Jaws dropped all around.

Leena looked at him in shock and mouthed, "What the..."

"Yes, she is my mistress," repeated Rajiv.

Mahadevan glanced at the horrified faces of his relatives, struggling to stifle his laughter. He hadn't expected Rajiv to make such a wild statement.

Finally, Swaminathan spoke up. "Rajiv, what are you saying? This room has your mother, father, aunts, uncles, and even your own children. How could you say something so disgusting here?"

Ravi and Abhi were still reeling from the shock.

"If it's the truth, then there's nothing else to say," said Rajiv, cringing at the word he had used to describe his own wife.

"Such a shameful thing to say, Rajiv," said Gomati.

"You've ruined our reputation," said Padmanabhan, filled with disgust.

Rajiv bit his lip, then turned to Janaki and said, "Chechi, please take Leena upstairs."

Janaki, snapping out of the moment, nodded. She went to Leena and gently helped her up from the chair. Leena looked at Rajiv, silently pleading with him not to continue, but Rajiv gave her a firm glance, urging her to go. Leena followed Janaki to the upstairs bedroom.

Rajiv then turned to Mani and said, "Please move her luggage from the annex into my room." Mani smiled and nodded.

"This is it. I'm done. You've insulted all of us," shouted Gomati.

"I have insulted no one. I love someone, and I've decided she should live with me," Rajiv replied.

"Then do it the honorable way—get married to her. This is ridiculous," said Swaminathan.

"How can he? He's still married to the other woman," quipped one of his aunts.

"I have no intention of divorcing my wife," Rajiv said calmly.

"Oh my God, this is getting worse," muttered one of his uncles.

"You've made your choice," said Gomati, walking out of the room. Kiran, who had been hiding outside, listening in awe, scurried away. The others followed Gomati, except for Mahadevan and Rajiv.

"Do you think I went too far?" Rajiv asked Mahadevan.

"Yes, you did. But what else could be done? Now, go after ettathi," Mahadevan advised.

Outside the room, Gomati turned to the relatives. "Thank you all for coming when I asked. Unfortunately, Rajiv has made his choice, and there's nothing we can do. He's not a young man who can be scolded back onto the right path," she said.

"We all saw that, Chechi," said Swaminathan.

"This house is no longer welcoming to me or my husband," she said, looking at Padmanabhan's grim face. "I think it's time we leave." She then turned to the boys and said, "Listen, your lives will be ruined by the shame of what just happened. Why don't you three come with me? We'll protect you."

The boys exchanged glances.

"Your father having a mistress will be the talk of the town. You won't be able to show your faces to your friends. Ravi, your marriage will be ruined, and so will the rest of yours. So, why don't you come with Achamma?" urged Swaminathan.

Kiran headed upstairs looking upset while Ravi and Abhi stood in silence.

"Say something, Ravi," pressed Swaminathan.

"I've already accepted her in my life. I stand with my father," Ravi finally replied.

"Me too," added Abhi.

Rajiv, overhearing this, felt gratitude towards his sons but couldn't bear to face them after what he'd said about their mother.

"I'm sorry for all of this," he said softly.

"You should be," Ravi replied, unable to forgive his father. He turned and went upstairs, followed by Abhi.

Mahadevan whispered to Rajiv, "Go check on Leena."

Rajiv followed their advice and went upstairs while the remaining relatives left one by one. Gomati and Padmanabhan retreated to their room to pack.

Rajiv opened the door to his room and was met by an angry Leena, arms crossed and fuming. "What the hell did you do, Rajiv?"

Rajiv quickly shut the door and approached her. "Did I do anything wrong?"

"You're asking me?" Leena was astounded.

"You said to protect the boys. You said not to name you as my wife or our kids as yours. I did exactly that," Rajiv countered.

"But you put yourself in danger, calling yourself my paramour," Leena retorted.

"I'm in no more danger than you or our unborn child. I'm a grown man, your husband. You can't keep me away from my responsibilities," Rajiv said, his voice rising.

"Oh God!" Leena burst into tears.

Rajiv quickly pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to raise my voice. But I would rather die than deny what we have or claim this baby isn't mine. You would've walked out of here, leaving me alone again, never to see you or our baby. I can't let that happen, Leena. You can't leave me again..." His eyes filled with tears as he embraced her tightly, kissing her hair.

***

"Where is Kiran?" asked Ravi as he opened his bedroom and saw no sign of him.

"Maybe he's in his room," said Abhi. They had both gone upstairs to console Kiran, who had looked distraught.

They opened his bedroom door and found him packing.

"Where are you going?" asked Abhi.

"You both tried to convince me about Leena aunty. But today, Achamma was right. This is going to be shameful for all of us. How do you think I'll face my classmates after this?" asked Kiran as he packed a t-shirt into a trekking bag.

"Fine, go. But I have a question—where were these relatives when we needed them?" asked Ravi. Kiran paused and looked at him, puzzled.

