XXXV. Damini

"Don't force your love on a person because you will be the one suffering in the long run."

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Life, a trickier name with the trickiest meaning to it. We face many problems in it along with some solutions, that we need to discover to solve our problems. I got a problem and a solution to it, I felt as if my body was present in the office and my mind was still reeling in yesterday's incidents.

I faced a lot of things yesterday starting from facing Abhi's disappointment in me to getting demoted. Meeting a stranger whose name I don't know to become his friend and the toughest one was facing Abhi's uncle, Vinay. My mind was still fresh from the things he told me yesterday, I remember everything and it made my day worse.

"Uncle." He turned towards me after hearing my voice. His face was all tensed and he looked as if he aged many years.

" Avni." Even though I met him only a few times, I knew that he didn't commit a mistake by his voice. His voice didn't hold any regret instead it had sadness and guilt in it.

"I didn't do anything. But I didn't prevent others from doing those things to you." He took a deep breath and continued. "I was there when your parents died and saw you that night when you ran from your house. I made a deal with them and hid you from the public with the help of my brother. I thought marrying you with Abhi might change their heart and treat you good but I am wrong. They started targeting you again and this time my hands are tied."

His eyes held unshed tears in them. I felt a sense of respect grow towards him. He tried to protect me from others.

"They threatened me with something and I can't take a chance in it. I took the blame put on me silently." He stopped speaking and his shoulders shook with silent sobs. I approached him slowly and placed my hand on his shoulder trying to comfort him. He looked at me when he felt my touch.

"I tried my best to protect you Avni. But now I am unable to." His eyes held a lot of pain and sympathy towards me.

I felt bad towards the man standing in front of me, even though he knew who killed my parents he tried to keep me alive and out of their way. He took the blame for something he didn't do and now his family has abandoned him.

"Who is it, uncle?" He looked into my eyes, his eyes held uncertainty. I understood him completely and I tried to reassure him.

"Uncle I understand it. You can tell me their names and I will take care of them. And I will not let them know that you gave me their name. It's my promise." He looked into my eyes and slowly nodded his head, he opened his mouth to speak but some sound caught our attention making us glance up at my friends whose eyes were hard. I knew that they heard everything and were eager to find the person who made me suffer all my life and bring them to their knees.

"Uncle, if you want to share this with me, I can send them out. And I promise you that no one will know where I got this information from." Uncle nods his head after a moment. I signal for Akky and Nihal to leave us alone. Akky left after giving staring at her uncle for a moment.

" I will be outside. Call me if you need anything." Saying that Nihal left us alone.

"Tell me," I urged him in a soft voice. Now my heart started beating fast, I don't want to know who killed my parents and sit idle. But I remembered my promise to him.

"I believe in you Avni. Don't break my promise, or I will lose my son forever." Now understood why he kept quiet yesterday. It involved Aarav and it was his responsibility to protect his son and I will never blame him for it.

"I met Damini in college, my brother had his friends back then. When I joined the same college, I didn't join the group and Damini became my best friend. Damini was envious of my brother's group and liked hanging around them. Your mother and your father fell in love, and slowly my brother and Raghav got their partners." He gave out a small smile reminiscing it. The thought of them all spending their time together brought a smile to my face.

"After that incident, Damini became distant from me, she started skipping college, I loved her from the first moment but then I found that she was in love with your father." He took a deep breath. "After your mom and dad married she started acting crazy and I tried to save her from heartbreak by showing her, my love. She slowly came out of that craze, we started building our life. I thought she loved me but she never loved me, and I realized it late." He closed his eyes for a moment. I felt his pain, I can see myself in him. I didn't receive the love I deserve from my husband either.

"We married before you were born. Everything was good and then the company started getting high profits, you were born. Abhi and Akky were born. We were trying for a baby and everything was good or so I thought. I found it after your parents were killed that it was my wife who killed them. I remember it clearly, after finding you in Raghav's house. She was standing there and laughing crazily at something, she kept on saying that she killed all her hurdles and that she can live peacefully without you in her life. I was terrified at that moment, I don't know what to do and she was pregnant at that time."

I let the tears fall from my eyes, I could not believe that I envied a woman who killed my mother. I let the tears fall for the pain he faced all these years. He continued despite the tears falling from his eyes. "I know I was wrong but I wanted to protect my love, so I didn't tell anyone about this. I wanted to protect my child along with her, my hands were tied, I took her to a phycologist and gave her some treatment however she always hated you. She loved Abhi and Akky as her own, but just before you came back to our lives, she started acting weird. I thought that I can handle her but I was wrong once again."

He swallowed hard. "The reason we left early after your marriage was I found something important. She always treated Abhi as her son but when you came into his life she changed, she was planning to kill you along with Abhi and Diya." I stopped listening to him, my thoughts went back to that dream I had, I shuddered remembering the car accident and Abhi and Diya inside the car.

"You need to stop her Avni." I came out of my thoughts when I heard my name. "I don't care how you are going to punish her but please protect my children. I love them all." He placed a pen drive in my hand.

"You will know when to use it. Keep it safe." He kissed my forehead and started towards the main door. He stopped at the door and turned towards me.

"I want to tell one thing Avni, I loved a woman who didn't love me back and I am facing the consequences. If you ever feel unloved by him, don't commit the same mistake. And Damini doesn't care about Aarav, I beg you to take good care of him. Seema knows everything, make her tell everything to Abhi and you will win. I hope you will have a happy life. I am sorry." With that, he left me with a pen drive and complex thoughts.

Akky and Nihal came back rushing in, Akky hugged me. "What happened?" She asked.

"I found the culprits for my parents' murder. And I am not going to leave them." I said with angry tears running down my cheek, determination in my heart.

