Chapter 45: Let It Out

The room was silent.

Poornima quietly unlocked the bedroom door with the spare key.

She stepped inside slowly.

Veeresh was sitting on the floor near the window, his back resting against the wall.

His eyes were fixed outside, but they held no focus.

He didn't look up when she entered.

Poornima walked over without saying a word.

She sat down beside him.

For a few moments, neither of them spoke.

Then she gently wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him toward her.

Veeresh didn't resist.

He leaned into her, exhausted.

Poornima rested her cheek lightly against his hair.

Her voice was soft.

Poornima: "Do you want to cry, Veer?"

He let out a quiet, bitter laugh.

Not because anything was funny...

But because he didn't know what else to do.

Veeresh: "Cry?"

He smiled sadly.

Veeresh: "I didn't even know..."

He looked down at his hands.

Veeresh: "I didn't know chasing my dream would give me such a punishment."

Poornima listened without interrupting.

Veeresh: "I worked day and night to build my company."

"I thought I was doing it for our future."

"For my family."

He shook his head.

Veeresh: "And while I was building everything..."

"My marriage was falling apart."

His voice cracked.

Veeresh: "For years..."

"I believed a little boy was my son."

"I prayed for him."

"I fought court cases."

"I blamed myself for not being there."

He closed his eyes.

Veeresh: "Today I found out..."

"He was never mine."

A tear finally escaped.

He quickly wiped it away.

Veeresh: "Do you know what hurts the most, Poons?"

She gently rubbed his back.

Poornima: "What?"

Veeresh: "Not that I lost."

"I had already accepted that possibility."

"What hurts..."

"...is that my whole life for the past few years was built around a lie."

He laughed again, quietly.

Veeresh: "I don't even know what I'm supposed to feel."

"Anger?"

"Relief?"

"Sadness?"

He looked at her.

Veeresh: "I just feel... empty."

Poornima cupped his face gently.

Poornima: "Then you don't have to decide today."

"You don't have to be strong today."

"You don't even have to understand everything today."

She looked into his eyes.

Poornima: "Just let yourself feel."

"No one is asking you to carry this alone anymore."

Veeresh looked at her for a long moment.

Then, without another word, he rested his forehead against her shoulder.

For the first time since leaving the courtroom...

He stopped trying to hold everything together.

Poornima simply held him close, one hand gently stroking his hair, giving him the quiet comfort he had been denied for so many years.

Outside, London carried on as usual.

Inside the room, a man who had spent years carrying a painful illusion finally allowed himself to grieve—not only for the truth he had discovered, but for the years he could never get back.