A special thanks to my editor/friend Kenjisato for helping me out.
Disclaimer: This story is a complete work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people or events is coincidental. Story events and actions are not meant to harm anyone, or any groups believe, but to advance the plot. All the characters in the story are above 18.
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The story continues from the last scene.
By the time I came back, Dad was already home. As usual, he was mad at me for coming home late. I didn't argue or explain what had actually happened; instead, I just kept quiet and listened to his harsh words before he got tired, and told me to "Fuck off."
As I walked by the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of Mom. She looked quite happy and excited. I really wanted to confront her, but I didn't have the courage to do so.
I lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling. My heart felt heavy, and slowly I started crying, knowing our life was ruined. Those thoughts kept floating in front of my eyes, like pictures. They were showing all the things that had happened in the past few hours.
I wanted to scream, shout, and... and ask, "Why did she do this to us?"
I clenched my fist in anger, and pounded it on the edge of the bed. I needed answers. I sat up and looked at our family photo on the wall. I was moving out on Monday, so I had three days on my hands to find out the truth.
At the dinner table, Dad told us that Grandma was under the weather, and he was worried that she hadn't seen a doctor yet; so, he planned to visit her, and he would go directly to her place from his office.
I didn't make a fuss about it, and Mom showed her fake concern and gave consent. I knew very well that she didn't like her mother-in-law, and probably, deep down, Mom was happy to know she was sick.
"Stop staring at your food and finish it." Mom said, looking at me with narrow eyes.
Hearing her voice made my blood boil. My eyes were glued to my plate, but inside, I was raging with anger. It was tough to control myself, to hold my sanity, to fake a smile in front of all of the lies.
I bit my lip, and said, "Mom, can you pass the salt?"
I slowly looked up; our eyes met, and there it was-- her carefree smile that hid the truth.
"It's already well seasoned with salt; adding more will just ruin the taste," Mom said, concernedly.
Just like you, who has ruined our family? I thought to myself. I didn't say a word to her and slowly lowered my head. A few seconds later, I stood up to leave.
Mom quickly looked up from her plate, and said, "What happened?"
"Just tired! I'm not feeling hungry," I answered, softly.
I could have come up with a better excuse, but I was too exhausted to think straight.
"Here we go again," Mom said, rolling her eyes. "Have you ever imagined how much time and effort it takes for me to prepare all this?"
Mom looked at Dad, maybe she was expecting some kind of reaction from him. But Dad said nothing; maybe he was thinking about Granny and was too overwhelmed to discipline me.
Mom calmed her voice, and said, "Jinu, please, don't do this. Leaving your food like this brings a bad omen to the family."
My heart pounded as she said the word 'family.' The one person who is destroying the family was worried about its well-being; what a hypocrite.
Mom got up from her chair and held my arm. She gently pulled me towards my seat and made me sit. She then gently caressed my head and said that we should cherish this time together, as after I am gone, she would miss our family dinners.
My heart felt heavy, and my eyes filled up. Our eyes met for a brief second before darting away. My heart wanted to scream to say that she was a cheating whore, and all of this was just a facade. But all I could do was to fake a sloppy smile and finish my dinner.
Mom kissed my forehead and resumed her seat. She looked happy, but I wondered if she would be this happy if she knew that I had seen her dirty deeds.
That night, I couldn't sleep. It was one of the toughest nights of my life. I had several thoughts and questions, and I was asking who was wrong. I kept on asking myself, "Will it all end up like this, or did I have a slight chance of saving my mother?"
After several arguments with myself, I came to the conclusion that something must have happened that led her to that path. I knew my mom; she couldn't just throw everything away. She must have been provoked, or maybe brainwashed, by that sleazy bastard. I was sure
that deep down, somewhere in her heart, she must have been regretting her choice.
I had made up my mind, I needed to save my mom, save her from my father's wrath. To show her that she still had time. To save my parents' marriage, and our lives, I needed to confront her. To show her the truth and save her from that son-of-a-bitch master. To do all of this, I needed solid proof of her affair.
Luckily, I didn't have to do much to find out.
The next morning, at around seven-forty-five, when I came down from my room, I saw Mom's phone on the kitchen counter. She was busy helping Dad with last-minute checks before he left for the weekend.
I saw my opportunity and quickly grabbed her phone and rushed to the washroom. Her phone was locked, but luckily, there was a faded smudge on the screen that drew a Z-pattern.
It felt like luck was on my side. I hurriedly unlocked her phone and started checking her social media apps. Mom mostly used Facebook and WhatsApp. I didn't find much on Facebook, but as I opened her WhatsApp, I found a freshly deleted series of chats between Mom and Mohanjeet. There was one last text that was sent early in the morning, around six o'clock. Maybe she hadn't had the time to delete that last one.
After scrolling down, I saw all their old chats had been deleted. Actually, she had deleted all her old chats with everyone she had talked to in the last month. Maybe it was a trick, to hide the obvious doubts about why she deleted her and Mohanjeet's conversation.
The last undeleted text was enough for me to know what they were cooking. The text was sent by my mother. It said-- 'Tonight at 8 PM then.'