The light from the sun, that was hidden behind the grey clouds spread gently across the now, colourless room. The room which had been like this, devoid of brightness, since the time his Khushi had entered his life and filled it unknowingly with colours of joy, colours of brightness and colours of her love and had then taken all the colours away from him, away from his life along with some grey from his life into hers. He knew that behind the smile that she plastered on her face; laid the dullness and the pain she had acquired from him. The light was gentle and didn't shine as bright as it would at this time of the year. Slowly, he rubbed his sleep deprived eyes and opened them to look on his own, what was preventing this light. Arnav walked towards the French windows and stepped out towards the pool to look at the sky which was full of grey clouds that mirrored the state of what his life had now become. The light filtered in from the clouds, from the space it could find and showered the earth with itself. A crooked smile crept up his lips as he chuckled at the irony of the situation. The clouds reflected him and the light was Aahat. Her light tried to enter his life that night but he blocked it, because after all he was the grey cloud, wasn't he? His eyes glistened as he looked up at the sky and then noticed one cloud shifting its position and giving way to the light ray that waited patiently behind it. The ray of light fell on his pool and was reflected by the clear water, brightening the poolside. The gloominess in his eyes lessened as he walked towards the washroom to welcome a new phase of his life wherein, he would return all the love that had been showered on him previously and win back the one he loved. Arnav would bring his 'Khushi' back into his life.
...
Shantivan was its usual calm self. A serene atmosphere defined this huge house. The members of the Raizada family were their usual selves. Devyani Raizada the matriarch of the family sat in the living room, counting her prayer beads while her daughter-in-law Manorama sat beside her, whining about the wrinkles she had started developing lately, admiring herself in the typical Lucknowi hand mirror. Anjali had just finished her prayers and sat down, caressing her baby bump. She was six months pregnant and pampered to the hilt, being the only daughter of the house. The men, Aakash Singh Raizada and Manohar Raizada had just left for work early while Shyam Jha, Anjali's husband, left for his own work as a renowned criminal lawyer. Shyam, although well off, lived as a ghar jamai for his Rani Sahiba's sake, as he called Anjali, who he loved immensely.
The family was content, but far from 'complete'. The family members had seen highs and lows throughout their lives, especially Nani, but the latest separation of Arnav and Khushi had hit all of them hard. All of them lacked the liveliness in their lives which 'Aahat' took away with her. Aanchal was their beautiful and calm daughter-in-law, who had made them well-versed with the circumstances. All of them understood, almost instantly about what the two girls went through very early in their lives, but how could they make their rigid grandson, Arnav Singh Raizada understand that? They wanted the couple together and decided to give them time but neither Nani nor Mami nor Anjali could stop the stream of tears that occasionally rolled down their cheeks. Especially Anjali, for she knew how much her brother loved Aahat and she also knew about how important it was for children to fulfil their parent's last wishes. Even though Manorama did not have a special soft corner for Aahat, while she had developed one for Aanchal with time, she respected the decisions the two girls had in the early adult years of their lives itself.
Aanchal, after completing all her duties, very quietly entered the room and asked permission to go and meet her Amma and Bauji. The Raizadas had accepted their daughter-in-law fully, after patiently listening to the whole truth that she knew about her real identity being concealed from the world, the half truth, which the younger generation of the Singhania family believed to be full. Due to her nature, she always appeared calm, but the unrest in her mind was quick to develop as days had passed.
Aanchal had a secret, concealed from the world, between her husband and she, which solved her purpose on their relationship front, since their relationship was always laid on the basis of love and honesty but she could never stop worrying about her little sister. She did speak to her family on the phone but what information she got was extremely contradictory to the confident front her sister pulled off while she spoke to her. But, she knew her sister better than Aahat thought she did. After all, these two had been each other's support through all that they had gone through, in the past and recently. Finally, she had decided to go and meet her Amma and Bauji, for even they needed her support after all that happened, on that cursed night, a month ago, but in the course of all that had happened, she had developed a cold attitude towards one person, a person who she could never forgive as long as Aahat didn't, the person was Arnav Singh Raizada. Aanchal had deliberately avoided Arnav and his ruthless ways in the past one month and had decided to continue with this attitude.
"Naniji, hum soch rahe they ki Amma aur Bauji se mil aaye. Jo Kuch bhi uss raat hua, uske baad humaari unse baat nahi Hui aur na hee Aahat ki, hummein Amma ko bataana hai ki Jo Kuch bhi hua vo siraf kismat thi aur unka koi kasoor nahi tha. To kya hum jaaye agar aap aur Maaji ko theek lage toh?" asked Payal. (Naniji, I was thinking that I should go and meet Amma and Bauji. After what happened that night, neither have I spoken to them and nor has Aahat. I only want to tell Amma that whatever happened was only a play of destiny and it wasn't her fault, really. So, if you and Maaji are okay with it, can I go meet them?)
"Haan haan bitiya, aap bilkul jaayiye Amma Bauji ke paas." (Of course bitiya, you should definitely go and meet them.)
"Haan Khoon bhari taang...I means Aanchaliya, jaao meeting kar aao apni faamiliz se, hello hi bye bye, par ee toh suno, tumhri Phatti saari se baat Hui ki naahi?" Mami supported Nani. (Yes, Khoon bhari taang... I means Aanchaliya, go and meeting your family, hello hi bye bye, and listens, did you speaks to phatti saari?)
