𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆- 𝑾𝒂𝒓 𝑶𝒇 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆

𝟒𝟐. 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑

Author’s POV

After returning from the event, the house settled into its own rhythm. Mrityunjay buried himself in updates from his team, Randhir had already dozed off on the couch, while Disha and Vidya were lost in their own worlds—one on a video call with her little boy, the other with her sister.

Later, as Mrityunjay headed toward the room in search of a pendrive, his steps halted. From the half-open door, voices drifted out.

“Did you tell him?” Akshita’s firm question.

A heavy pause followed before Vidya’s voice cracked through it.
“No… I didn’t.”

“The longer you wait, the worse it will be,” Akshita urged.

There was a shuffle, and then Vidya, clearly desperate to change the subject, asked softly,
“Where’s Anirudh?”

“He had left for abroad to visit some relatives,” Akshita replied, her tone flat.

Mrityunjay stood frozen by the door, the pendrive forgotten. His jaw tightened, heart thudding with a mix of dread and fury. He wanted to burst in, demand answers, force the truth out of her lips—but something stopped him.

Clenching his fists, he slowly backed away, his mind already a storm. What truth is she hiding from me?

The silence of the corridor felt heavier than the voices he’d just heard.
.
.
.
At 3 a.m., after finally shutting down his laptop, Mrityunjay decided to check on Vidya. He pushed the door open quietly, but the sight that met him stopped him cold—Vidya, curled into herself on the bed, face buried in her knees, her body trembling with silent sobs.

His heart clenched. He stepped closer, his voice gentle.
“Vidya…”

She lifted her head for the briefest moment, eyes swollen, then quickly looked away, brushing at her tears as though erasing the evidence.

“What’s wrong? Nightmares again?” he asked softly, crouching beside her.

She hesitated, then gave a small nod.

Without a word, he sat down beside her. His hand reached out, tilting her chin up so he could see her, but she dropped her gaze, refusing the contact.

“Talk to me,” he urged, his tone steady, coaxing. “What did you see?”

The silence stretched, thick and suffocating. Finally, her lips parted, her voice breaking as she confessed—
“I… I saw my mother. She said she hates me….”

He cupped her face, his voice firm yet tender. At that moment he had forgotten everything— his pain, hurt and her words.
“That was just a dream… a mother could never hate her child, no matter what.”

Her eyes brimmed again, her voice cracking.
“But I wasn’t a good child, Mrityunjay… I—I was the reason she slipped into depression. I was the reason she killed herself.”

“No, you weren’t, swan… trust me,” he whispered, his thumbs brushing her tears.

But she suddenly pushed his hands away, trembling.
“You know nothing! Stop thinking I’m some saint when I’m a devil—ruining everyone’s life, including yours.” Her whole body shook with the weight of her words.

He forced calm into his tone.
“Okay… okay, cool. Then tell me—how did you ruin everyone’s life and what happened to aunty?”

Her gaze dropped, her voice hollow as she confessed.
“My father… he was in love with someone else, a worker’s daughter. But my grandmother forced him to marry my mother. He acted nice in the beginning, until I was born. Slowly, he grew cold and distant. My mother worshipped him… and so did I, even after she died, because everyone painted her as the villain....”