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Chapter 35: The Truth Came Out

"And we're finally free!" Sheesh exclaimed, stepping out of the hall with Swara, Sahil, Sanskaar and Kavita, waving his degree in the air with a laugh.

"Aren't you guys going to stay and meet the teachers?" Sanskaar questioned while staring at them and they shake their heads negatively, not really wanting to.

"We met enough, we don't need to meet the whole college. . ." Sahil trailed off and then smirked, "let's go grab food, all five of us and Sameer." He added, casually uttering as if he was close with Swara and Kavita.

"And when did we get close for you to say this to me?" Kavita sassily uttered while flapping her eyes, looking down at him.

"Let's grab food, and keep in touch. I don't want to be missing you guys." Sheesh spoke while blinking at Swara and Kavita, genuinely wanting to keep in touch with them.

Now that graduation was over too, there is no coming back here or for them to see their classmates anymore. It felt sad, that now they would be leaving everything here and moving on with their life.

Swara looked at Kavita who shook her head negatively, refusing and Sameer managed to join them. "I took pictures, you guys looked funny. . ." He muttered and scoffed, staring around to see them simply staring at him.

"What did I miss, why do you guys look so serious?" He asked, and Sahil cleared his throat, "we were just wondering if you're okay with grabbing something to eat?"

"Yeah, sure. I don't mind, as long as you're paying." Sameer uttered and Sahil curled a faint smile, while Sheesh interrupted "great! Let's go."

"I didn't say yes." Kavita replied and Swara held her hand, "they're paying so it should be fine." She added and Sahil and Sheesh scoffed while Sanskaar smiled. "Yes, they're paying." He uttered, backing out from the 'they' Swara had mentioned.

"They? It's him." Sheesh uttered and backed away too, Sahil scoffed and nodded. "Fine, I'm paying."

"I'll go to my family and meet you there later on, text me the address." Sanskaar uttered and started rushing away.

They watched him rush off and started walking, while walking Swara's eyes made contact with Rajveer's eyes. He was stood at a distance, curling a small smile at her. She returned the smile and glanced away. His eyes moistened and his heart felt heavy.

'Despite being so close to me, you're still so far.' He inhaled and turned his head to the side, staring at Ragini who was confused. "Dad, are you crying?"

He shook his head negatively, "something went into my eyes." He lied and wiped his eyes, pretending to get something out.

"Are you sure?" She asked, making sure and he curled a smile nodding his head at her. She believed him and then smiled, "Dad, can we buy food on our way home? There's this new place that opened and I wanted to try their food."

He nodded his head at her and her eyes beamed with happiness, she locked her arm with Rajveer's. "Thank you Dad!" She chirped and started walking with him.

X

Janki was continuously staring at the entrance that lead to the car park from the campus. She watched few students leaving with their parents and continued watching, hoping to spot Rajveer. Her eyes fell on Sujata, Ram, Durga Prasad and Annapurna who stopped in front of their car.

She swallowed her spit, staring at Ram who was speaking to Sujata and Durga Prasad. She clenched her fists, recalling Shekhar's words. She couldn't tolerate the glance of them, starting to feel suffocated and angry. All she wanted to do is get mad at them and curse them, yet she was terrified to hear the truth, that may come forth. As much as she wanted the truth, her heart wasn't strong enough to hold the guilt. It was scaring her, their sight was scaring them. Her eyes moistened and she opened the car door, stepping out.

"If what Shekhar said was true, how can they be at peace after ruining our whole life. What did my child ever do to them? Why did they do this to her!" She mumbled to herself and closed the door, staring at them with resentment and anger.

Her eyes moved to the side and she watched Sanskaar stop in front of them with a smile, showing them his degree. Ram and Durga Prasad caressed his hair proudly while Sujata pulled his cheek happily, Annapurna tapped his cheek with a smile. "He looks Swara's age, could she be here too?" A sudden thought came onto her mind and she slowly moved her gazes around the car park, to maybe spot Swara.

She felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned around seeing Rajveer and Ragini standing in front of her, confused.

"Janki, what are you doing here?" Rajveer asked and Janki swallowed, exhaling as she prepared herself to speak. She didn't even know what to say or where to begin from. So many thoughts were on her mind, yet his truth was the only truth she could ever trust in this whole world.

Janki held onto Rajveer's hand, and stared into his eyes. "Rajveer. . . I. . ." She was struggling to speak and breathed out, calming herself down. Her heart began palpating and Rajveer was staring down at her with confusion.

"Janki, are you okay?"

"I. . . I went to meet Shekhar. He said that his daughter is our daughter. He said you already knew. . . He's lying right?"

Ragini scrunched her eyebrows and stared at Rajveer, who widened his eyes. He swallowed and Janki shook him.

"Tell me, why didn't you tell me you met him? He fed you this lie too right? It's not true, is it?"

Rajveer avoided eye-contact, feeling bad and removed Janki's hand from his hand.

"Why are you avoiding eye-contact?" She questioned in a serious tone, yet was panicking seeing Rajveer silent. "Say something!"

"Janki. . ."

"It's not true, right?"

"Janki. . ."

"Shekhar lied about it, so that he could torment us. . ."

"Janki. . ."

"He lied so that he could plan something new to destroy our happy lives. . ."

"It's true!" Rajveer exclaimed, holding Janki by the shoulders. Janki's teary eyes met Rajveer's and her heart skipped a beat, that gaze was not a liar's gaze. She knew now, that, it was true. The coldness spread through her body and tears seeped down her cheeks.

"It's true, Swara is our daughter." Rajveer uttered, shocking Ragini who was flabbergasted with what she was hearing. "After I met Shekhar, I didn't believe him at first too. But I did the DNA test with Swara and it came back positive." He confessed and Janki felt her body numbing, she lost the strength to stand and fell back, leaning against her car while Ragini's eyes moistened.

"Swara, is our daughter. . . I wanted to tell you everything after I confirmed it myself."

Janki's tears continued seeping down and she sobbed, holding onto Rajveer's arm while crying.

"Dad. . . Mom. . . What is this? What are you two talking about?" Ragini interrupted with glassy eyes.

"I'll tell you everything after we get home." Rajveer replied to Ragini and inhaled his breath, trying to control his tear.

Anger flushed through Janki and she opened her eyes, instantly glancing her head to the side, eyeing the Maheshwari's with pure hatred and anger. Rajveer glanced in the direction she was looking in and looked on.

"This is all their fault! How can they smile after. . . Doing this to me?" She cried and started heading toward them.

"Janki. . . Stop." Rajveer uttered but it was too late, she was already near them. He exhaled and closed his eyes for few seconds, before catching up to her.

At a distance, Swara, Sameer, Kavita and Sheesh were waiting in front of a car, while watching Sahil speaking to his mother.

"Kavita, didn't your parents come?" Sheesh asked and Kavita sighed, shaking her head negatively, yet her expressions changed into hurt. "They're too busy." She replied and lowered her gaze, preventing herself from letting her sadness show.

"Is he gone to talk or narrate a whole book to her. We've been waiting for 10 minutes now." Sameer uttered in disbelief while looking at Sahil, making a face.

"Exactly, his talk isn't even ending. They can talk at home too so why are they wasting their time here."

Swara scoffed, finding it funny and glanced around, suddenly seeing Janki, Rajveer, Ragini and the Maheshwari's.

Janki sobbed, breathing out while glaring at Ram and Durga Prasad. Sanskaar flapped his confused eyes at Janki, while Sujata, Annapurna, Durga Prasad and Ram were stunned to see her in front of her.

"Janki?" Ram shockingly gasped, and Janki raised her hand, swinging it across his face as hard as she could, shocking everyone, including Swara, who was watching from far.

"Janki!" Sujata screamed as loud as she could, appalled and angry by Janki's sudden behaviour.

