Ch 38 The Blueprint of a Broken Truth #2
Rudraksh stared at the mark on the screen, a mixture of disbelief and sudden amusement swirling in his chest.
"What kind of a girl is she?" he muttered, a low chuckle escaping him despite himself.
"Is she not afraid of me at all? Where does she even come up with these mischievous ideas? Just wait... I'm going to deal with her the moment I get home tonight."
Vyom stood up, still chuckling. "That's fine, but do you want me to arrange a fresh shirt for you, or do you plan on walking around the office like a marked man for the rest of the day?"
Rudraksh adjusted his lapels, a dangerous yet thoroughly charmed glint appearing in his dark eyes. "You know what? Leave it. Let it stay exactly as it is. Tonight, she will have to give me the answers face-to-face."
While Rudraksh sat in his cabin plotting his sweet revenge, miles away in the Vardhan mansion, Rivanya was suddenly hit by a severe, uncontrollable fit of hiccups completely unaware that her husband had just uncovered her little crime.
After finishing her shower and having a light lunch, Rivanya had settled down to get some of her work done. However, the relentless fit of hiccups soon became too frustrating to ignore. Seeking relief, she walked downstairs to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water.
After downing a couple of glasses and waiting a few minutes, the hiccups finally subsided, and she let out a long sigh of relief.
Looking around, she noticed the entire mansion was wrapped in a peaceful stillness.
Dadaji and Dadimaa were resting quietly in their room, Raaj was busy at the office, and Dev had gone out with his friends.
The house was completely empty.As Rivanya made her way back toward the stairs, her gaze inadvertently drifted toward the entrance of the family's puja room.
There, resting securely at the feet of the Mata Rani idol, was the envelope her grandfather had given her in Kashi.
She had placed it there for safekeeping upon her return and had completely forgotten about it amidst the excitement of the Holi festivities.
A sudden, quiet resolve washed over her.
Maybe today is the day, she thought to herself.
I should finally read my mother's final words.
It might bring me closer to her, to feel her presence again.
Stepping softly into the sacred room, she bowed her head in a quick prayer before picking up the envelope.
With the paper gripped tightly in her hand, she walked back upstairs to the privacy of her bedroom.
She closed the heavy wooden door behind her, securing the latch, and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed.
Her heart began to thump anxiously against her ribs. Summoning every ounce of her emotional courage, she carefully tore open the seal of the envelope and pulled out the contents. The letter was spread across two crisp pages.
The moment her eyes fell upon the elegant, sweeping strokes of her mother's handwriting, a thick wave of emotion rose in her throat, and her eyes welled up with tears.Taking a deep, stabilizing breath, Rivanya smoothed out the pages and began to read:
"Rivu... My child, if you are reading this letter, it means I am no longer in this world...
But my baby, never for a moment think that your mother is far from you. No, my child, I am always with you. You are a part of me my life, my strength, my Rivu..."
Just reading those opening lines caused Rivanya's eyes to overflow with hot, silent tears.
A tight knot formed in her throat. For the first time in all these years, it felt as though her mother were sitting right in front of her, speaking directly to her soul.
Wiping her eyes with a trembling hand, Rivanya forced herself to read on.
"Beta, there are some truths about your life that you absolutely must know. If this letter has finally reached your hands, it means my greatest fear has come true. Naresh Bedi must have betrayed your trust, forcing your Nanaji and Nanima to finally hand this over to you.
Rivanya, whatever I am about to tell you next, please listen carefully. Take a deep breath and hold yourself together. Just remember that I am right inside you, holding you up through this...
Rivu, my child, the absolute biggest truth of your life is that... you are not Naresh Bedi's daughter.
Yes, you are my daughter, but your biological father is someone else. Someone who is out there in this world right now, completely deprived of his daughter's love..."
A violent shock rippled through Rivanya's entire being.
Her hands started trembling so violently that the paper rattled in her grip.
She couldn't believe her own eyes, staring at the words in absolute disbelief, questioning if what she was reading was a cruel joke or a haunting reality.
Gathering every ounce of shattered courage left inside her, she forced her gaze back down to the paper.
