Gomati found a magazine and was about to sit and read in the living room when she spied through the window that Ravi was coming out of the annex. Intrigued, she got up, walked to the front door, opened it, and motioned him to come into the house.

"What were you doing there?" she asked him.

"A...a... Achan asked me to convey some messages to the aunty. I went to give them to her. Now I am going to college," said Ravi.

"Is that all?" asked Gomati suspiciously.

"Of course," said Ravi, and he hurriedly ran back to the car and drove off to college.

Thankfully, Gomati did not notice Praseetha slipping out of the annex and she went back to the living room to read.

Ravi drove through the morning traffic to reach his college, and all the way, he was rehearsing what to say to Paaru to convince her to postpone their wedding. The problems of Pankaj Shah, Teena Sethi, and his grand uncle Sebastian, who were all out to get his mother, needed to be solved. On top of that, Amma was pregnant, and he did not want to get married until his sibling was born. How could he persuade Paaru without hurting her?

Finally, he reached his college, parked the car in the lot, and walked to his class. But it was now the morning break, and on the way to the tea stall, he saw her chatting with their friends. Her bright, chubby face was glowing with a smile, and all he could do was stare at her with joy and wonder, 'How did I ever get her?' She saw him, smiled brightly, and ran to join him.

"You came back so fast from the airport?" she said, handing him her juice box.

"I have something serious to tell you, Paaru. Have you got enough attendance to cut the next class?" he asked her.

"Next is Anwar sir's class. I have enough attendance. Why? What is wrong?" asked Paaru.

"Let's go," he said, and they walked to a stone bench under a few she-oak trees.

Seeing his serious face made her tense as well, and she sat with trepidation next to him.

"Paaru, I want to tell you about my parents," he said.

"Is uncle OK?" asked Paaru.

"Of course he is fine. I want to talk about how they met. I never told you about it because I used to hate my mother. Not now, so I wanted to talk about her as well," said Ravi.

Paaru sat in full attention.

"Achan was dragged by his friend to meet his girlfriend and her roommate. He did not want to go, but eventually, he was forced to go to a shopping center, and there he saw Amma. When his friend's girlfriend said that they had arrived, Amma turned around to see them, and instantly Achan felt like time and his breath stopped, for sitting in front of him was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. He told me he went blank seeing Amma," he said.

Paaru smiled and said, "That's sweet, but why are you saying this to me now?"

"Because that was the kind of reaction that I had when I first saw you," said Ravi.

Paaru blushed and smiled.

"Paaru, I love you and I want to be with you for the rest of our lives," said Ravi.

"I know that," she replied.

"But can I ask you to postpone it for a few more months?" asked Ravi.

"WHAT! What are you talking about?" asked Paaru, shocked.

"You know that something is going on in my family, and I need some time to help sort it out," said Ravi.

"But what is going on? You have been vague about it since you told me that your father and that aunty are having an affair," said Paaru.

"A lot of things have happened, and right now, we are in a situation that is both dangerous and heart-wrenching. I can't tell you more because it is not my secret to tell. But can you trust me when I say that we are in a bad situation and need time?" asked Ravi.

Paaru thought for a few seconds. There was anguish in her eyes; the thought of starting a life with Ravi being pushed into the future was saddening. But then she looked into his earnest eyes and saw the truth, patience, and love he had for her.

"I understand. Let us postpone it until you have sorted it out with your family," she whispered.

Ravi understood the sacrifice she was making and wanted to hug her, but they were in college, so he took her hand and pressed it in assurance.

****************************************

The flight landed at Delhi airport. The air was dense with smog, and Rajiv felt the irritation of the soot in his lungs. He went straight to meet the lawyers the law firm, Iyer and Iyer, who had been Mr. Sethi's lawyers. There, he got some clarifications and details about the will of the late Om Prakash Sethi. The following morning, he took a taxi to Hamirpur. It was an arduous 10-hour drive, most of which Rajiv spent sleeping in the back seat. Finally, he reached Hamirpur in the evening and stopped in front of Hotel Phoenix. He had already booked a room and was directed to it by the receptionist. After taking a bath and resting for an hour, he went downstairs, donning a jacket over his garb, to the hotel restaurant. Waiting for him was Surjith Singh, his detective.

"Namaste, Surjithji," said Rajiv, sporting a very tired smile, his handsome face fringed by slightly tussled hair.

"Namaste, Rajivji, how are you? I have been talking to you for such a long time on the phone, it's pleasant to see you for the first time," said Surjith, extending his hand. He was a tall Punjabi man in a leather jacket and jeans and a brown turban.

"I am fine, thank you. It's also so nice to meet you," said Rajiv, shaking his hand.

They sat down and ordered hot coffee and snacks.

"Surjithji, I wanted more information about Teena and Sunaina," said Rajiv.

"Teena is known by the name Prerna here and has set up a dance school. She is making a decent living out of it. She set up some trust in secret to manage the income from the properties that Om Prakash left for Sunaina. But they are living well below their means, almost like lower middle class, so that no one notices them," said Surjith.

"Clever," said Rajiv.

"As you know, recently Sunaina secured admission at Brown University and is planning to leave this weekend."

"Isn't Teena going with her?" asked Rajiv.

