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Moving on...💃💃💃

'Words in single quotes' - Thoughts

"Words in double quotes" - Talking

Chapter 14 - Truth Enables

"Yes, I'm listening Laksh."

"Baba, whatever I'm going to tell you now, I should have told you long back. But I was too afraid. I tried to hide behind the falsities. But...but in the end, I could not escape. I dug my own grave with my lies!"

Durgaprasad was confused by his words. "Beta, what are you saying?"

However, before Laksh could explain, a loud shout interrupted them.

"DURGAPRASAD!"

They both looked towards the door to find Parvati standing there. She looked angry, yet determined.

Hearing the loud shout, Annapurna and the rest of the family members rushed into the living room. Swara and Ragini arrived there as well.

Ragini gasped as she guessed why her grandmother was there. 'No! She promised. She promised she wouldn't tell the truth to Bade Papa. She...she can't!' Ragini rushed forward and held her grandmother's hand. "Dadi no. Please don't. You told me you wouldn't tell them about Laksh's truth." she whispered.

Parvati placed her hand on Ragini's. "I won't back down from my promise Ladoo. I won't tell about Laksh. But I won't sit here knowing that you will never be the daughter-in-law of this house." Parvati whispered back. 'I want to see you happy with someone who values you Ladoo. And I can't find the perfect groom for you unless I clear to Durgaprasad that this marriage between Laksh and you is null and void!'

"Bu-"

"Shh! Let me handle this." Parvati moved past her and went to stand before Durgaprasad. "I came here to tell you something important."

Durgaprasad nodded. "Yes. What is it?" he asked sincerely. 'Everyone seems to have something to tell me today.'

"I wish to break Laksh and Ragini's marriage deal."

Durgaprasad's eyes widened at her words. Same was with Ram, Sujata and Parineeta. Annapurna and Adarsh weren't surprised. After all, they already knew it was bound to happen at some point.

Sanskar, on the other hand, felt excited. 'So she found out the truth, eh? I don't have any doubt that a big fight is about to break out.'

"What is this? Is this some prank? Parvati, I do not like such jokes." Durgprasad warned.

"It's no joke. I'm breaking their marriage deal. That's it."

"Why?"

"Because I found someone better for my Ladoo. Someone who is far more rich and powerful." she spoke with a smirk. She was lying so as to not break her promise to Ragini. But she wouldn't let Durgaprasad know it.

"That's your reason? Is money everything for you?!" Durgaprasad hollered. "This is disgusting! How could you be so selfish Parvati!? You're nothing but a gold-digger!"

Parvati felt like shouting back on how it was his son who was the wretched one. But boldly took in the insult thrown at her with a sneer. "Whatever you want to think, think! But Ladoo will no longer marry to the Maheshwari family. "

'What's she doing? Why isn't she telling them about Laksh?' Sanskar wondered. It was clearly not turning the way he expected.

Durgaprasad gritted his teeth in anger. "I have never seen such a low minded woman like you in my life! You are willing to treat Ragini like she is a property for barter?! How ca-"

"I don't care what you say. I've declared my decision." Parvati looked towards Ragini. "We're done here. Let's go. You're not coming here again. Ever!"

"Wait! You can't just break it like it was a child's play! A marriage isn't something to be toyed with." Parineeta uttered, perplexed. "What about Sanskar? If you take away Ragini, then who will calm him down?"

"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure he will be fine. I can assure you that." she spoke as she glanced at Sanskar with a nasty look.

While the rest of the family looked at her confused, Sanskar understood. 'She knows about me. Ragini must have told her.' he felt fear settle in him. 'What if Ragini's Dadi tells the family? My plans, my revenge, my five years of exile...everything will be for nothing!'

"How will he be fine? Don't you know his condition?! Let her come here at least for him." Annaupurna pleaded. She accepted the breaking of the marriage as she knew it was her son's mistake in reality. However, she didn't want Sanskar having to suffer for it.

"Yes. We won't force you for the marriage. But for Sanskar at least let her visit." Adarsh joined in. 'Ragini is an amazing person. My stupid oaf of a brother was an idiot to reject her. But now he realized it. If Ragini keeps visiting, maybe he can make her fall in love with him again. I want to see both of them happy.'

Parineeta narrowed her eyes at Adarsh and Annapurna. For some reason, she could see that they weren't much surprised or against Parvati's decision to break off the marriage agreement. Parvati's voice broke her out of her thoughts.

"Condition?" she let out a humorless laugh. "Oh, I'm well aware of his condition. Do you want me to explain?"

