Devil's Bride

Chapter 58

Mukti's eyes nearly fell out of their socket when I told her about her father except the conversation I had with her mother. It was a part of my plan, to tell Mukti first then she will herself involve Manik.

"You can't be serious Nandini, you saw a man who exactly look my father. Nandini, my father died years ago. You might have miss understood besides you don't know what he actually did so please don't bring it up to me. It pains me whenever I think of him."

"Mukti, believe me for once, I swear I'm not lying. I agree your father died years ago but that man exactly looked like him."

"Can I see him?"

"Now?" I asked without thinking much about it.

"Yes now" She confirmed. I glanced at my wrist watch, it was 6:30 in the evening. I didn't know if he was still there or not but his wife is a cancer patient so maybe she's admitted in that hospital.

"I don't know if he's there or not, wait, let me talk to Swati." I said and dialed Swati's number to confirm my doubts.

"Hello Swati, where are you right now?"

"I'm in hospital Nandini. Why? What happened? Are you alright?" She said over the phone.

"No I'm completely fine actually that patient Mr. Karan Somani. Is he there right now? I want to meet him."

"Do you know him?"

"He is my father's old friend but we lost the connection when he shifted to America so I don't have his contact number." I lied.

"Just give me a minute, let me check." She took a minute to reply. I could hear footsteps, may be she was walking towards his wife's room to recheck if he was still there or not.

"Nandini, yes he's here with his wife." I got her reply.

"Okay thank you" I hang up on her.

"Fine let's go" She said the minute I disconnected the call.

"But Manik?"

"No don't even think of telling him anything. It's risky, you don't mess with my brother when it comes to dad. If something turns out wrong then he'll do the blast on your head. Let me see then I will call him." She warned, I felt the panic seeping in, I could be in a big mess if things didn't go the way I want them to but this was Mukti not Manik. Manik's mother was right on her place, approaching Mukti first will work in our favour. 


We settled down on the back seat and Mukti told the driver to drive carefully. She appeard disturbed, her all time bright face was cheerless and void of her smile. She looked outside, probably trying to distract herself. I bought my phone out and turned it on.


"Mukti and I are going to the hospital. We will call Manik later."

"Fine do tell me when you want me to come there, I'll come." She replied immediately.

"Okay, wait for my reply." I text back and kept the away.

Fifteen minutes later we found ourselves outside the hospital. Driver dropped us near the main gate. We climbed out of the car and he himself drive towards the parking lot. 

Receptionist told us the direction of room number 82. We took the elevator and reached outside his room. Mukti glanced at me and I gave her an encouraging nod. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder, providing her the much needed comfort, courage and strength. Rather than entering inside she stood against the gate and peeked through the mirror. Her father was inside the room, taking care of his wife.

"Nandini, he exactly looks like my father. It's unbelievable." She said, moving away from the door. Her voice was hoarse and she was trying to stop sobbing but failing miserably.
I didn't know what to tell her. The thought of her knowing everything about her past terrified me. The dark and ugly truth will ruin her innocence. It will destroy the respect she has for her father.

"Mukti, he doesn't look like your father but he's your father." I felt numb as I spoke to her about this.

"Dad is alive? Nandini, my dad had a scar on his head, it was a birth mark and this man he has the same scar on his head." Her eyes pricked with fresh tears at the mention of her father being alive. I made her sit on the near bench, she mopped her tears.

"Your father is alive Mukti and there is more in this that you don't know. Do one thing, call Manik then I will answer all the questions you have." I assured, cupping her face in my hands.
Then she began to dial Manik's number.

"Put it on the speaker" I told, when I saw her pressing the phone against her ear. She nodded and pressed the speaker icon. At first he didn't pick her calls. She gave it another try but didn't get the success.

"Bhai, why weren't you picking up my calls?" She said when he picked the call in fifth attempt.

"Mukti, I'm sorry actually I was busy, you know the press conference is around the corner, just a week ago."

"Bhai, I'm in hospital, can you please come here?"

"Is Nandini okay?"

"No she isn't it, she fell down on the ground and lost her consciousness." A chill settled down in my spine as I heard him gasping over the phone. I understand that she was trying to handle the situation in her own way but I didn't like the words she used for me and for my child. She could have said something else, anything but not this.

"Oh shit, I'll be there in 5 minutes."

"Bhai directly come to the room no 82"

"Okay" She served the connection, I was about to tell her not to do it again but something in her eyes stopped me.

"Nandini, what is that you are hiding from me? I'm getting scared." she gazed at me, her eyes were a picture of hurt and distress.

"Mukti do you trust me?" I asked, her eyes were filled with fear. I squeezed her hand lightly, assuring her. I silently applaud her calm demeanor. I would be mess if I were her.

"I do but the situation is ugly if something turns out wrong then Bhai would blow the entire place. He'll get out of control besides how could you be so sure that he's my father? Do you know what happened years ago? Who told you Yash uncle or Bhai?"

"Dad knows about it"

"Of course he does, they were friends."

"He never told me anything about it but Mukti it's not the right time to discuss all this."

"Yes it's not the right time. Nandini, go hide somewhere, Bhai will be here any moment."

Slowly I turned away from her and walked until reached outside Swati's cabin. She was gone for a surgery and she told me that I could rest here if I want to, I tried to find my phone in my purse. I pulled it out, I punched the only number that could possibly help me in this dire situation.

"Manik is coming in 5 minutes." I informed her through the text message.

"Okay" she texted back.

