3. Healing

Mayank and Nupur laughed at Gunjan’s blush. Mayank was about to respond when Samrat came running into the room. 

“Mayank, its Dia. She wants to talk to you. And no, I haven’t told her anything.” 

He glanced at Nupur and turned to Mayank. “I thought you would want to fill her in.” 

Mayank glanced at Nupur and saw the longing in her eyes. He nodded at Samrat and placed the phone on the speaker so that Nupur and Gunjan could both hear the conversation. 

“Dia, bolo.” 

“Mayank, I am sorry I had to be out of town when you needed me so much. I would have stayed, but there was a crisis at work and fashion week was coming up so I couldn’t postpone it. But I’m coming back now. I know Nupur’s loss has been hard, but I don’t want you to suffer more.” 

“Dia..dia…dia..dia” Mayank chuckled. “It’s okay. Don’t worry, I didn’t feel bad. Samrat and Gunjan were here. But you need to come to India as soon as you can.” He looked into Nupur’s questioning eyes and nodded indicating that he would explain everything. “We have a surprise for you.” 

Nupur smiled. 

“Gosh Mayank. You sound so suspicious. I hope everything is okay.” 

“Everything is okay. Just come as soon as you can and bring Uday and Benji.” 

The phone clicked off and he turned to Nupur. 

“Dia was the first one to realize that you were not dead Nupur. She came to me a month ago saying that she had these visions and dreams when she was meditating…that you were alive.” 

Nupur gasped. Mayank nodded. “I know. I didn’t believe at first either, but then we took your death certificate to Dr. Tripati and realized that there had been a huge mistake.” He paused looking at her faraway eyes. We are going to talk about the trauma center at some point, he thought. She’s lost.

He touched her cheek and slowly pulled her out of her memory. “Dr. Tripati helped us find your house. Dia was with me then. She helped me.” 

Nupur focused on his fingers caressing her cheek and not the memory of her fighting the restraints that they had put on her hands and ankles. 

“How did Dia know that I was alive?” 

Mayank shrugged. “Intuition?” 

Nupur shook her head. “A month ago I had joined a meditation class in Delhi. I wanted some excuse to get out of the house and the only thing that Dhruv would let me do was the meditation classes, since everyone would have their eyes closed and no one would be able to see me.” 

She sighed, forgetting the reason why she brought it up. She remembered Dhruv stalking the class impatiently waiting for her to finish. 

She’s lost again, Mayank thought, looking briefly at Gunjan and Samrat. He decided not to let it slip this time. 

“And?”

She looked at him for second before continuing. “And he would stalk me to and from the class. If I even spoke to the guys, then he would drag me back home and - “ a tear rolled down again as she reached for Mayank’s hand. “he would threaten to kill you.” 

Mayank squeezed her hand and brought it to his chest. “but Im here now. Alive. See?”

Nupur nodded. 

“Besides, meditation and you?” He laughed, earning a punch from Mrs. Sharma. That’s my girl, he smiled.  

Dia had arrived early that morning with Uday in tow. When Mayank asked her where Benji was, she irritatedly shrugged and said she could care less. Mayank was confused with her reaction, but let it go, deciding that there were far more important things to discuss. He saw Samrat pick up the phone and dial Benji’s number before leading Uday and Dia to the sitting room and preparing for a long conversation. Nupur and Gunjan were sleeping and he wanted to fill them in before they met her. 

“Dia, remember when you told me you had an intuition that Nupur was alive.” 

Dia nodded with tears. “Mayank, I am sorry. I should not have brought your hopes up..”

Uday looked between the both of them confused. “Dids why didn’t you tell me?”

Mayank held both of their hands. “Dia. Please don’t be. If you had never come back to tell me, I would have gone my entire life thinking that she was dead. Because of you, I had hope. And now…” he paused looking at the both of them. 

“And now I have her” 

Dia’s eyes widened and Uday still looked confused. “What do you mean you have her?”

Mayank couldn’t hold back the smile. “Dia, we found her. She’s here. She’s with us. She’s back.” 

Dia jumped up with tears in her eyes just as Samrat returned. 

“Oh my God.” 

Mayank pulled her into a hug smiling. Uday turned to Samrat. “Did she become a ghost? I mean Nupur did say ki woh hamaara peecha nahi chodegi, par Sam” 

Dia pulled out of the hug to slap Uday’s shoulder. “Nahi dodo. Tum toh dodo hi rahoge na.” 

She then turned to Mayank. “Where is she? I want to see her.” 

Mayank nodded. “She is sleeping. But before you see her, I want to tell you something.” 

And then he narrated the whole story to the both of them. Right from when he saw her in the market to the return to Excel to Dhruv and the accident. Dia sank back into the sofa and Mayank saw Uday serious for the first time in his life. 

“That psychopath” Uday growled. “How dare he … with my favorite same blood group vali sister?” 

Mayank placed a hand on his shoulder calming him. “Mayank please tell me you beat him up? Please tell me you killed him?”

Samrat spoke this time. “If we didn’t intervene, he would have. But now Dhruv is in jail and he can’t do anything to separate the two of them. I will make sure of that.” 

Mayank looked at the determination that spread across all three of their faces and smiled. He was blessed to have a family like this. a family he had chosen when he had married Nupur that fateful night. 

Dia looked up at him with a mix of concern and happiness. “I am so happy for you… jiju” She smiled. “but is she okay? how is she?”

