Bonds of Trust

The way it hurt

A well-dressed Ovi and Saheer stood outside Veera's room. Ovi wanted to go to the park and who was Saheer to deny his princess? So there they were, cute little Ovi dressed in her favourite red jumpsuit and Saheer wearing a grey polo shirt with some black sweatpants. Just as he was about to knock on Veera's door, he heard some muffled sobs and sniffling. This alerted him and even Ovi. Both looked at each other with a frown and then nodded.

This was the first time that Saheer entered Veera's door without taking her permission. He knew that she didn't lock her door and so pushing it away, he went inside with Ovi. Veera still hadn't noticed them, but they could see her holding her phone to her ear and sniffling at some loud voice coming through the other end.

Saheer's heart broke seeing the woman he likes so vulnerable today. Her red cheeks, puffy nose and the hot streaks of tears running down her face - he did not like that one bit. Even Ovi hated to see her VF so sad, so upset and crying like that.

"Please papa, no.", Veera said in a low whisper before another sob broke through her.

Saheer walked up to her startling Veera and took her phone into his hands putting it on speaker. Veera was about to protest, not that she had much of the energy to protest anything, but once Saheer held her hand, squeezing it in assurance, she stay put. What surprised her was, another tiny hand crawling to her cheeks to wipe away her tears. It was Ovi, looking at her with a smile and shaking her head in a 'no' to make her stop crying. Veera's heart melted at her adorable gesture.

"You know Veera, we shouldn't have ever named you that. You are nowhere close to brave. You are a coward and an ill-omen who has brought nothing but misery to our lives. Now that we have gotten you married and you are away from us, do not think that we cannot control you. You are a weakling who only deserves to be treated the way we treat you - with slaps and belts. Such a pathetic girl. Your mother-in-law has already complained twice about you and you dared to reject my calls till today. Seems like you have forgotten your beatings. One more word against you and I,"

"What will you do Mr. Bhatia?", Saheer asked in a hard voice, his jaw clenched with pure anger. He was appalled to hear such vicious words directed towards Veera and that too from her own father. He felt nothing but disgust for this pathetic excuse of a father.

Ashish Bhatia's entire demeanour changed at those words.

Assuming a saccharine tone, he said, "Arre Saheer beta (son), how are you?"

"Number one, I am not your son, so do not call me that, and number two, how dare you speak to my wife like that?", Saheer said in the same hard tone, making Ashish flinch through the phone, especially at his second question.

"I nothing,", he started, "she needs to be under control, so if you have any problem, just sort that out with a slap, and she will do fine, or else let me know." He said with an obnoxious laugh.

Veera knew her father was far from an ideal one, but offering her husband to abuse her, she could not believe he would stoop so low.

Saheer on the other hand was now shaking with fury.

"You are such a pathetic man, you know. Raising hands on someone, your own daughter, what sort of a father are you?", he spat in disgust.

"The next time, you dare call my wife and I will see to it that you rot in jail for all the abuse you have put my Veera through.", he threatened and cut the call.

Where on one hand, Veera was extremely embarrassed to have Saheer see her in such a state, being weak and not standing up to her dad, she was extremely thankful for him.

Saheer had stood up for her, he had called her 'my wife', 'my Veera' like she meant so much for him. The best part was, it was not just about the words he had confessed about his feelings for her, he proved it through his actions too.