I understood uncle completely, if I was in his situation I might have done the same thing. I just wish that I can meet him and speak to him about it.

I was not in the mood to speak with anyone yesterday. I went to Nihal's house to take Raghav uncle's help. We hatched a plan to catch Seema. I remember my conversation with him.

"Uncle". Raghav uncle and Swapna aunty looked at me from their seats. I rushed towards them and hugged her.

"Aunty." I cried like a small kid in her embrace, the same as I did when I was small.

"Shhh, calm down. Everything will be alright." She patted me on my back trying to calm me down.

After 10 min when my crying subdued, she gently moved me to sit on the couch. I drank some water and faced uncle.

"Uncle, I got a lead on my parents' murder. I might know a person who can help us in finding the culprit." He was shocked hearing the words.

He paced catching his head mumbling incoherent words. Swapna aunty approached him and tried to calm him when Nihal came and sat beside me.

"Avni, tell me what Vinay told you?" Nihal asked me but that question got other's attention towards me.

"What do you mean by Vinay? Were the things done by him are not enough? Now he started polluting your brain. Avni, don't listen to that man's words! He always manipulates people, he cheated his own brother and spoiled his nephew-"

"ENOUGH!" I shouted making him stop speaking. All were looking at me in shock but I was watching only one person. I walked towards him and stood in front of him.

"What did he ever do? He loved his brother and treated his brother's children as his own. Was that the mistake he committed?" I shouted at him. He was shocked seeing me get all wired up because of it.

"Avni, calm down. You are not thinking properly. He is the one who got Seema in his life, and I think he is also involved in that acci-" I raised my hand cutting him off.

"Don't complete it. If he was the one who planned that accident he could have easily killed me but he didn't. And you are believing the words of a girl who once cheated on Abhi. How can you?" He listened to my words and thought for a moment.

With a sigh, he spoke up. "Ok fine. What is the thing you want to tell me."

"I want to expose Seema and find who is behind her. She didn't appear miraculously just after my wedding, there must be a mastermind behind her and I think that may lead us to the culprit for my parent's murderer. I have a perfect plan for it."

I came out of my thoughts when I heard a knock on my door.

"Come in." Abhi entered my cabin and I cast my eyes down seeing him.

My mind is running with different things now and I wanted to focus on one thing, saving my family. Other things can come later.

With that thought in mind, I stood up to greet him. "Yes sir, if you needed me, you could have called me." He looked puzzled by my statement, but I kept my face blank with no emotion in it.

"There is someone who was dying to meet you from yesterday, but you didn't come home last night and I didn't see you in the morning." He questioned me.

After discussing my plans with the Bhatts, I spent the night at their house. I didn't want to face him and especially risk seeing her, I might just slap her and make her tell the truth. But him asking me where I was last night almost melted my heart, but I didn't waver.

"Sir, we are in the office and we should not discuss personal things here, you are my boss and I am your employee. So please tell me what do you need from me," I said without a change in my expression.

He gave me a strange look but kept his mouth shut. "Your daughter is dying to meet you," saying that he opened the door letting the little ball of sunshine run towards me.

"Mama." My daughter clung to my legs and looked up at me with bright eyes full of life and innocence.

"Princess." I lifted her and continuously kissed her cheeks making her giggle. I hugged her to my chest and she placed her hands over my neck snuggling into me.

"Missed you mama." That words broke my heart. I forgot about the promise I made to her yesterday. I made a promise to her and myself.

"Mama will never leave you." And protect you at all costs. I said the second sentence in my mind.I am a mother, and I will kill those who will ever think of approaching my child with the intent of hurting her.

"Shall we have some fun?" With my daughter's excited nod, I thought with my daughter in my life I will be happy or so I thought.

Damini's POV

I was satisfied with the my plans. So far everything is going good.

I heard a noise and turned around, I found the person for whom I was waiting for.

"Did he open his mouth?" I questioned the person whom I trust the most.

"No ma'am. I followed him and he didn't meet anyone from your family. He didn't leave his house." I nodded my head satisfied with the result.

"Leave us alone." With that order everyone left me alone with the person coughing blood on the ground.

I walked towards him and kneeled in front of him. "Husband, how did my people treat you?" I asked him with sarcasm. His hands were tied behind his back and he was covering his face in the ground.

Once, his coughing subdued, he looked at me with hate in his eyes. It was different from the look of love in his eyes.

"Don't glare at me now. You look sexy when you are angry." With a pout I stood in front of him. Seeing him kneel in front of me gave me a odd satisfaction.

"You forced me to marry you when I was in love with Arjun. You got me pregnant and made all my dreams scatter, now you are protecting a little girl whom I want to kill. Why do you always stand in my way." I shouted at him angrily.

He gave me a sad smile, I know that smile very well, it brought many good memories I spent with him. "I regret the day I met you and the day I fell in love with you. If I didn't meet you everyone would have been alive and happy. It's not late now, call your niece back from their lives, they will forgive you and we can have a family together." He tried to convince me with his sweet words, but I was past it.

I got angry because of the words he spoke. "You are asking to beg that little girl for forgiveness. Never, I will never kneel in front of anyone. And I am going to ruin each person in that family, I will not leave them until they are dead. I will become owner of all Meevin's property. No one can stop me." I started laughing loud, imagining my plans I felt proud of myself. Now I have one thing to take care of.

"But you my husband will be unable to see it because you will be dead by then." With that I got the gun from my back pocket of my jeans and shot him in his head.

"Happy journey husband. See you when I get there." I waved at him.

Now, the downfall of them starts.

Hello lovely people,

How was your weekend?

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Many things got revealed here, and many more things will come.

So, be safe guys, take care.

Until next chapter.

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