The Fractured Love - A KRPKAB Short Story, Part-5 Updated on Pg. 4

Dev's POV

"Tumne mere pyar par sawal Uthaya hai Dev" "Pyar main kuch prove nahi karna padta"

"Agar zaroorat padi to main apne emotions ko Hazar baar chupake rakhungi"

"Sonakshi ka pyar gehri Jheel ki tarah hai Dev"

The words of Sonakshi & Ishwari were continuously playing on Dev's mind for the past half an hour. He had never expected that he would vent out all his anger & frustration on Sonakshi, all he ever wanted was her safety especially after the incident two nights back but their conversation yesterday night when she questioned him about his trust on her and then her conversation with Elena this morning seemed to have snapped all the restraint he had. And when she came to talk he just let go of all his emotions, he knew his words hurt her but then she did not seem to understand his fears and felt his love was creating problems for her. It hurt him as well that they had come to a situation where he questioned her love and she questioned his trust. His thoughts went back to the fateful day at the farm house when they had broken up. Things were never the same after that day, even though they got back together after seven years yet it felt like the love & trust they had was not the same. Was the decision to get back together right, would they be able to become each other's like before. Is this going to be the "Start of their End", As Dev was reminiscing the old days his thoughts were broken as his phone rang. As he picked up the call he could hear the panicked voice of his secretary who wanted him to come to the office as soon as possible as there was trouble brewing. Putting all his thoughts to rest he headed to the office.

Sonakshi's POV

Sonakshi had left after she got a call from Asha who wanted her to come to the Bose house as soon as possible, sensing the urgency in Asha's voice she left as it also gave her the opportunity to get away from all the happenings of the past two days. She first thought of informing Dev but then restrained herself, his words hurt her and she was not going to give in so easily. She informed Ishwari and left.

"Mujhe lagta hai main tumsey jitna pyar karta hoon, utna tumne mujhse kabhi kiya hi nahi"

"Main tumhare liye apni jaan de sakta hoon Sonakshi, kya tum mere liye ye kar sakti ho"

"Tumne mujhe majboor kiya hai sawal uthane ke liye"

She remembered Dev's words, he had questioned her love. She could make some sense of his possessive behaviour after her talk with Ishwari & Elena but never in her dreams did she think that he would question her love. She could not help as her thoughts went back to the day seven years back when they had broken up, his words that day still hurt her but then she convinced herself that those were spoken when he was drunk and not in his senses. But then the pre-nup and eviction notice with his signatures broke all her hopes. Her thoughts went back to the struggles she had gone through, the birth of Soha, her success as an entrepreneur and then the return back to Delhi where she faced back her past. Though she had tried to convince herself that there was no love left for Dev but facing him after seven years brought back all the feelings she had suppressed. They had gotten back together and she had decided not to question him on the pre-nup or the eviction. She had decided to let go of her past and focus on their future together with Soha but then his words today had opened back her old wounds and she knew this time they had to be very careful as it involved Soha as well. Was it going to be the "Start of their End". Her thoughts were brought to halt as the Driver informed her of their arrival at the Bose House.

Done with first part, please do leave your valuable comments/thoughts. Based on the response I will post the second part possibly by tomorrow evening.

At Dev's Office

"How is this possible Amar, apart from me no body has the access to my system and we have the best security system in place which I have designed, so how can anyone hack into it?" Dev thundered at Amar, the cyber security head at Ishwari Enterprises.

"Even I am surprised Dev, in fact we could not have detected the breach had I not run the regular security scan across all the systems & our network and that's when I had detected the breach and immediately ordered to take down the network across the company" Amar replied, he was a calm & level-headed person but the situation had befuddled him as well. He just hoped they could limit the damage done.

"Do we have an information on what & how much data has been stolen?" Dev asked, he was hoping that the data stolen did not impact the business severely.

"We are still working on that Dev, but based on the initial test results I can say some user data which is of less impact but more importantly a part of the code of our new software has been stolen but fortunately the main code has been not" Amar replied easing Dev's nerves.

