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Janak chuckled. “Don’t just stare at them. Let them come in.”
She stepped aside, and the older couple entered her house. Akash and Shauna greeted them, and then Tara turned to Jiya.
“Janak told us what happened,” Tara informed her. “I knew something was wrong the minute Rohan called to tell me he was in Singapore. He sounded cold and withdrawn, and I knew in my heart that something was amiss. I knew he felt something for you. I’d seen it on his face at the races and then at the gala, but post that, he never spoke about you. Knowing him, I was waiting for him to tell me if something was going on.”
Varun took over. “You know how stubborn he can be. So, when Janak called us some hours back and filled us in on everything, we wanted to meet you and understand better.”
Tara’s expression was filled with pain. “Rohan is… You know how closed he is. But I know he was happy with you. Although he never told me about you, I’m his mother. I noticed the change in him. I saw it when he came to meet me, and I heard the happiness in his voice every time he spoke to me until he made that call to me from Singapore. Please tell us what happened.”
Everyone looked at her. Only Akash knew the details of what had gone wrong. Details that even she didn’t understand fully. So, she related that bizarre incident at the restaurant that night and the people they’d met, who she suspected were the reason for Rohan’s sudden change of heart. When she took the name of the couple, both Varun and Tara shared a surprised glance.
“Pavan and Nandini Grewal?” Varun asked.
She nodded.
Sighing, he took a seat on the armchair. “They used to be very close friends with my younger brother and his wife. They were an absolute and utter bad influence on them. They moved to Jakarta soon after Vaibhav and Diksha passed away. We haven’t met them in years.”
“But why would Rohan behave so differently after meeting them?” Jiya asked.
Tara spoke up. “We honestly don’t know them very well except that they were close to Vaibhav and Diksha and were always around them. She sat beside her husband. “Let me start from the beginning. After Varun and I got married, we tried for years to have children, but we couldn’t. Vaibhav was always very close to both Varun and me, and he saw the pain and suffering we were going through. Varun’s dad was quite conservative, and hence adoption was not an option.”
“Yes,” Varun lowered his chin. “My dad was the head of Fortuna in those days, and he categorically refused to accept an adopted child into his family. He made it clear that he’d never allow that child to inherit Fortuna. It’s sad, but that was how it was in those days.”
Tara continued, “One day, Vaibhav told us that he’d been considering our problem, and he’d decided that he’d give his firstborn child to us. We were delighted. You see, Vaibhav and Diksha were not always bad. They changed much later when money blinded them to their own family. Anyway, luckily for all of us, Diksha got pregnant with twins. I was still quite a popular actress in those days, and Varun’s dad did not want a media uproar on this situation. So, the four of us, Varun and I, and Vaibhav and Diksha, we all moved to London for two years. Rohan and Rithwik were born there.” A small wistful smile crossed Tara’s face. “Rohan was supposed to be ours as he was the firstborn, but when I went to the hospital, I rushed to the first crib and picked up the baby. Rithwik opened his eyes and clasped my finger. He was mine from that day on. I never regretted taking him, but I did regret not being there for Rohan.”
“What do you mean?” Jiya asked.
“See,” Varun began, “When we returned from London, Tara and I moved to Mumbai with Rithwik, and my brother and his wife remained in Delhi with Rohan. The boys grew up as cousins, not knowing the truth of their birth. Tara and I had always been a very popular couple in the Delhi social circuit. My brother and his wife, not so much. Though, that was until we left. After that, Vaibhav and Diksha began socializing a lot. They figured they had money and could throw parties and buy their way into any social group, in which they succeeded. They enjoyed the attention they were getting from everywhere, and suddenly, their lifestyle became more important than their son.”
She remembered the little insight Rohan had given her of his childhood the night of the gala. It had been devastating to hear him then, and now, it was heart-wrenching to hear it from his adoptive parents’ perspective.
“Rohan had told me about this…” Jiya said. “He mentioned that he felt unwanted and a burden while growing up. That he’d seen and heard things no child ought to.”
Tara and Varun exchanged another glance.
Tara spoke again. “Varun and I saw him withdraw into a shell over the years. Each time we visited, he’d be quieter and looked lonelier. I tried to talk to Diksha as a woman and as a mother. I tried to tell her to look after him, to be there for him, but she downright told me once to mind my own business. By then, she’d become this whole different person. They were no longer that sweet, lovable couple who had so easily given over their child to us. They’d become self-obsessed, selfish, self-centred, and behaved entitled because of their wealth and privilege. Their parties, their holidays, and their friends came foremost for them. It was so sad, and I was so helpless, but there was nothing I could do…until their accident.”
The accident that had definitely shaped the remainder of Rohan’s life.
“Rohan was in the car with his parents that night,” Tara said. “By a stroke of luck, he survived and they didn’t. Over the years, he’s refused to open up about that night. But eventually, he told us that Vaibhav and Diksha had been fighting in the car and that they’d been fighting for months. That’s all he ever told us. I feel bad that they passed away; I still do. But they were awful parents, and I hated that Rohan had to grow up with them. After they died, we were given a chance to be his parents. We could care for him and love him like he so deserved. He’s such a wonderful boy...but so misunderstood.”
Tara wiped a tear.
Varun held his wife’s hand. “Rohan came to live with us in Mumbai after they passed away. That was when we told Rithwik and Rohan their truth. Rithwik had always been the naughty one, the loud one. He accepted Rohan in his life, and to be honest, he wasn’t that impacted to learn that Vaibhav and Diksha had been his birth parents. He even got over their deaths quickly. He accepted Rohan too. But Rohan… It was hard for him. Everything was hard for him.” Varun shook his head. “That boy still refuses to talk about the past and what actually went on while he lived with Vaibhav and Diksha. Over a period of time, he started opening up to Tara and me, especially after we moved back to Delhi. Rithwik chose to stay in Mumbai, but Rohan returned with us. Our bond with him has grown tremendously since then, but even we don’t know a lot. He hasn’t shared it all with us. I think it’s difficult for him to do so. We only managed to glean bits of his childhood on the rare occasions he did open up, and the rest, we sort of put together on our own.”
Her heart wept for him. Oh, how broken must Rohan be that he’d locked away his past in some part of his mind. That he couldn’t even share that bit of himself with anyone. For sure, the memories were dark and bitter, and she wished he’d confide in her, or anyone for that matter. No one deserved to live with their horrors all bottled up inside. That kind of trauma, if left unspoken, destroyed you from the inside. And it was destroying Rohan. She was certain now that it was the reason he’d broken up with her.
Tara gave her a warm smile. “That he shared some of his past with you is a big deal, Jiya. He hasn’t even confided in Rithwik about it. You must definitely mean something to him.”
Jiya looked at her hands. “What good is that when he’s given up on me…on us? He refuses to even tell me the real reason why he decided to end things with me.”
Varun rose. “Jiya, that couple you met, Nandini and Pavan, I think seeing them may have unlocked some old memory. Some childhood trauma of his must’ve resurfaced, and because of that, he decided what he has.”
Even thinking of Rohan made her eyes burn. She missed him…dreadfully so. She believed what Varun said. That couple had definitely played a role in him backing away from her.
Tara came to her. “Our son wasn’t really happy until you came along, but we know he was happy with you. I have never seen him look at another woman the way he looked at you.”
“I agree,” Akash finally spoke. “I’ve seen how he watches you, Jiya. He cares for you. I think he loves you. It’s just that maybe he hasn’t figured that out himself.”
