"That's what that girl called to inform, about your Young-Soo," Ashma flared up and wiped her tears.
Vidhi stood up and faced Ashma. She placed her hands on Ashma's shoulders and shouted, "tell me what did she say exactly."
"Why? So you can go and meet him after he left you alone, abandoned you completely." Ashma was slowly losing all control over herself. Her eyes went red and her nostrils flared up.
Vidhi shook Ashma violently and screamed, "oh my god, girl! Just tell me what did she say."
Ashma calmed herself down and without any emotions looked at her mother and said, "she said he is on his death bed and wants to meet you one last time."
Vidhi stumbled after hearing Ashma's words. Ashma immediately held her mother. Surya and Madhu came running to help Vidhi.
"Are you alright, V?" asked Surya and helped her stand up straight.
Vidhi completely ignored her father and directed her questions to Ashma, "And you are telling me this now? Were you planning to hide all this from us?"
This made Ashma furious. Her body was trembling with anger. "Hide it, hide it. You think I would hide it? I just didn't know whether it was real or a prank and how could you say that after you hid everything from me all my life? I don't know my father, hell I don't even know my mother and grandfather. You all lied to me all my life. And don't tell me, you want to go and meet him, Mom."
"Yes, I will go and meet him. Oh my god! His wife, poor Eun-Kyung, how is she going to cope?"
"How is she going to cope? HOW IS SHE GOING TO COPE? Are you out of your mind? He has a family in Korea. He has a daughter and a wife. He abandoned you, married someone else and you are worried about him and his wife," yelled Ashma with all her might.
"Yes, because your father's wife is your fairy godmother," Vidhi yelled back.
Ashma's jaw dropped to the floor. "Come again! Ms Grace fuller Gemma, the woman you write letters to, the woman who sends me gifts, the woman who was with me during my every achievement, the woman who has been with me virtually all my life, is your husband's second wife. You told me she was your best friend."
Vidhi went ahead and sat on a chair. She kept her head down and softly spoke, "her name is Eun-Kyung which translates to Graceful Gem. We together created a name 'Grace fuller Gemma' to tell you about her as she planned to send gifts to you all your life. Sooner or later you would have asked questions about her so we created the lie that she was my best friend. And technically she is his wife, I was never married to him. And yes she is not my best friend; she is your father's best friend but over time she became my best friend too. She made sure that he knows everything about you. She made sure he was involved in every step of your life, every achievement, every failure, everything."
"She knows everything about you and her husband?" Ashma was shocked to know that a woman knows everything about her husband and his lover and is involved in their kid's life. This news was hard to digest for her yet her heart was full of respect for Eun-Kyung.
"Yes," answered Vidhi, defeatedly.
Ashma's tears were flowing non-stop. She even stopped wiping them away and let them fall. She knelt beside her mother, looked into her eyes and asked, "but why?"
Vidhi took Ashma's face in her hands and miserably answered, "trust me, he wanted to stay with me, he didn't even know about you, I didn't even know about you. He went back home for a few days to get permission to marry me from his father. I don't know the details of why he couldn't return but I know that everything happened because of his dad, your paternal grandfather,"
Ashma's eyes shot flames after hearing that. Her blood boiled and through gritted teeth, she said, "I have only one grandfather and the man who destroyed your life can never be my relative."
"Ashma!" shouted Madhu in disbelief. All the elders of the household taught her to be respectful and kind but now Ashma was being neither of them.
"Is this what I taught you?" asked Surya.
"Is this how you treat your elders?" Vidhi joined in too.
"Sorry guys, but the day you decided to lie to me, you forbade the right to lecture me. You don't tell me how to treat a person after how you all treated me. You all shared a secret and removed me from your trustworthy circle. Is that what I am for you, an untrustworthy person? Everyone from Korea to India knows this secret except me. His daughter knows about me but I know about no one." She stood up and addressed all her elders in a dominating and fear-inducing voice. She turned towards her mother and declared, "You want to meet him one last time I will take you but after that, I don't want another word about him in this house. I don't have a father, I never had a father and I will never have a father."