Dev relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief as he sat down on his chair, his head was pounding severely, the confrontation with Sonakshi & then the mess up here at the office were taking a toll on him, how he hoped that things did not turn out this way. He was facing a crisis on personal front and now his business was suffering as well, he was just hoping that things would sort out. How he wished that he could lean into a soothing hug with Sonakshi, it always calmed him down and he would feel at peace albeit it was not to be. But little did he know that a storm was brewing, a storm which would shake his belief in himself, probably more than ever.

"Can I say something Dev" Amar asked, bringing Dev out of his thoughts. As Dev nodded, he continued "Do you remember, The security system is designed in such a way that unless someone is logged on to your system it cannot be hacked, which means..." before he could continue Dev quickly got up from his seat as the fact hit him and added "Which means that someone has accessed the system in my absence" as Amar nodded in affirmation.

Saying that Dev was flabbergasted at that moment would be an understatement, things were getting murkier. He at once could make out that this had to be an insider job and it was this very fact that was confounding him, in all these years of doing business Dev had always trusted the people who were working with him and made sure they were always happy with their work, today it was this very trust that was broken. He could not understand where he went wrong, as it is often said that when things go wrong the human brain tends to bring out all the negative thoughts that are hidden and that was exactly happening with Dev at that moment. His thoughts went back to the circumstances that happened over the past few days, even though things were getting back to normal he still carried the guilt that he failed as a son, brother, husband & a father. The only thing left which he had prided over was the fact that he was a good Businessman & a leader, but right at this moment it felt as if even that was taken away. Has he failed as a businessman & a leader? , that was the only thought going through his mind at that moment. His eyes which were brimming with unshed tears were fixed on the cabinet which was adorned with all his achievements in the form of trophies, suddenly something caught his eye. As he went to take a closer look he realized what it was. He immediately took out his phone and dialled a number.

At Bose House

While things were going from bad to worse at Dev's office, the atmosphere at the Bose house was one that of profound joy. As Sonakshi reached her house Asha informed her about the possible pregnancy of Ronita making Sonakshi overjoyed, as Asha informed her that they needed to get a confirmation from the Doctor. Sonakshi decided to take Ronita to the hospital and the doctor confirmed the pregnancy. On their way back from the hospital Sonakshi decided to pick the kids from school, they had been insisting from the past few days about visiting their maternal grandparents and what better occasion than this. She called Ishwari to inform her and at the same time told her that they will be spending the night at Bose House. She then called Dev, her anger on him getting subsided by the happiness of the moment, but she could not reach him as his phone was continuously engaged, frustrated she decided to call him later and proceeded to her home. As soon as they reached, Ronita was engulfed and showered with blessings by all the elders while Sonakshi teased Sourav. After all the commotion subsided they had a hearty dinner and retired to their rooms.

After putting the kids to sleep Sonakshi was sitting near the window staring into the night sky, her thoughts going back to Dev. Even though she was angry on him she missed being in his arms away from the world. She knew that even he would be missing her but what bothered her was that after their confrontation today morning Dev did not call her the whole day, considering his behaviour over the past two days this was surprising to say the least. Was she too harsh on him this morning? But little did she know that Dev was in a complete mess and needed her support more than ever, her thoughts were broken as the aroma of freshly brewed coffee hit her senses.

"Kya soch rahi hai Sona?" asked Asha while handing over the cup of coffee to Sonakshi

"Kuch nahi Maa" she answered while sipping her coffee, the shot of caffeine relaxed her

"Accha, ab apni Maa se jooth bolegi?" replied Asha gazing at her

"Nahi Maa, main kyun jooth bolungi aapse" said Sonakshi not meeting the gaze of her mother

"Sona, bachpan se main teri maa hone ke saath saath ek dost bhi hoon, toh mujhse tu apni mann ki baath chupa nahi sakti, Dev ne kuch kaha kya?" said Asha lifting her chin up.

"Nahi Maa, har baath Dev se judi kyun hogi" she snapped at Asha turning her face away.

