Page 138
Story: When Love Trespassed
“I always have everything figured out,” she replied with a soft giggle.
He tickled her playfully before pulling away. “Okay, Miss‘everything-figured-out,’what are you going to tell your grandfather about today’s meeting? Does he even know who the investor was?”
Nandini pulled back slightly and sighed. “No. I haven’t told him. I couldn’t—”
Before she could finish, a deep, familiar voice cut through the room like a whip.
“Couldn’t tell me,” it said sharply, “or neverintendedto?”
They both turned, frozen in place.
Standing at the threshold of the villa’s living room was Grandpa. His eyes swept across the room, narrowing at the sight of their joined hands and at the closeness between them. He stepped inside without a word, his eyes flicking between the two of them.
Shaurya and Nandini were caught completely off guard by his sudden appearance. Of all places, of all moments, why now? They never expected him to show up at Shaurya’s villa, let alone find them together like this. And given his firm disapproval of their relationship, seeing them together, this close, was bound to hit him hard.
***************
A Few Minutes Earlier
Grandpa sat on the wicker sofa beside the mango tree, his fingers loosely wrapped around the curved handle of his wooden cane. His eyes were fixed on the vast expanse of the sky visible through the canopy of leaves above him. He sat still, as if waiting for a response to the conversation only he could hear.
He looked up at the branches swaying ever so gently, and whispered, “Ambika… tonight, I’m leaving for London. With Nandini.”
His voice faltered slightly.
“You know I’ve never left you behind during mango season. Not even once. But this year... I have to. Taking her away from this place feels like the only option I have left.”
He paused, the silence around him long and heavy. There was no rustling of leaves, no breeze whispering through the branches. Even the tree, which he liked to believe held his late wife’s spirit, seemed unwilling to speak to him today.
His eyes dropped to the roots near his feet, and he asked, quietly, almost to himself, “Am I doing the right thing?”
There was still no sign… no answer.
He let out a deep sigh and carried on, as if pouring his heart out might somehow give him the answer he so badly needed. “Shaurya is… a good man. I can see that. I can feel it. And I know he loves Nandini. There’s no doubt about that. But how can I give our granddaughter to him? How can I hand her over to a divorcee who has already failed at love once? How can I allow that, Ambika?”
His voice cracked slightly, but he continued.
“But then… it’s killing me to see our Nandu like this. She’s holding herself together just to keep me from falling apart. She’s agreed to come to London, but her heart is still here. And no matter how far I take her, I know it won’t change the way she feels about him.”
A beat passed. Then another.
“I thought distance would make it all right. That a little time apart would make her forget him. But now… I’m beginning to wonder. Was it ever a solution, or was it just me running away from the truth I don’t want to accept?”
His shoulders sagged in dejection.
“She’s our baby girl. We promised we’d never let her cry, remember? But here she is… hiding her tears just to protect me. And I… I’m the one standing in the way of her happiness.”
He turned back to the tree, his eyes almost pleading.
“If you were here, Ambika, you’d know exactly what to do. You always brought clarity, even when I was too stubborn to see it. Tell me, would you have supported me in this? Or would you have stood by her?”
Still nothing. Only silence.
He closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. “Please. Give me a sign. Something. Anything.”
And then, as if the tree had been listening all along, a small mango leaf broke free from the branch above him. It floated down gently through the air, as if guided by something unseen, and drifted toward the invisible boundary separating the Raichand and Ahuja villas.
Grandpa watched in confusion as the leaf fluttered until it caught the breeze again and landed straight into Shaurya’s pool. He blinked, unsure why something so small struck him so deeply.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138 (Reading here)
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156