Ragini gasped at her words. "Dadi, no!" she looked at her pleadingly. 'If she tells them about Sanskar, he would no doubt reveal Lucky's truth. The entire family will be in shambles! Dadi, please don't do this.'

Parvati, however, was beyond understanding Ragini's pleas. She promised not to speak about Laksh. She beared the brunt of it and all of Durgaprasad's insults. But she won't go home without a sense of victory.

Sanskar's breath caught in his throat as Dadi would no doubt reveal the truth. 'There's no escape now. Well, if I'm going down, I'm taking Lucky with me! I'll spill out everything about him, his affair with Swara, his lies...everything! Let's see how Durgaprasad deals with his son's crimes.'

"Sans-"

"Dadi, enough." came Laksh's voice, making them all turn to look at him. "You don't need to hide the truth anymore or create some more lies for me. I don't want to live on any lies any longer."

"Laksh..."

"No Ragini. It's about time I grew up." he smiled at her. "Today, if I have the courage to stand here, it's because of you, Maa and Adarsh bhai. I don't want to back down now...not today."

Ragini looked at him with a pained look. "Laksh, are you sure? You realize what is at stake, don't you?"

Laksh let out a deep breath. "I could say I'm no longer afraid. But then I would be lying to myself." he turned to look at his father and walked towards him. "Baba, the real reason Dadi wants to cancel this marriage agreement is...is because of me."

"What are you saying Laksh?"

"The truth. One which I should have never hidden from you."

After some moments...

Silence reigned as Laksh finished explaining everything. His confession to Ragini, about loving Swara, Ragini's acceptance their lie to their families...everything.

No one knew how Durgaprasad would react. However, they were sure it would either be something that would leave everyone shaken.

Ragini moved away from her Dadi and went to stand beside Laksh. "Bade Papa, please don't blame Laksh entirely. I too agreed to hide the truth alongwith him."

"But if I never agreed to this marriage knowing I loved Swara, none of this would have happened! I was too selfish. For Sanskar, I agreed to marry you Ragini." Laksh pointed out.

"But you told me the truth on time."

"So what? Didn't I hurt you?" Laksh asked in a soft tone making her look away. "Don't defend me Ragini."

"But La-"

Laksh shook his head. "No Ragini! That still doesn't excuse me of my mistakes."

Durgaprasad let out a shaky sigh, making all heads turn to him. He staggered back and sat on the couch with a heavy heart. Opening his glasses, he rubbed his hand over his eyes.

Was those to rub the tears? Was it to hide the tiredness? They didn't know. But right then, he looked so vulnerable and timid, unlike the roaring and prideful Maheshwari patriarch.

"Are...are you okay?" Annapurna questioned in a soft tone, coming to sit beside him and placed a had on his shoulder.

"Did you know?" he asked, looking at her.

Annapurna couldn't meet his eyes and looked down.

He let out a wry smile. "You too? Along with Laksh, you too hid the truth from me? You are supposed to be my wife first, before a mother. I didn't expect this from you."

"I...I'm sorry." she apologized. How could she make him understand a mother's heart?

Laksh came and kneeled down before his parents, holding their hands. "Maa, Baba...I'm so sorry for disappointing you both. I'm so sorry! I acted like an immature, selfish brat that only saw his own miseries. I refused to see the happiness and safety that I was getting at the expense of others! You raised me to be a good human being. I failed you. I failed you as a son. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Baba. My hollow words are the only things that I can think of to offer you right now."

Durgaprasad removed his hand from Laksh's and stood up, making both mother and son stand up as well.

Without a warning, a loud and harsh sound of skin hitting skin was heard as Durgaprasad slapped Laksh. The sound resounded around the silent room in echoes.

Ragini flinched from fear. Fear, not for herself, but for what action Durgaprasad would take on Laksh. 'How did things escalate so quickly? Never did I expect this to happen. Was it the right time to tell Bade Papa the truth?'

"That was for the lies that you fed us." Durgaprasad grit out.

Laksh nodded without a word. After all, he deserved it. He expected some more slaps or harsh words from his father, and readied himself for it.

However, what he wasn't prepared for was the arms that wrapped around him, pulling him into a hug.

"This is for finally working up the courage to tell the truth before it was too late." Durgaprasad spoke, patting Laksh's back.

"Wh-what?"

His father broke the hug and smiled a teary smile at Laksh. "Boy, today you have made me proud. I never thought my Lucky would finally be able to grow out of his spoilt nature. I've never seen you be so bold and accepting of your faults...ever. in fact I, your own father, is too filled with ego to apologize. Maybe if I was in your shoes, I would have never accepted the blame on my own head. But you my son, despite knowing the consequences, went forward to speak the truth."

