NEW FF: Out Of Darkness..... *Part 2* UPD pg. 3 - Page 2

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***Part 2***

She knew no one, not one single soul in the town knew of her existence except her father and her three brothers. The whole town knew that Mohender Handa had three sons who were his pride and who he loved and cared deeply for but no one knew that he also had a daughter. The daughter who he hated, loathed the sight of her, and who he has kept locked inside the haveli away from the preying eyes of the world, away from the outside world which his daughter knew nothing about just like the outside world knew nothing of her….. no one knew about the existence of Geet Handa…..

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"Mohan, tum es samay yahan kya kar rahe ho, aaj to ladke wale aarahe haina" (what are you doing here at this time, weren't the groom's family coming today?) Mohender asked upon seeing the man at his doorstep.

"Main barbad ho gaya Bhaiyaji, meri zindagi bhar ki kamayi hue izzaat lut gayee" (I am ruined brother, my lifelong earned respect is at stake) wailed Mohan in front of Mohender.

"What happened Mahendra kaka?" Brij asked as he stood beside his father.

"Meri badi beti Channi ghar se bhaag gayyee Bhaiyaji....... we have been searching for her since morning but still haven't found her …. Ab ek ghante mein ladke ki dadima aur bahen ane wale hai sangeet ke liya ab mein kya karoon mujhe aap hi bataye Bhaiyaji" (My daughter Channi, has eloped from home, there is only an hour left for the groom's family to reach here for the sangeet ceremony, I don't know what I should do now) Mohan informed him of his problem, he didn't know what to do. He and his family had been searching the whole day for Channi when they didn't found her in her room. He could not understand how his daughter could do this, he knew her too well, and he knew she could never do this but all the happenings hinted that his daughter ran away from home. He just didn't understand why? She was so happy with the alliance; she was excited and had been going on about her dreams of living in the city as the wife of the biggest businessman. Then what went wrong?

"This is a very big problem, teen din baad shaadi hai aur ladki gayab. Yeh kya kiya tumhari beti ne. Did you not inform your daughter how important this marriage is for Hoshiarpur's development? Pura Hoshiarpur es shaadi se aas laga kar bhaitha hai, tum jaante hona." (only three days are left for the wedding and the Bride is missing…. What has your daughter done! Don't you know the whole town has expectations from this marriage?) Mohender asked, angered at the news. This marriage was very important for the development of the town; if the groom's family took the news hard then they could set the whole town back to when it was just a baseless small village. It was the hard work of his father and him that the small nameless village was now a growing town, developing itself into a productive city but this one mistake could take away everything Mohender and his father had worked so hard on.

"You go home now Mohan, Ladke walon se baath karo unhe saab baath batao dekho kya kahethe hai, unhe samjoa, maafi maangon unse, binthee karo ki woh es baath ki wajah se saare Hushiarpur ko na udaas kare aur unse kaho ki es ghalati ke liye hum unki koibhi maang poori karenge" (go home and talk with the groom's family, explain them the situation, ask them for forgiveness, request them to not take any drastic step from which our town's people might suffer) Mohender advised Mohan.

"lekin Bhaiyaji" Mohan protested but stopped realizing his mistake, he knew Mohender Handa never gave a wrong advice.

"You don't worry Mohan, talk to them and then come directly for the panchayat. We all can discuss about this and consider what we should do next" Mohender explained and hoped the groom's family would not take any drastic step upon hearing the news. He was sure the family was sensible enough, and traditional, he knew they would not ask for anything that was valuable for Hushiarpur.

"Jee theek hai Bhaiyaji" Mohan obeyed, touched Mohender's feet and left for his house, feeling relieved at having the support and assurance of the serpanch……

"Do you know something about the disappearance of Channi" Mohender asked noticing the mischievous glint in his elder son's eyes.

"I think even you do Baba" Brij replied slyly. Mohender stared at his son with confusion, and then realization downed on him.

"Is Channi the girl Gurwinder was talking to me about last night?" Mohender asked wanting to make sure he was right in his assumption.

"Yes, Baba" Brij answered.

"I can't believe this, from all the girls in this town he had to pick Channi the one who is… was getting married into Kailashnath's family. He should have at least told me that. I actually gave him permission to marry whichever girl he wanted. Tell me Brij, what was Gurwinder planning on doing with the girl?" Mohender asked, he regretted allowing his son to fulfill his desire. He thought it was just some girl from the nearby village, he did not for once think that it was Channi, and neither did he think on whether his son just lusted after the girl or just wanted to take revenge or actually loved her.

"Baba! I am so happy today" Gurwinder's voice boomed as he walked in excitedly and hugged his father very much aware of the situation he had caused in his desire to get even with Channi.

"What did you do with Channi?" Mohender asked his son in a hard voice, but he could not get angry at his son when he looked so happy.

"I kidnapped her last night and forced her into marrying me" Gurwinder exclaimed as if it was a normal thing to do.

