The Kashyup Redemption

xxii. Aphrodite

"There's a reason you returned isn't there?" Isha's voice is soft, a whisper in his ears. "Vidushi."

Parth freezes.

"I spoke to her." Isha sighs. "She was shocked to hear your name. Told me it was a wrong number. Told me she didn't know you. Her voice was so terribly shaky"

"What? How did you talk to her? What did she say? What did she tell you?" Parth is terrified, he feels his chest hurt.

"You left your phone in the café. No password. So I went through it. I found her number. And her pictures. She's pretty." Isha smiled "You look good together. Pity, she won't even acknowledge that she knows you."

"She's married." Parth held the kitchen counter for support. "She hates me. She isn't happy but she'll stay unhappy all her life then give me a chance."

"Sahil told me the rest. Don't blame him. I am great at getting information out of people." Isha handed him a glass of water. " You've been living here for a month. You pretend everything is alright. You've fooled Namit perhaps, maybe even Papa. But not Mom. Not me."

"I'm okay Isha. It's just that the work pressure is daunting at times, that's all" Parth has perfected the art of diplomacy. And the art of using euphemisms.

It doesn't save him this time.

"I met her Parth." Isha sighs.

"What? Where? Isha, how do you do these things?" Parth had the urge to give his nosy younger sibling a good shake but he refrained from it.

"Hired a PI. Had her followed for few days. Accidentally bumped into her at a CCD and became friends with her. It took me a week or so, but she confided in me about you. She misses you. Wishes she had never run after money. She hates herself and her life now. I wanted to slap you after I heard her side of the story. She's a sweet girl who plays the same game you play. The I'm so happy with my life game." Isha grinned "You both belong together."

"Isha, what you did is an invasion of privacy. No more shit TV shows for you. I'm telling Badi Ma. You are going to get a lecture." Parth shook his head. "And as for Vidushi, you stay away from her."

"No need for that. Ma knows." Isha grinned. "Ma approves. And Vidushi is my friend, you can't choose who I hang out with."

"What? No way, Ma wouldn't" Parth walked out of the library and into the kitchen, where he knew his Badi Ma would be.

"Ma?" Parth's tone is no-nonsense and urgent.

"So Isha finally told you?" Monica Saxena puts her cup down. "I know you think this is us invading your privacy, but the way you are ignoring self-care affects us too. It's high time you move on from Vidushi."

Everything goes blank.

He has no control over his body, his feelings.

He sees red at the thought of letting her go, the only girl that could accept his flaws without trying to change him.

"Your face tells me everything I need to know. You can't move on. You've already failed so many times haven't you?" Monica sighs "There's only one thing to do. We can fix this. After all, I did promise that I'd help. Anyway, I could. Hook or Crook. Watching all those horrid shows has an advantage after all." Monica's light tone doesn't help.

"You want me to force her to leave her husband and marry me?" Parth is shocked.

And a little hopeful. Just a tiny flicker of hope in his chest that can be blown away in an instant.

"I did not say anything Parth. Don't put your words in my mouth. If this is what you want, I am with you. You clearly love Vidushi and you won't hurt her. Your father will support you if that is what you want. You are the future of the company and he wants you to be as happy with your personal life as you are with your professional one."

"She's not some company he can buy and hand over to me. She's a person. She won't be happy. She'll hate me more." Parth protests, not daring to let his hope grow.

"She loves you. Why do you think she said that if her husband loves someone else she will walk away? Why did she say you've ruined love for her? Stupid. Parth, how can you be so blind when it comes to your personal life?" Isha smacks his shoulder. "Look, she told me herself that if she could turn back time she would. She blames herself for losing you."

"She hates me. I've earned it this time. I never earned her love but I've earned her hatred." He whispers.

This is the weight he has been carrying on his chest ever since he left the Agarwal house.

It feels good to share it. Strangely lighter.

"You'd be a fool to not get her back.To ask her. Papa will want you married when you take over the company. Let it be a woman you love. Don't lie to yourself, you love her." Isha smacked him again.

He hissed in pain. "She won't walk away until he tells her to. She's trying to be the Sati Savitri here. Something so unlike herself. I can't bear to see her pretend to be something she is not. I know her and she hates it."

"Then we simply have to talk to her husband and tell him to walk away for her happiness." Monica nodded "She did say she would let him go if he wanted a divorce."

"But is that- How can I do this to her?" Parth clutched his hair.

Here it was, a solution.

His business-oriented mind had thought of it often.

He had always pushed it away because he hated how she would feel if Ankit Agarwal traded her like she was property.

"Isn't that what you've stood by? Or will you do the right thing for the wrong reason and ruin her husband's chance at happiness too? You know he cannot be happy when she pretends this way." Monica sighed. "I'm asking you to set her free of the façade she has been living. I've lived a life like that before your father saved me. How long will her husband wait for her? He'll either get tired of her not loving him and resort to violence or have an affair"

"How can you say that? You don't even know him" Parth counters.

It makes his stomach churn, the thought of Ankit hurting Vidushi.