Madness and Magic...❤️

41

The photographs trembled on her shaking hands...three small, cruel windows into a truth she had never imagined.

Three pictures.

Three punches to her gut.

And the main character of the pictures was her father.

In one picture her father’s head rested on a woman's shoulder while his eyes closed.

The second was a hug that lasted long enough to be captured.

And the third was a bit more inappropriate, enough to send bile crawling up her throat. Her father was sleeping near a woman.

And the most dreadful part was the identity of the women.The woman in these pictures was the one she had silently trusted all these years. The one who was always kind but never overbearing, who never tried to replace her mother maybe because she didn’t have to because she had already taken her place.
The woman in those pictures was Reema.

She dropped them.They got scattered on the floor "No... no..?this....this isn’t.... true..."she whispered, shaking her head as if denial could erase the betrayal.

She had always thought that her father’s marriage to Reema was something that happened after grief had passed over her dad but this was pure betrayal. Not just to her mother but to her too.

"But now… who is the liar? Who is the cheater?Rajiv... Mrs Saini... Dad... Mom...?"She sat frozen on the floor, the room felt Airless. Everything inside her was tearing apart.She had come here thinking about her mother’s death was layered in unanswered questions about her relationship with Rajiv… and now sitting here with a shadow cast on her father and Reema.

She had always felt that Reema never got enough love or respect from her dad but now she felt that she was the possible reason for her mother's misery.

She had always quietly rooted for as she had this belief that Reema was a silent sufferer in her father's story  but now it seems like she might have been the one holding the dagger all along!

Reema, who never demanded to be called "mom" Reema, who cared for her and never crossed boundaries.Is the woman her father had cheated her mom with.

The very next moment her phone's screen lit up with Sidharth's name.She picked up.

"Baby… where are you?"he asked.

"Hey! Are you back... Coming in five minutes...c block Aayi thi to get a few things"She first tried to calm the storm in her throat and then spoke cheerfully.

"I need to see my baby, come quickly" he said.She hung up.

She tried to breathe properly before she could let go of everything and stood.Her limbs felt weak, She looked around one last time. Her eyes fell on an old sketchbook, she grabbed it, slid the photos inside somewhere in the middle.
She couldn’t throw them away,She couldn’t destroy what might be the only proof of a truth so ugly and devastatingly

"Be normal. Breathe. Don’t let him guess."
She told herself again and again. Because what could she even explain?

She locked the apparentment and started going to D Block but her mind was a mess..." Kitni badi gadhi thi main...I always used to think'Poor Reema. He never loved her like he loved mom.'...bullshit...." she thought bitterly.She had always pitied her, felt that she lived in her mother’s shadows and now suddenly all those gestures at her wedding ,the way Reema handled everything with devotion, the way she ran around and packed her trousseau and every other things she had done looked rehearsed and pretence.It felt like betrayal with a smile stitched on.