"She is planning to hand over her dance school to one of her friends and will leave next month to join Sunaina in the States," said Surjith.

"Hmm," Rajiv pondered over the situation.

"Whatever you are planning to do, do it as soon as possible. Otherwise, if the mother and daughter leave for the States, it will be difficult to do anything," said Surjith.

"When can I meet her?" asked Rajiv.

"Now would be the best time; she will be at home," said Surjith.

"Come, let's go," said Rajiv, putting some money on the table. He had no time to lose.

**************************

It was rare for Gomati to take a walk, even though all her doctors had tried every trick in the book to encourage her. But today, her mind was in total unrest. The changing relationship between her and her son was bothering her. He had not spoken to her for a long time, and the breaking off of the marriage alliance with Indrani was traumatic for her. On top of that, Indrani's had accused that Rajiv was in love with Leena! Leena, the woman who had attracted the scoundrel Vyshakh, who was rumored to be of special interest to Mahadevan, and now she's with Rajiv? What kind of an immoral woman is she? And on top of that, she was living in their annex! This was too much for Gomati to handle. She sat down on the garden chair in the corner of the courtyard. What to do? How to hold her family together? Gomati finally made a decision: she would go and see the woman in the annex.

She climbed the steps to the annex door and rang the bell, but nobody opened it. It was odd; she was sure the woman was inside since her red car was parked in the courtyard. Then Gomati heard a sound. She came close to the door to hear it better and was alarmed—it was the sound of the woman being sick. A few minutes later, the door opened and a haggard-looking Leena appeared. Her face was wet as if she had just washed it, her eyes were moist, and she was slightly panting while holding onto the wall for support.

"May I come in? I just wanted to see your living arrangements," said Gomati coldly, a tone that did not go unnoticed by Leena, who tiredly nodded and let her in.

Gomati entered the annex and looked around the neat and tidy place.

"How many months?" asked Gomati.

"What?" asked Leena.

Gomati looked pointedly at her belly.

Leena bit her lip, not wanting to answer.

"Whose is it?" asked Gomati.

Leena looked at her with stone-cold eyes.

"Is it Vyshakh's, Mahadevan's, or my son's? Your history is pretty colorful," she said.

Leena stared at her with unreadable eyes. She didn't want to say anything scathing because of who Gomati was to her.

"Listen here, such things happen because of your bad choices, but trying to latch on to the richest man around to support your needs is unacceptable. So just leave without creating a scene and don't drag our name through the mud," said Gomati, her words sharp enough to cut steel.

"I am not leaving anywhere," Leena murmured with the utmost control she could muster.

"Alright, when my son comes back from Delhi, we will make that decision for you," said Gomati and left before Leena could reply.

As she watched the retreating figure of Gomati, Leena picked up her phone, which was lying on a teapoy nearby, and messaged, "Your mother knows I am pregnant."

***************************

"What the hell!" thought Rajiv, reading Leena's message. This was too much. He would handle that later, he thought, and rang the bell to a quaint little house made of stone amidst an English garden. He drew back, and Surjith and he looked around, admiring the whimsical place—it looked like a fairy cottage from some Western novels.The door was opened by Teena, and Rajiv recognized her even though the years had chipped away some of the youth and innocence of the girl whose pictures he had seen so many times in the past few days.

"Hello, Mrs. Teena Sethi. My name is Rajiv Padmanabhan, husband of Leena Mathews," Rajiv introduced himself.

"How is she?" asked Teena as she handed cups of steaming hot tea to Rajiv and Surjith. Initially shocked at being called a name she had almost forgotten, she invited them inside her cozy house.

"She is as fine as she can be. Only one of our sons knows that she is their mother," replied Rajiv.

"That must be heartbreaking for Leena. There wasn't a single day that she hadn't cried over you all. I think she felt tainted by the dangers she brought with both my brother and her uncle. She was afraid of putting you all in danger," said Teena.

"I heard that Sunaina is doing well in her studies. Brown is a very good university. It must have been hard raising her by yourself," said Rajiv.

"Truth be told, when Leena was around, it was so much easier. She was like another mother to Sunaina. But after she left, I felt the full weight of taking care of a growing child. The constant fear of being discovered and that she might get kidnapped was there every single day. My heart used to beat very fast if she was even five minutes late coming from school," said Teena, her anxiety visible in her unsteady eyes.

"I understand," said Rajiv.

"Why are you here, Mr. Rajiv?" asked Teena.

"I want to bring Leena home, and for that, there are a few problems that need to be solved, one of them being your brother," replied Rajiv.

"That's a problem I haven't been able to solve. But what do you think you can do about it?" asked Teena.

"I want you and Sunaina to claim the properties of Mr. Om Prakash Sethi so that your brother Pankaj will stop searching for my wife," said Rajiv.

"No, I will not do any such thing," said Teena, her voice rising in anger.

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Hi my lovely readers,

Sorry for the long hiatus. As I mentioned previously, I am currently employed, which has greatly reduced the time I can devote to writing. Additionally, I wasn't feeling well over the past few months, but I am better now. Thank you for sticking with the story; you have my utmost love and respect. I hope to wrap up The Secret Wife soon, so please have some patience with me.

Thank you!!!!

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