CHAPTER LVIII
I had come back home, but whatever happened at the hospital kept flashing before my eyes like a haunting memory. My heart was heavy as I stood before the door and knocked softly. After a few moments, Sita opened it and looked at me with gentle concern.
"How's your friend now?" she asked quietly.
I took a deep breath and replied, "She's out of the coma… but she's still in shock."
Sita's eyes softened with empathy. "Where's her family? Are they with her?" she asked.
Her question pierced through me like a knife. I hesitated for a moment before whispering, "She doesn't really have anyone in her family who cares whether she lives or dies."
As soon as those words left my mouth, I felt a deep ache in my chest — a realization that struck harder than ever before. What had I done?
When we came to England together, she had no one. She had called me her family, her friend, her everything. And yet, I had taken away the one thing she loved most — the love that should have been hers, the family that should have been hers. That family… was now mine.
I love Sita more than anything, but how could I become so selfish? How could I choose my happiness over someone else's pain — especially hers? My mind was spiraling with guilt and confusion when suddenly, I felt Sita's arms wrap around me.
She pulled me into her embrace and whispered softly, "Ved, do you know when I realized that I loved you?"
I looked up at her, startled and speechless. She smiled, her eyes glistening with emotion.
"It was the day we went to visit your sister Pawani's house," she said, her voice trembling with warmth. "That day, I realized how lucky I was — that I was with the most beautiful soul in this world. And by the grace of God, I was blessed enough to marry her."
Her words broke me and healed me at the same time. Tears welled up in my eyes as I held her tighter. I could feel her heartbeat — steady, reassuring, full of love — and in that moment, I understood that love isn't always perfect or fair, but it's real.
Even if guilt lingered in my heart, even if the past haunted me, one truth remained — Sita loved me, and I loved her. And somehow, amidst all the chaos, that love still felt like home.
Sita gently took my hand and led me into the hall. The air was quiet, heavy with unspoken feelings. We sat down together on the sofa, side by side. After a moment of silence, she turned toward me, took my hand again, and softly placed it against her cheek. Her skin was warm, and her eyes glimmered with affection that seemed to melt every wall I had built around my heart.
"Ved," she whispered, her voice trembling with emotion, "I love you… so much."
My breath caught. There was something in her tone — a mixture of love, confession, and pain.
She continued, "I know I have a past. I once liked someone else… another girl. But she never loved me the way you do. She never gave me the time, the attention, or the peace I always longed for."
Her eyes lowered, lost in some distant memory. "When I first met her, I didn't even like her. But two years later, something about her had changed. It felt like she had become someone else entirely — softer, kinder, warmer. And in just eight days… I fell in love with that new version of her."
She smiled faintly, a tear slipping down her cheek. "And today, I'm so happy to know that both those people — the one I used to like and the one I fell in love with — are actually you, Ved."
Her words hit me like a storm. I froze. My heart began to race as I stared at her, completely stunned.
"What… what do you mean, Sita?" I asked, my voice shaking.
Sita looked at me with tears in her eyes. "Ved, please forgive me," she said softly. "Today when you weren't home, my phone was lying on the table. Suddenly, another phone in the house started ringing. I went to look for it, and while searching, I found so many poems, paintings, and even a laptop."
She took a deep breath, her hands trembling as she spoke. "The laptop asked for a password. Just for fun, I typed my own name — and it opened. The first thing I saw on the screen… was my picture."
I felt my heart sink.
Sita continued, her voice breaking, "Then I began to explore the files… and I found our old chats. The ones I thought were long lost — the ones with her. That's when I realized… you were her all along. The one I had been waiting for, the one I loved years ago, the one who disappeared without a word."
Her tears were flowing freely now. "Ved, what hurt me wasn't that you hid it. It's that you didn't trust me enough to tell me. You knew how much that person meant to me… and still, you kept it buried in silence."
I couldn't speak. My throat tightened, my vision blurred with tears. Every word she spoke echoed painfully in my heart. I wanted to explain — to tell her how scared I was, how ashamed I felt, how much I loved her — but no words came out.
So I just stood up quietly. Without saying anything, I walked to my room. The silence between us was louder than any argument could ever be.
As I closed the door behind me, tears spilled down my face. I leaned against the wall, trembling. I had no answers for her questions, no way to erase the pain in her voice. All I had… was regret.
And love — a love that now hurt more than anything else in the world.
I looked around the room, and for a moment, my heart filled with an ache I couldn't explain. Sita had decorated everything so lovingly — soft lights glowed around the corners, and the faint scent of roses lingered in the air. On the mirror, written in delicate handwriting, were the words: "I love you."
Beneath it, a message was left — "Even if I once lied, my love for you was always real, and it always will be."
As I read it, a tear slipped down my cheek. I sat quietly, her words echoing in my mind. I kept thinking about everything that had happened — her confession, her pain, her unwavering affection. And slowly, something inside me began to clear.
Sita didn't love Rama… she loved me.
All this time, I had carried the guilt of taking something that wasn't mine. But now, I understood — I hadn't taken anything. Sita's heart had always been mine, even when neither of us truly realized it.
Still, another thought haunted me. When I told her the truth — everything I'd hidden, everything I'd done — would she still love me the same way? Would her eyes still hold the same warmth, the same tenderness?
Lost in thought, I suddenly heard a soft knock on the door.
My heartbeat quickened. For a moment, I couldn't move. Then slowly, I walked toward the door and opened it.
Before I could even speak, Sita stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me tightly. Her embrace was trembling yet full of longing — as if she had been holding her feelings inside for far too long.
"Ved," she whispered, her voice breaking with emotion, "I can't bear this distance anymore… not even for a moment."
Her words melted the last bit of hesitation inside me. I could feel the depth of her love — pure, honest, and desperate to be understood. I looked into her eyes, and all the walls I had built crumbled in an instant.
Sita cupped my face gently, her touch trembling yet full of certainty. The world around us seemed to fade — no sound, no fear, only the quiet rhythm of two hearts finally finding their home.
And then, in that silence, she leaned closer — not with desire, but with love — a love that spoke of forgiveness, of belonging, of two souls that had walked through pain and still chosen each other.
In that one tender moment, everything that had been broken between us began to heal.
To be continue...