Mayank nodded. “She’s been through something we cannot even imagine, Dia. But, I know that she will be okay. I won’t stop until she is back to being the fighter, stubborn, filmy girl I fell in love with.” 

Dia smiled wide. “Mayank, we are all with you.” Uday nodded too. “Ya, mein use apne jokes se itna hasaanga ki for Dhruv ko yaad bhi nahi karegi.” 

Mayank put his arms around the two of them and winked at Samrat. “Thanks guys.” 

Nupur woke up to a beautiful sight in front of her. Her sister sleeping with her hand intertwined in hers. Smiling, she Slowly tucked a stray strand out of the way and ran a hand on her head before getting up from the bed and towards the bathroom. She wondered where Mayank was. 

Just as she walked out of the bathroom, Mayank came in quietly and placed his strong arms around her waist from behind. She softened at the touch and smiled. 

“kya baat hai?” 

Mayank turned her around and kissed her. “Nupur” he murmured.

“you sound so upbeat.” Nupur said smiling wider. “What is going on in that intelligent mind of yours?” 

He kissed her again. “My wife is back - I don’t need any other reason to be upbeat. Vaise, there is another reason.” 

She waited for him to continue. “Diya and Uday are waiting for you in the hall. Benji as well. Although I must tell you that Diya and Benji - its awkward.” 

Nupur jumped at “Dia” and “Uday” and “Benji” that she didn’t register anything else he said. 

“OH MY GOD!” 

Before he could steal another kiss, she ran out into the sitting room to see the three of them talking amongst each other. Her eyes welled up with tears. The three of them joined into the hug, soon, crushing her, sobbing, and laughing at the same time. 

Mayank couldn’t make out any words, but he loved the smile that was beginning to spread across her face. He made his way to the sitting room beside her, joining the hug/huddle. 

“Nupur” Dia cried. “I’ve missed you so much. Where were you? - “ 

Mayank’s eyes widened and he shook his head as Dia glanced at him. He didn’t want Nupur to remember the past unless she chose to share it with them. He wanted her to take it slow and steady when it came to her recovery. 

Nupur looked a little flustered and so Benji jumped in. “Wherever she was. Now she is here with us and Mayank. “

Samrat smiled a little naughtily as he glanced at Mayank and Nupur together. Time for cool dude teasing. 

“You should have seen the two of them last night. All I can say is it wasn’t appropriate for PG-13.” he continued glancing at Uday as he winked at Dia. 

Dia laughed at the flushes on Mayank and Nupur’s faces. “Oh my God, Mayank and openly romantic. Kyun jiju?” 

Mayank smiled. He didn’t care who saw them anymore. In the past three years he had realized that she meant more to him than anything else he could possibly think of. “Yes. Saaliji. She is my wife and she’s back in my life. So she deserves all the love I have and then some more right?” 

He asked turning to Nupur. She smiled and looked down. He couldn’t resist on seeing her blush, so he placed a quick kiss on her cheek. 

“Im so happy for the both of you.” Benji said, having real tears in his eyes. Everything would be back to normal now. Just have to work on getting Dia to talk to me, he thought. 

Adhiraj and Suhaani had joined them later that evening and even CJ cried for the first time in her life. Nupur had been flipping between crying and smiling nonstop and Mayank held her hand through it all. No one asked her about Dhruv and she was glad that it didn’t come up. 

But through all this time with the gang, she longed for some moments with Mayank where she could just shove her face into his chest and hear his heartbeat. 

After a load of gossip about Morena, Nupur found out that Bauji had not only forgiven Mayank but had made him 1/4 partner in his business after he finished his MBA. Together, they had led the business to prosper with tons of profit so that Bauji could retire early and rest due to his heart condition. Bui had remained the same although she did say “By God” quite a lot. Chinki had had two kids and had moved to London and Champa still ran the house and had kept her room exactly the same as she had left it, in her memories. 

She also found out that Gunjan and Bauji had had a huge fight when she blamed Samrat for the accident. Gunjan had looked at Samrat constantly when narrating this episode. These two need to sort things out soon, its about time, Nupur thought. She looked at Mayank who nodded. They were thinking the same thing. 

So without further ado, she got up from the sofa and proceeded to the hidden music system and selected a song. Labon ko played from the speakers as KK’s voice penetrated the silence. 

“Let’s dance. I feel like dancing Mayank, please” she winked at him and he stood up understanding her hint. 

“Ya, let’s all dance. Gunjan, Samrat, and Adhiraaj Suhani you guys too.” 

Adhiraaj and Suhani stood up immediately. After 1 year of marriage these two were inseparable. Nupur was sad to have missed their wedding, but they promised loads of pictures and videos to make up for it. 

Gunjan and Samrat stood up reluctantly. Samrat not knowing how to approach Gunjan and Gunjan not knowing how to initiate. Suhani caught Nupur’s eye and pushed her brother towards Gunjan. 

“Bhai, don’t think, just go to her and make things alright.” 

Samrat nodded slightly smiling and walked to where Gunjan was wordless taking her hands in his and swaying to the soft beat of the music. 

Mayank turned towards his wife watching Samrat and Gunjan fit perfectly in each other’s arms. Then her attention turned to Benji and Dia. 

“Dia, if you don’t dance, then what’s the point. C’mon. Benji’s free. For old time’s sake. For me?” 

Dia grumbled - torn between her dislike for her ex and her obvious love for her sister. 

“Fine - just one dance” 

One dance is all I need to break through that tough exterior, Benji thought bringing Dia close to him and leading the dance.