FF: Ankahee | Thread 1| Chapters 1-33 - Page 70

RK paced in the corridor where Maya was admitted. She was okay now, but still unconscious. RK was sitting with Nisha, who looked quite shaken. Rohan had just arrived as well, and Madhu had called a while back and asked for the exact directions.

"Why didn't you call me last night?" RK asked Nisha.

"It was quite late. She had gone out alone, and apparently got quite drunk. She called me when she got into a cab, and I was waiting up for her. The next thing I know, at 230 AM, our neighbor rang my bell saying Maya had slipped in the stairs of our building and had passed out. She was bleeding. I took my neighbor's help and brought her here. By the time the doctors checked her out and I knew what was going on, it was morning already. Then I called you. I didn't want to wake you up, but I didn't want to bother our parents and I was all alone here."

"It's not a bother. You should have woken me up earlier. I know you would have been scared. Anyway, everything will be ok now. Rohan and I are here."

Rohan stood up "I am going to go speak to the doctor once. Find out why is she still unconscious?" RK and Nisha nodded.

"Why did she go out drinking alone anyway?" RK asked Nisha.

"Umm...she was depressed. I wasn't home when she went, but I called her when she didn't come home by 11 and she was drunk and sad. I didn't know where she had gone but she told me she was alone."

"I don't understand. We were together till the evening. She was so happy at my engagement. What made her depressed? She didn't tell me anything either...Do you know what's going on?"

Nisha paled, wondering what to tell RK. Should she tell him her suspicions, what she really believed was going on? Should she tell him she believed Maya was depressed because of RK's engagement to Madhu? How would her sister feel if she came to know Nisha had told that to RK? And how would RK react?

Seeing Nisha struggle, RK asked again, "Come on Nisha, tell me. I am her best friend. Maybe I can help."

"Rishabh bhaiya, um...woh..." Nisha continued to fumble for words when suddenly RK spotted Madhu at the other end of the corridor. She had just emerged out of the elevator. He waved his hand slightly towards Madhu, and their eyes met. He saw Madhu stop as her phone rang, and RK's own eyes went towards Nisha, who still had not said anything coherent.

"Nisha..."RK began to say, when a commotion at the end of the corridor attracted his attention. People were walking towards that end, and RK as well as Nisha stood up. RK couldn't see Madhu in the crowd, but the next moment he spotted her. She had fallen on the ground.

Rishabh rushed towards Madhu and found her unconscious. Her phone was lying next to her. Apparently she had fainted.

RK held Madhu in his arms, then picked up her phone.

****************************

Benaras, two days later

Madhu sat, quiet like a stone, in her room in the home where she had grown up. There were a lot of people and a lot of noise outside, but she couldn't bear to be outside any longer. She was completely numb.

Suddenly, her sister Deepali burst into her room.

"You...what are you doing sitting here? You must be happy right. Enjoying all this. You took your revenge, didn't you? I never thought you could be this cruel. How could you, Madhubala? How could you kill my parents? My mom and dad. Who were your parents too, by the way. What did they not do for you? Especially dad. Even though you were not his daughter. And this is how you repaid them? You're a murderer!"

Madhu was shocked. She looked at the pain, the outrage and the hatred at her sister's face. Her words stung.

She killed her parents. Did she?

"Deepali..I...didn't" Madhu started to say something. They were the first words she had uttered in two days, ever since she had answered a phone call that informed her, how her parents' taxi had met with a huge accident on their way to the airport, and they had both died on the spot along with the taxi driver. The caller was a police constable, who had found Madhu's number on the last dialed list of her mother's phone.

"You did. It is entirely your fault. You are the reason why they were in that taxi. You were the reason why they were in Delhi at all. If it weren't for you my parents would still be happy and alive. Why didn't you die with them?" Deepali raged.

At that moment, RK, who was outside and had heard Deepali yelling in Madhu's room, came in the room.

"Deepali, what are you saying? Why are you blaming Madhu?"

"Of course I will blame Madhu. And you. Both of you are responsible. If you had not blackmailed me into making them agree to be a part of your wedding, none of this would have happened. They would have never been in Delhi, celebrating the wedding of this unwanted ill omen. They did it for me, and I did it only because you forced me. So I guess it's my fault too. But you, Madhubala, you...you are the real culprit here. I will never forgive you. Ever."

"Enough Deepali. Come out now. You have said enough." RK forcefully took a hysterical Deepali outside Madhu's room. He saw Madhu was hurt, and he wanted to take Deepali out to Sikander so he can come back and comfort Madhu.

As RK and Deepali went out, Madhu fell down on the floor, stunned. Deepali's words stung her like arrows. She was right, wasn't she? Her parents were dead because of her. The accident that happened it was her fault. They wouldn't be in that taxi if it wasn't for Madhu. Deepali was right.

Oh how cruel destiny could be! Why, why had this happened to her? Just when she had got a glimpse of her parents' love. Just when she had let herself believe things would get better.

That was it, wasn't it?

She had allowed herself to be happy. She had jinxed it with her happiness. Only three days ago, she was delirious. She should have known better. Karma had to strike back. She was an evil, unlovable, bad omen. She did not deserve that kind of happiness. She infected every life she touched with her curse. But why her parents, God? Why couldn't she have died instead? Why did they have to pay? Why couldn't she be with them in that taxi, at the very least?

She should have been in that taxi, she realized. She was supposed to be. Yet, she had cheated her own death by deciding to let them go by themselves instead and taking the other taxi to go to RK. In that split second, she had, for the first time in her life, given her parents secondary important to anything else.

And this was the price.

Madhu broke down.

Destiny smirked, victory was near. Not everything had gone as per plan - for once, timing had been Destiny's enemy, not friend. But still, Madhu was close to losing her silly challenge and destiny was winning.