Ishqana Dil

Part 7

There was a roaring noise in her ears that blocked everything else out but she realised it was her father. He had come to protect her... but there was no real happiness about it... Dev had filled her with so much fear it was impossible to feel anything else... She saw her father talk to Dev, but she could not hear anything. It was only when Dev stormed out of there that her panic ebbed, but only a little.

"This is no place for you to come to, Sneha," Gajanand Chaubey muttered with annoyance. "And Dev Agnihotri is not the kind of person you should be meeting."

Trembling, she blinked back at him. The last words she had heard from Dev still rang clear in her ears.

"Are you listening to what I am telling you, Sneha?"

She jumped and for a split second, she remembered what it felt like to be Sneha Chaubey, the obedient daughter who had to abide by her father's bidding or face his ire. But she was not Sneha Chaubey anymore, was she? She was Sneha Mathur...

"H-haan... haan, Chaubeyji..."

The disappointment was clear in his eyes but she chose to ignore it. Like he had chosen to ignore her pleas and pain for all these years.

"Is that how you are going to address me now?" he whispered.

Sneha closed her eyes for a moment. Her head was clearer now although there was still a buzzing. "How else should I address you? You have made it clear that I am no daughter of yours, Chaubeyji. Thank you for helping me but I assure you, I am capable of taking care of myself." She turned her back on him to leave, remembering how he had turned his back on her twenty five years ago, how he had closed the door of his house on her face, how he had completely disregarded her cries and apologies. It was probably giving him the same pain now, but she felt as if she was finally freeing herself from something that had been too heavy, something that had burdened her for years.

"Sneha..."

She paused and waited almost automatically, turning back to him when he did not continue. "Why do you care? Why now?" she found herself asking. He looked away. She realised it was not simply fatherly love that had made him protect her. It went deeper than that. This was about something her loved more than her, more than anything else. His respect, his status. And she also realised who had made him so worried about that. "Dev... What did he say to you? He threatened you, didn't he? Is that why you came? Because he threatened you? Because you are scared for you image, yourizzat?"

Gajanand started to say something but she knew him. It was the face he had on when he was about to lie to you and make you think he really cared. He didn't. At least not about you... She raised her hand to stop him.

"Please, don't bother explaining yourself, Chaubeyji. I know that what people think of you is your prime concern. But maybe I should remind you that there is no relationship whatsoever between us anymore so anything said about my family cannot affect your reputation."

The tears in his eyes killed her but they did not weaken her. She knew that she had taken the right decision, for her as well as for her daughters. She and Rishi had raised them with ideals they had received from their parents but still in a vastly different environment. She knew that her father liked to dictate the behaviour of everybody he could and she also knew that this vice of his would crush her daughters. She did not want them to have the life she had... Praying to Mahadev for forgiveness, Sneha Mathur turned away from her father and dragged herself back home.

***

"Mom? Where were you? We were so worried for you. You didn't even take your phone and... you look really unwell, Mom. What happened?" Rachita fussed over her mother as she caught her hand and led her inside the house. Amaya, Jazz, Rudra and his mother joined them promptly and began their own interrogation but Sneha was in no mood for it.