Page 52 of When Love Trespassed

“I trusted you,” he growled at Shaurya. “I treated you like family. And this is how you repay me? Sneaking around behind my back, luring my granddaughter and getting involved with her?”

“That’s not what happened!” Nandini’s voice rang out. Her cheeks were flushed with emotion. “Don’t blame him, Daadu. We haven’t done anything wrong. I’m in love with him too.”

Grandpa froze.

His hand fell from Shaurya’s collar as he turned towards her, stunned.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No, you’re not. He’s just confused you. Filled your head with nonsense. He’s brainwashed you into thinking this is love. You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I know exactly what I’m saying,” she shot back, her voice sharp.

His face crumpled with part pain, part betrayal. “How long?” he asked hoarsely. “How long have you been lying to me?”

Shaurya spoke before Nandini could. “We were going to tell you tomorrow. I wanted to—”

“Tomorrow?” Grandpa spat the word like poison. “What a convenient excuse. Now that you’ve been caught, suddenly you had plans to come clean?”

Then, something shifted in his stance. His eyes narrowed further as he looked at Nandini. “Wait. You told me you were going out with Priya tonight.”

His whole body trembled. “So you lied. You lied to me?”

She hesitated. That split-second pause said everything. Her silence hurt more than any words ever could.

“She would never lie to me,” Grandpa murmured, more to himself than anyone. “You’ve taught her to lie.”

His fury ignited again, and he lunged toward Shaurya. But this time, Shaurya stopped him and caught his hand midair, firm but respectful.

“You have to trust us,” he said quietly.

“Stay away from her,” Grandpa snapped, yanking his arm free.

“I won’t,” Shaurya replied, unwavering.

That was the final crack. Grandpa’s chest rose and fell with barely contained fury. His face was flushed as he pointed a shaky finger at him. “You are not welcome in this house again. You hear me?”

Nandini reached for him, her voice laced with worry. “Daadu, please. Your blood pressure will spike again. Please… just come inside.”

Lakshmi joined her, trying to pull him back towards the house. But his feet resisted, and his voice boomed, spitting broken accusations as they dragged him away.

“Don’t even come near our villa. You are so fond of sending legal notices, aren’t you? This time, I will be the one sending them if you so much as look at my Nandu again.”

He kept shouting as Lakshmi pulled him away.

Shaurya instinctively took a step forward, ready to follow them to the Raichand house, but Nandini stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“Don’t,” she said. Her voice broke, but she stood strong. “Not now. Let me calm him down.”

“I don’t want him to lash out at you,” Shaurya protested, his jaw tight.

“If you’re there, it’ll only get worse. Please. Let me handle this.”

He hated it. Every inch of him screamed to go after her. But in the end, he nodded. Just once.

She turned and ran to help Lakshmi, who was now half-carrying Grandpa into the house.

Shaurya remained behind, fists clenched, heart pounding, fury and helplessness warring inside him. The night had unravelled within seconds. Everything that could go wrong had. And now, the only woman he loved was walking into a storm, just to protect them both and what they had.

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

Raichand Villa

As soon as the heavy doors of Raichand Villa closed behind them, Grandpa jerked his arm free from Lakshmi and Nandini’s hold.

“I didn’t expect this from you, Nandini,” he said, hurt masking his voice. “How long has this been going on?”

Nandini opened her mouth, but the words got caught in her throat.

“Answer me!” he barked, and without warning, his trembling hands clutched her arms, not violently, but with a desperate need for answers. His body shook with rage and heartbreak. “Was it back then? When he came here pretending to look after me when I had fractured my leg? Has it been since then?”

“Daadu, it’s not like that—” Nandini began, but he cut her off before she could explain.

“Then what is it like?” he demanded. “You barely know this man. Is it just because he lives next door? Because he wears a sharp suit and flashes a charming smile? Is that all it takes to fall for someone these days?”

Nandini’s face changed. The pain in her eyes was quickly replaced by fire. She yanked her arms free and took a step back, standing her ground.

“Is that really what you think of me?” she asked, her voice cracking with restrained anger. “That I’d fall for a man just because he looks good in a suit?”

He hesitated. The fire in her eyes made him falter. For a brief second, his fury wavered as realisation crept in. That maybe he had crossed a line.

