My Vulnerary Husband- our journey towards love - Chapter 244

|Innaya|

*** Half an Hour Later ***

We shifted back to the living room after we had our dinner. Everyone was silent, and I had kept my head lowered. Eshan’s father had served more gulab jamuns to me than the rest. I found it difficult to be served by my father-in-law. Well, but then I kept my words to myself, not wishing to earn any reaction from him. In any way, it was benefiting me. Why should I complain?

“Two months ago, I received photos of you with Arjun,” Eshan’s mother said.

“What photos?” I asked slowly, glancing at Arjun through the corner of my eyes.

Arjun and Eshan were sitting beside me, sandwiching me as if I would run away. Despite wanting to, I could not run away. My poor feet would not allow me.

“That’s not important.” Arjun shook his head.

Eshan’s mother nodded. She seemed to struggle with explaining as if she feared my reaction. Why would she?

Fortune licked my good feet, and I bent down to caress his head. Then I recalled my almost hysterical state in the bedroom. Were my in-laws there? Had they heard my words? I had said so many things- that honestly, I did not remember a word of it. However, I vaguely had a recollection that besides Eshan, other people were present in our bedroom too.

What a mess! My head was starting to ache even before starting the topic.

“How about we speed up the whole incident? Let me brief it for you,” Arjun said. He leaned back on the sofa, his right hand dr.a.p.ed leisurely on the armrest.

Turning abruptly, I glared at him. “From how long you know the truth?” If he knew about it, then I seriously needed to evaluate our relationship.

Did he like seeing me in pain? Did he like to watch me struggle? I could not understand, but if that was the truth, maybe I would not consider him my brother anymore… I would treat him as Eshan’s friend only.

“I arrived in the morning. So you can say- a couple of hours before it happened,” Arjun answered, looking quite nonchalant about it. He was not being honest. I could feel it deep down. Unfortunately, I did not have any proof. His reaction was pretty normal, where you could not detect the lie in his words.

I nodded, but deep down, I was unconvinced.

“Go on.” Folding my arms across my chest, I leaned back only to stiffen. At some point in time, Eshan had placed his arm behind me. So when I leaned back, it looked like I was in his arms. Technically I was- it was just coincidental.

“Stay,” Eshan whispered, pulling me and shifting close to me, almost taking me in his arms. Did he really not care about his parents’ thoughts?

Glancing at his parents, I understood from where Eshan got such confidence. His father had his arm around my mother-in-law, and those two sat close to each other-just as She looked at her husband with tearful gaze, silently mouthing ‘sorry.’ My father-in-law’s stern exterior cracked under her stare and replaced with tenderness as he shook his head. He leaned down and kissed her forehead to which she closed her eyes, and a tear fell from her closed eyelids.

My cheeks colored, and I immediately averted my eyes. I felt as if I had intruded into someone’s private affair. That one moment of tenderness was enough for me to lower my guard a little.

Eshan squeezed my forearm, tapping his fingers across my bare skin before running his fingertips in a caressing manner, that caused goosebumps to appear on my skin. His warm breath danced across the side of my face, slowly awakening the dormant butterflies in the pit of my stomach.

Stealing a quick glance at him, I found he had noticed the affectionate moment between his parents. Eshan smiled, catching my eyes.

His left hand reached out for my face. Holding onto my chin, he turned my face. Giving a smile, he copied his father’s action.

“Enough of feeding me dog food!” Arjun commented dryly. “Even Fortune doesn’t like it.”

I did not know where to hide my face.

“Just get done with the story,” Eshan replied, his hand slid to my waist and stayed there.

Arjun snorted before he started telling, “So, someone sent photos to aunty, wishing to spoil your marriage. Aunty did not take the matter seriously. She thought that she would be disturbing us if she brought the matter up. That did not mean she forgot about it. She had people take a look at the matter. However, they did not find the person behind it. So, she almost forgot about it, until a week ago before she came to find you- a month ago. Ayesha’s mother came knocking at her door, with other photoshopped images. Aunty felt something was wrong.

Before she could get in touch with us, she thought of the possibility of someone keeping watch on us- more specifically on you because of the photos. Even if someone wanted to photoshop the images, they would need to have your pictures to do so. So, she thought if she contacted any one of us, there was a possibility that we would never catch the culprit behind the instigation.”

I felt my head becoming heavy, with the information, yet I steeled myself to know more.

“Can you guess whom she sought help from?” Arjun directed the question to me.

I shook my head. I honestly could not think about anyone. Maybe, because I did not know about the people close to my in-laws. In fact, when I did not know my-in-laws that well. For the last six months, my life only revolved around Eshan… So, how would I know to whom Eshan’s mother asks for help?

Eshan’s father was not included in this matter. His actions, words said everything. Still, I looked in his direction.

“Karan.”

“Karan?” I lost my ability to think at the mention of Karan’s name.

“What the hell!” Eshan roared angrily. His body went stiff. Eshan’s anger confirmed that I did not hear wrongly.

“Eshan,” Eshan’s father warned in a stern tone, “If you can’t listen silently, then leave.”

Eshan turned to his mother, pointing his finger at her. “Karan? Why would you turn to him? You know he holds a grudge against me? Do you know he had kidnapped Innaya?” Eshan barely controlled his voice. hhe was on the verge of exploding.

I could understand his frustration though… Had he not told me about Karan’s instigation, I would not have known.

“What? How dare he? I’m going to break his bones. How dare he kidnap my daughter?” Eshan’s father stood up, bellowing in anger. He looked livid.