But life it seemed, couldn't give them a break... not even having had the time to process the fact that she was indeed ready to leave, Shivaay had forcibly brought her back into their lives and a partial truth about their farcical marriage was brought to light in front of the entire family. The drama that followed had set his teeth on edge.
While he knew that Gauri couldn't possibly do or say anything to change the situation, the feeling of being forced into something he was definitely not ready for, made him quite caustic toward her because in that moment, she was the only one he could take his frustrations out on. Involving anyone from his overly dramatic family in this, especially when his older brother was facing other, bigger problems of his own didn't seem the right way to go.
That knowing the truth, his mom and Bua Maa seemed to be hell bent on making Gauri a part of his life, irritated the heck out of him and even that irritation bled out in the form of anger and acrimony towards Gauri. The sort of words he'd flung at her in anger still sometimes made him feel like kicking himself in the head. Omkara knew the way he was reacting to the situation was wrong but he was tired of being toyed with for everyone's entertainment.
First, Kali Thakur had played him, then Gauri had taken the cake in the lies and betrayal category... now his mother and Bua Maa, who he considered a second maternal figure in his life, were pushing him and Gauri together using the pressure of the family's happiness, even after knowing well what he thought of her. To her credit, Gauri never did more than was required of her in the family's presence, and kept to herself in the privacy of their... his room.
The little fainting act she'd pulled gave him uncomfortable reminders of the time she'd almost died, not even a week before and reacting purely instinctively due to a discomfiting overload of emotional data, he'd lashed out at her once more. The thought of his behavior toward her during those days made him feel incredibly guilty whenever he thought about it.
But of course, they'd not been given any respite even then, with the stupid Justice Department guy Dhurandar and his ever present assistant on their tails, making it necessary for the two of them to portray a happy couple for their benefit. The ease with which he was able to act happy around her, the easy camaraderie she was able to establish with him and the physical comfort of having her close, were astonishing and a little disconcerting in the way it all felt natural with her.
The way his hands found just the right spot at her waist without any practice and the way, more than once, he'd thought she was just the right height for him... petite enough to make him feel protective about her and tall enough that he wouldn't give himself a sprained neck trying to reach her... well that was a thought for another day, Omkara had to admit that he was physically attracted to his so-called-wife, but to him... that meant nothing without the emotional attraction, which he was not so sure wasn't there in the whole cauldron of emotions bubbling inside him chaotically.
The drama that had become their lives was sadly not even through the first act by then. With all the conflicting emotions driving him crazy, Gauri had further inflamed his irritation by trying to investigate Bua Maa for some imaginary crimes that had Dolly Oberoi after his life.
Gauri had always been more curious than was healthy and this habit of hers, poking her nose into everything, especially things that were none of her business made Omkara want to pull his hair out with frustration. Again, strong words had been exchanged but for some reason, the bane of his existence didn't seem to be backing down. With pressure from the Justice Department dodo increasing and Gauri's insistence that his own Bua Maa, who was like a second mother to him, was out to take his life, Om had been tempted, more than once, to just let Gauri's imaginary Bua Maa do the deed... at least that way he could get some peace.
The promise to answer her call had been woefully incomplete due to circumstances but he'd immediately gotten his own punishment for that by conveniently rolling down the stairs after having hit his head. The coma might've given his stubborn mind a rest, which was precisely what he'd needed. He might not have seen or heard anything that had taken place while he'd been having a leisurely Rip Van Winkle type sleep, but when he'd woken, things had been a lot calmer and certainly a lot clearer in his head.
Once he'd gotten over the momentary shock of Gauri's announcement that she was pregnant with his child, he knew for certain that this was a lie... because even under the influence of drugs, he'd never let himself cross certain limits and having that sort of relationship with someone while under the influence, especially Gauri, who he was in a state of flux about, was inconceivable. That she was lying wasn't an issue anymore... Omkara knew that Gauri could go to any lengths, doing what she felt was necessary to achieve what she needed to. That she was lying wasn't the issue anymore... why she was lying was the important thing.
From seeing life as black and white, absolute truth and purely a lie, midday or midnight... Gauri Kumari Sharma had slowly but surely changed Omkara's perspective of life and its issues. Now, he could spare a thought to consider the implications of something, the possible reasons behind someone's actions in a situation and the give weightage to the notion of intent behind words having crucial importance.
With those changes in place, his brain had worked overtime to figure out that there might be a couple of reasons she could be doing this... one of the prime ones being her need to stay inside OM for some reason. And why would she need to stay at Oberoi mansion? Omkara was tempted to assume that she'd grown used to the lavish lifestyle and probably wanted money... but seeing her clad in her Bareilly wale clothes still, and wearing not a shred of jewelry that he hadn't given her, willingly or unwillingly, his mind refused categorically to accept greed as a reason.
Also, seeing her having developed strong relationships with the two people he trusted with his life and loved beyond measure Shivaay and Rudra, and having learnt from Rudra that she was firmly on team Anika, supporting and helping their plan to bring Anika back into Shivaay's life, Omkara's doubts about her having an ulterior motive slowly started to slip away.
With most negative connotations behind her actions either rejected right out of the gate or resolved to his satisfaction, Omkara now needed to concentrate on other possible reasons for why she would need to stay in Oberoi mansion. Perhaps she was under threat by Kaali Thakur again, perhaps she'd been threatened by Svetlana once more... or it was maybe something else that had motivated her to stay where she was, knowing that she was protected at Oberoi Mansion. He couldn't fault her for trying to save herself... but none of these explanations made any sense with the pregnancy declaration.
