Nurture And Love (BOOK #3) ✔

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Ishaan was extremely affected by his father's betrayal. Replacing Rehaan's letter by a fake note written under his name, Bhairav had broken Ishaan's faith in him. He sat there on the bench in their garden, slamming his palm against his forehead while Aarohi stood next to him, gaping at his behavior.

"We need to look for the twins as soon as possible, Ishu."

"Didn't you hear what bauji's keeper said?" Ishaan was almost cold and pale. "Rehaan was abducted near the entrance of our house and he doesn't know where he was taken later."

"I'm afraid it'll be too late if we don't act on it now."

While they were busy discussing, Rabha took notice of the gravity of the situation from a distance and held her breath in grimace. With small footsteps, she approached them and stood firmly. "Chote sahib, I want to tell you something." Mustering every courage, she continued, "Madam Prachi has been so good to me and the rest of us. If I keep my mouth sealed today, it will be an injustice to her generosity."

"Do you have any idea where Prachi is, provided that she went to meet her brother?" Ishaan asked her. "You were the only one besides grandma and me in the house, who was close to her."

"She was also close to someone else in the same house, sahib." Rabha's voice sounded low. "She used to often visit her grandfather Virendra Bundela in the outhouse, who has been locked up since time immemorial. I was the only one who knew it and had helped her secretly."

"It is a very rare occurrence that I stayed home for so many days; otherwise I have spent most of my student life in the hostel and the academy later." Ishaan regretted soulfully. "What else has gone wrong behind my back in the house?"

"Everything has been wrong in your house, Ishu!" Aarohi was losing her patience. "You took no notice of the jammers since you were here, you paid no heed to the dark activities taking place under your nose in the house, and now you complain that you were away from the real world."

"I was away from the real world; yes, I was. . ." Ishaan confessed, breathing heavily. "My mother passed away when I was only an infant. My grandmother was entrusted the task of looking after me but when she was also bedridden, I was sent to the hostel for so many years. I moved out of the hostel life and my father presented me with the Scouts academy- the place which was named after my deceased mother. I was rendered so emotional and speechless that I thought bauji must have reformed himself after having spent so many years behind the bars. I accepted it with whole of my heart and went on to fulfill my mother's dream. My father paid no attention in bringing me home or sharing his business secrets with me."

"Ishu!" Aarohi felt unhappy upon seeing tears in his eyes. "I am so sorry that you had to go through all of these."

"I was a fool to think that I should set up my personal business, separate from the family's aristocratic tradition." He narrated to her. "This was the reason why I never interfered with whatever my father used to do with his business. I also refused to borrow any money from him. I really don't know what to say after all these."

Feeling moved by Ishaan's helpless situation, Aarohi laid her palm on his shoulder. "Let's put everything in place now. This is the only thing we can do in order to lessen the pains that our respective families have put the Bundelas through."

"It is the only reason why I never objected to the jammers in the house. I knew bauji was in the habit of observing every happening in the house through his pinhole cameras, which I always considered to be his business tactics since I was a child," He said again. "I was trying to protect Prachi's identity from getting revealed to my father since I was equally aware of his discontentment against the Bundelas, though I remained unknown to the severity of the hatred. He might also have tried tapping Prachi's phone so the jammers were better active, I had thought."