"But I was late."

"Late to tell me, yes. Late to realize your mistake, no." Durgaprasad smiled at him and pointed towards Ragini. "That is the girl who would have suffered if you didn't tell the truth back then. Stringing her along with a fake promise of love would be a sin. But you told her the truth."

"Bade Papa isn't wrong Laksh. It did hurt. It hurt a lot when you told me the truth. But your lie would have hurt me more. At least it showed that you care about me enough to tell me what you feel." Ragini spoke with a genuine smile.

Laksh smiled back.

Everyone in the room seemed to be relieved on the reconciliation of father and son.

Everyone except four individuals that is.

Sujata and Sanskar glared at them. This was not how they expected the events to turn out.

'First Dadiji refuses to reveal about Laksh. Then she tries to expose me instead! Now...now Bade Papa decided to be understanding?!' Sanskar balled his hands into fists until he could feel the nails dig into his palms. "Where was this compassion when I wanted to be with Kavita? Just because he is his son, Durgaprasad is forgiving him so damn easily?!"

"Calm down beta. We don't want them to know about you." Sujata whispered back.

Dadi, too, was fuming. She wanted a greater punishment for Laksh. She wanted Durgaprasad and Laksh to suffer. But alas! They were hugging things out instead of the nasty fight she was expecting.

Apart from the three, there was another who was pissed off.

It was Swara.

Swara couldn't believe the place Ragini had in Laksh's life. He even thanked her along with his mother and bhai. Swara grit her teeth in anger. 'Did Ragini become as important to him as them, when I couldn't be? Not once did he thank or express the support that I lended! And everyone seems to be zoomed on Ragini or Laksh. They are only concerned about her. What about me?! He loves me. Didn't he wrong me too in a way? He never told me the truth. I forced it out of Ragini!'

"What about me? You say you love me, yet I had to find out the truth from Ragini." she finally spoke up, unable to stand by.

"You already knew I liked you and not Ragini, Swara. There was no need to tell you. You were the one who accused me before hand of blackmailing Ragini before I could even explain, remember? But Ragini intervened that time."

Swara didn't have a reply to that.

"Swara knew? I always knew you were hiding something!" Parvati accused. "You knew Laksh didn't love Ragini genuinely, and yet you didn't tell her about it? What kind of sister are you?"

"She told me she would die if Laksh refuses her a second time. What was I supposed to do if Laksh was obsessed with me?!" Swara defended.

"That's why you decided to marry Ragini to Laksh without telling anyone the truth? Laksh would be out of your tail, and you would have taken credit for getting Ragini the love of her life? Killing two birds with one stone. Was that it?" Parvati sneered.

"Wh-what!? No!"

"Dadi, please. It's not Swara's fault either. She was trying to do what's right." Ragini consoled.

"To do what's right? Or to do what she stubbornly thought was right according to her?" Parvati hissed.

"Whatever it might have been, it's not my fault. Why are you blaming it all on me?" Swara teared up. "Why are you accusing me? I'm not the one who told Laksh to fall for me. I'm not the one who loved him! He is."

"Stop your fake drama. Your victim card won't work on me! On fact, I wasn't even accusing you with those claims." Parvati shouted, clearly pissed off. "You're creating your own drama!"

"I'm not!"

"But you love him now, don't you? Now even the truth is out. You must feel really happy that there ain't no obstacle in between now!"

"I never said I love him!"

"But...but Swara, you told me you love me." Laksh uttered. "Just outside. And even all this time you were with me. All these days, were you lying?"

Swara was in a fix. On one hand, Laksh had asked those questions. On the other hand, accepting his claim would mean Dadi was right. "I meant I...I like you Laksh. I admire you. But that's it. You perceived it wrong! That's it."

"That's it? That's it?!" Laksh neared her in anger. "All this time you just admired me? And I thought that you loved me like you claimed."

"Well, I...I like you, I won't deny that. But love is a strong word." she looked to the side, unable to meet his gaze.

"What are you saying Swara? Laksh loves you so much! I thought...I thought you did too." Ragini was confused by Swara.

"Unbelievable Swara! I had a hunch about this, but now it seems my hunch was true." He let out a wry smile. "Guess it's good in a way. I don't need to feel guilty now."

"You all! You all different levels of messed up personified!" Parvati shouted. She went and grabbed Ragini's hand. "There's nothing left here for us Ladoo. You'll only be used in this household. It's time I searched a right groom for you."

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~ 🌹 Mona 🌹