A baby... his baby specifically, was the reason behind Gauri staying back at OM. And he knew only two or three people that could affect enough Mr. Oberoi, who'd always wanted Omkara to be the head of the family... though he still didn't look like he'd accepted Gauri as a family member, much less Omkara's wife and his bahu. So that reasoning looked a bit weak.
Choti Mom was always going on about Naam, Khoon and Khaandaan like Shivaay had been before, and she was deeply involved in perpetrating a long term ruse in the family about Shivaay's birth. She could be the target of Gauri's pregnancy lie, maybe to make her want to push Shivaay at some woman just so that she could have the satisfaction of having her son be in the race for the next Oberoi heir.
But that still didn't make too much sense... because even if Shivaay's hypothetical woman got pregnant that very day, Gauri would still potentially have her baby first... unless something happened to it or her. And that thought shook him to the core. While it had slipped by during his intent analysis of the situation, the thought of anything happening to Gauri or their hypothetical baby was simply unacceptable.
And the only other people who Gauri's pregnancy affected were Dadi, his Mom and Bua Maa. Dadi he stopped considering as a reason immediately. There was no way Gauri would hurt Dadi that way... he knew that for certain. Why he knew that or why he was certain Omkara couldn't really say... but he knew, and that was that.
His mom was also set aside as a potential target of her lies for pretty much the same reason and for the fact that Omkara knew if he considered Gauri lying to con his mom, he would never be able to forgive her for that or anything else... ever.
That left Bua Maa... and Gauri definitely had been saying strange things about the second maternal figure in his life even before he'd gone through the coma. And she still acted strangely around the lady. Come to think of it, even Bua Maa acted quite differently around Gauri nowadays, as if the two of them knew something about the situation that no one else in the family was aware of.
Resolving to keep an eye on both of them, Omkara had found many instances of weird behavior on both their parts over the next couple of days. His suspicions aroused, he'd realized that Bua Maa seemed overly obsessed with the fact that Gauri was pregnant and that she ought to have a male child. It seemed to be something more than just regular happiness about the family expanding and having an heir.
His suspicions had found proof when he'd randomly tried clearing the hundreds of pending messages on his phone one day, only to come across a voice message in his inbox on the day he'd fallen down the stairs. And it had been from Gauri. So he'd listened to it and gotten the very foundations of his faith in people shaken, once more. With Bua Maa basically confessing that she wanted to kill him because he'd been the cause of Ratan's death but not before she had him get Gauri pregnant with a male child, which she would then take away and raise as her own, Omkara spent an entire day not knowing which was up and which was down.
The next day, he'd resolved to figure out a way to catch Bua Maa in action, which could be the only way in which they could stop her. Not having discussed any of it with Gauri, he couldn't really coordinate with her on this but his instincts told him that he might not have to wait very long.
That very morning, Bua Maa sent him off to the airport customs department with a very flimsy excuse and Omkara's alarm bells had started to ring. He'd acted as if he was leaving to the airport and hidden himself so that he could figure out what Bua Maa wanted to do that needed for him to be absent. Even as he watched the security camera footage, he couldn't help but stiffen when he found Gauri losing consciousness after eating the laddoo that had been meant for him. Bua Maa seemed quite unbothered about it and just set an unconscious Gauri into a wheel chair and proceeded to wheel her out of the house and into a car.
Without wasting time, Omkara had followed her, the stubborn, sort of childish faith he'd held in Bua Maa's innocence previously, trying to make a comeback as he noticed that she'd taken Gauri to a doctor. What happened at the clinic however, necessitated all of those thoughts be put on hold while he made his presence known and quickly at that.
The sight of Bua Maa holding Gauri in a chokehold saying that she would kill her for lying about the pregnancy had Omkara's blood running cold at the thought of possibly losing Gauri again. Without even a second thought, he'd stepped in between a woman who'd been very much like his mother all his life, and his wife.
When that alteration had happened in his mind, the changing over of Gauri's title, what her relationship with him was, he didn't know. All he knew at that moment was, Bua Maa was hurting Gauri and it needed to stop that very instant. Though Bua Maa had tried to play the motherly love card, Omkara, who knew very well by now just how manipulative this woman could be, didn't move a muscle from standing in front of Gauri, protecting her.
The day was not even half over and their lives had been turned upside down, with Bua Maa being taken to a psychiatric facility for treatment. While Omkara knew that whatever Dolly Oberoi had done was under the influence of her mental illness and due to improper emotional care after Ratan's passing, he couldn't find it within himself to let go of the anger he now felt for her, for the circumstances and most of all, for himself.
If only... if only he'd listened, when Gauri had pleaded with him about Bua Maa's intentions. Even if only to prove her wrong, if he'd listened to her back then and investigated a little bit, they might've avoided things getting this far. There was an actual box in Bua Maa's room, with all of Ratan's effects and bone chilling words painted on to the inside of the lid. One look at that would've convinced anyone that Bua Maa's marbles were not all there. The box gave Omkara disturbing flashbacks to another box he'd so recently dealt with and all the emotions coming together, created a storm of emotions within him.
While he'd asked her to stay that night, he still hadn't found it within himself to give her answers to the questions she'd asked him. Maybe he didn't have them all yet but Omkara did know that she deserved answers... just as he did too. There were too many misunderstandings between them... too many unresolved instances that could only lead to more emotional damage as time went by. If they were to make an honest attempt to mend whatever frayed and torn relationship still existed between them, both Gauri and Omkara needed to come clean about everything. Maybe then, with all of their shared painful past behind them, they might be able to look to the future.
Fan Fictions
