Ch-49
Rahul doesn't know what to do. He never thought Laya wanted to leave him. Suddenly, he felt suffocated. He needs air. Walking up to the terrace to breathe fresh air, he left their bedroom.
Reaching there, Rahul wanted to scream, shout, hit and kill someone. He waited for her for years but now she wants to leave him. He cannot take it!
"Argh!" he yelled.
"Looks like you are enjoying," came a voice.
Turning his head around, Rahul saw it was his father.
"Good morning, dad," he wished.
"Good morning, Rahul," Harish said.
"Looks like you are enjoying the morning," Harish Chandra commented again.
Rahul knew the sarcasm behind his words. He was indirectly saying that from the time, he planned to divorce Laya… he was happy.
"Yeah…" he replied responding as if he didn't understand her.
"When do you plan to break this news to Laya? I hope the earlier the better. Your mother already started selecting a few women for you. I hope you find at least a good daughter-in-law this time," he taunted.
"Dad…" Rahul wanted to say something but when he saw his father was looking ahead, he knew he better keep quiet.
"If you can't do it, let me know. I will do it for you. I plan to leave India. I will take Laya with me. She can work there and look after my company and get settled away from everything and everyone.
"Last night, I was scared seeing her condition. All I hope is, she could live a calm and peaceful life at least," Harish said.
"What about mom? Won't you take her with you?" Rahul asked.
"I am done with her. I never stopped her because of the things she faced because of my mother. If I ever stopped my mother at that time, she wouldn't be like this. Laya almost died because of her. Since it's my fault. I am the sinner. I am leaving her for once and all." Harish said.
"Dad… in this age do you really want to take this step?" Rahul questioned.
"Indeed, at this age… I need a company. But now… a company like your mother makes me lose my mind. I would rather stay away from her than be with her.
"How I wish my mother was kind enough like Maha Lakshmi. My mother didn't ask me to divorce her. Maybe if she did, I would have given her divorce a long ago and been free from her clutches. And my mother… didn't ask me. Now your mother is asking you to do it and is hurting her," Harish Chandra said bitterly.
"What did grandma do?" Rahul asked all of a sudden.
Harish Chandra looked into the sky as if he was recalling something. His gaze turned distant. Taking a deep breathe, he lowered his head. He took out a cigarette packet and started smoking it.
"I smoke once in a while. You don't mind it right? If I smoke now," Harish said with a smile. Rahul nodded at him.
"My mother…" he started.
"she was very loving, kind, and beautiful. My center of the world is her. But then she selected a woman for me. And that was your mother. Everything was going well. My mom was old-fashioned. She wanted her daughter-in-law to be too traditional. But your mother used to act like a girl of this era. There were few clashes, first, they went with sarcastically and verbally. But later they became physical. My mom never hurt her directly. But… she tired her. She made her do every single work in the house. By the end of the night, she would be tired.
"All I could do was sit back and watch her suffering. And one day, I couldn't take it and took her to Hyderabad from Guntur," Harish said.
"If you want to leave your wife, do it. Because it's your life. But consider Laya's life too," Harish said and was about to leave.
"Dad… I never wanted to divorce her," he said.
"Then why did you say that thing on the dining table," Harish Chandra asked.
"Because I wanted to stop amma from plotting against Laya," he said.
"You should tell this to your wife rather than me," he said.
Rahul nodded and left.