FF: WOH AJNABEE: Update:Part 48:Dec 6th 2009:p 172 - Page 119

wow can't wait to read more CB!...have been missing this ff soo much!🤗

Recap: Milind confesses his love for Prachi. Prachi rejects him. Milind decides to finally end things with Prachi, once and for all.

Part 45:

Prachi stayed in her room the entire day. She had still not recovered from the effects of her explosive early morning conversation with Milind. Instead of going outside her room, and risk facing Milind, she decided to work from her hotel suite.

Aryan and Diya visited her a couple times early in the day to discuss certain matters, but other than that, her day had gone rather smoothly.

At 11pm, someone frantically knocked on Prachi's door. Prachi promptly answered the knock and saw Diya standing there in a state of panic.

"Diya, is everything okay?" asked Prachi.

Diya let out a huge sigh, "No Pari, everything is going crazy!"

"What?" exclaimed Prachi, "What's happened?"

"Oh, Pari, I don't even know where to begin! Anjali Nagpuri is having a massive fit downstairs. I don't know the exact details. All I know is that Mr. Mishra went back to India today, and his business partner, Mr. Neev Shergill came in to fill him for him. Mr. Shergill and your boss, Aryan have been frantically working all day to sort out the details. But apparently, after arriving in India, Mr. Mishra called with some sort of announcement, and now Mr. Shergill and Anjali have been going crazy!"

Prachi could not digest all this information. Neev was here? Neev was here and he hadn't even come to meet Prachi? Furthermore, Milind was gone? Realizing that Milind had gone back to India, made Prachi feel strangely upset, like she was missing something. Furthermore, it seemed that Milind had called with some information which had spun things into chaos. Prachi was strangely curious, and wasting no time at all, decided to go to the lobby with Diya, to see what was happening.

What she saw surprised her. In the lobby, Neev was crazily pacing up and down, with some papers in his hand. Anjali was sitting on a couch crying hysterically. The hotel staff, in the mean time, was too busy with the final preparations for the big opening, and were actively doing various tasks.

Breathing a large sigh, Prachi walked up to Neev, and greeted him with a smile. "Hello Neev! How are you?" she asked.

She was surprised by Neev's reaction. He didn't seem happy to see her. Rather, he seemed ambivalent, as if her presence didn't matter to him at all. Actually, he seemed rather annoyed. "Hi," he mumbled as he stepped away from her and dialed a number on his cell phone.

Meanwhile, Anjali's cries had become louder. "Is everything okay, Anjali?" asked Prachi.

Anjali looked at Prachi in disgust, with tears streaming down her face, "Does it look okay?" she hissed.

Confused, Prachi walked over to Neev, who had finished his phone call. "Neev.." she started to say, but before she could finish her sentence, he grabbed her arm and pulled her outside. He brought her to a secluded part of the garden, where no one could hear them.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, shocked with his behavior.

Neev let out a heavy sigh. "Prachi, I never thought I would have to say this to you, but you messed everything up."

"What?" asked a confused Prachi.

"What did you say to Milind?" he pressed, with anger clearly distinguishable by his tone of voice.

"What? Neev? What are you saying?" she questioned.

"Just answer my question, Prachi!" yelled Neev.

"Listen Neev, I didn't say anything that he didn't already know. He told me he..." she stopped.

"He told you what?" inquired Neev.

Prachi looked up at the sky, and answered, holding tears back, "he told me he loved me, but...but I couldn't believe it."

"Then, Prachi, you are a fool!"

"What?" asked Prachi, surprised at this response from Neev, her childhood friend.

"Prachi, Milind told you how he felt. Do you have any idea how hard that must have been for him? He told you his true feelings and you dismissed him."

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Accept him? He RUINED my life!" screamed Prachi.

"You ruined his life too! You ruined his life by walking out on him when he needed you the most. The day you left him, he had sealed the biggest contract of his life. He was planning on a future with you and he wanted to start a family with you. You were his pillar of support and you abandoned him in his time of need. Two weeks after you left, his Baba had a heart-attack. Did you know that? Baba found out about Sukriti and Alaap's lovechild Rithwick and couldn't handle the news! Milind had no help or support. Sukriti ran away and couldn't bear facing her family when the news came out. Milind had no wife and no sister. His father was in hospital, and at the same time, he had huge business responsibilities. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HE WAS GOING THROUGH!"

"What?" Prachi said with tears flowing down her face, "Is Baba okay?"

"Baba's at home now, recovering. But it hasn't been easy for anyone, especially Milind. Not only has he had to support his Baba, but he's also been supporting your family! He's putting both Soumya and Bobby through college. He's making sure that your mother and grandmother are well taken care of. He's even been looking out for Alaap, trying to get him to take part in the business."

"Neev, I had no idea," spoke Prachi softly.

"How would you?" retorted Neev, "You abandoned him. You abandoned him over one stupid thing Ayesha told you."

