Part 5 : Face to Face

Shilpa craned her neck to look at the door as he walked towards it.

Her fast heartbeats matched the rhythm of his footsteps.

Armaan opened the door.

Shilpa froze as she felt a loud thud at the bottom of her heart.

A beat passed, then, "Good evening, sir."

Armaan blinked. A delivery boy stood outside holding a medium-sized package. "I have a parcel for Mrs. Shilpa Armaan Malik."

Absolute silence...

Behind him, Shilpa stared, the delivery boy stared back and Armaan stared at both of them.

"That's it?" Shilpa burst out.

The poor delivery boy looked deeply confused. "Ma'am?"

Armaan immediately started laughing. "Oh thank God."

Shilpa shot him a glare. "Don't laugh."

"I'm absolutely laughing."

"Armaan."

"You looked like you were about to faint." He laughed harder.

"I was not."

"You were."

A delivery boy smiled awkwardly and handed him the parcel before zooming away. Armaan looked at it slightly intrigued but took it nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Shilpa was aghast seeing the box in his hand. As soon as the delivery boy went away and the door was clicked shut, she sprang up from the couch and dashed towards him. Before he could even inspect it, Shilpa snatched it away.

"Whoa whoa easy there...what was that?" He crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing.

"It's nothing! I just ordered some dress okay?" She tried to give a grin but it came out forced as she hid the box behind her. It only made him more curious and determined to know what it was. "Aree dikhao toh sahi.." He said taking a step towards her but she dodged and took a step back.

"Kahan na dress hai bas..." She chuckled nervously. Armaan held her waist with one hand and pulled her closer making her breath hitch. He held her chin gently. "Mujhe nhi bataogi?

She gulped slightly. "I will tell! I will tell! But you have to wait for few days more... I promise I will tell you!" She tried convince him.

"Sachi?"

"Muchi!" She pressed a smooch on his cheek making him laugh.

"Fine...I will believe you for now." He looked at her in mock anger, knocking his forehead gently on hers to which she just smiled cheekily at him.

~

Riddhima stood staring at the familiar house in front of her. Even though most of the neighborhood had changed beyond recognition, this was one of the few houses which she definitely recognised and it stirred something inside her instantly, a feeling. A feeling of belonging here once.

Her fingers tightened around the strap of her bag. After taking a long, shuddering breath, she gathered whatever courage remained and slowly walked toward the gate. She climbed the small stairs, pressed the doorbell and then waited.

The seconds stretched endlessly.

Her heartbeat seemed louder than everything else around her.

Then finally, the door opened and a young woman stood there.

Riddhima froze.

That tiny hopeful smile that had begun forming on her lips disappeared instantly.

The woman looked at her politely. "Yes?"

For a moment, Riddhima forgot what she wanted to say. Her eyes wandered past the woman instinctively, searching the house behind her. The house seemed to have different furnitures, different curtains, different colors and even a different life. Her chest tightened unexpectedly.

"Mr. and Mrs. Sharma...?" she asked quietly, almost unconsciously.

The woman frowned slightly before understanding dawned upon her face. "Oh... them?"

Hope instantly flickered briefly inside Riddhima again.

"They moved away years ago." The words landed softly yet somehow she felt her world breaking.

Riddhima blinked startled. "Moved... away?"

"Yes." The woman nodded. "Quite a long time ago, actually. We bought this house from them."

Silence.

"Do you know where they went?" she asked after a moment.

The woman shook her head apologetically.

"I'm sorry. We never really kept in touch."

Riddhima nodded slowly, trying to hide her glistening eyes. "I see."

The woman hesitated a bit but asked. "You knew them?"

At her question, hundreds of answers rose inside her throat and yet none came out. Because it was a truth that she wasn't entirely sure about anymore. She only knew that she had come looking for pieces of herself but in the process, a piece of her just disappeared.

"Maybe," she whispered softly.

The woman looked puzzled but didn't press further. After a brief goodbye, the door closed once again.

Riddhima remained standing there motionless, staring at the door in front of her. The house behind that door belonged to someone else now. The people she remembered were gone. The life she was searching for had already moved on from this place.

A breeze stirred gently through the street. Somewhere nearby, laughter echoed from the playing children, birds were chirping and life continued as though nothing had happened, like her entire world wasn't breaking apart.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Riddhima finally turned away and continued walking.

Because somewhere deep inside, a quiet voice kept insisting that she wasn't done searching yet.

~

The neighborhood grew quieter the further she walked. Tiny fragments kept awakening and disappearing before she could grasp them properly. But she kept walking, following nothing except instinct, following the feelings she couldn't explain.

Now she found herself relying on something else, something buried deeper inside her heart, a memory? Or perhaps longing? she wasn't sure.

A burst of child like laughter drifted through the air.

She froze.

The sound was distant and faint, yet something about it made every hair on her body stand up. Her head lifted slowly as the laughter came again. A child's laughter. Bright, carefree and so joyful.

