A heavy silence hung between them until James finally broke it, his voice gentle. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. How did the Big Sir die?"
"He came to me a year after his release," Kian replied. "He already had lung cancer. He passed a few months later."
"He was a very good man. I'm sorry it ended like that. Bad things happened to him back then, too," James said, his tone deepening with old sorrow.
"Bad things? What do you mean?" Kian asked, surprised.
"Jagdish Jadeja was your father's closest friend. Your father even helped pay for his younger brothers' education," James began, struggling with the memory.
"He was my mother's lover, wasn't he?" Kian interjected. 🤔
"Yes," James confirmed, his face grim. "Jagdish showed a friendly face at first, but he changed. He was consumed by greed for power and money. He embezzled from the business, stole your father's secrets, and… he took your mother, too. She began seeing him in secret. I even welcomed him into the house myself on your father's orders. One day, your father came home early. He went to his room and found them together. In a fit of rage, he killed them both." James paused, taking a shaky breath.
"Then he sat on the floor and started to cry. What he said still echoes in my ears: 'This woman ruined me. She cheated on me with a Cherish. James, you call the police. I'm surrendering.'"
"Who is Cherish?" Kian asked, confused. 😵
"Ah," James sighed. "That's a common nickname for all the males in the Jadeja family."
The sun had climbed high, the heat becoming unbearable. After sharing a few more memories, Kian and Uncle James said a quiet goodbye, each carrying the weight of a clarified, yet even more tragic, past.🏜