May be forever

N I N E

'Anger is our natural defense against pain. So when I say ‘I hate you’, it really means ‘you hurt me.’

             Krishna Reddy wanted to have this conversation with his daughter for a long time now. He had been patient throughout these past months.
Vihani had shattered his plans to make a strategic business marriage with one of the business families.
Vihani was like that, from the beginning. She never agreed with him for anything, they were polar opposite of each other.
Sometimes he wondered, why neither Varun nor Vihani was like him. They were more like their mother, Vaani.

With Vaani and kids, he always felt like an outsider, sometimes he wonder why he wasn't able to make an impact on their lives as he had hoped for.

Varun had followed his path, but still they had different ideology about how to make things work and Vihani was another story entirely. He had no clue how his daughter's mind worked.
She had been like that for a long time now and Vaani's death extended the gap between them that Vihani chose to stay away from her home for such a long time.

Then she turned up one day, and this time he was sure that finally Vihani was going to obey her dad but she had other plans and Krishna Reddy didn't like it, when his plans were spoiled or meddled by anyone albeit it's his own daughter or her new husband for that matter.
That thought riled him up and he wanted to let Vihani know that her dad is still alive and he won't let surpass the limits when it comes to business.
   
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         Vihani was leaning on the backrest of the couch. She had a nagging backache nowadays, due to her pregnancy and she preferred to sit leaning on the backrest and relax her muscles whenever she sat down. However she wasn't much relaxed now, while listening to the gruff voice of her dad.

' Yes dad, I am listening..'  her voice quivered a little with trepidation.
Their conversation always ended in disagreement and she had a feeling that this one was going to be the same.

'Vihani I heard the news about you...'

'Oh' she muttered. So this was about her pregnancy and surely he hasn't called to congratulate her.

'This was your plan all along.... right Vihani?'
She felt a rush of heat on her face hearing the accusation in his tone but she wasn't quite sure what he was implying.

' What plans dad?? I didn't get you?'

' Come on Vihani, don't play games now.
I knew you were pregnant before getting married. Do you think that I would have let this marriage happen in normal circumstances? Do you? '

The bitterness in his voice made her queasy suddenly.
This revelation wasn't something she expected and millions of thoughts ran through her mind but was too scared to ask how did he know that. Her dad was continuing his rambling even when Vihani wasn't paying any heed.

' How did you know about it dad? Who told you?' finally the question rolled out of her tongue. She dreaded the answer before her dad's reply.

'Oh my ! Vihani stop acting all innocent now. We both know that your now husband told me about your pregnancy.'

'Out of all people you picked him... that rat..who just wanted to get an entry to my business and you made it happen.
How could you be this shameless?? Such a disgrace to the family!! '

She winced at his words. His words were like bullets that penetrated and shattered her fragile heart in mere seconds.

'Avinesh had the audacity to tell me that if I don't agree with the marriage proposal, there will be consequences and media might get involved. That's how he managed to get my approval.
And now your dummy brother wants to give the major share of his new project to your baby. That means Avinesh is going to get all the access to the business he wants.
This is the way you want to harm your own dad Vihani?? Answer me!!
If you and your husband are planning to get your hands on my business, my years of hard work, I won't let that happen... tell that to your husband too ' the hate in his voice was so raw that pricked her ears.