"Ab toh mujhe paka yakin hai ki baat Dev se judi hai, Chal tujhe abhi nahi batana to theek hai par jab bhi tujhe share karni hogi to zaroor karna" said Asha lovingly

Sonakshi just laid her head down on Asha's lap, tears started flowing from her eyes as Asha started caressing her hair and she at once knew something was bothering her daughter but gave her time to speak out. On the other hand, Sonakshi was thinking how her mother understood her so well every time without even knowing the whole matter, how she hoped that Dev could also understand her that way but it was not to be.

"Main thak gayi hoon Maa" said Sonakshi snivelling lightly, as Asha waited for her to continue.

"Main thak gayi hoon sab kuch akele sambhalte huye, main thak gayi hoon duniya ke saamne apne aap ko strong dikhate huye, main thak gayi hoon apne emotions aur feelings se bhagtey huye aur main thak gayi hoon apne jazbaton se ladte huye Maa" she said in a flow, the tears now flowing vigorously from her eyes.

Asha sighed sadly, she knew this was bound to happen. Even though her daughter was back with the love of her life something was still holding her daughter back. She knew she had to get her out of this misery before she had a complete breakdown. She lifted her face up from her lap and wiped her tears.

"Toh kyun tu apne andar sab kuch dabaye huye hai Sona, ab to Dev tere saath hai phir tu uske saath ye sab baatein share kyun nahi karti?" asked Asha

"Jab usne khud mere pyar par sawal uthaye hain toh main us se kya aur kaise share karoon Maa" Sonakshi replied back sadly

"Ye kya keh rahi hai Sona, main maan hi nahi sakti ki Dev aisa kuch karega ya kahega" a shocked Asha replied.

Sonakshi then proceeded to narrate the happenings of the last two days including the bus incident to Asha. Asha was shocked to say the least, she shuddered at the thought of something terrible happening to her daughter and in her heart thanked god for keeping her daughter safe.

"Itna sab kuch ho gaya aur tum logon ne humey kuch bataya bhi nahi Sona, kya hum itne paraye ho gaye tum logon ke liye" Asha said sadly

"Maa ye aap kya keh rahi hai, humney isliye nahi bataya kyunki hum aap logon ko pareshan nahi karna chahte they" Sonakshi replied as she put her hand on top of Asha's hand.

Asha smiled slightly. Sonakshi was surprised "Aap smile kyun kar rahi hai" she asked.

"Sona, jab tuney ye baat humse sirf isliye share nahi ki taaki hum pareshan na ho, toh phir tu ek baar ye soch ke dekh beta ki jab Dev ne tujhe aisey situation main paya to wo kitna pareshan hua hoga, kitney burey khayal aaye honge usey uss samey jab tu wahan akeli thi" Sona nodded, she knew what her mother was trying to say. Asha continued "Main ye nahi keh rahi hoon ki jo Dev ne kiya sahi hai ya galat lekin ek baar tu apne aap ko Dev ki jagah rakh ke dekh aur soch ki tera kya reaction hota aise situation main" she said trying to make Sonakshi see the reason for Dev's reaction.

Sonakshi understood what her mother was saying, she said "Lekin Maa main kamzor nahi padna chahti, itne saal mainey apne aap ko strong banaya hai main phir se tootna nahi chahti" conveying her fears to Asha.

"Kisney kaha ki tu kamzor padegi, main ne tujhse pehle bhi kaha tha Sona ki Pyar ko apni kamzori nahi balki apni takat banao aur Dev ke saath apni mann ki batein share na karkey tu usi pyar ko kamzoor bana rahi hai, baat kya hai Sona? Tu kya sirf iss wajah se Dev se apni mann ki baat nahi keh paa rahi ki tu kamzor nahi padna chahti ya phir koi aur baat hai jo tujhe pareshan kar rahi hai" Asha questioned her daughter.

Sonakshi looked up at her mother, once again she understood her like no one else. She was contemplating on what her mother had asked and was ready to express her fears which were supressed in her heart for a long time, which were affecting her relationship with Dev. She knew her mother was a level-headed person and maybe her advice would help her START ALL OVER AGAIN.

Done with the second part, this was a bit longer & a tad slow but is important for the story to move forward, Hope you like it. As always, awaiting your valuable Comments/Thoughts/Feedback.