Kripa closed her eyes again as she felt the
pain of his hurt; all the result of her selfishness. If only she could have
told him about Kunal. If only she could have destroyed her pride. But pride was
all she had; could she have let him trample over that as well?
Angad walked over to the hugging pair and looked
at them with eyes filled with emotion. When they parted, Kunal turned and saw
Angad there. Both of them looked stunned. Kunal was wondering what Angad was
doing here. Angad was just gazing at his son. He knelt down and crushed his son
against his chest. How could Kripa not have told him about their son?
Angad realized where he was and gathered himself
quickly. 'That was a wonderful performance. It was very beautiful.'
At the same time, the principal at was at the
podium. 'That was it, ladies and gentlemen. These were the talented kids of our
school. Weren't they just amazing? I would now like to invite our special
guest, Mr. Angad Khanna who had agreed to be here with us at this joyous
occasion. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for Angad Khanna.'
Angad turned towards the stage. He turned again to
Kunal and Kripa. He didn't have much of a choice. He walked towards the stage.
Kripa was dazed. He knew about Kunal now. She knew it would happen some day,
but she had never imagined how it would be. As controlled and calmed as he
looked; Kripa knew that he was livid, as livid as she could have ever imagined.
'Thank you once again for having me here. As I
told you in the beginning, Mr. Chatterjee had invited me to be the guest
speaker today and I was delighted. Only till now have I realized how important if
was for me to be here. Before I announce the results, I would like to
congratulate each child and their parents for their wonderful work. I have not
seen this much talent clustered in one place before. No matter who gets the
award, I would like to assure you that all of you are winners. If I had it my
own way, you'd all be leaving with an award. Now, to the award-winners.' He
announced the awards for the dance category and moved on to the singing
category. 'On the third spot is Kiran Chawla! I must say that her voice filled
my heart. On the second spot is Vikram Saxena with his wonderful patriotic
song. Now for the moment you all have been waiting for! On the first spot is
Kunal Sharma! His song made my eyes fill. He has such love and devotion for his
mother. I think that is unbeatable. Thank you all once again for having me
here.'
The children went to stage to get their awards.
When Kunal went on-stage, Angad held Kunal tightly showing Kripa that now he
had found his son, he wouldn't let him go. The cameramen clicked pictures for
their magazines and newspapers. One of the most successful businessmen, Angad
Khanna, was at a small function at a small elementary school. What would be a
bigger hit than that? And it seemed like he was particularly fond of one
specific child. They would think of all ways to exploit that.
After all the formalities were complete, Angad
walked to Kripa. There he saw Aaliya, Naina and Gayatri standing with Josh.
Mishti and Kripa's other doctor friends were there too. He looked at all and
wanted to escape with Kripa and his son. He would play it well.
Naina spoke first, 'Angad, this is my friend
Gayatri. Remember I used to talk about my college friends and that I hadn't met
them for over three decades? She's my dearest friend! And you know that she's
Dr. Kripa's mother? Coincidence, isn't it? She came before Kunal and Kripa were
here because she knew they would be late.'
Angad smiled at Gayatri and she instantly figured
why her daughter had fallen for this man. He was charming with amazing manners.
She knew he wanted to whisk her daughter and grandson away but was still acting
reasonably in front of company.
'It's good to see you Ms. Sharma.' He kissed her
hand and showed her proper respect. After a few minutes, he couldn't take it
anymore. Aaliya, take Mom and Ms. Sharma to our place. All of you please go to
the cottage. I'll bring Kripa and Kunal at the cottage in a while.'
By this time, almost all the audience was empty.
He saw all of them leave, turned towards Kripa with a murderous look. He
softened his expression and gazed at Kunal. They were so similar. It ached to
think that he couldn't recognize his own son; his own blood. Anyone blind could
have guessed their relationship but he was such a fool he couldn't recognize his
own son. He wanted to kill Kripa.
'Kunal,' he said with a broken voice. He kneeled
and hugged him. He wouldn't let him go. No matter what; he wouldn't let him go.
He parted after a while and stood up. He took Kunal's hand and motioned Kripa
to walk with them. Kripa was already feeling so guilty that she would have
jumped from a well if only he would have asked. She had always been selfish.
Kunal sat behind and Kripa sat on the passenger
seat beside Angad. He started driving. Without turning, Angad asked Kunal,
'Kunal, who is your father?' Angad had to know whether Kripa had hid the fact
from her son as well.
Without missing a beat, Kunal answered, 'You.'
This time Angad had to turn. He was so surprised by the answer. He knew it. He
knew that Angad was his father. 'Mom told me a few days ago.' Kunal said
sensing Angad's next question. 'When I invited you to come, you refused. How
are you here now?'
This time it was Kripa's turn to stare. When had
he gone and invited Angad to come for the show? 'I was invited here as the
guest speaker and I had accepted. When you asked me to come here, I knew I was
already going to be here so I refused wanting to give you a surprise. That's
why my mother was here too.'
Kripa realized she was not even in the conversation.
It was as if she was almost invisible. If this was how he was going to punish
her, she would more than likely accept this punishment. At least it would be
out of his system after a while. As much as she hated the silent treatment,
Kripa felt that she deserved it. But she hoped to God that wouldn't separate
her baby from her.
They drove in silence after that each immersed in
their own thoughts. Angad was mad at Kripa. He wanted to strangle her slender
neck. How could she have hidden such a thing from him? Kunal was his son too!
Kripa was thinking if Angad would ever forgive her. His temper was something
never to be tampered with. If he was angry at someone, he would go to any
lengths to hurt them. Kunal was wondering when their parents were going to make
up. Although his family was in the same car, they were all miles apart.
They reached to a playground after a few minutes.
'Kunal, go play for sometime please, your mother and I need to talk.' Angad
flashed his sweet smile to his son and saw him running off happily. They both
sat on a bench. Tension sizzled in the air. This was not how it was supposed to
be.
'Why didn't you tell me?' Angad asked Kripa in his
calm, deadly voice. Why was it that this petite woman always drove him crazy?
If not with love, then with anger. Whenever he felt something towards her, he
felt it a hundred percent and that drove him crazy. It would have been so much
better if she didn't mean so much to him.
Kripa was silent for sometime. She didn't know how
to begin. There was so much to tell yet there was nothing to tell. It was
clear, wasn't it? 'I was coming to tell you. By God, I was excited. I couldn't
wait to share this with you. I was thrilled quite beyond myself.' She gave a
dry laugh. 'Then you made me realize that there were no fairy tales. You
welcomed harsh reality to me. Why were you with me when you were in love with
Sonia? You should have told me, I wouldn't have been angry.'
As ridiculous as that sounded, he knew she was
saying the truth. She would have backed out. She would have given up her
everything for him. He loved her and hated her so much at the same time that he
was surprised that he was still sitting still. The truth would be for some
other time. He was infuriated enough to want to hurt her. She didn't deserve
the truth yet.
'Kripa, whatever happened was in the past. Could
we forget that? You know why we're here right now. It's for our son. I just
want to ask you a question. Will you marry me for our son? He deserves
happiness. Could we forgive and forget and move on?'
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