"Haan haan Aanchal, aapki Khu...humaara matlab Aahat se baat hui? I hope aapne unko aur aapke poore parivaar ko humaari aur inki anniversary party ke liye invite kar liya hai?"(Yes, Aanchal, did you talk to Khu...Aahat? I hope you invited her and your family to mine and Shyam's anniversary party?)
"Nahi maaji, nahi di! Humaari Aahat se baat nahi Hui, uska phone switched off tha, hum use aaj bataa denge aur Dadi ko toh humne keh diya tha par Ehsaas di ne bataaya ki kal vo theek nahi thi jab office se lauti, kal usne dinner bhi nahi kiya. I hope sab theek hai." (No maaji, no di! I didn't speak to Aahat, her phone was switched off last night, but I will tell her today. I did call and tell Dadi but yesterday Ehsaas di told me that she was in an extremely bad state when she returned from office, she didn't even have dinner yesterday. I hope everything is alright.)
Anjali instantly remembered the night before, when Arnav had stormed into the house. His eyes were red and his face showed clear signs of distress. She had suspected something to be wrong and went to him but her questions were absolutely ignored by Arnav and he had rushed into his room, closing the doors to his room and to the little space that he had allowed the family members to invade in his life. He had done that each day, after the night of his incomplete wedding with Khushi but the day before, turmoil was clearly visible in his molten, dark, chocolate eyes which were glistening with withheld tears and that did not go unnoticed to Anjali.
"Par kal chotte bhi bahut disturbed they jab vo vaapas aaye. Kahin yeh dono..." (But yesterday even chotte was extremely disturbed when he returned home from work. Do you think they both...) but before Anjali could continue, Aanchal immediately switched the topic and said,"Di abhi sabko time chahiye aur humnein aap sab Se kitni baar kahaa hai ki hum aap sabke liye humesha Payal ya Khoon bhari taang hee rahenge", (Di, everyone needs time to come to terms with certain facts. Now, how many times have I told you all that I will always remain Payal or Khoon bhari taang for all of you) with glint in her eyes, "ab hum chalte hai". (Now, I should leave.)
Just as she was about to walk away Anjali remembered, "Par Aan..Payal abhi toh siraf chotte ki gadi ghar pe hai. Baaki sab baahar hai, aap kaise jaayengi?" (But Aan..Payal right now only chotte's car is at home. Everyone else is out right now. How will you go?) asked Anjali.
Just as Aanchal was about to deny Arnav entered the room, ready for work and offered to drop Payal.
"It's okay di, I'll drop Aanchal", said Arnav, matter of factly.
Before Payal could deny and offer to go in an auto rickshaw, Manorama shut her up and she was forced to stay quiet and follow Arnav towards his Mercedes S class.
...
At the Singhania mansion, everyone was quietly having their breakfast when Aahat came down and occupied her seat at the table. She appeared to be normal because as always, she had put on her plastered smile and had greeted everyone warmly but her appearance showed that she was far from normal. Aahat was wearing a suit with a pale blue kameez with chikankari work on it along with a white dupatta and white palazzo pants. Her hair was open and fell over her back while her accessories were minimal. She wore silver jhumkis and a few metallic bangles on her wrists.
Everyone glanced at each other confusedly while their respective breakfasts were stuck in their throats for all of them were worried about Aahat. One, she had remained silent after coming back from work and had locked herself in her room, which was very unlikely of her because even after that what had happened she never ignored her family and talked to them cheerfully, especially giving all her attentions to the children and two, because she had missed her morning run and workout session, again something very unsual.
Just as Eshani was about to ask her about the difference in her appearance, Aahat spoke while buttering her toast, "Everyone is unusually quiet today! Di the kids have gone left for school already?" she checked her watch and then continued after Ehsaas nodded a no, "Accha taya ji, I won't come for work today. I know that even Cho Cho isn't here, since he has gone to London to get La, but we hardly have any important conferences today. I hope you'll manage? And di, I'll drop them today, since kal se unke saath time nahi spend kiya! Agar aaj bhi nahi kiya toh they'll kill me!" (And di, I'll drop them today, since I haven't spent time with them since yesterday! If I don't today, these three kids will kill me!) she chuckled a little, which everyone could make out was not fake.
Everyone was a little taken aback and passed around uncertain glances because Aahat never missed work, no matter what. Her work was her only solace nowadays, so then what had happened? No one could put a finger on it but Arav did get a little hint, or rather, made a little guess. Arav was home since he didn't have an outdoor shoot that day, plus he was worried about Aahat since he had heard from Eshani and Ehsaas when she had reached home the day before and being the protective little brother that he was, he immediately questioned her, "But di kyun? (But di why?) Something important? I mean, di aap theek ho na? (I mean, di are you okay.) Please tell me it's not related to that Arnav Singh Raizada", he completed as he gritted his teeth and his expressions changed from that of concern to that of anger.
But Aahat very calmly replied, "Arav, let's not talk about unimportant things and waste our time. Kuch hai Jo adhoora reh gaya hai, usse hee poora karne jaa rahe hai hum. Kabhi kabhi hum apne mein hee itna engross ho jaate hai ki apne aap ke ek important part ko hee bhool jaate hai. Bas ussi part ko vaapas laane jaa rahe hai him. I'll be back home later in the evening. Don't worry baccha!" (Arav, let's not talk about unimportant things and waste our time. There some things that I have left incomplete, and today I am going to complete them. Sometimes, we become so lost in ourselves that we forget things that are important parts of us. I am going to bring that part of me back. I'll be back home later in the evening. Don't worry kid!)
What is Aahat going to do? What had she left incomplete?
________
Hope you like it!!
Please like and comment!!
Will continue it soon...!😊
62