But Nandini didn’t back down. “I don’t know when it started. I don’t know how or why. But it did. And that’s what love is, Daadu. You and Daadi always used to say… that love doesn’t follow logic. It just… happens . It finds you when the time is right.”

Grandpa’s face darkened again. “But Shaurya isn’t the right man for you.”

“Why?” she asked, her eyes wide and pleading. “Just because he’s a few years older than me?”

“Not just a few years older, Nandini. He’s nearly a decade older than you. That’s a whole generation between you. You may not see it now, but eventually you will. And not to mention, he’s been married before.”

“So what?” Nandini argued, raising her voice. “You are talking as if second marriage is a crime. Even you had a second marriage with Daadi.”

Grandpa’s expression hardened instantly. His eyes narrowed, and for the first time, his voice had an edge. “Don’t you dare compare the two.”

Nandini flinched at his tone, but stood firm.

“I was a widower , Nandini. Not a divorcee ,” he snapped sharply.

“There’s a difference. A big one. My first marriage didn’t end in failure.

I didn’t walk away from it. I was happy with my wife.

She passed away. That’s not the same as Shaurya’s case.

His wife left him, walked away unhappy. That alone is a red flag.

It should be enough of a reason to make you think twice about dreaming of a future with him. ”

But Nandini didn’t back down.

“What was his fault in that?” she asked, her eyes brimming with tears, but her voice remained steady. “You don’t know anything about their marriage. I do. Shaurya told me everything.”

“And you believed him?” Grandpa scoffed. “Of course he made himself look good! How can you be so na?ve, Nandu? Do you really think he’d tell you the truth about his flaws just like that?”

“He did , Daadu,” she insisted. “He told me everything. Every mistake he made. Every painful detail. He didn’t sugarcoat it or play the blame game. But he wasn’t the only one at fault. His ex-wife gave up too.”

She took a deep breath and continued, “And it wasn’t just his workaholic nature that put a strain on their marriage.

His wife had an affair, Daadu. For almost a year, behind his back.

That’s what really broke them. It wasn’t just his shortcomings.

He was still trying to make it work while she was already somewhere else emotionally.

So no, it’s not fair to blame him entirely for the divorce. ”

Grandpa was shocked to hear that. He had heard many rumours around the community, quiet judgments tossed over fences and teacups about Shaurya and his failed marriage. But never once had that little detail surfaced. Not even in the ugliest retellings.

And now, he understood why Shaurya had stayed silent all this time. He hadn’t wanted to destroy his ex-wife’s image, so he never revealed the truth, not even to clear his own name. He was protecting a woman who had betrayed him, just to preserve her dignity.

A flicker of pity touched Grandpa’s heart but he masked it quickly. He wasn’t ready to show that yet.

“That marriage didn’t fall apart because of one person. You always taught me to value honesty, Daadu. And he’s never lied to me… not once. He took responsibility for what went wrong. He didn’t hide behind excuses,” Nandini said, her voice firm with belief.

Grandpa let out a long, weary sigh and turned away, as if trying to hold back something worse. “I don’t care about his sob story,” he muttered. “I care about you. And I will not stand and let you destroy your happiness for a man who’s already failed at love once.”

“He is my happiness!” Nandini cried out, a single tear finally slipping down her cheek.

“No,” Grandpa said coldly. “He’s not. He’s just a phase.

And, like all phases, it, too, will pass.

You don’t want to marry Rohit? Fine. I’m not forcing that.

Focus on your work—your startup, your future.

But whatever was going on between you and Shaurya…

it ends here. Now. You are not seeing him again. ”

Something shifted in her then. A fire she hadn’t known she carried lit up behind her eyes.

“NO,” she said firmly, yet her tone was respectful, gentle. “I will not accept that.”

Grandpa blinked, startled by the sudden defiance in her voice.

“I’m twenty-five years old, Daadu. I’m not a child anymore. I’m old enough to make my own choices, my own decisions. And yes, that includes who I want to marry and spend my life with.”

“Nandini—” he began, but she didn’t let him finish.

“I could walk out of this door right now and marry him. Even if you don’t approve.

Against your will. But rest assured, I won’t,” she said, her voice trembling.

“Not because I am scared. But because I love you. More than anyone or anything in the world. More than my own dad. You and Daadi raised me, protected me, gave me everything I ever wanted. I would never hurt you like that.”

Tears welled up in her eyes again. “But please… please don’t ask me to break my own heart.”