love I craved. You never made me feel loved or wanted. Not once did you affectionately look at me or stroke my head. Not once did you tuck me in my bed. Not once did you tell me stories and stayed by my side while I slept.

"Vivek used to tell me the stories you told him at night, and I would think then, why could you not spare a few minutes to do the same for me? I used to see you two shower him with hugs and kisses, and I would wonder why you could not love me that way.

"I first used to think it was somehow my fault. That I must have done something so horrible, which made my parents hate me. Otherwise, why would they love my brother but never even look at me properly?

"But when I eavesdropped on the conversation Maa had with her friend that one day, I understood my being a girl was why you two never loved me.

"After finding that out, I was angry at myself for being a girl. I wondered why I could not have been a boy instead. Then, my parents would have loved me. They would have also cherished me like they cherished my brother.

"I kept thinking like that for a long time before I finally understood it was not my fault. As I got older, I realized that any child who comes into this world—a boy or a girl—is special. Once they bring a child into the world, it's every parent's responsibility to equally love and nurture the blessing they are given.

"With that realization, I started to think of a way to make you two see it. I did everything I could to make you want to be proud of me. To make you love me and want me. But no matter what I did, it was never enough.

"It took time, but I finally understood it will never be enough. That I will never be enough to you two. And I also understood it was not my fault. It was the fault of your regressive thought.

"Even with that realization, I never stopped expecting to be loved by you. I never stopped pining for the day when my parents would finally realize their mistake and embrace me with open arms. That's what hurt me the most—my expectations from you.

"But from this moment on, there will be no such hurt. Because, starting now, I disown you two. You are no longer my parents, and I have no expectations from you."

Mr. Subhash Iyer shakes his head, folding his arms over his chest as he looks at me. "You think we care about you having or not having any expectation from us?"

Mrs. Vibha Iyer also nods at what her husband said, scoffing as she looks at me. "You are here to spew all that nonsense to make us feel guilty? Or did you expect us to suddenly realize how wrong we were our entire lives and embrace the daughter we neglected all these years? All you will ever get from us is hate, Nandini. Because you are the one who killed our so—"

"Stop it already. Stop blaming me for Vivek's death," I say, my loud voice interrupting her.

"You want to put the blame on me only because you can't face the reality. And the reality is that although Rishabh was the one who actually murdered Vivek, you two are also partly responsible for his death," I tell them.

"You like to play the blame game, right? Let me also take part in it then," I continue, noticing them stiffen, finally showing some emotion. "I had told you Rishabh's truth way back before I said anything to Vivek, Mrs. Iyer. I told you what Rishabh was doing to me. But you shrugged it off, not even caring to listen to me further. You even accused me of doing drama to get your and your husband's attention.

"If you two had taken me seriously at that time and taken me to the police to file the complaint, I would not have had to tell Vivek anything. Rishabh would have been behind bars or at least would have been under investigation.

"If that had happened, Vivek would not have stormed off the house that night to get Rishabh punished, and Rishabh would not have killed my brother.

"So, there you go, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer. You tell me I'm the reason why Vivek is dead. But the truth is that it's because of you two that he isn't with us right now. You killed your son, not me.

"And as I said earlier. Not every parent deserves a child. That's why Vivek isn't with you anymore, and I have also disowned you. You are childless from this moment on, as you two deserve to be."

Looking at their stunned faces with tears pouring out of their eyes, I wonder if I went a bit far. If I was too harsh.

But then I remember what they did and what they said to Rishabh.

With that, every bit of doubt vanishes from my mind.

They deserve this.

"You know. Not only do you not deserve to be parents, but you two don't even deserve to be called humans because you don't have even an ounce of humanity in you," I continue. "Agreed that you never wanted me and never loved me. But at least you could have considered me as a human.

"I know you two must have felt scared when Rishabh came here, demanding to see me. I understand being in the presence of someone as dangerous as him would have made you fear for your life.

"But when he left, you could have at least warned me. Even one anonymous text or call would have sufficed. Just one warning, and I could have been prepared for it. Rishabh could have gotten caught, and Aastha could have....," I trail off, my voice getting choked as I remember Aastha. The way Rishabh had behaved with her. The way he had beaten her.

"Anyway, I know my words won't penetrate into your thick heads, and I don't want to waste my time and energy on you two anymore. I came here today to ask you why you betrayed me, but now that I have disowned you, nothing you say or do will matter to me anymore.

"The only thing I want from you now is the information about all the properties that Rishabh and his parents own. His parents were your friends, so you must know something that can lead us to his hideout.

"Oh, and before you start saying that you won't help me because you hate me, let me tell you we have a video recording of Rishabh admitting to you two helping him by giving him my address.

"The police have told me that if I press charges, there is a possibility of you two going to prison. So, if you don't want me to send you to jail, you'll have to help me find that man."

I peer at them, hoping they take my bait.

Since they didn't do anything else than give my address to Rishabh, even if I press charges, and even if they get arrested, their lawyer might be able to get them bail because it would be challenging to build a strong case against them.

If they had been privy to Rishabh's crime and had helped him in abducting me, that could have landed them in prison for a long time.

But they don't need to know that.

When I gaze at Vikrant, he blinks reassuringly as if silently telling me we will get the information we need.

Nodding at him, I turn back to Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, frowning when I see them looking at me with something akin to...

Wait. Is that remorse?

I shake my head, dismissing the thought.

Of course not. They aren't capable of such emotion—that too toward me.

"Tell me, then. What's your decision?" I ask them.

I notice Mrs. Iyer stepping closer to me, and I frown when she suddenly raises her hand as if to keep it over my head.

Recoiling from the touch, I immediately step back.

Her hand also froze midway, and a shocked expression marred her face as if she was surprised by what she was about to do.

Hurriedly putting her hand down, she also steps away from me toward her husband and gives him a slight nod.

Mr. Iyer sighs and nods back at her.

"Ok. We will help you," he says, looking at me, and I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding.