Abhigya SS : The bitter truth and its consequences |COMPLETED| - Page 7

The early morning had been like a fish market. Doctors flooded in and out of the ICU once I had informed them that Abhishek had regained consciousness. I had forcefully sent everyone home after he came to, but being the family of Rockstar Abhi, no one even inched a little without seeing him. For small mercies, the doctors had deemed him stable and transferred him into the ward. Everyone breathed easy after seeing him and speaking to him. Nikhil had dropped by as well, but took caution not to mention anything about the arrest and case.

He received cautioned light embraces from our elders. Meanwhile, Purab and Aakash collapsed near the edge of the bed, held onto his legs and started sobbing. I suppressed a laugh looking at the scene before me, thinking that no matter how old these two fellows were, they remained children at heart. Abhishek teased them for their childish antics, but he knew how traumatized they were at what happened.

Bulbul and Purvi were no less. They had rushed in to see Abhishek sitting up on the bed. After noticing their tear stained faces and bloodshot eyes, he held out his hand and gave them a slight nod. The next minute, he held both of them in his one arm as they started crying against his neck and chest. Even though he winced in pain, he didn't release them but kept repeating "I am fine. Mein Rockstar hoon na. Don't cry.". Tears escaped my eyes as I watched them.

Realizing his bandaged chest, both of them broke the embrace. I straightened myself and asked Purab and Aakash to take the family home as they had not slept throughout the night. After much debating, I won the war of stubbornness and had sent them on their way. On my way in from the entrance, I dropped by the doctor's office, yet again, just to make sure Abhishek no longer had any problems. The doctor reassured me that he was fine, but needed time to recover and shouldn't strain himself. I kept reminding myself what he told me for what seemed like the millionth time until I felt dizzy.

I walked into the room and saw him resting his head against the headrest of the bed, eyes closed. He heard me coming in and opened his eyes to give me a beaming smile.

"Fuggy!", he cried with a familiar quirkiness.

"Have you sent them home?", he asked rubbing his eyes.

"Yes I have. They have been up all night and everyone needs a well deserved sleep.", I replied him sitting on the bed facing him.

"How are you feeling?", I asked cautiously taking his hand.

"Much better since you are here.", he replied with a grin.

"Stop joking. Tell me honestly, how are you feeling?", I tried again since I was still worried.

"It hurts Fuggy. It is painful, these wounds and the thought of betrayal. It still burns me. But with you by my side, I know I can forget everything. ", he reassured me tightening the grip on my hand.

"I won't leave your side. Not now. Not ever.", I replied and cuddled next to him, keeping my head against his neck.

Being in his arms, the safest place in the entire world, I had forgotten all my worries. I didn't press the issue further, probably it wasn't the best time to talk about my change, and the consequences which followed. I badly wanted to explain myself and apologize to him. I wanted him to know how difficult it was for me to do what I did. Then again, his last sentence warned me against it.

I wanted him to recover, and I wasn't prepared to rub into his wounds which have not healed. Not the physical ones, but the emotional wounds. After all, Aaliya was his sister. It was too deep a betrayal which had scarred him for life. My explanations and apologies could wait. I pushed those thoughts away, and drifted into a much needed sleep in his embrace.

______________________________________________________________________________

10 days later

It has been three days since he was discharged from the hospital. I had woken up earlier than I normally did since he came home, and did my usual routine for the day. Preparing breakfast for everyone, giving Daadi her morning medicines and sending Bunty aur Babli off to school. The children were told that their Mama and Papa had some important work and were away. Taiji had come up with that excuse at the spur of the moment when the kids returned from their school trip. It took some convincing, but it held on for the time being.

The sun was shining its beautiful rays into the bedroom as I walked in. Abhishek was siting on the easy chair in the balcony, swiping through his iPad. I threatened to have him admitted in the hospital again if he tried to leave the house for his meetings and recordings. Developing a phobia for word "hospital" after spending a week there, he reluctantly succumbed to my threat. I had Aakash reschedule his programmes for the month as well.

Sensing my presence, he put down his iPad and got up from the chair. I immediately rushed forwards to help him.

"Suniye! Why can't you wait till I come to get you?", I glared at him while putting my arm around his waist.

"Arre Fuggy, I felt your presence. I can walk na. It's just a short distance.", he whined as he swung his arm around my shoulder leaning into me.

"You are still not well. The doctor advised you not to strain yourself. Why are you so stubborn?", I lectured him.

That's how I have been since his return home. I never allowed him to do anything on his own, even bathing. In short, I was paranoid and I could see that, but at the same time, I couldn't help it.

"Come on, just sit here.", I instructed him and he followed like a five year old.

"Fuggy, you go and take the medicine box. I'll take off my T-shirt.", he said pointing to the kit I had placed on the shelf.

"No! Let me take your T-shirt off and then I'll go and take the kit.", I strictly told him after which he fell silent.

The nurses in the hospital had taught me how to change his dressings and I followed it to a tee, rechecking with myself every now and then. After taking off his T-shirt, I walked to the shelf and reached for box, before coming to stand in front of him. As the nurses taught me, I began with the shoulder wound and replaced the old bandages with fresh ones after applying an antiseptic cream. He no longer needed a sling and was able to move his shoulder, though there was a slight discomfort.

"Suniye..can you please stand up?", I asked in a small voice.

"I can Fuggy.", he replied with a grin like a happy child.

As I removed the chest bandages, the gunshot wound came into view. It had healed and looked much better as compared to before. But, I always shuddered whenever I saw it. I cleaned the wound and wrapped his chest with new bandages by walking around him twice. Every time I touched that wound, my hands trembled and it took a Herculean effort to steady them and hold back my tears. I could never look at him when I did the dressing for fear that I would breakdown. I finished and helped him with the T-shirt, before replacing the medicine box in its place. As I was leaving to make his cinnamon coffee, he grabbed my hand.

"Fuggy, where are you going now?", he asked innocently.

"Arre, I am going to the kitchen to get your cinnamon coffee.", I replied cheerfully.

"It can wait. But, can we talk?", he asked hesitantly.

"What do you want to talk about?", I asked siting in front of him on the bed.

"You.", he replied looking down at our entwined fingers.

"Me?", I asked in confusion.

"Fuggy, you have been overly worried about me since I came home. You wake up earlier than usual, sleep only after I have slept and basically don't allow me to do anything. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I am worried about you.", he replied me looking directly into my eyes.

"Every morning when you do my dressings, your hands tremble and you suppress all your emotions. You don't even look at me. You immediately run off to get my cinnamon coffee.", he continued shocking me that he knew about my cover ups.

"What is on your mind Fuggy? I know we haven't spoken about any of the issues and I know that's because you want me to recover.", he spoke as if reading my thoughts.

"Listen, you have taken care of me all this while. Please, just give me one chance to look after you. Please, just let your emotions out now. I am right here na?", he asked in a pleading voice.

His words broke the wall I had built around my bottled up feelings and as soon as my emotions came flooding to the surface, so did my tears. I wrapped my arms around his neck and crushed against his chest. He took me in his embrace and gently caressed my hair, letting me cry. Noticing that I hadn't stopped my sobs, Abhishek carefully moved back on the bed until his back was rested against the board. I slightly shifted from his neck and nestled my face in his chest, wrapping my arms around his waist.

His strong heartbeat calmed my nerves and my cries slowly stopped to become hiccups. The muscular arms gave me comfort that I never felt even from Ma. I steadied my breathing before I spoke.

"Suniye, I am so sorry. That day, when you woke up in the hospital, I desperately wanted to tell you how sorry I was. I wanted to tell you that I had changed because I wanted to save you from them. It killed me to do what I did. My behavior and attitude towards you was not real. It wasn't me. Every time, I spoke rudely and harshly to you, I died a little on the inside. When Daadi collapsed, you drifted even further away from me. You didn't take care of yourself. Worry and sorrow consumed you and everyday when I looked at you, I could see you dying inside. You were wasting away. Believe me, I wanted to reach out to you, I wanted to hold you in my arms and I wanted to tell you how much I loved you. But I couldn't. I needed to flush out the evil from this house and I was searching for the evidence to do so. I was afraid that you wouldn't believe me if I told you about Aaliya and the rest without showing you proof.", I cried in his chest. His embrace tightened.

"I know I hurt you and Daadi and Daasi and everyone else. But I wasn't happy with my actions. I knew you suffered, yet I kept convincing myself that I would patch you up when everything was over. The truth surfaced and I was delighted at the prospect of having you back in my life forever. I never expected Aaliya to shoot you. When you fell in my arms, bleeding all over and gasping for air, my heart stopped. Guilt gnawed me from the inside, I was the reason for you being in that state. Probably, if I hadn't stopped you from throwing Aaliya out of the house that day, maybe this wouldn't have happened. As you laid dying in my arms, I realized that the path I took was wrong. I had pushed my luck too far. When I looked closely at you, it dawned on me how terrible you looked. The dark circles and you even lost weight. In all that, you still loved me and when you said it in the hall, I felt guilty. After you lost consciousness, memories of that horrific day in the jungle came flooding back. In the ambulance and at the hospital, I was praying my hardest for you to come back to me. As I thought the worse was over, the doctor told me about the gunshot to your chest and how very close it was to your heart. He told me that they needed to STOP YOUR HEART. It was the only way to save you. I signed the consent papers which broke me inside. I didn't know whether I was signing to save you or kill you.", I revealed crying in between.

"Suniye, when you gripped my hands in the ICU, I felt relief. I cannot describe to you how I felt at that moment. Ever since you came home, I have been paranoid that something may happen to you and that I will be left all alone in this world. That's why I never allowed you to do anything. Not even leave this house. I never wanted you to leave my sight. I am sorry. I love you so much and the fact that you had knocked on Death's door twice, made me realize that I could lose you.", I finished as my tears started streaming down my cheeks onto his black T-shirt.

"Pragya, give me your hand.", he spoke.

I obeyed and gave him my hand which he took preciously and placed it over his chest.

"Can you feel that?", he asked referring to his beating heart.

"Yes.", I replied feeling the strong beat under my fingers.

"You can hear it too, can't you?", he asked.

"Yes, I can. It's strong.", I said listening to the loud thump radiating in my ears.

"Yeah, it is. Do you know why? It's because of you. I am alive because of you. My heart beats because of you. When I proposed to you and told you how much I loved you, it also meant that I trusted you. Love comes with trust. I don't think I need to teach you that Professor. Why was there a need to lie to me? How could you think that I wouldn't believe you if you had told me the truth? You didn't love me enough to trust me? Yes, Aaliya was my sister, but I knew her. All her mistakes, all the problems she created and her attempt to murder Bulbul. Yes, it was a shock at her betrayal, but I would have believed you. Then, we had Tanu, right from the beginning, you chose to believe her instead of me. Probably, I should have done a DNA test, it would have saved us a lot of trouble. When you knew the truth, you could have at least told me Pragya. As for Raj and Mithhali, I never even suspected them. Especially Raj.", Abhishek calmly explained to me his thoughts.

He gently lifted my chin to face him and kissed my forehead giving me a swarm of butterflies in my belly.

"Your change. It broke my heart to see you that way. Especially, towards our family. But, I accepted the way you treated me. I took it as my well deserved punishment for the hell I put you through in the past. Deep down, I knew that you were my Pragya. Daadi's collapse and everyone's hatred towards you filled me with dread. Purab also couldn't find out the reason for your new avatar. Professor was smart enough not to leave any breadcrumbs.", he chuckled, but I could feel the pain in his voice.

"Suniye, what if I had really changed? What if I changed into that new Pragya forever? What would you do?", I asked him mentally wondering why such a question popped into my mind.

"I know you won't Pragya.", he replied with confidence.

"What IF? What IF I decided that I didn't love you anymore and I wanted to move on?", I asked, this time mentally kicking myself in the rear.

"I would allow you to move on Pragya. You deserve all the happiness in the world. And if I couldn't give you that, I wouldn't stand in your way of finding your happiness.", he calmly said.

"Suniye, I am sorry for asking such a question. But, my happiness lies with you.", I said crying clutching his T-shirt.

"Then can you promise me something Pragya?", he asked.

"Anything.", I sobbed.

"You need to promise me that from now on, whatever problems that sprout, you need to tell me. I want you to share it with me. Let me share your burden Pragya. We can solve them quicker. Pragya, I love you more than anything in this world. I am alive because of you. Please remember, my heart beats for you. And most importantly, I trust you Pragya, more than I trust myself.", Abhishek said in a serious but loving tone, wiping away my tears.

I smiled through my tears and looked him in the eyes, parting my lips slightly. He bent down slowly, and sealed my lips, inducing a feel of passion and love. I held his face and returned the kiss with even more passion. My first kiss with the love of my life was unforgettable and truly was the best feeling I had ever experienced.

"I love you Fuggy, meri Chashmish.", he whispered in my ears.

"I love you Abhishek Prem Mehra. Suniye..", I whispered back.