Anurakti

45: Truth

"Why did you never tell me? All these years I've been thinking wrong."

Aditya asked his son as they both sat leaning on the wall, side by side.

"You never asked me."
Sahaj spoke quietly and Aditya looked down in guilt. How could he be so stupid.

Looking at how the mood suddenly shifted, Sahaj asked

"What's that book in your hand?"

"Oh this. This is a black book. A photo album. I started this when I was in college. Have a look."

Aditya said, passing it to Sahaj. Sahaj raised his eyebrows

"I haven't opened it for the past 9 years."

"Then why today?"

"I wanted to get back into the past. When everything was good. We were a happy family."
Aditya said, sipping on his beer.

Sahaj snatched it away from him.

"Don't drink Pa."

Aditya laughed, wiping his mouth and opened the black book.

The first photo was Sahaj in his mother's hand with a trophy he won for a swimming competition.

Sahaj's eyes welled up at the sight of his mother smiling widely.
She was so beautiful. She was perfect.

Turning the pages he saw many pictures, some of which he planned to get printed for himself.

"Why is this album backwards?"

He asked as he was continuously getting younger and younger in the successive photos.

Then there was a photo of him mom and dad's wedding. His mom was wearing a red saree and his dad wore a beige sherwani.

But there was some other thing that took him by surprise.

"You married mom after I was born?!"
He shrieked at the sight of his grandmother holding a two year old him in her hands.

"Gosh Pa. These things don't happen in India. Mom must've been so humiliated."
He uttered, thinking about how much she would've had to listen from her relatives because she got pregnant before her marriage.

It must've been so hard.

"But why do I look old here? Why didn't you marry her before I was born?"
He asked, confused and turned the page.

His breath hitched.

It was the same lady. The lady from his dreams. The one who had curly hair and amber eyes and face exactly like that of Samidha.

She was in the hospital bed holding her new born baby. Aditya Kashyap was kissing her forehead.

"W-who i-is she?"
He asked turning towards his father to find him sitting with his head hung low on the ground.

"Pa? Who is she?"
He whispered again and saw a tear fall from his eyes to the ground.
He didn't say anything.

"Who is she?"

He asked and turned the pages to find the rest of the album filled with her photos. There were no photos of his mother.

There were photos of that lady laughing in kitchen, covered in flour, photos of her and his father from functions.

And there was one photo of their wedding. Exactly like the wedding pictures of his mom and dad.

"Who the hell is she Pa?! Why do you have her pictures? WHO IS SHE?!"

He shouted and Aditya looked up at him.

"Geet didn't want to you to know."

"What do you mean Mom didn't want me to know? Who is she?"