Chapter Index :
02 - Pg 3
03 - Pg 6
04 - Pg 8
05 - Pg 13
06 - Pg 17
07 - Pg 21
08 - Pg 23
09 - Pg 26
10 - Pg 30
11 - Pg 33
12 - Pg 35
13 - Pg 39
14 - Pg 42
15 - Pg 47
16 - Pg 51
17 - Pg 55
It was the morning of the Kul Gotra Puja at Oberoi Mansion and both the older Oberoi siblings were close to either punching someone or tearing their own hair out.
Shivaay Singh Oberoi liked to think he controlled everything and everyone around him. But today, he was woefully aware of the extent of his powers... and how they were all proving useless when it came to the really important things in life. He'd stupidly gone behind his wife's back to investigate her origins and unfortunately brought Nayantara, the dancing devil into their home and their lives as a result.
And she'd succeeded in wrangling a prime position for herself in the household, even going so far as to try and get them to write her name in their family annals. Anika was with him every step of the way in trying to eradicate this evil woman from their home but the timeline for that had been significantly shortened with this Puja being dumped on their heads at the last minute.
On the other hand, his younger sibling, Omkara was getting ready to throw someone out of the house too... none other than the woman the whole household had unreservedly accepted as his wife. He didn't know if it was her bhola-bhala act in front of them or their blind acceptance of her that fired up every protesting nerve in him and made him want to yell at them for being such a bunch of soap opera characters. For once, he missed Tej Singh Oberoi's cutting remarks and casual disregard for feelings and such.
Omkara'd had enough of the pointless posturing and there was no way he was going to let a cheap, fallen and money hungry woman's name appear in the records of his family. She was going to leave the house today... by hook or crook. Either she could leave herself with some self-respect intact or he would kick her out after publicly humiliating her in front of everyone by revealing her true nature and their unfortunate history.
Both brothers sent a look of commiseration to each other as they descended the stairs to get to the Puja. They knew that the other was dealing with issues but they were so involved in their own problems that neither understood the extent of the other's misery. Rudra, the one who might've gotten to the root of both of their problems in one glance had sadly left the previous afternoon to go to Meerut for a friend's wedding.
The sound of bangles tinkling and silks rustling caught both their attentions and they looked up the staircase together, only for the vision they encountered to stop their thoughts abruptly for a second.
Shivaay was spellbound by the beauty and grace that was his wife. For so long had he labored under misconceptions and tried to send her away from him when all he should have been doing was call her his own and protect her from everything that could cause her even the tiniest bit of sadness.
Now that he'd understood what a miracle he'd received in the form of his Anika, he was never letting a chance pass by, to call her his wife, his soulmate, the love of his life. Dressed in a simple but elegant cotton sari which she'd paired with a golden colored blouse with tassels all over it and some really heavy looking turquoise earrings, Anika looked like the goddess he knew she was.
Beside him, his brother was having an entirely different experience. At first sight, the woman walking down the stairs with his bhabhi had made his breath hitch. The deep red setting off her light skin, the simplicity of the sari enhancing her slim, petite figure and the restraint when it came to makeup and jewelry, with just some turquoise chandelier earrings, something every woman in the house seemed to be wearing today, just pulled the look together. She looked like a delicate angel, a newborn flower just unfurling its petals... his brain thought in its usual poetic style. And that brought him back to consciousness
How could a woman look so heartbreakingly lovely on the outside and be such a detestable person on the inside?
The anger at her various duplicities solidifying in his mind, his disgust at her swirling in his eyes, Omkara Singh Oberoi just grit his teeth in an attempt not to yank her down the stairs and out of his life in that very moment.
For some weird reason, even if he detested her from the very bottom of his heart, Omkara had always been able to read each and every emotion flitting through her eyes. He could pinpoint the moment her excitement at the proceedings left her... she had looked down at him when Anika had indicated their presence, her eyes lit from within, swirling with something akin to happiness and excitement... and their eyes met.
The poison in his eyes caught and lynched the happiness in hers as surely as a bucket of water over a campfire. Once more, pain and sadness dimmed her eyes and for a moment, Omkara felt a perverse satisfaction at having made her feel some of what she'd made him go through with all her callous lies and posturing.
But he had to give it to her... by the time she was at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes were clear, remarkably free from whatever had been filling them moments ago and she'd looked straight at him and he had a sense, through him. For whatever reason, the woman was choosing to categorically ignore him and Omkara was fine with that. Clutching her wrist in his, Omkara dragged her off the second she was off the last step, ignoring everyone else and their questioning glances. As soon as they were in relative privacy, partially hidden by a pillar, he rounded on her
"Kyun ho tum yahaan abhi tak? I thought I told you tum is puja mein shaamil nahin ho sakti. Tum mein thodi si bhi self-respect nahin hai? Kitni baar kehna padega tumse ki is ghar se aur meri zindagi se chali jao. Mujhe pata hai ki tum aise nahin jaane waali.
To their right, on a table were the various thalis kept in preparation for the puja of Mata rani. One of them was a thal full of bundles of 2000 rupee notes. A glance told him it must have at least 50 to 75 lakhs on it. Without another word, he grabbed the tray and yanking her hands toward him, pushed it into them.
"Ye lo... agar tumhare paise ki bhook itne se kam nahin hoti to aur bhi lelo... Magar mera peecha chodo... I cannot take one more moment of you standing in front of me
Through this all, Gauri calmly stood there, her body language not betraying her chaotic thoughts and emotions.
The moment the previous day, when he'd told her to do anything, even consume poison and die but not show up for the puja, she'd quietly shattered on the inside. Honestly, she'd been quite tempted for a moment to do just that... it was not as if anyone even cared whether she lived or died. But the thought of her sick mother and the fact that even the thought of taking away her own life that Shankar-ji had granted her, was so wrong, she wrenched her mind away from such negative notions.
But she had decided to once and for all leave this man and his prejudices behind, leave this house and make her own way in the world. Alas, just when she'd been on her way to grab her bag, which was always packed in case she needed to leave, Omkara's Dadi had found her and made Gauri spend the night with herself.
Then early that morning, during a second attempt to leave the house quietly, she'd come across her bhaujaai's mother-in-law arguing with the woman who called herself Anika's mother but was definitely not. There was some talk of money changing hands and Shivaay bhaiyya's maaji threatening the other woman with dire consequences if she didn't finish her job and soon. The two ladies had scattered when they heard someone walking their way and Gauri was left trying to piece everything together.
Still trying to work out the meaning of what she'd heard, Gauri had almost walked into Anika bhaujaai, who'd effectively stopped her exit from the house with a caring hand on the shoulder and had led her into her own room, wanting to spend some time together as they got ready for the puja.
Though Gauri had wanted to tell Anika what she'd seen that morning, she didn't know enough about the goings on in the house to poke her nose into things that were not her business. No one had even bothered to tell her anything about this Nayantara womaniya and she also didn't want to inadvertently hurt her bhaujaai, who'd rapidly become her favorite person in the entire family. Vowing to keep an eye out for anything unusual between Nayantara and Shivaay bhaiyya's maaji and making a silent promise to Anika that she would do everything in her power to protect Anika and Shivaay, Gauri had made her way down the stairs.
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Hope this wasn't too muddled and confusing... If you guys like this part, I'll post the rest of it. Should be a couple more parts till we get to the resolution of things.
Please like and comment your ideas, thoughts and suggestions. I love hearing from you.
p.s. I'm not sending out PMs for this one cuz this was written sorta on the fly and I don't think it merits any special notifications.
Cricket
Anupamaa