"Beta, please do not misunderstand your real father. He doesn't even know that you exist. He doesn't know you are his daughter. Your father and I loved each other deeply... so much so that we even accepted being apart from each other, because it was a matter of life and death.
I know you should have known this truth much sooner, but I had my compulsions.
I never wanted you to carry the burden of this secret, but perhaps destiny always intended for you to discover your real father.
Beta, never fall for Naresh Bedi's words.
He will never want what is best for you.
He only gave you his family name to protect his own social reputation, but the blood...
the blood running through your veins belongs to someone else.
You are the ultimate, most sacred symbol of the love shared between me and that man.
Rivu, please do not think ill of your mother.
My hands were tied, which is why this truth is reaching you in this manner.
Rivu, I might not have the right to ask this of you, but if you can, please forgive me.
Keep yourself strong, my child. If you want to know the whole story and find out the identity of your biological father, your answers are waiting for you in Indore, with your grandparents.
Even though their son, Naresh, is a deeply flawed man, your Dada-Dadi truly consider you their own.
They will reveal the rest of the truth to you. And one final thing...
Mamma loves you a lot, Rivu. More than anything in this world. You are my entire life, my child. Just stay strong, and never let anyone exploit you or take advantage of you...
With all the love in the world,
Your Mother,
Katha."
The letter ended, but the silence in the bedroom felt deafening.
The ground beneath Rivanya seemed to completely slide away.
The identity she had lived with her entire life was a lie.
She sat frozen on the bed, clutching the pages to her chest, sobbing silently as the heavy weight of her mother's past broke over her like a tidal wave.
The letter slipped loosely from Rivanya's fingers, fluttering soundlessly onto the carpet.
Her vision blurred completely as a torrential flood of tears spilled over, unbidden and unstoppable.
Her knees buckled under the immense psychological weight of the revelation.
Losing all her balance, she sank to the floor, her body trembling violently as she stared blankly into the empty space of the room.
Everything she had ever known about herself had vanished in a single moment.
It was a cruel irony of destiny; after enduring years of emotional neglect and unfairness from Naresh Bedi, she had finally discovered that the man was not even her father.
Her real father was an absolute stranger out there in the world, a man entirely oblivious to her very existence.
"What did I do wrong?" she whispered to herself, her voice a hollow, broken fragment. "What was my fault that I have to see this day?"
The shock was a physical blow, so deep and paralyzing that it eventually dried up her tears entirely.
She sat there on the cold floor, frozen and unmoving like a ghost haunting her own room.
Finally, dragging her heavy, numb limbs, she stood up.
She walked over to the bathroom, locked the door shut behind her, and stepped directly under the shower fully clothed.
She turned the handle, and a torrent of freezing water poured down, drenching her from head to toe.
The ice-cold water soaked through her clothes, clinging to her skin, but even that stinging physical chill could not numb the searing, agonizing pain ripping through her heart.
She stood motionless under the downpour, staring ahead with unseeing eyes.
As if mirroring the sheer magnitude of her grief, the sky outside began to weep.
A sudden, unseasonal storm broke over the city, unleashing a furious downpour and howling winds.
Thunder shook the very foundations of the mansion, matching the volatile, world-altering tempest that had just completely upended Rivanya's entire life.
Hours ticked away into the heavy evening, but Rivanya remained completely rooted to the spot, entirely unresponsive to the outside world.
When she failed to come out for dinner and offered absolutely no answer despite everyone repeatedly calling her name, a palpable wave of panic gripped the household.
By nine in the evening, the silence stretching from her locked room felt ominous.
Trapped in a state of high anxiety, the family found themselves waiting desperately for only one person: Rudraksh.
Rudraksh finally arrived home after wrapping up a grueling day at the office.
His mind had been occupied all evening with thoughts of how he was going to playfully tease Rivanya about the lipstick mark on his collar.
But the moment he stepped across the threshold, the heavy, suffocating atmosphere in the living room shattered his lighthearted mood.
Sensing that something was deeply wrong, he rushed to Dadimaa.
When she frantically explained that Rivanya had locked herself in the room hours ago and wasn't making a sound, a cold dread washed over him.
Instantly alert, a fine bead of nervous sweat broke out on Rudraksh's forehead.
The terrifying thought of something happening to her made his chest tighten.