"Why are you screaming?" She questioned and stared at Sujata, "I should be the one to scream!" She raised her voice as loud as she could, glaring at Sujata who was in disbelief and amusement.

"What is this behaviour? How can you slap him like that!" Sujata argued back and Janki wiped her tears, "I have every right to slap him! Especially after what him and Shekhar did to me!"

"What Shekhar did isn't our fault!" Durga Prasad decided to step in, embarrassed and furious with Janki's behaviour.

"It is your fault as much as it is his! You were also involved!" Janki lashed back at Durga Prasad, gaining attention from everyone around them.

"We weren't!" Ram exclaimed, speaking up, "we didn't even know he stole. . ."

"Do you think I'll believe that?" Janki interrupted and held Ram by the collar. Sujata grabbed her hand and pushed her off.

"You're crossing your limits Janki!" She shouted and stood in front of Ram, defending him. Rajveer held onto Janki before she could fall, "Janki, hold a grip of yourself!" He whispered yet she paid no heed to his words.

"You guys crossed yours!" She shouted back at Sujata, "how can you guys smile and laugh like this after ruining our lives? How can you be at peace after stealing my daughter away from me for so many years!" Annapurna, Sanskaar and Sujata were stunned to hear Janki.

"We didn't steal her! Shekhar did, I don't know what lies he told you, but we didn't even know he had stolen her until after he was arrested!" Durga Prasad exclaimed as loud as he could, arguing with Janki.

Sanskaar felt his heart drop after hearing Durga Prasad and witnessing this whole situation in front of him. 'Could they be talking about, Swara?' His mind questioned, causing him to worry.

"And what made you think I would believe you? You were close to Shekhar, how could he not have told you about his plan? He would tell you everything! So don't feed me that lie."

"So you're choosing to believe Shekhar?" Ram questioned, hurt and offended by Janki. "The same Shekhar that killed Sharmishta, and later stole your daughter?"

"Yes, cause that same Shekhar said he did it for you!" Janki screamed and walked forward again, pushing Sujata out of the way and holding Ram by the collar.

Before Sujata could fall, Sanskaar held onto her shocked and confused with the situation.

"What did my daughter ever do to you? Why did you ruin her life like this? What was her fault? You hated me so you should've taken it out on me! Why did you involve my daughter? Why did you. . . Let Shekhar torture her for all her life! Did you not feel bad for her at all?"

"I told you! We didn't know, we didn't know that he had stolen her until after he got arrested! We thought she was his biological daughter! We thought he was mistreating her only because she was your cousin Sharmishta's daughter! We tried, we actually tried to free her but he took her custody and out a probation on us! We weren't allowed anywhere near her!" Ram lashed back out and freed his collar from her hold, "you're the reason why this happened! You're the reason why your daughter was in so much pain for all her life! You're the reason why Swara had been tortured by Shekhar! You're the reason behind every pain she had to endure! He hated you so much that he took your daughter away from you only to make her and your life miserable!" Ram added furiously, pushing Janki away.

He was angry and annoyed with Janki, glaring at her while Janki stumbled back, dumbfound and in shock after hearing Ram. It was true, she couldn't argue back, it was indeed her own fault that her daughter had to go through all of this. Her heart pained and touched her chest, starting to feel suffocated.

"Janki. . ." Rajveer held onto Janki by the shoulders, worried and concerned with moist eyes.

Ragini stared at them with tears rolling down her cheek, she walked forward and watched Janki collapsing onto Rajveer's arms. "Mom!"

Sanskaar looked behind Rajveer, releasing a small gasp after seeing Swara, who had tears rolling down her cheeks, with Sheesh, Sahil, Sahil's mother, Sameer and Kavita behind her, listening to their conversation. Swara swallowed and stumbled back while staring at the ground, numb and in aghast.

To Be Continued
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I'm so sorry for being late, I was supposed to write it a long time ago but I just got busy with Ramadan, I couldn't focus or concentrate and I found time just now.  I'll try and update the next part soooon, but I can't promise. Thank you for being patient with meee! 🥺❤️

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