RESTART

chapter 21

The next morning dawned quietly, but Jeevika’s mind was still buzzing with the revelations of the previous night. The discovery of Janvi’s birth certificate raised more questions than it answered. Why had Kamini kept such a significant detail hidden? Who was Janvi’s real father? And more importantly, how did all of this connect to Jeevika’s past and her mother's death?

As Jeevika prepared breakfast, her thoughts wandered back to the old nurse's words from the hospital. Kamini’s pregnancy hadn’t been as straightforward as it seemed. There was a darkness in her stepmother’s past that Jeevika was determined to uncover. But for now, she had to stay calm and act like everything was normal.

“Jeevika?” Abhiman’s voice broke her from her thoughts.

“Haan?” she responded, looking up to see him standing by the counter, his brow furrowed in concern.

“Kya hua? Tum theek toh ho na?” he asked, his voice soft as he walked over to her.

Jeevika forced a smile. “Main theek hoon, bas thodi thak gayi hoon,” she said, stirring the pot absentmindedly.

Abhiman wasn’t convinced, and his arms slid around her waist, pulling her close. “Tum aise nahi lag rahi ho. Kya tum mujhe kuch bata nahi rahi?”

She tensed for a moment but quickly shook her head, leaning back into his embrace. "Nahi, aisa kuch nahi hai. Bas kuch dinon se dimaag mein thoda zyada chal raha hai."

He gently kissed the side of her neck, his warmth a comfort against the confusion swirling inside her. “Mujhe kabhi bhi zarurat ho, I’m here, okay?”

She nodded, grateful for his support, but knew she couldn’t share everything. Not yet. "Main tumhe sab kuch bataungi, lekin abhi nahi," she thought to herself, knowing the time wasn’t right.

As they sat for breakfast, Jeevika forced herself to stay present, smiling and engaging with Abhiman and his family. Every now and then, her gaze would drift to Abhiman, who was laughing with his brother Veer. The normalcy of the moment made her heart ache, knowing the storm that was brewing.

After breakfast, Abhiman and Veer left for work, and Jeevika knew this was her moment to continue her search for answers. She quietly headed to the study, where she had hidden her mother's old diary, the one she found in a forgotten box. The pages were delicate, but they held secrets—secrets that could connect everything.

Flipping through the pages, Jeevika’s breath caught as she came across an entry dated just weeks before her mother’s death. Her mother had written about her growing suspicions of Kamini. "Betrayal," her mother had written, though the details were vague. Jeevika’s heart pounded as she scanned the lines, trying to piece together the hidden meaning.

But before she could dive deeper, her phone buzzed. It was Abhiman.

"Kya kar rahi ho, jaan?" his voice came through the phone, full of warmth.

Jeevika quickly closed the diary and smiled into the phone. "Kuch nahi, bas thoda ghar ka kaam kar rahi thi. Tum kaisa ho?"

"Main theek hoon, bas tumhe yaad kar raha tha," he said teasingly, his voice light. "Tumhari tabiyat theek hai na? Kal jo faint hui thi uske baad se thoda pareshaan hoon."

"Main bilkul theek hoon," she assured him. "Tum tension mat lo."

"Chalo, theek hai. Main thodi der mein ghar aata hoon," he said before hanging up.

As Jeevika set the phone down, she took a deep breath. She had to keep going. She needed to know more, but she couldn’t risk Abhiman finding out just yet. He wouldn’t understand why she was digging into the past. “Main akeli hi kar sakti hoon,” she whispered to herself.

For now, Jeevika knew she had to play her cards carefully. She had to act like nothing was wrong, even as the weight of her stepmother’s secrets grew heavier with each passing day.

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