{Not Edited Yet}  

"I'm sorry Anuradha. I wish I knew about Kavitha long before, I could have protected you from her. I never knew a woman like Kavitha would hate her daughter so much" Kamlesh said but Anuradha said nothing.

She was going through an emotional meltdown.

Kamlesh wanted to bring Anuradha to his house but again what if Kriti doesn't like him bringing Anuradha home , though Kriti never spoke about her disliking Anuradha. Kamlesh didn't want to take any risk that would hurt his daughter more.

He decided he will put up a few nights in her house and be with her till she gets emotionally stable. Anuradha was quiet and least responsive in the past few days. Kamlesh had to ask her twice for anything for her to answer. Her mind kept wandering to the past as she recalls every little thing her mother did to her.

"Anuradha! Anuradha! You have a call, it's the house agent" Kamlesh handed her the phone.

"House agent at this hour?" Anuradha mumbled before answering the call.

"hello"

"Good news, Ms. Ray! We have a buyer for your house." The house agent sound excited as his three and a half years of wait to sell the house come to an end and he will be getting his huge commission soon.

"Oh... that's... indeed.... a good news" Her replied was rather flat, the house holds a lot of her dreams that never came alive. A tear dropped from the corner of her eyes as memories flashed before her. "So, are they going to buy the house?"

"Yes, Ms. Ray and what about the huge family portrait in the house?"

When there isn't a family, what's the use of family portrait?

"The buyer can throw it if they want. The portrait doesn't hold any meaning" Anuradha hung up the call. It was getting difficult for her, neither did her dream of having a happy family was fulfilled nor did her longing love from Kavitha. Anuradha was getting emotionally weak.

As much as she tried to keep herself strong that much she was failing, too much heartache from her mother for trusting her. Her wandering mind came back as her phone rang again for the sixth time.

"Open the door!"

"What?!"

"Open the door. I'm outside your house"

"What are you doing outside my house?" she asked, getting out of her room and down the stairs.

"I came here because of you"

"Why?"

"Radha, open..."

Anuradha opened the door just before he could complete, they stood looking at each other, Anuradha had tear filling her eyes as though she had been waiting for him to share everything that happened. Manohar slowly walked up to her and pulled her closer to him wrapping his arms around her. His embrace was warm and his strong arms seemed very protective when wrapped around her body.

The world around melted away as Anuradha squeezed him back not wanting the moment to end. It was as if being in his arms all her pain went away- mental and physical, mostly the depressing pain.

"I can't pretend to be strong anymore" she wailed.

"You don't have to pretend to be strong at least to me" he stroked her hair.

"I just can't stop thinking about it. It's hurting me so much"

"Shh... it's okay. Everything is fine now, right.... but why didn't you tell me about it? I could have helped. Don't I share everything with you" Manohar asked as her sobbing slowly ceased. "Even Cameron knew about it but not me?"

"He forced me to tell to him otherwise it would have stayed within me" she wiped away her tears. "I just don't want anyone to sympathise on me because of how I was treated by my mother and furthermore I like to keep it secret"

"You have to start expressing yourself more, Radha, by suppressing it you will only find depression and nothing else. It kills you from within." he said pulling her away from him.

"Now tell me what's bothering you?"

"I don't know, Manohar. Maybe it's just that I kept a lot of hope that one day my mother,.... Kavitha will love me as much as I loved her and it was all a delusion, my stupidity. She never loved me"

"Radha... you know what, you actually have a mother who loves you a lot. Probably she loves you more than her son"

"Who? Kavitha?" she frowned.

"No, absolutely not! My mother loves you, she is fond of you more than me and Bhai, you know"

Finally a smile adorn her gloomy face. "Better, now will you hide anything from me?"

"No, I won't"

"Good"

A long silence prevailed.

"Let me get something for you" she got up and left to the kitchen. Feeling light as though all the heaviness she had was taken away, Anuradha inwardly thanked Manohar for coming to her house without telling him about it.

"but how did Manohar know?"

Anuradha came back with two cups of coffee, "Who told you about this?" she asked.

"Ermmm... someone. Your well wisher" Manohar blabbered, he was not suppose to say who told him.

"Well wisher? I see... I didn't know I had a well wisher but I think I know who would it be"

The door bell rang, Anuradha checked the time and turned to Manohar. "I guess my well wisher is here for his regular visit" she said as she looked around.

"Gorgeous! What took you so long to open the door?" Cameron asked as he walked in.

"I was searching for something least expensive or maybe something I might want to get rid of" Anuradha followed Cameron to the living room.

"Oh why? Everything in here is perfect, isn't .....huh... Whaaaat are you doing here?" Cameron sputtered at Manohar who smiled helplessly as he looked behind Cameron.

Anuradha stood with her arms crossed over her chest and waited for Cameron to speak up.

"You told her?" Cameron turned to Manohar.

"No, she found out herself"

"Because the only one who knew about this is you and Chris, since Chris isn't here it must you then, right" she replied.

"Well yes, I told Karthik about you and Kavitha. I just couldn't see you sitting all day staring at the wall and shedding tears for the woman who care nothing about you. I do. I care about you, Chris cares about you and we think telling this to Karthik will make difference to you." Cameron whispered his last sentence. "I see it does" he added wiggling his eyebrows.

Sometimes to help, to care and to love, one doesn't have to be blood.

*-*-*-*

Manohar stayed a few days in Anuradha's house along with Kamlesh who was also staying there. Kamlesh had been noticing Manohar and Anuradha's closeness and decided to talk to Manohar about it as talking to Anuradha might not be the right thing to do.

Keeping Shyam in mind.

"I was told that you are Anuradha's college mate" Kamlesh had called Manohar to Ray Industries to talk about it.

"Yes, sir"

"You were the one who was with my daughter during the accident in Scotland, right?"

"Yes, sir"

"And you also know that the accident was planned by both your uncle and my ex-wife"

"Yes, sir"

"Do you love my daughter, Karthik Manohar?"

"Yes, sir" Karthik Manohar Chauhan knew this was coming and that he too wanted to get the approval from her father, this came easy for him.

Kamelsh for the first time smiled at Karthik, he sighed a relieve. Anuradha will now have all the love she wants from Karthik. Kamlesh found out from Mark that Mrs. Roopa Chauhan had been very caring towards Anuradha during her treatment in Scotland after the accident.

And after speaking to Roopa, Kamlesh was more than happy that his daughter will get her happy family through Chauhans.

"Well, that's all I wanted to hear from you. Does my daughter has the same feeling towards you?" he asked as the question popped.

"I think she does... Just waiting for her to say it.... or maybe I should take the first step"

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