‘It’s okay.’ He gave me a small, sad smile. ‘It was a long time ago.’ But the way he said it – carefully, like he’d practised the words – told me it wasn’t.
‘I had no idea.’ I swallowed. ‘Your family never … I mean the press always—’
I couldn’t finish the sentence.
‘We never talk about it publicly,’ he said. ‘Dad and Rekha Mom got married when I was eight. House of Advani took off four years later. Dad thought it was easier that way. Cleaner. One family narrative.’
Cleaner. For whom?
‘I’m sorry,’ I said softly. ‘That must have been ... I can’t imagine losing a parent so young.’
He shrugged stiffly. ‘I don’t remember much about her. Just this feeling, like I was loved. Dadaji and Dadiji would tell me stories. About how she took me to the temple every weekend. How she loved fashion.’ A faint smile touched his lips. ‘Dadaji said I get my stubbornness from her.’
‘That sounds like a good thing to inherit.’
His smile faded. ‘When Rekha Mom came
along ...’ he paused, choosing his words carefully. ‘Things changed.’
I waited, my heart racing.
‘She never did or said anything bad. It was only in the smaller things,’ he confessed. ‘We only ever had Ayaan’s favourite food at the table. She’d go to every one of Ayaan’s school functions, but always had an excuse to skip mine. She hugged and praised him when he did well. With me ... she’d nod like it was nothing.’
‘You were just a child,’ I said, my voice shaking. ‘She had no right to treat you that way.’
‘She’s not my blood, Ananya. I understood that, even then. Ayaan was her son. I wasn’t.’
‘That doesn’t make it fine.’ The words came out sharper than I intended.
Rage began to consume me.
‘I’m worried about my son,’ Rekha had said in the car.
But she wasn’t his mother. She’d spent Jai’s entire childhood making him feel like he didn’t belong.
There was no maternal concern. Only thinly disguised cruelty.
And I’d believed her. I’d sat in her car and nodded along while she fed me lies.
‘My father didn’t notice,’ Jai continued, staring at his hands. ‘He was busy building the company. Working constantly. By the time House of Advani was established, he barely saw us at all. We only became closer after I started doing well at work.’ His voice roughened. ‘Sometimes I wonder ... if I hadn’t joined the company, would he have seen me at all?’
‘Jai—’
‘It’s okay.’ He gave me that same practised smile. ‘It’s in the past.’
But it wasn’t.
Not if Rekha was still trying to control him.
‘Not if it still hurts you,’ I said firmly. ‘And it’s not okay that they made you feel like you had to earn their love. You were a child. You deserved better.’
His eyes met mine, vulnerable and raw.
‘You’re an amazing person, Jai,’ I continued, my voice breaking slightly. ‘And if anyone can’t see that, it is their failure. Not yours.’ It was the simplest truth in the whole world. Hecouldn’tbelieve otherwise.
He reached for my hand, and I squeezed it tight.
‘Thank you,’ he said sincerely. ‘For saying that. For ... listening.’
