The Aftermath... (Tale of Schemes #4)

Chapter 46

*Kanika Pov*

I held his hand tightly hearing the words and took a deep breath before asking, "Now, you don't feel that much guilty anymore, right?"

I am feeling sad to hear that he even thought of giving up his life when he was just a kid. I can't imagine the things he went through at that time.

Suddenly, I am no longer upset with his Dad as he saved him by adopting him and I was able to meet him. Also, from the conversation Vikranth had with him and his condition, it seems like he has no fault at all.

"Kanika! Every time you or someone else told me that I didn't do anything and I shouldn't feel guilty, I always overlooked it. It's not because I have too much guilt to understand you all. It's just because you all don't know the actual truth. I deserve to feel guilty for my whole life and mainly for one person I couldn't even bring up in a conversation because of my guilt." I turned around in his arms to face him with a confused look.

"What are you saying?" I asked not understanding at all whom is he talking about.

"Do you remember this?" he asked gesturing down and I glanced at the scar on his chest.

"Yeah! You didn't want to talk about it." I replied remembering the incident after taking a few minutes.

"This is the last secret I didn't tell you or anyone I know except my Dad knows about it." He explained.

"What is it?" I asked calmly.

"I had a heart condition when I was a kid and I need an operation. My family couldn't afford the money and so all that happened. When they found out about Shrishti's Mom, they couldn't contain the guilt and took their life and sent me to Dad to pay off." I blinked at him in shock after hearing those words.

"He did all that because of me but everyone hated him. I don't even deserve to call him my Dad anymore. If I was not his kid, then he wouldn't have betrayed GH and none of those things would have happened and they would have still been alive. It was because of me all this happened and that's why I never came out of my guilt. Not just the things that happened to GH family members but even my parent's death is because of me." He said closing his eyes and I moved my hands to brush his tears away ignoring my own tears.

"And... whenever I go to the graveyard, I can't even glance at his place because he is there because of me." He added and pulled him into my arms hugging him tightly.

"It's okay! He loves you and that's why he did it." I whispered hugging him more.

"I wish he didn't love me." He whispered back.

I closed my eyes hearing the pain in his voice and the way he held all these back all these years in his heart.

I can't even say anything right now as I understand why he felt whatever he felt all these years.

I can say he need not feel guilty as he paid everyone back instead of his family all these years but what can I even say right now?

So, I just hugged him knowing well all I could do is to stay with him as he slowly comes out of it someday in the future.

After he drifted off into sleep, I moved away from his hold and freshened up. I took out my phone to see missed calls from Meghana.

I messaged her explaining I will take a leave today and will come to work tomorrow. She replied fine and asked me to call her if I need anything.

I cooked some food for us while making sure to not make much noise. It will be dinner time soon and so I prepared some snacks in case he wishes to wait for dinner.

After that, I sat in the living room and thought about the things I heard today. Those are very complicated and it is better if I don't say anything that I shouldn't.

No one can say that he shouldn't feel what he is feeling at all. Previously, I was definitely forward with saying that he should stop feeling guilty and all but now I definitely can't do that.

I heard a sound and immediately stood up and walked into the room to find him dressing.

"Are you hungry?" I asked leaning on the door.

"Yeah!" He replied smiling and I smiled back.

After he freshened up, we had snacks and then sat in the living room in silence. I glanced at him asking, "What will you do tomorrow?"

"Nothing! I will follow whatever decision is made and will not fight back for it." He replied holding my hand.

"Good! Let them suffer for not choosing you." I said patting his hand and he chuckled shaking his head.

****

As I kept on staring at the entrance, even Meghana let me alone but warned me to finish my work today before leaving.

"I am sorry about this. I know this is our crucial time but I really can't concentrate today." I apologized but she waved me off.

"I understand and I hope today will be the last like this. After we get this deal then I will personally give you free time." I nodded smiling and as she walked back into her cabin, I continued to stare at the entrance.

After a few minutes, I finally heard a sound and frowned when I saw Uday walking inside with a dejected look.

As he got shares recently, he can also participate in the meeting today but he was asked to stay outside as it will bring another chaos inside the room.

Already, they chose Shrishti and Prathap to replace Vikranth and if Uday is there, even he will be joined in the list and it will go to another tangent right now.

So, he stayed back but could get the news directly to his phone of the result. He couldn't bear that I kept on staring at him and making him anxious, and so he stayed outside the building and said he would come inside to tell me the news.

Right now he has this dejected look and it made me think what if they really let go of Vikranth.

Well, it will be bad for them only. I took a deep breath and thought of what to say to Vikranth and ignored Uday who sat beside me.

"Why did I not have a chance to save Vikranth?" He mumbled with a tired tone.

"It's okay! If you were helpful to change the situation, then they would have called you to cast your vote too." I consoled him while opening the call log.

"He got saved and I didn't have any part in it." My finger paused near the calling button and I turned to glance at him.

"What?" I asked and he sighed turning to glance back.

"It seems Uncle just stated to them that Vikranth is his son legally and this cannot be a reason to remove him. Also, he counted the people supporting Vikranth and so the whole procedure was not even started." He explained and I leaned back in relief.

"You just... you just made me think of so many things. Didn't you know I was waiting here for the news? Why did you entered with that face?" I shouted at him and glared at him before walking into the cabin.

"What did I do?" He asked and I just ignored him while I heard Meghana's laughing from her cabin.

I smiled sitting down in my chair and concentrated on my work. I was already behind the deadline and I don't want to disappoint Meghana by failing it.

However, I couldn't help but continue to smile no matter how much tougher the work was as I was rushing it.

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Another short one... And more revelations... The story is finishing soon as I really have not much to give out anymore... If I missed anything let me know as I will be giving closures from now on...

Also, this weekend there will be no update as I will be traveling back from home to University...

How is the chap?

Comment plz and vote...