A Part, Yet Apart

Chapter 122- Changing Dynamics

Nandini's POV:

Her words hit like a physical blow. After everything, after the fake pregnancy, the confession, the engagement ceremony with the family bangles, the moment where Manik promised to choose me! she's still rejecting me. Still refusing to give me what I've been desperately fighting for. Something hardens in me then. Something cold and clear and absolutely certain. She is asking to make her own sons and daughter to confess her with a caveat, that I shouldn't tell them she already knew. Is it a test again! She stepped closer to me, her eyes burning with something I can't quite name. Revenge? Justice? Control? "Make them tell the truth, Nandini," she said. "Make them own what they did. And then maybe I'll consider giving you the acceptance you're so desperately seeking". I want to tell her that this is impossible. That I can't orchestrate a mass confession. That asking Manik to admit to manipulating his mother, asking Tara to confess her mother-in-law, asking everyone to expose themselves to her judgment, it's asking me to betray the people I love.

But I also know that she has just given me a glimpse into her real condition for acceptance: she doesn't want me to prove my worth. She wants to see everyone else brought low. She wants the satisfaction of knowing that the people who conspired against her are forced to admit it. She wants control over the narrative, over the confession, over every moment of their guilt and shame. And she's betting that I won't be able to do it. She's betting that I'll fail, and when I do, she'll have the perfect justification for never accepting me: "I gave you a chance, and you couldn't even accomplish that simple task". "If I can't make them confess?" I asked, testing the waters. "Then you get nothing from me," she said coldly. "And if you can't make them confess?" it was strange to ask her that. "Would you leave Manik?" she asked the unthinkable and unimaginable. "Never" I almost said instantly. Giving it a second thought is like betraying my own self. "Leaving Manik is not even an option" I said firmly. "And if I can make them confess, you'll accept me wholeheartedly, publicly, unequivocally, with no reservations" I said.

"You'll stop the fake heart attacks?" I asked, unable to resist the jab. Her expression hardened. "That wasn't" she trailed off. "I know about the supplements," I interrupted. "I know you've been faking. And I haven't told anyone. So at least we both understand that we're playing a game here". Suddenly we realized we're equals now. "I'm asking you to make them tell the truth Nandini. If their love for you is real, they will have to confess. I'd make sure that they will never confess. They are all lying and you're here like a great woman confessing about my children" she said. She's right, and I hate that she's right. She's also clever enough to frame this as a test not just for me, but for them. If they truly love me, they'll understand why I asked them to confess. If they truly support my marriage to Manik, they'll see the bigger picture. But if they don't...

As I leave her room, carrying a condition that's impossible to achieve without destroying everything I've built, I realized something crucial: she didn't ask me to make them confess because she needs the truth. She asked me to do it because she wants to see if I'll betray the people I love for her acceptance. She's testing whether I'll sacrifice family for belonging. And I've just agreed to the test. I don't know then, not yet the full extent of what this will cost me. I don't know that orchestrating this confession will require lies, manipulation, and carefully orchestrated emotional breakdowns. I don't know that by the time I'm done, everyone will feel betrayed. I don't know that Manik will look at me differently when he realizes what I've done. But I signed up for the impossible anyway. 

"What have you been thinking Nandini?" Manik's question brought me back to reality. "What?" I didn't knew what he was talking about. "Why would you tell mom about the saree?" he asked, his voice held concern but not for me, for his mother. "This is mine Manik, and I wouldn't let go off anything which is mine" I said confidently and before he could ask one more question, "I took that Mysore silk saree from Isha too" I clarified. "Baat saree ki nahi hai Nandini" he made me sit and he sat along with me. "Exactly, I'm trying to convey the same, but" Manik interrupted me. "Nandini, you aren't understanding, ok leave it. Did you think how mom will feel?" wahi same question baar baar puch raha hai Manik. I know he is mad at me right now. "Manik, now that we're engaged, can we go and tell maa that I'm not pregnant?" I was skeptical about his reply but damn Aryaman ki purani aadat, humesha galat time pe pahunch jaata hai humare beech.