"WHAT? You married her without my permission" Mohender screamed in shock, this was getting more difficult now. He knew he would have to ask forgiveness and plead in front of everyone because of his son's mistake.

"Baba, I asked you last night, you said I can do whatever I wanted so I got married to her like I wanted to" Gurwinder reminded his father with a frown. He did not like to see his father angry, he never got angry at him or his brothers, he only got angry at HER but never at him. He did not like it, he was so happy he got married to Channi, he hated her she was always calling him stupid and idiot and then since the past few weeks she had been flaunting about how she was getting married to the handsome and intelligent businessman from the city. He hated her even more, he had first thought of killing her but then decided to marry her then she will have to stay at his house just like his sister was living. In darkness!

"Baba don't love Gurwinder anymore, Baba angry at Gurwinder" Gurwinder cried seeing his father glaring at him in anger. Mohender smiled seeing his son using that same tactic again. Gurwinder was still so very much like a child, slow at things, his behavior and attitude of a child and everyone in the town knew about it but none dared to point out that Gurwinder Handa, son of Mohender was an autistic man!

"No Gurwinder, I am not angry, I am just upset. You should have told me the girl was Channi but never mind that. Where is she now?" Mohender asked realizing that he still hadn't seen Channi.

"She is standing outside, she said she won't come inside before the ghra-something" Gurwinder answered. Mohender and Brij laughed at Gurwinder's words, Brij ruffled Gurwinder's hair while Mohender went outside to talk with Channi wondering how he was going to explain this to everyone at the panchayat........

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It was after a whole hour of apologies and explanations in front of everyone from both Mohan and Mohender that they finally were able to discuss on how to solve this problem.

"Ab kya karien Bhaiyaji, the sister said that they all came here for her brother's marriage and we promised them that. She is saying that if we don't find a girl who is richer and sanskari than Channi then they will shut down their factories and start construction on their farming lands." Mohan explained.

Everyone in the panchayat listened to his whole meeting with groom's family. How the groom's grandmother and sister were both angry upon hearing the news. They stated that their son/brother will have to get married on the decided marriage date. They have informed of the marriage to everyone, the invitations have already been sent, everyone is waiting eagerly for this marriage, the news reporters, their friends and relatives will all be present at the wedding. Their whole reputation was at stake; it had taken them a great deal of persuasion to finally make their son consent to get married. The sister was very angry, she threatened if her brother did not get married in this week then she will ruin Hushiarpur. The sister had in clear words stated "Mujhe mere bhai ke liye dulhan chahiye, it does not matter if the girl is not as educated as Channi but the girl should be beautiful, wealthy and traditional. You and your Hushiarpur inhabitants have till tomorrow afternoon to find a suitable bride for my brother." She had left in anger shouting the threat of ruining the whole town if they did not find a suitable girl.

"What should we do Mohender, you tell us. How can we find any suitable girl in such a short notice? You know how our towns' people are; none of them are going to agree to get their daughter married to a man from the city. And I don't believe there is any girl who is as beautiful and matured as Channi is" said Bhadura Sing, one of the senior member in the Panchayat group.

"Kalpana, Shailendar ki beti. What about her? She is beautiful, educated and sanskari and the family is quite wealthy" Mohender suggested, he was hoping and praying the situation would not go so far that he would have to take the decision he was not willing to take.

"Her marriage is already fixed with Shrikant Kaka's youngest son" His son Brij informed.

"What about Radha's daughter? She has just returned from the city completing her studies." Bhadura suggested.

"She is not sanskari, dekha nahi kaise kapre pahen ke ghoomthi hai and kaise har ladke ko chipakthi hai. Unhe aise ladki nahi chahiya" Mohan pointed out and so on went the suggestions but not one was suitable enough to become the Bahu of Kailashnath's family. It was not like there were no girls that were good and beautiful enough, it was the difficulty of finding a girl that came from a rich family. There were very few families that fit in the list of wealthy families. Even though the town has been developing into a city but the people still had the same old superstitious believes.

"Baba, What do you think about HER" Gurwinder whispered into his father's ear, seeing how this whole problem has come to because of his wish. He did not like when his father had to apologize to the whole town because of what he did.

"Kaun Gurwinder" Mohender asked, even though he had the inkling about who his son was suggesting because he had been thinking the same thing.

"HER… that girl in our house" Gurwinder answered a bit too loudly.

"Who is he talking about Mohender" Bhadura asked. Mohender sighed; all eyes were on him now. It seemed like she was the only one that was suitable enough for all this. The sister wanted a traditional, wealthy and sanskari girl, then his daughter was all that but how will he suggest this to the towns people who knew nothing of her.

"Geet" Mohender answered.

***Angel***

PS: Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments.... please continue giving me those lovely comments and I will continue to update this fanfic regularly..... I hope you all will like this part...... if you have any suggestions I can incorporate in this story then please PM them to me!!! Let me know how you found this part......