The kind of sound that should have meant nothing but she found her heart reacting before her mind could ever. A strange ache spread through her chest and without realizing it, her feet began moving toward the sound.

She came across a garden and something caught her eyes.

A little girl was running freely in the garden, chasing the birds, laughing merrily without a care of her surroundings.

For a brief moment, Riddhima merely watched her with a faint smile. Someone's lovely child, she thought.

But suddenly, a blurred vision attacked her mind.

A tiny hand wrapped around her finger.

Riddhima blinked rapidly, that vision was gone as quick as it had come.

Her brows furrowed as a strange ache pulsed behind her eyes. When she raised her eyes again.

Another flash.

A spilled bottle of milk and tiny fingers reaching upwards.

The fragments vanished before she could grasp them. Her hand instinctively rose to her temple as dull uneasiness settled inside her chest.

A tiny bundle wrapped against her chest.

Riddhima grabbed her hair trying to make the splitting headache go away. A whimper left her and before she could even exhale..

A figure stepped into view behind the little girl. He was familiar. Terrifyingly familiar. The world tilted as her breathing stopped. For one fragile second she forgot where she was.

Memories struck violently. A sharp pain tore through her skull and Riddhima stumbled slightly, horrified.

Laughter beneath yellow fairy lights...

A warm hand holding hers...

Standing in the rain...

Whispered promises...

And a ring...

Familiar eyes...

Riddhima gasped for air as she couldn't take what her mind was slowly unravelling mercilessly.

No, no, no...something was terribly wrong. She didn't realize she was crying as tears streamed down her face. The images came faster now.

Sacred fire crackled softly...

A hand reaching for hers, warm, steady and assuring...

The weight of vermillion on her head...

The overwhelming certainty that she would never have to walk through life alone...

The memories surged through her like floodwater breaking through a dam, each one demanding to be remembered and each one demanding to be heard, to be seen, not caring whether she was now drowning or not.

And beneath all these memories? A voice roared inside her soul.

Armaan.

The name echoed through her soul like a sacred prayer forgotten and then suddenly remembered.

Armaan.

The name exploded somewhere inside her mind.

Always Armaan.

His laughter...

His smile...

His forehead resting against hers after a long day, looking deeply into her eye-

The memory fractured violently before she could see. Pain exploded behind her eyes, a strangled gasp escaped her lips as her hand flew to her temple.

The world tilted, the sunlight became too bright.

Then-

Dark clouds, storm, thunder and rain in the scene. The sudden shift was so violent it made her stagger. The warmth had long vanished.

The memories changed.

A storm came. Rain was crashing violently against glass. Headlights were flashing mercilessly. The road was slick with water. People shouting everyone, the whole thing was packed with chaos.

A desperate voice was calling her name.

Armaan.

Armaan.

Armaan.

Then-

One horrible sound, A LOUD CRASH.

Engines were groaning, metal twisted and broken. There was so much of screaming that the sound ripped through her mind with such force that she physically flinched. Her entire body went rigid. Then suddenly, everything vanished like a smoke and only that crash remained.

Echoing... again and again and again.

As if it had never truly stopped and it had been waiting all these years to finish destroying her again.

A strangled breath escaped her as the pain became unbearable. The memories swirled together so fast that she could no longer separate the past from the present.

~

When she opened her eyes..they were now bloodshot. Tears suddenly burned behind Riddhima's eyes. The feeling was unbearable.

The front door opened again.

"Armaan!" A sweet voice floated across the garden. It was that kind of voice that seemed to had spoken his name countless times.

The woman smiled softly at Armaan. Riddhima saw Armaan smiling back a her. And in that moment, Riddhima felt the ground disappear beneath her feet. Because she recognized that smile of his. Not the outline of it. But the meaning behind it, the certainty and the softness.

The little girl immediately ran toward the woman, demanding her attention. The woman sighed affectionately before kneeling slightly to pick her up. The little girl squealed in happiness and hugged her neck with her little arms. Armaan smiled, walking towards them.

The three of them were looking like home.

The pain in Ridhhima's head intensified as her vision blurred. Her pulse was thundering inside her ears. She then took a tiny step forward, her throat choking out a strangled word.

"Armaan..."

The world swayed violently beneath her feet. And just before darkness swallowed her whole-

She saw Armaan turn and saw the recognition exploding across his face, the color draining away from his features and the parting of his lips in disbelief as though he had seen a ghost.

The darkness finally claimed her.

And she fell with a thud.

~

When he turned, his heartbeat stopped. The world slipped beneath him.

His lips parted slightly, yet no sound came out. Armaan staggered backward unconsciously and his shoulder collided with Shilpa.

She instinctively reached out and steadied him, immediately alarmed by the look on his face.

Shilpa held him worriedly and followed his line of sight...

The sight made her blood run cold.

A single name echoed in Shilpa's mind. Riddhima. And a thought crept inside her mind.

Wasn't Riddhima presumed dead for five years?!

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Back with an update writing this chapter wrecked me from inside I would love if your leave your views in the comment