Chapter 41
Deena and Manisha sat in Deena’s car in the Patels’ driveway. Frozen in shock, Manisha made no move to get out of the passenger seat. The air was heavy with silence, as if it had swallowed them whole.
Deena shifted in her seat as she turned to Manisha, her eyes filled with concern. “I wish I had the right words to make you feel better. But I don’t. I don’t have the power to take away your pain.”
Manisha gazed out of the car window, her vision hazy and distant. A single tear streamed down her face before she finally turned to her cousin.
“There’s nothing anyone can say,” she whispered, her voice quivering. “At least I finally know the truth. It hurts, but now I can spare myself from further pain.”
Deena reached out and gently placed her hand on Manisha’s shoulder, offering comfort in the only way she knew how. “Or maybe, the pain will have all been worth it?”
“How, Deena?” Manisha said. “What do I stand to gain from this experience? Will Rohit and I end up together and live happily ever after? Is this the fresh start, the new beginning that Meena Auntie mentioned?” She shook her head, scoffing. “If Rohit is magic, I wish he would just vanish.”
“I get that’s how you’re feeling right now. It’s all so overwhelming. But remember, the thing you loved about Sunil was his heart. His kindness. The dreams you shared for the future.”
“Yeah, but little did I know he was deceiving me all along! He was never Sunil at all.”
Deena’s head shifted side to side as she considered. “No, he’s Rohit. You weren’t honest about your identity, either, but everything else you said in your emails was true. So maybe it’s the same with him—he gave you a fake name, but it sounds like everything else he shared was real.”
Manisha’s eyes filled with fresh tears and the car fell into a heavy silence once again, the weight of the conversation hanging in the air. Manisha’s voice broke through the quiet, filled with a mix of frustration and resignation.
“Maybe I wasn’t cut out to be a mother after all. It’s becoming painfully obvious that the universe, or whatever higher power out there, is trying to tell me something that I’ve been wilfully blind to.”
“Manisha, please don’t say that,” Deena said, desperation lacing her voice.
“You were meant to be a mother, and Rohit was meant to be a father. We both know the pain you’ve each endured in your last relationships—of course this discovery would trigger your fears.
Neither of you anticipated how much love would blossom between you two. I certainly didn’t!”
Manisha’s voice wavered as she spoke, her emotions raw. “Deena, you don’t get it. I don’t love Rohit…I loved Sunil.”
She opened the car door, her hands shaking.
“But Sunil…he doesn’t even exist.” Manisha closed the car door behind her and entered her house, leaving behind a trail of unspoken pain.