Page 118 of One Hellish Love

“Rudra... If you don’t tell me, Daadi will go straight to Kashish. Is that what you want?”

Rudra clenched his jaw. The last thing he needed was Daadi grilling Kashish about the note from her father. He couldn’t allow it.

“Where’s Daadi now?” Rudra asked, trying to keep calm.

“She’s in the puja room. But as soon as she’s done, she’s going to corner Kashish,” Shekhar warned.

Rudra felt his pulse quicken. He couldn’t let Kashish reveal the truth.

“Fine. I’ll talk to her myself. But keep Daadi from talking to Kashish until then. Can you do that?”

Shekhar looked surprised by Rudra’s sudden willingness to confess.

“That’s a big ask. What excuse am I supposed to give her?”

Rudra narrowed his eyes.

“You always found excuses to protect me when we were kids. Use one of them.”

Shekhar shook his head, a small smile forming.

“Daadi’s not going to buy any excuses this time. This isn’t like the silly things I used to cover up for you.”

Rudra knew he was right. Daadi was relentless when she suspected something. But he couldn’t risk Kashish telling the family the truth, especially not like this.

“Fine,” Rudra relented. “I’ll tell everyone what happened between me and Kashish. But keep Daadi from talking to her until I do.”

Shekhar was taken aback. This wasn’t like Rudra at all. But there was no time to question it. He nodded and quickly made his way to the puja room to inform Daadi of Rudra’s decision. When Daadi heard the news, her suspicions deepened. Shekhar shared the same unease. They both knew Rudra’s confession would reveal the root of his tension with Kashish—the reason why the hatred she once had for him had seemingly vanished.

*******************

As Kashish lay on her bed, Ram Prasad knocked gently and entered her room.

“Kashish Didi, would you like your breakfast here or downstairs?”

Kashish shook her head, pulling herself from her thoughts.

“I’m not hungry. Thank you. Where is Anjali?”

“Anjali Bhabhi and the others are in Rudra Bhaiya’s room,” he replied, almost casually.

Rudra’s room? Why were they all gathered there? Was this some sort of interrogation? Or maybe, just maybe, they were trying to talk sense into him, convincing him to drop the absurd idea of marrying her. She wasted no time. Throwing on her slippers, she hurried down the hall toward Rudra’s room.

*******************

“You heard me right, Daadi,” Rudra said, his voice steady but strained. He stood surrounded by his family—Daadi, Shekhar, and Anjali—all staring at him in disbelief. “When I was in the juvenile home, a woman… she tried to molest me.”

Their eyes widened with both horror and sympathy. This was a painful truth Rudra had kept buried for years. He watched their reactions, feeling their anguish for the boy he had been and the man he had become.

“I have haphephobia,” he continued, “and when Kashish found out, it hurt her too. She feels guilty because I was in the there because of the accident that involved her father. She somehow connected herself to my pain. That’s why she didn’t leave when the court personnel came. She didn’t want to add to my suffering.”

There was silence. Daadi, Shekhar, and Anjali stared at him, struggling to process what he had just revealed. But Kashish, standing outside the door, was seething. He had told them part of the truth, but not all of it. He had conveniently left out the most crucial detail—the fact that the accident had been more likea suicide attempt orchestrated by her father. That was the real reason for her guilt. Rudra had withheld that truth, protecting her yet again.

Even now, to protect her secret, he had bared his most painful memory to his family. How could he be so selfless?

She gripped the doorframe. Whatever the reason, one thing was clear—Rudra was far more dangerous to her heart than she had ever imagined.

CHAPTER 40

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