Kaavi was battling to digest any of what she’d just heard. Her motherdidlove her.
‘After you left, things changed. He didn’t punish me. He still kept tabs on my every move, but the punishment stopped. I don’t know why. About six months ago, the doctors said his heart was in bad condition. I didn’t bother finding out more about it.’
She paused, looked down at her hands, and then back at Kaavi. ‘At Sen’s wedding, after I saw how happy you were, how protected you were, that you had my family and new friends, I decided it was time to leave him. I got back from the wedding and started to plan. On Saturday, I packed my bags and told him I was leaving. We argued. He wasn’t going to back down. He said he would never let me go. He clutched his chest …’
‘Mom …’ Kaavi stood and rushed around the table. She crouched and hugged her mother.
‘Oh, Mom. I’m sorry I treated you so badly. I’m sorry,’ she sobbed.
Her mother kissed the top of her head and then leaned back to look at Kaavi’s face.
‘I didn’t know he was trying to find you. I swear I didn’t know,’ she said.
‘I know.’
Returning to her seat, Kaavi said, ‘Turns out I was pretty easy to find and keep tabs on. Imagine – I thought no one knew I was married, but even Granddad and Sen knew about it.’
Her mother didn’t say anything. She looked out the floor-to-ceiling window. They sat in silence for a few minutes. The coffee machine came to life at the counter.
‘When your grandfather talks about forgiveness, he doesn’t mean you should forgive your father for what he did. He doesn’t mean you should shrug it off as something that just happened. What happened to you was cruel. It was brutal. You can’t forget that. But you’ve spent the last ten years trying to win this invisible war against your father. I know it’s because you couldn’t fight him back then … but Kaavi, you’ve already won. Don’t you see that? You went on to do amazing things. A supermodel! Kaavi, a real-life supermodel. You married a man who truly loves you. Yes, I know that it’s complicated now, but you found love. You found peace and acceptance in Rally. You have friends, people you can laugh with … people who care about you. Kaavi, you won.’
Neel entered his parents’ house and walked straight to the living room where he knew they would be sitting and talking.
His hair was a mess from him frantically and repeatedly running his hand through it. His eyes were wide and filled with unshed tears. He looked like hell.
‘Neel, what’s wrong?’ His mother was on her feet, almost running to him.
‘What he did to her … she told me …’
His mother flung her arms around him and hugged him for dear life.
‘We know,’ she said. Neel stepped back out of her embrace.
‘You know?’
‘Her mother told us that morning when we met,’ his mother explained.
‘She was stabbed, Mom. Beaten …’
‘Come sit,’ she said.
His father and Natara were sitting in the armchairs, so hismother led him to the couch.
‘I know it’s a shock to the system. We were horrified too, but it does explain a lot about Kaavi. She hasn’t fully healed,’ Natara said.
‘I’m angry. Furious. I feel like I want to punch a dead man. But I’m sad. Just so sad. I feel sick,’ Neel said, his voice hoarse with emotion.
No one said anything. They just sat in silence. Neel bent and put his head in his hands over his knees. His mother rubbed his back, which released a torrent of bottled-up tears.
When he got back home, Kaavi was already there.
‘You really should have changed the locks,’ she said, holding up her key and then shoving it back into her handbag that was lying next to her on the couch.
‘How’d you get back?’
‘Sen dropped me off,’ she said, turning her attention back to her phone.
‘What you doing?’
