Dreamy Red

Episode 32 - Falsely Accused

She was right. I was jumping to conclusions. I had to be mature. I had called Chachu home so that I can talk it out and forget whatsoever happened years ago. But when I saw Viku, my mind changed and all those feelings which I wanted to suppress took over me and escalated my anger. However, somewhere deep in my heart, I had a feeling that whatsoever happened years ago did not happen and that child was not Viku's. "I'll talk to her. Ask her to come to my room", I said to maa. She smiled and left the room.

A few minutes later, I could hear feeble footsteps outside my room. Vichu had come upstairs, but maybe she was hesitant to enter my room. She knocked on the door gently. "Come in, Vichu", I told. She opened the door and looked at me with the same resentment in her eyes as it was on the day when I saw her at Nishanthi Villa. I regretted keeping her away from me. She was all that I had after mom's demise. I felt silly for having abandoned her for the pathetic love that I had. "Didi", she interrupted my thoughts with a low yet bold voice. I was not ready to talk to her, I was scared. I couldn't even face her. I kept my head down. I had anger as well as pity towards her. But then I realised that she was after all living a happy life with my love without my interference or knowledge. So why should I feel pity? I lifted my head up and glared at her.

"I don't know why you don't want to talk to me. I don't know what's wrong. When things went bad with me, instead of being there for me, you ran away. You abandoned me. I should be angry with you. But you are. This is all so unacceptable", she said quickly and harshly in a sad tone. I felt deeply ashamed hearing her words. "I'm sorry", was all I could manage.

She scowled keeping a sad face. "I wanted to show you my son, Vivan. But you didn't even look at him. Jiju was holding him so that you...", I stopped her midway and asked, "Jiju? Who Jiju?!" "Jiju, of course", she replied. Jiju in Hindi meant sister's husband. Vichu used to call Viku that. "Is he not your husband?", I asked blandly. "What?!", she screamed. "Are you crazy? How can you even think of something like that?!", she shouted at me.

"Shhh", I shushed her because she was loud and someone from downstairs would come up hearing her shout. I felt terribly miserable. What I did was a horrible mistake, a very horrible misunderstanding. "You thought he was the father of my child?! Oh my god, that was why you acted so strangely!", she didn't lower her voice, she kept on shouting at me. "Oh my god, that was why you abandoned me! Oh my god, so pathetic!!!" She was walking back and forth in the room feeling uneasy. "If you had your doubts, you should have asked!", she shouted at my face. It was disgraceful but I had to take it because I was at fault. I had punished her for a crime that she never committed.

"Things would have been much better if you had spoken!!", she shouted once again. Then she spoke angrily but with a lower volume, "You know what, I'm not a tad bit guilty that I couldn't invite you to my marriage. It was a quick marriage as I was pregnant. Actually, you never even cared whether I was married or not, whether I'm happy or not!" Tears rolled down my eyes. My heart was beating faster. I was nervous like a small child sitting in an exam hall with no time left to finish up the answers.

"Chachu tried calling you several times, but you never answered!", she kept on scolding me. "My husband couldn't come with us to Jaipur because he was stuck with his work! Is that what made you think Jiju was my husband?! Wah!! And FYI, his name is Vidhur Madhav, a renowned journalist at Times of India in Chennai!" She took a deep breath and spoke again but with lesser intensity than before, "FYI, the man who spoilt my life and gave me Vivan is none other than the man whom you captured recently and sent to jail!!! You should have done that years ago, but pathetically you are doing it just now for some other crime!" I was shocked on hearing that. "Chaitanya?", I asked reluctantly. She made a disgusted expression on hearing that name but at the same time, I saw a fear within her. Poor Vichu, she had faced so much at such a small age.

She scowled. I pulled her towards me and hugged her tight. She tried to break the hug. She said, "Leave me. Why are you hugging me now?! Where were you when I needed you?!" She cried loudly. I wasn't able to bear that. I did not let go of her. I grabbed her even more tightly. My tears were falling on her shoulders. I kept my hands on her head and caressed her hair. I couldn't speak a word. I was having a nervous breakdown. I was unable to catch my breath. And the next moment, everything blacked out.

*****

I woke up in a hospital room. The digital clock in the room showed 12 PM. No one was around me. I was under drips. The nurse in white uniform entered the room. She saw me, smiled and asked, "How are you feeling?" "Okay", I replied. "Is anyone from my family here?", I asked her gently. "Of course they are. I'll call them right away", she said and walked out of the room. A few seconds later, the door opened and I saw Viku entering. Behind him were Vichu, Vivan holding his mamma's hands, maa and dad. They all looked at me happily except for Viku. He looked at me in disdain. Even though I knew he had no connection with Vichu, his actions made me wonder what was wrong.

Just then my phone rang. It was with Maa. She handed it to me, placed her hands on my head and said, "Take rest". Then she left the room pulling dad outside. She was a gentle lady. Vichu smiled and followed behind them along with Vivan. That made me feel that everything was sorted between the two of us. Thereon, I decided to take care of her and Vivan as I would have if it was not for my misunderstanding.

It was just me and Viku in the room. The phone kept on ringing. "Come on, pick the damn call!", Viku shouted angrily at me but didn't leave the room. It was so different to listen to him speak in that kind of tone. I didn't react to him and attended the call. It was Ravi.

"Hello, Ravi. Tell me", I spoke calmly. "Bibbi, I'm very sorry to say this, but we found Armaan", he said in a distressed voice. "Good. How is he?", I asked with concern. "Dead", Ravi replied in a bland tone. "What?", I asked in shock. My blood pressure was rising. I couldn't bear to hear that. "I'll call you back in a while, Ok? Guard the area well", I told him. He said, "ok" and cut the call.

"What happened?", Viku asked me with concern. It was as though he had forgotten that he was angry with me. "What is in it for you?", I retorted. I was not at all happy to be with him though I should have been. "Oh. Are you getting mad? Are you gonna throw me out too???", he asked sarcastically. "What happened to you? You are not my Viku!", I said with tears rolling down my eyes. "Stop the drama, Bibbi. You know what happened!", he muttered. "I don't know, seriously, that's why I'm asking you", I stressed. "Well, you should hear people out before throwing them away", he commented.

"What do you mean by that? Throwing away, who?", I asked as I was confused. "Of course, you act like you know nothing! I'm actually here talking to you only because I want to know why you did something like that? I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive you!!", he said harshly. "That's why I am asking you, what did I do wrong?" I asked again calmly. "Oh my god. You bloody actor! Don't you not know what you did! You no humanitarian", he yelled at me. I started crying. I felt terribly sad hearing him storm at me. "Stop the drama, Bibbi!", he said sternly again.

I took a deep breath. "If you can't let me know what's wrong, how would I know?!", I questioned with tears rolling down my cheeks and onto my clothes. "Yes, the same thing would apply to you as well. All these years did it not occur to you to check with poor Vichu??" Oh, so it was all for what I did with her. Actually, I deserved to be treated like that after what I did to her. I was a terrible person. As he correctly described, no humanitarian! "You abandoned your sister when she needed you most. I loved you, Bibbi! I love you still. But hearing that you did something so horrible, I couldn't tolerate it. It hurts me to know that my love is not who I thought that she is!", he poured his heart out. And I could see my Viku coming back to me. He had been acting all along to teach me a lesson.

"I'm sorry!", I said grieving. I had nothing more to say! "Sorry??? Will that bring back those days she suffered??", he asked me. I put my head down. "I thought you were dead", I said changing the topic. "Dead? Yeah, I should have been! At least I would have had some peace thinking that my love was a good soul!"