Chapter 6

Character Assassination

The hall was still vibrating with Rohan’s accusation when Sharada stepped forward again, her voice dripping with poison disguised as righteousness.

“Maybe this is why,” she said loudly, looking around at the relatives. “Akash was always abroad for business. Foreign trips, foreign meetings. And she?” Her eyes scanned Poornima from head to toe. “She used to go to the temple every day. Who knows where else she went?”

A few women gasped dramatically.

A few men exchanged knowing looks.

Whispers turned into murmurs.

“Who knows…”

“Nowadays girls…”

“Poor Akash…”

Poornima felt the floor slipping beneath her feet. Her hand instinctively covered her two-month belly, as if shielding the child from the words being thrown at her. Tears rolled silently down her face. She didn’t even have the strength to defend herself. Grief had already hollowed her out — now they were tearing apart what little dignity she had left.

Her character.

Her purity.

Her motherhood.

Veeresh’s eyes darkened dangerously.

“Enough.” His voice cut through the noise like a blade.

The murmurs stopped.

“Don’t question her character,” he said, every word controlled but lethal. “You have no right to speak about that.”

Sharada stiffened. “This is our family matter—”

“And she is carrying Akash’s child,” Veeresh interrupted. “Mind your words.”

Rohan, burning with humiliation, tried to grab Poornima’s arm again. “Get out—”

But before he could touch her, Veeresh caught his wrist mid-air.

“No.” Just one word. Firm. Final.

Rohan tried to pull back, but Veeresh’s grip tightened just enough to make his intention clear.

The relatives began shouting.

“Throw her out!”

“She doesn’t belong here anymore!”

“This house is not hers!”

Poornima felt like an orphan in a place she once called home. Hours ago she was the daughter-in-law of this house. Now she was an outsider. An accusation. A burden.

Her tears fell freely as she whispered, almost to herself, “I will go to my parents’ house.”

Veeresh looked at her for a long second. She looked shattered but determined — holding onto the last thread of self-respect she had left.

“Alright,” he said quietly. “I will drop you.”

She shook her head immediately. “No… I will go by train.” Her voice trembled. “You have already done enough. Thank you… for saving me.”

Those words did something to him.

Saving her.

He nodded once.

Without another argument, he walked her out of the mansion that had just erased her existence.

—

At the railway station, the noise of vendors and announcements felt strangely normal, almost cruel in contrast to the chaos she had left behind.

Veeresh bought a ticket to Tumkur and handed it to her.

She avoided his eyes.

He noticed the faint slap mark still on her cheek.

He noticed the way she held her stomach protectively.

He noticed everything.

The train arrived with a loud metallic screech.

She stepped toward the compartment, then paused. For a second, she looked back at him — not as a rival’s wife, not as a responsibility.

Just as a broken woman standing at the edge of uncertainty.

“Take care,” he said.

She nodded and boarded.

The train began to move.

Veeresh stood there until it disappeared from sight.

And for the first time since Akash’s death, an uneasy feeling crept into his chest.

Something wasn’t right.

He didn’t know why.

But letting her go felt like a mistake.

One line:
As the train carried her away, Veeresh felt fate slipping through his fingers.