"When Achan came with us from the North and Amma couldn't be with us, he had to raise three kids by himself. All of his relatives knew this, and none of them showed up to even ask how we were, including Achachan and Achamma. There were times when you were sick in the hospital, and they knew because Achan called and informed them. He just wanted them to come and meet us, but they didn't come, even then. Achan had to do everything for us by himself. Do you know why? Because he married Amma, whom they disapproved of. When did they all come back? When I got first rank in entrance exams—when we did something they could bask in the glory of," said Ravi.

Kiran placed the t-shirt he was holding on the bed and looked at Ravi.

"So why don't you leave our Achan, who single-handedly raised us, for the people who only showed up when it benefited them?" said Ravi.

Tears started falling from Kiran's eyes, and Abhi rubbed his shoulder to comfort him.

"I'm sorry," said Kiran.

"It's okay. You didn't know most of it. You were sick when the reconciliation was going on, and Achan didn't want to spoil any relationships we might have with our extended family, so he kept most of it to himself," said Ravi.

Both Abhi and Kiran sat down on the bed, and Ravi sat on a chair.

"It's a miracle that Achan raised us, even with the help of Janaki aunty and Mani uncle," said Abhi.

"Come on, we did have a relative who cared about us—our Appappan," said Ravi.

"Appappan? You mean Amma's father?" asked Abhi.

"Don't you remember him? He used to visit us regularly. All the expensive toys we had were bought by him. He used to cook for us and take us out for ice cream. Come on, Abhi, you should remember him—you were his favorite," laughed Ravi.

"I do remember him. Wasn't he the dark man with white hair who used to get us all those transformer toys? I was his favorite?" asked Abhi, unable to believe it since his father's parents had a hard time accepting him.

"Yeah, you used to get the most kisses from him. Maybe because you resembled Amma," noted Ravi.

"So you remember Amma?" asked Abhi slyly.

"Not really, but I remember when Appappan died. It was the first time I saw Achan cry," said Ravi, steering away from the subject. "Achan took all of us to the funeral. I remember standing far away so Amma's relatives wouldn't see us. When Appappan was lowered into the grave, Achan cried, hugging us. After the family left, Achan took us to the grave, made us drop soil onto it, and he knelt there praying for a long time. Appappan's death affected Achan a lot. He told me that Appappan was his father figure after Achachan denounced him," said Ravi.

"Ravi, Abhi, Kiran..." Gomati was calling them from downstairs. The boys looked at each other and went downstairs. Rajiv, followed by Leena, came after them into the hall. Gomati and Padmanabhan had packed their bags and were waiting downstairs. Seeing the boys, Gomati asked, "Are you all going to stay back?"

The boys nodded, and Padmanabhan said, "Very well then." He took the bags, and Leena was about to speak, but Rajiv stopped her and said, "You both know you don't have to leave. You have a new grandchild on the way, please stay for that baby's sake."

"You made your choice, and we're making ours," said Padmanabhan, and he and Gomati left the room.

"Help them with the bags," Rajiv said to the boys in a subdued voice and they rushed to help their grandparents.

Leena's eyes filled with tears, and she said to Rajiv, "I'm sorry. Because of me, this happened again."

"It's not you. It's me choosing something they don't like—that's their problem. Don't feel guilty over it," comforted Rajiv, though his eyes were moist.

**********

They had a quiet lunch, which Ravi and Abhi enjoyed a lot because Leena, along with Janaki, cooked for them, giving them a taste of their mother's cooking.

At the lunch table, when no one was speaking, Kiran suddenly asked Leena, "What am I supposed to call you?"

Everyone exchanged glances. Leena wanted to tell him to call her "Amma," but she knew the situation wouldn't go well. So, with a heavy heart, she said, "Continue calling me what you've been calling me."

In the evening, Srikant and Anjali came to visit. The boys were upstairs in Ravi's room, Leena was in her bedroom, and Rajiv was in the garden, finishing a call with Inder bhai. Seeing them, Rajiv's depressed feelings lifted. "Good to see you guys," he said to them.

Srikant and Anjali knew what had transpired. Srikant said to Rajiv, "I can't believe what happened two decades back repeated. How are you holding up?"

"Somehow, I still feel like the 21-year-old Rajiv," he said, biting his lips to stave off the sadness. "Feeling abandoned again."

"Do you regret it?" asked Srikant.

"I didn't regret doing it for Leena and Ravi then, and I don't regret doing it now for Leena and the baby," replied Rajiv.

"How's Leena?" asked Anjali.

"She's upstairs. Could you please go and console her?" Rajiv asked.

Anjali nodded and went inside the house.

"I can't understand why you didn't say she's your wife," said Srikant.

"Her uncle Sebastian has found out she's pregnant so even my unborn child is already at risk. I didn't want to risk the boys as well. I was talking to Inder bhai, you know him of course. He told me the extent of Sebastian uncle's underworld links and the number and names of the goon army he maintains, its not a pretty picture," Rajiv replied.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a scooter. Praseetha got off with a beaming smile.

"What's up, Praseetha? Why are you so happy?" asked Srikant.

"Uncle, I got all the information regarding the business dealings of your uncle Sebastian," she said, handing a heavy folder to Rajiv. "He's involved in a lot of dubious stuff, a lot of which you could leverage. I have evidence."

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