Devil's Bride

Chapter 61

Manik's p.o.v.

I entered in my mother's room. She was sitting on her bed, crossing her arms around her chest. She noticed my presence when I seated myself beside her. We sat there without exchanging words, drinking each other's presence. I stared down at the floor because it pained me to look into her eyes. She looked at me vacantly, probably trying to understand my silence.


"There is one similarity between both of us." I spoke in riddles with a great difficultly. She nodded her head as if she understood whatever I said, I didn't know how much she knows about my nature because I hardly know my mother besides I was never interested in knowing her properly.

"What it is?" She asked but her face indicated opposite.

"We both are bad at displaying emotions especially pain. I always used to wonder from where I got it but now I know the source. I'm bad at showing my pain but trust me, it's paining me a lot." I described. Her eyes turned sensitive at my reply.

"Why? Why did you kept it away from me till this long? I have abused you so many times. You have no idea how guilty I feel in this moment. It's killing me from inside." I expressed. Tears brimmed in her eyes. I know how much I have hurt her, how many times I was impatient with her when she was doing the best for me. I was always hateful and hurtful towards her.

"We are human beings Manik and we do bad things. We commit mistakes. We make wrong decisions in life. It wasn't your fault I choose to keep everything away from you and I was wrong. I shouldn't have done it. It was a wrong decision. Don't blame yourself for everything."

"All I want to say is I love you and I have always loved you. Let the past be in past, we can make a new start." She explained, cupping my face in her palms. I pulled her in bone crushing hug. The mere touch was enough to brake the wall that existed between us for years. She burst into tears and finally let her pain out. I sobbed hard like a baby does after loosing his mother in crowd but my reason was completely opposite.

"I'm sorry mom. I'm really... really.. sorry for.. everything. I'm sorry for ...not being there for you all this while. You alr.. already suffered a lot ..and I added.. more in it." I apologized, still hugging her tightly. She raked her fingers in my hairs, harbouring me in her arms. I pushed myself further in her. She dropped numerous kisses on my head after hearing mom from my mouth. It's been 8 years or more I never addressed her mom.


"Manik, I have something to tell you, it's about Nandini." She said after breaking the hug. Nandini's alarmed me. Has she told her everything?

"Do you know what I said to her?" I question to reconfirm my doubt.

"Yes, I'm aware of it and I would like to clear the misunderstanding. That's the least I can do for her."

"Manik, you heard the half conversation other part of the conversation took place in Nandini's room. She never back stabbed you in fact she loved you not him. She just happen to land up in a wrong situation, that's all. She was going to tell you everything but you found it out."


"Manik, I was the one who trapped both of you in this marriage. I knew that you had feelings for her and at the day of your marriage I got a chance to give you what you wanted, I liked Nandini. I wanted you to be with her."

"That's injustice. She was in a relationship with someone else how could you even expect from her to say yes and I wasn't going to confess. In fact I misunderstood Nandini all the time."

"Yes but that wasn't her plan. It was mine. I was the one who told her to make you fall in love with her."

"Tell me everything about it. I want to know." She started telling me everything in details. Her confession left me flabbergasted, aghast and staggered. I was gasping for air as it jammed my lungs.

"So you mean that it wasn't her but you- you had it all planned. Nandini was innocent from the start. She never knew anything about it." I spoke after long time. All the horrible things I did with her in past rushed back to me. How I humiliated her, how I tortured her for marrying me, how I man handled her, how I questioned her character.

How desperately I wish I could just forget everything and go back to her. This distance, this separation, only I know how difficult it was for me. Every second I spend without her, I felt as if a part of me was breaking away but I have hurt her self respect so many times. I don't deserve to be with a person like her. I don't deserve that selfless angel in my life. I deserve to live in that same darkness, I don't deserve her light and love.

"But Dhurv, she used to meet him. She went behind my back so many times. I want to know everything about it." I voiced the question that had been bugging me from the start. It wasn't something I could forget so easily. I need to know what happened between both of them before I making decision or jumping on conclusions.

"Manik, I don't know much about it but Nandini can explain it you, wait let me call her." She lifted her phone in her hand. She punched the keys and pressed it against her ear.

"Nandini, I'm sorry to disturb you but can you please come in my room? I know you need rest but it's something important." She said, I could feel panic bubbling just below my chest at the mere thought of facing her. I didn't know how I was going to face her after all the things I have done with her. My mother disconnected the call and rubbed my palm, comforting me through her eyes.

I was thrilled by the sound of Nandini footsteps as she kept walking. Then her footsteps stopped and a second later she unlocked the door. Next moment she appeard, she had a frown on her face which clearly indicated how tired she was.

"Nandini, come sit." My mother called her inside. She came and sat opposite to me. For a few moments the room become awkwardly silent.

"Both of you listen to me carefully. I want you to sort it out. Nandini, explain it to him properly in details." My mother broke the silence.

"I don't have any interest in explaining anything to him. I'm done with him and this forced marriage."  She said but her eyes spoke much louder than her words, narrating the tale of what she has gone through; her face showed such pain one would feel if happen to pass through hell.

"Nandini, I understand, you have all the rights to be angry but it's about your dignity. Sometimes it's good to explain things especially when you are not wrong on your place. Besides you kept things away from him. I'm not blaming you for anything but you owe him an explanation. So just tell him what happened that day when you went to meet Dhurv rest he already knows, I have told him everything." My tried to convince her properly. Her words strike the right chord as she agreed.

"Manik, I cooked that passport story because I was pregnant. I wasn't allowed to travel for long hours. I wanted to tell you but it was your dream project so I restricted myself as I knew how important the project was for you, I wanted to come but I wasn't allow to, Dhurv wasn't the reason behind the story, it was you and our baby." Her statement fell on me like a thunderbolt. Her words numbed my senses. I could feel the same cruel pain settling back in my chest. It felt like all the wounds that I had stitched long ago were laying striped.

"Then when you left I got a call from Dhurv and he told me that he's still waiting for me to come back to him. I fixed the meeting so I could tell him the truth that I'm not going to break this marriage and I don't love him anymore. When I went to meet him, I broke whatever the ties I had with him but I couldn't say the entire truth. I wanted to tell him that I love you not him but he looked so broken. I couldn't gather enough amount of courage to say it on his face. He end up assuming that you are the reason behind our break up. That's all. I never back stabbed you. I never had any plans. I was never after your money. I genuinely loved you with all my hearts." She completed. Dhurv's words reverberated in my head. He told me what she is telling me right now. Truth was right in front of my eyes but I was too blind to see it, too insecure to accept, too afraid to confront. I could have stopped it from happening only if I had paid more attention to what was really happening around me.

"But you know what it was in past. I don't love you anymore. I had enough of you and I can't tolerate it anymore." She snapped, her words hitting me harder than anything else. They were sharp, pointed and venomous. Her expressions were flat, her face was white as sheet. There were no traces of tears around her eyes yet they were swollen. She looked soulless just like a dead body. I had killed her from inside. I had murdered that bubbly, naughty, innocent, alive girl, the same girl who was once full of life. I ruined the only beautiful thing I had with my own hands.

"I can't stay here anymore. I would like to take a leave. Can I?" She requested looking at my mother, her eyes begging for mercy. She blinked her eyes, telling her to proceed. I closed my eyes to find an escape when I opened them she was gone, probably forever. I know should have stopped her or say something to her but what was I suppose to say? Sorry? Bloody sorry doesn't make anything right. Besides sorry is for a mistake not for a crime.