"Neev, Milind never tried to prove her wrong," said Prachi defiantly.

"Prachi, you never even gave him the chance!" yelled Neev, "Maybe if you had listened to him, this would have been worked out."

"She said she was pregnant! She went to the doctor!" cried Prachi.

"Prachi, even I can say I am pregnant and pay a doctor to agree with me," laughed Neev.

"There is no proof she lied. Milind kicked her out of the house before she could prove it," argued Prachi.

"We also don't have proof that she WAS pregnant," answered Neev, "Prachi you should have worked out this issue with Milind clearly. If you loved him, then you should have trusted him. Prachi, he is not your father. Just because your father cheated, it doesn't mean that all men cheat. Did you ever give him the benefit of the doubt?"

"He said he didn't know if he slept with her," she said softly.

"Yeah, that's right. He told me about that. Do you remember the night of our college reunion? The night I said that I still had feelings for you? Well, that night Milind and I got into a fight. He was mad at you because he hated that I had feelings for you, and slept in the guest room. He said that he drank a lot that night, and fell asleep. He told me that in the morning, Ayesha barged into the room and said something about how they slept together. He said he was pretty sure she was lying, so he ignored it. He told me that when you asked, he was caught off-guard and simply told you that he wasn't sure. He was never sure what happened that night, but wanted to clarify things. When get got home to talk to you, you were gone. That's the truth, Prachi. I asked Milind after you left and he told me the entire truth. I believe him. What surprises me is that you never gave him a chance to explain."

Prachi fell to the ground. She couldn't believe that Neev was defending Milind. Furthermore, she couldn't believe that Neev actually had valid points. She never gave her full trust to Milind and instead rushed to her own conclusions. She knew about how manipulative and mean Ayesha could be, and she should have trusted her better judgement. Even if Ayesha was right, she should have put just a little faith into the character of her husband and trusted him. Prachi has thought that her love for Milind was pure. If it has been so pure, than she should have stuck by him and weathered the storm that Ayesha's words had created.

"I made a really big mistake in rushing to conclusions," whimpered Prachi as tears ran down her face.

"I know," sighed Neev, "and now it's too late."

Prachi looked up at him, "What do you mean?"

"Milind left for India after he had that conversation with you this morning. He told me to rush out to Sydney as he has important business to attend at home in Mumbai. The next thing I know, I get a call from your mother. She told me that the first thing he did when he got to India, was redraft the divorce papers. He signed them," explained Neev, as he handed the document he was holding to Prachi.

"He faxed these over. All that is required is your signature," he explained.

Prachi wiped her tears and stood up, holding the papers. She couldn't believe it. For six months, Milind hadn't signed the divorce document. Now, he had gotten the papers remade and had promptly done his part. All that was needed now was her approval. "He wants a divorce?" she said, not realizing she was speaking.

"He needs one. He's getting married," spoke Neev.

"What?" asked Prachi. She felt as if someone had just punched her in the stomach. Her stomach clenched, and so did her heart. "He's getting married? To Anjali?"

"No," replied Neev, "He's getting married to Sonia Singhania. Her father owns Speed Industry. The marriage would create a great company merger, and make Milind CEO. We met Sonia 4 months ago, and she's been in love with Milind for a while. Everyone could see her love for him, except him. Even your mom and grandmother have approved of the rishta, thinking that his relationship with you is over for good. The engagement is tomorrow. Why else do you think Anjali has been screaming up a storm in the lobby? She just found out."

Prachi's head started spinning so fast. Milind was getting remarried? Her mother and grandmother approved? He was ready to divorce her? He had finally given up on their relationship?

Prachi couldn't help herself; she broke into a fit of hysterical tears.

"Prachi! Are you okay?" asked a concerned Neev. He quickly pulled her into a hug, while she kept crying.

"I need to go to India," she whimpered.

"I know," responded Neev.

She looked up at him. He gave a small smile as he spoke, "I think that you and Milind are meant for each other. He doesn't realize it and you didn't until just now. Let's go home and make things right."

"But the hotel launch? This is Milind's dream."

"Don't worry, Prachi. It's all taken care of. I've doubled Aryan's salary and asked him to complete the project. I am going to send Alaap in Milind's place to inaugurate the hotel. Hopefully, he can prove his merit. I'll speak to Aryan and tell him that you are needed in Mumbai immediately. Go pack your bags. We're leaving in the next hour."

"Neev," smiled Prachi through her tears, "Thank you."

"There's no need to thank me Prachi. I just want to see my two best friends, you and Milind, happy."

***

There's the long-awaited update. I tried to make it as long as possible. 😃

Like I said, I will try to finish this FF during November!

The only reason I came back to finish it was for my loyal friends and FF readers on India-Forums. Thank you for your support and encouragement.

Please leave your comments and suggestions. I love reading them and they encourage me to write 😃