Sacrifice And Realisation (BOOK #1) ✔

Chapter 45

Chapter 45

The quietness in Bundela mansion was still persisting like the barely soft bristles of a passing wind. Not a single human had conversed with each other since the many number of days the sons of the house were out of it. With Dheeraj's return, delightful noises broke out among the members of the house as he held Durga and Vidya in close proximity.

"I couldn't even imagine I would ever get to see you again, Dheeraj!" Vidya cried against his bosom as he caressed her hair. "You don't know how my life has been without you."

As he consoled both his mother and his wife, Sanchi's eyes continued searching for Vihaan. Sanchi was standing quietly next to them when Durga stepped towards her. "Sanchi, please forgive me. I know I've committed a grave sin by not trusting my own son. When his whole family turned against him, you were the only one who held a firm ground for him. No other wife could trust her husband as much as you did."

Sanchi pressed her palms against Durga's arms as she said, "Maa, you are not suppo-sed to apolo-gize. I know a mot-her can't keep her calm wh-en she sees her son ly-ing dead bef-ore her. You were not in your regu-lar senses then."

"A sin is always a sin after it's committed. I have only increased Vihaan's hatred for me after this incident. I blamed him for everything and..." Durga cried on to Sanchi's shoulder while the latter caressed her.

Dheeraj turned to his mother. "Mom, are you telling the truth? Did you all really blame Vihaan for whatever had happened?"

Virendra held Dheeraj's arm as he narrated the entire truth to him. "I know we all were so wrong but your death had surely traumatized your mother and Vidya."

Dheeraj removed his father's hand off him and stood apart, looking over to Sanchi. "There is this girl who has known Vihaan barely for a few months but she stayed strong in her standpoint for him. And there are you all who have known him for so long, but failed to keep your faith on him. I wonder if in the future my brother would be treated in a better way once I'm really dead!"

"Dheeraj, please don't say something like this again, son. I know it won't be enough for us to even apologize to Vihaan." Durga wiped her tears. "But what else could we have done when it was being proved that he had killed his own brother!"

"No mom, it's not the question of only apologizing to Vihaan. I don't think Vihaan did anything wrong by shooting the suicide bomber considering it was me. If in the future any day it happens that he has to shoot the real me, he must do the same again. A traitor-like brother being dead is better than the fake one left alive." Dheeraj remarked strictly. "Our father has taught us to remain honest during the tenure of our service. Vihaan was never wrong, my brother can never be wrong!"

Vidya inched the gap between hers and Sanchi, throwing her arms around her soulmate. "I know I don't have words to beg your pardon, Vanya. Still I would want to apologize to you for everything. My behavior with you was so wrong, I treated you poorly and..."

As Vidya cried embracing her, Sanchi rubbed Vidya's back. "No Vi-dya, do you think I can ever be up-set with you? You had lost your hus-band and your beha-vior was totally on expect-ed lines. You want-ed your soul-mate to remain bes-ide you during your diffi-cult times but I chose to rem-ain aloof and sup-port your husband's murder-er."

"I am sorry, right? I deserve any sort of punishment from you and I will abide by it." Vidya tightened her hold on Sanchi.

Kissing Vidya's cheeks, Sanchi said laughing, "Your punish-ment is that you will be cook-ing for the entire family toni-ght."