Passion & Dilemma

22. Sarthak's Magic

Sarthak's POV

My spine stiffened with equal amounts of delight and annoyance when I heard the door bell ring. It indicated the Mathurs were here for the dinner. It was only around six in the evening, which meant we have a lot of time to talk.

A househelp guided them inside the house. It was their first time coming here. My family stood up to greet them. I fisted my hands, seeing a small smile on Jayesh Mathur's face as he was greeting my parents.

"What an ugly smile." Bhabhi hissed to herself, standing beside me. "Such a douchebag."

"Right." I said, immediately masking my irked expression with a polite smile when they turned to me.

My mother narrowed her eyes at me and pointed them at Prerna's parents. I understood her indication and walked to them.

"Namaste, uncle. Namaste, aunty." I touched their feet, unwantedly.

My civility was only because of my family. Otherwise, I would never lower my head in front of Jayesh Mathur.

Divya Mathur, Prerna's mother, was a culprit too in my eyes. If Jayesh did wrong by abusing Prerna, she did wrong by not standing against him. I had a sympathy for her as she was also a victim of abuse.

But she was wrong for staying with Jayesh when she could easily leave him years ago, taking Prerna along. She stayed because of her blind devotion towards Jayesh, and Prerna stayed because of her.

She cared more about the man who did wrong to her but not about her daughter who wanted to help her. Only if Divya was sensible and courageous enough, she could've saved herself and Prerna.

"Please, have a seat."

Everyone sat down in the living room. Ladies sat on one side and men on the opposite side. Jayesh's eyes met mine and he passed me a slippery smile. I hated it. I saw a corrupted glint in his eyes.

While Divya Mathur looked at me with a relieved expression. She seemed content with what was happening.

"Divya ji, how is Prerna doing?" Maa asked, knowing Prerna was accompanied by her mother since last night.

"Her health is better but she has been acting a little, uh, moody since this morning. She hates hospitals so..." Prerna's mother shrugged and earned light chuckles from the listeners.

I couldn't help but smile at the thought of Prerna acting all stubborn and throwing tantrums. She must be alone in the hospital right now. I wonder what is she doing?

"What did the doctor say about when Prerna will be discharged?"

"She is under a twenty-four hour observation. Which means she will be discharged in, uh," she checked her watch, "two and a half hours."

"That's good."

An awkward silence fell in the room before Dadi cleared her throat to gain everyone's attention.

"Jayesh ji, Divya ji, there's no point in beating around the bush. We all know the purpose of today's gathering."

Jayesh, as usual, decided to be silent, though he could not hide his evilness despite that smile.

My soon to be mother-in-law spoke. "Yes, Dadi ji, absolutely. Naina had informed us. To be honest, I still can't believe it."

"Neither can we." My entire family answered in chorus, as a soft laighter filled the room before Jayesh finally broke his vow of silence.

"Things had been very hard, for our family, for a while now." He spoke with a upset tone. I resisted the urger to scoff. "Divya and I, were very worried about Prerna. The way people were dragging our daughter's name through the mud, she was under a lot of stress."