The Fierce Flame

48||choices

Author

No one can avoid the fate that awaits them. It will come someday, and what's fascinating is seeing how it arrives-directly, impactful enough to crackle the land you stand upon or indirectly working slower than a rushing poison in your vein. Unhurriedly numbing you, pleasures and painful. Breaking you.

And it arrived. Finally, after thirty-one years, it arrived. Putting an end to the mother's ongoing sorrow, halting her mourning for a child whose death was falsely claimed. Parvati didn't know how to feel anymore. Years ago, she had pleaded with her gods to return what had been taken from her. They answered her prayers, bringing Rishabh back before her after all those years.

She felt numb, unsure how to respond or react. One question echoed loudly: did she deserve this?

Her eyes betrayed the silent tears rolling down her cheeks. With trembling fingers, she traced the rugged features of his handsome face.

"You are really..." Her words caught in a suffocating sob. He had presented her with reports, blood tests, and every piece of evidence proving that he was indeed her son.

Rishabh nodded, observing the silently sobbing mother. His face remained stoic, except for his eyes-rimmed red, not from tears, but from unblinking focus. He tried to summon any natural human emotion, but none surfaced. He had long accepted that his parents were dead to him. He never intended to reveal himself to the Rathores. What was done belonged in the past.

He wouldn't have intervened if not for his hidden motives.

This time, he desires just one thing, believing he has every right to it: Amaya. He can't bear to see her near Reyansh any longer. He fears she might have a change of heart and completely cut him out of her life. That fear consumes him. He knows he has hurt her. He's aware. However, it was too late for him to realize it. As the days turned into years, and he witnessed Amaya's closeness to his worst enemy, he felt consumed by regret. Seeing their intimacy, even a kiss on her neck, right before his eyes while he remained hidden in the shadows, longing to be present on her special day, nearly destroyed him.

The scene unfolding before him ignited a rage so intense that he struggled to restrain himself from emptying his gun into Reyansh's chest. From the corner of his eye, he glanced at the woman he loved, standing beside Reyansh with a pained expression. Her usually cold eyes, often holding a hint of arrogance, now shimmered with a different light.

Despite everything, he still held onto hope. The night before, he had seen a flicker of emotion in her eyes, and he knew there was still a chance. He was well aware that if he didn't seize it, he might as well embrace death.

"Why didn't you come searching for your family?" the mother asked in despair.
Rishabh leaned into the warmth of her touch, suddenly craving to know the feeling of a mother's love. "I couldn't. I was hurt."

"Thirty years?" she sobbed.

"Yes, the pain was too overwhelming to ignore. Even if I tried to let go of the grudges, nothing could erase the scars left on me. I can't simply forget the past," he muttered, fixing his gaze on her.

"We never handed you over to the Malhotras. Those monsters snatched you away from us. We searched for you tirelessly. Your father left no stone unturned in the city. You can't imagine how much we cried and pleaded with the gods for your return," Parvati whimpered, tears streaming down her face, her anguishing scars laid bare for all to see. "I'm sorry. We couldn't protect you..." Her words trailed off. She didn't even know her own child's name.

"Rishabh," he interjected. His heart raced erratically, a painful prickling sensation coursing through his skin. The feel-- it was unexpected. He never imagined he would feel these emotions. She was just his worst enemy's mother. Just a distressed mother who knew nothing about him. The truth alone made him feel trapped beneath the currents of a dark sea, suffocating and unwanted.