She ran away towards her room leaving all her elders baffled. They heard from Ashma's colleague that furious Ashma used to scare the pants off her subordinates but never saw her angry persona themselves. And today after seeing that, they were worried about her and a little scared.
No one ate anything after the drama. Their plates were left the same way on the dining table. They all retired to their room quietly. The whole house was eerily quiet.
No one disturbed Ashma till night. Even when Priyanka came to bring her work, they didn't inform her. They took the files and documents and placed them outside her door and knocked once. She came out of her room after ages when Priyanka dropped her a message. She came out without anyone knowing, took her files and documents inside and again locked the door behind her.
Surya came after his room at night, Madhu had cleaned the dining table till then and prepared dinner for everyone. He stood outside Vidhi's room and could hear her sobbing quietly. He understood her pain because he had seen his daughter through thick and thin. He was there when she joined a new college in Mumbai. He was there when she met a foreign student there. He was there when they fell in love with each other. He was over the moon when the man came to ask for his permission. Then something happened that, that man was unable to contact them. They even tried hard to contact him to tell him about his child but couldn't get ahold of him. So they moved into their ancestral home in Delhi away from all the societal pressures and humiliation. After a few months, a girl found them and told them that he had to marry because of his father and he was too ashamed to talk to Vidhi. They informed him about his child and because of guilt he never talked to them. The girl used to talk with them and made sure to learn everything about the baby girl.
Surya was concerned for both of his daughters, his daughter and his granddaughter. He knew who needed him the most so he moved to the first floor. He knocked at the door. No one answered.
Very sweetly, he said, "please let me in, kiddo." There was no sound. He waited for a minute but nothing happened. He again said, "I need to talk to you. You can be angry at me if you want. Just please talk to me."
The door opened. He entered the largest room in the mansion. The room was decorated in a minimalistic design with a black and white pattern. She opened the door and directly went and sat at her work table. The whole otherwise clean room was filled with papers and clothes everywhere.
"Are you okay, Ash?" asked Surya, adoringly.
"How can you expect that I would be ok?" she said without looking at him. She was busy checking and improving designs and placing patterns next to them to see if she can improve them further.
"I am sorry." He placed his hand on her shoulder. A drop of tear fell from Ashma's eyes.
"I don't want your sorry. Please leave me alone." She sniffled and said in a sad tone.
"It doesn't matter whether you want it or not, I am still going to apologise." He enclosed her from behind in his arms and let his chin fall on her shoulder.
"Nanaji!" was all she could speak. She turned around, hugged him and sobbed like a child. He held her tightly.
"I just want to say that if you want answers, you need to ask questions to the man who can give them to you. I cannot tell you, your mother cannot but you know who can." He kissed her over her head.
"I don't want anything from anyone." She kept sobbing.
"I know you, Ash, you have a million questions and you are angry because we cannot give you your answers. You need to hear the story from the horse's mouth." He kept rubbing her back to console her.
"I am angry because…" choked Ashma.
"…We hid the truth from you." Surya completed her sentence for her.
"Yes." She breathed heavily.
"We didn't know how to tell you and also it was your mother's decision to tell you nothing. Being abandoned is different and if one of the parents dies that is different. It was also easy for her to lie. She just couldn't explain to you without being sad why the love of her life ditched her so she decided to lie. She is sorry too, you know that, right?" explained Surya.
"I don't know what to do or how to react. My whole world turned upside-down with one phone call. I have a father, and one sister, none of whom I know."
"You also have a brother."
"What?"
"Yes."
"What should I do, nanaji?"
"Go meet them. Face them, look at them, ask them questions. Love them, hate them, all must be your decision. If you hate them, I will always be here for you."
"I love you, nanaji.'
"I love you too. kiddo." Surya tighten his hug and Ashma kept sobbing for long.