Page 15 of When Love Trespassed

He took a defiant step forward, his eyes burning with intense dislike.

“But you? You couldn’t even hold on to the one person you promised forever to.

Your wife left you, didn’t she? And not quietly either.

She left you because no woman could live with a man so self-absorbed, so cold, so emotionally bankrupt. ”

The silence that followed was deafening.

Shaurya’s fists clenched at his sides. His breathing was heavy, his eyes wild, as though something inside him had cracked wide open. Each word from Grandpa seemed to chip away every carefully placed brick in the wall he’d so painstakingly built around himself.

A beat passed. Then another, before Grandpa spoke again.

“A man like you will never understand what true love is. That’s why your wife left you. In fact, no woman could ever fall in love with a man like you.”

Nandini rushed towards them, her body on high alert, her instinct screaming to her that something was wrong. Even from a little distance, her grandfather’s loud voice cut through her heart like a knife. But it was the look on Shaurya’s face that truly shook her.

It wasn’t just anger. It was raw, unfiltered pain.

Shaurya’s patience snapped. He took one step towards Grandpa and then stopped himself…just barely.

“You’ve crossed a line, old man.”

Grandpa didn’t flinch. “And you’ve crossed too many already.”

For a heartbeat, it felt like something volcanic was about to erupt between them.

But then Shaurya took a deep breath and turned around.

His gaze swept the hall, catching everyone’s stunned expressions, the judgmental stares, and the whispers beginning to form.

He looked everywhere, but not at Nandini.

Not even once. And still, she felt the heat of it, as if it was directed straight at her.

Without another word, he strode out of the community hall, leaving behind hushed whispers, wide eyes, and a stunned silence—an aftermath only a storm like that could bring.

And Grandpa, still seething, gripped his walking stick tighter, as if trying to steady himself—both physically and emotionally. Nandini reached his side within seconds, her breath caught halfway to her lungs. She placed a gentle hand on his arm.

“Daadu…”

He didn’t speak. Just stood there, holding himself together.

Most of the community already knew the truth, how his son and daughter-in-law rarely visited, how they chose a life far away from him, leaving him to manage everything alone.

But no one had ever brought it up. Not out loud.

Not in front of him. They respected him too much for that. Until today.

Today, Shaurya had dragged it all out into the open, exposing their family’s cracks under the harsh glare of public humiliation.

She didn’t press him.

She didn’t have the heart.

Instead, she stayed by his side, silently providing support and anchoring him through this storm of emotions.

But even as she stood there, her mind was anything but calm.

It was the first time, perhaps ever, that she had seen her grandfather truly shaken. And it wasn’t because of Shaurya’s words alone, but because of the very truth that lay buried in them.

Shaurya didn’t know the whole story about the Raichand family, not really.

He didn’t know that Nandini’s parents, her grandfather’s only son and daughter-in-law, had made their home in London, and had never looked back.

That their visits were far and few between, their calls brief, their sense of duty little more than a checkmark on a holiday list.

Her grandfather never said it aloud, but she had always sensed it. That quiet ache beneath his stern exterior. The hurt that came not from being alone, but from being left behind and forgotten.

Shaurya had no right to throw that in his face. Not in front of the whole community.

But then again, neither did her grandfather have the right to say something so cruel to him. No woman could ever fall in love with a man like you. That sentence had landed like a slap, even to her ears.

She had no idea about Shaurya’s ex-wife or his past, but she had seen the pain etched across his face in that moment. And it haunted her.

For the first time, Nandini didn’t know whose side to take.

She was torn and conflicted in a way that left her mind spinning and her chest heavy.

But one thing she did know for sure was that, this couldn’t be left like this. Not after what just transpired. She couldn’t just watch him walk away after that harsh blow and pretend everything was okay.

The moment her grandfather took a breath, gave her a tight nod, and turned back to his group of old friends, who immediately began offering him support, Nandini slipped away quietly.

She didn’t even stop to think.

She walked out of the community hall to find Shaurya. She wasn’t going to let this go, not without a conversation, even if it meant marching to his villa and throwing her own chaos right into the heart of his carefully guarded walls.

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

Shaurya’s feet pounded on the pavement as if the rage inside him had settled into his very bones.

He didn’t know where he was going. His legs moved on their own will, and his mind was trapped, circling back, again and again, to the war of words exchanged in that community hall.

Keshav Raichand had crossed every line of civility tonight.

There was one thing Shaurya had mastered in his life, and that was to maintain control. But that very control had cracked like brittle glass the moment Grandpa had spoken those words.

No woman could ever fall in love with a man like you.

He had heard his fair share of cruel things before.

His divorce had been very public, messy in its silence, and heavy in its aftermath.

But tonight’s jab… it had struck something deeper inside him.

Not because it was the harshest insult he’d ever heard, but because it had echoed the darkest thoughts he still carried in the deepest part of his own mind.

He turned sharply into another lane, only to realize that this wasn’t the way to his villa.

The night air was sharp against his skin, but it did nothing to cool the burn within him.

Streetlamps flickered overhead, casting long shadows as he yanked his phone from his pocket. His thumb hovered over her name. Rhea .

One year, three months, twelve days.

It had been that long since he’d last spoken to her. Since those divorce papers had been signed, and she had walked out of his life as if it were nothing more than an expired lease.

His thumb moved on the keypad as he dialled her number.

One ring.

Two.

Three.

Still no answer.

His fury kept building as the calls went unanswered. Enough of her ugly games and drama. Tonight, he would talk to her and put an end to this once and for all.

Four.

Five.

And then…click.

“Hello?”

That voice. In the past, it used to calm the storms in his mind. Now, it just stirred them up.

He stopped mid-path, his breath coming fast.

“What the hell do you want, Rhea?” he barked. “What game are you playing now? Why did you send me that picture? You think seeing you cosying up with your new husband is going to shatter me?”

There was a pause. Then, with maddening calm, she replied, “If it didn’t matter to you, Shaurya, you wouldn’t be calling me.”

His fingers curled tighter around the phone.

“I called to say don’t ever do it again,” he growled. “I don’t want to see your face popping on my screen. I don’t want to know how ‘wholesome’ your new life is. I don’t need reminders of what a mess those two years were . For you .”

She sighed. “That picture was meant for my close friends. I don’t know how but it seems you’re still on that list. I didn’t notice it until after I hit send. But don’t worry. I’ll fix that. After this call, I’ll be blocking your number.”

“Do it,” he hissed. “It’s long overdue.”

A beat passed. Then he added in a low and venomous tone, “But even your new yacht life won’t change the fact that I was the one who walked away.”

She laughed softly. “Keep telling yourself that.”

And the line went dead.

Shaurya stared at the screen for a moment before tucking the phone back into his pocket. His knuckles ached from how tightly he had been gripping it.

He stopped, only now realising how far off track he had wandered.

The path curved through the outer edge of the community…

a stretch he rarely walked through. He exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair.

Damn the new year, he thought bitterly. Some beginnings were never meant to be fresh or peaceful.

With a renewed storm brewing inside him, Shaurya turned back and began marching towards his villa.