10 minutes later, through the mirror I saw Manik going in the direction of the room number 82. He ran as fast as he could, Mukti was also following him slowly. I opened the door and began to walk in the same direction. I maintained my distance so he wouldn't see me but I was close enough to him. He opened the door with loud thud. I stood outside the gate, a little away from his vision.

I peeked inside the room and saw him, he looked utterly shocked. His body stilled, he nervously lifted his eyes to meet his father's eyes. His black eyes clashed with his father's dark penetrating ones.

"Sorry, do we know each other?" His father refused to acknowledge him.

"You just blurt out my name dad, Manik and where were you all the time. I'm shocked to see you alive." I didn't know when his father blurt out his name. Maybe it happened when he entered inside the room.

"No I'm not, you might have missunderstood. My wife is unwell. I would appreciate if you all leave us alone." He ordered, his curt voice booming across the room.

"If you don't know me then how do you know my name? You took my name a few seconds ago." Manik yelled, trying to prove his point.

"I heard it from your sister's mouth." He defended. I was shocked to see that his father was still on denial mode. How could he be so cruel to his children? In the end they were his kids.

"Stop lying uncle. Manik he is your father." I stepped inside when I couldn't deal with his ignorance. Both of them have a right to know and I will make sure that they know the truth by hook or by crook.

"Mukti Nandini is completely fine then why did you gave me the false information?" Manik gave her a puzzled look. His eyes fell on me, he examined my entire body to find if I was fine or not.

"Nandini, you know my father died years ago then how is he here and alive?" He interrogated then he looked at me with so many questions in his eyes.

Adding to the chaos, the door yanked open, revealing Manik's mother.

"That's because he never died, he just pretended to be dead so he could marry the woman he loved."

"Niyonica, stay out of this." His father snapped at her.

"Why Karan, why should I stay out of this? I was the one who got the punishment. I suffered through the time and now when truth is about to come out, I should stay away from it." She fired back. She didn't make a single attempt to hide the hostility in her voice.

"What the hell is happening here? So you knew that he was alive but you never told anyone of us. Whenever I think you can't stood more low, you always come up with something else to prove me wrong." He whooped with cutting acidity in his voice.

"Manik, please don't blame her. There are a lot of things that you don't know." I supported her mother. He glared at me for supporting her in all this.

"Someone please tell me what is happening here?" He asked. 

"Manik let me tell you everything about your father. There is a lot that you don't know about him." She said, his second wife gave her a disapproving look. She wasn't able to do much things but the woman cringed when Manik's mother humiliated her husband.

She began to narrate the entire story. I was trembling, for a moment I closed my eyes, praying it to end as soon as possible. Everything around me was happening too fast, the dread in Mukti's eyes, confusion on the face of Manik's father's second wife, Manik's quivering lips, the guilt in his father's eyes and at last the pain in his mother's words was too much for me to digest.

"That's all" she whispered after completing the narration. I could imagine the pain she must be feeling right now for a moment I admired the way she was holding herself together, had I been on her place I would have fallen apart.

"So he never died.. wow..like...wow..I'm surprised... Honestly..I'm...I don't know what to say..I'm speechless." He said dramatically throwing his hands in the air. The set of jumbled words that came out his mouth weren't making sense. My heart ached for him, he doesn't deserve to be betrayed at least not from the same person he loved the most.

"Manik, your father did it for me. We loved each other a lot. Don't think that he doesn't love you because he does, he never allowed us to have kids because he loved both of you." His second wife spoke. Her words sounded as if she's struggling to bring them out. I noticed the woman carefully. She was clad up in a white garment. She hardly had hairs on her head. Her skin was pale and covered with so many wrinkles. She seemed unbalanced and distanced.

"Shut up okay just shut up, don't show me we love you a lot drama. You walked back in his life even after knowing that he is married to someone and has kids. I won't be surprised if later I find out that it was you who chalked the entire plan. You needed a man in your life and my father served you well." He snapped, clenching his fists and glaring at her with hell burning in his eyes. I was familiar with the gleam in his bloodshot eyes. It was the same gleam that he had when he came back from London. A defeated frown covered her face as she lowered her eyes.

"Don't talk to her like that, she's already dying. I did it because I wanted to, because I loved her and I'm not ashamed of it." His father's voice wasn't loud like him but the threat was clear in his voice. The look on Manik's face was heartbreaking. Anger was radiating from him in thick layers of fury.

"She's dying, good, she should die, you deserve to be alone. You don't deserve anyone. You should die as well." He nearly screamed. I digged his nails in his palms, I can see anger growing inside him, ready to explode everything around.

"All of you stay away from me, I don't need anyone of you." He reprimanded, his feet moving backward. I wanted to grab a hold of his arm and comfort him but I didn't want him to insult me in front of everyone so I stayed fixed on my position. He marched out of the room. None of them had the courage to stop him or say any damn thing to him not that he would care about them. I followed him outside. I had to walk fast to match his steps.


"Manik, don't do something wrong." I reached for his hand, trying to keep my own emotions at bay. He allowed me to hold his hand for a second then jerked it away.

"I can handle this. I don't need your concern Nandini." He walked a few steps away but then he turned back and came towards me. He grabbed my hand and softly ran his fingers on my palm. His eyes were burning with dark pain and rage yet his touch was soft as feather.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have done it. I will be back and I promise not to do anything wrong. Take care of yourself." He said, his expressions were apologetic. I wanted to ask where he's going but I choose not to question him right now. He left my hand and walked out.