First Wife, First Love.

2. Vedant Mehra

***Vedant's Pov.***

I toss and turn, as my nightmares capture me again. I feel the burning sensation on my back as I try to hold my tears. The man beating the hell out of me keeps saying one thing.

"You're so weak and pathetic. Weak and pathetic. Weak. And. Pathetic."

I wake up with a start. Am I really that weak and pathetic that I still have these nightmares even after so many years later? Why can't I just remove him from my memory? Why?

I look at the clock to see it is only 5 am in the early morning. I know I am not getting any sleep now. So I get up and put on my tracksuit and go for a run.

I run for an hour then go to the gym. Even after doing a workout for two hours, the restlessness doesn't go away. I take a shower as soon as I enter my room then go down to the pooja room.

Ma has just completed her prayers. Dadu and Dadi(paternal grandparents) take aarti and prasad. Then I do the same. I hear the familiar sound of anklets coming behind me.

Mayra takes the aarti and goes to touch Ma's feet, but she moves away. I can see sadness in her eyes, but she hides it by smiling widely at us. I know she is going through her own nightmares, but I can't help her.

Mayra is the second daughter of the sorry excuse of my Ma's ex-husband. She is the result of one of his affairs. Nobody talks to her in this house except for Dadu. Dadi doesn't talk to her because Mayra's mother was an artist like that is a curse and also she reminds her of the son she lost.

There is nothing wrong in being an artist but Dadi just wants a reason to stay away from her. And Mayra is also pursuing arts. She loves dancing and painting.

Ma doesn't talk to her because of her own pains and I don't talk to her because I don't want to increase Ma's trouble. Ma has suffered very much at a very young age and I don't want to be another reason for it.

We all sit down for breakfast but when Mayra goes to sit Dadi and Ma starts to get up. Mayra shows her hand and fills her plate.

"I will eat outside today as the weather is so good today." Mayra says and goes outside.

"I will join you too. You are not the only one who likes the weather outside." Dadu says and goes to accompany her.

For a second, I think Dadi would protest but when Dadu glares at her she looks away. Ma sits beside me and serves me breakfast and Dadi tells me to eat more.

I look up to see Mayra looking at me with mixed emotions but then Dadu smiles at her and takes her outside. Sometimes I really want to rebel against Ma and Dadi for treating her like that. It is no fault of her and even if it is then we are equally at fault because we share the same father.

I hope she soon gets the place she deserves in this family. She deserves the whole world and one day I know she will get what she is wishing for.

After having breakfast, I leave for work. The company for which my Dadu has done hard work for. He has always made sure to preserve this place for me. I joined it three years ago and now I have taken this company to new heights.

It once faced downfall again because of my greedy father but Dadu was smart. He didn't give him whole power which made him even angrier. As soon as I graduated Dadu gave me this responsibility.

At first our company was facing losses in every zone. Mehra company is known for hospitality and computers. But because of not getting proper guidance it faced a big setback.

I gave my whole time to this company. In these three years, our company achieved many milestones all because of the staff and my family. We opened new branches and products to work on.