Fannah: Updated Part7 page4

This fanfic is a sequel to my previous Saat Rang Pyar Ke....

For the uninitiated characters, please refer to the same.......

Its so antithetical, this emotion called love
It makes some rule, it makes some serve
Oft occuring reason for distance
Oft man's only binding nerve

You enter seeking a kingdom of dreams
It surprises you with nightmares instead
Oft it pulls out of death's realms
Oft its the sole reason for bloodshed.

Oft outliving its creators
Granted immortality by the one above
And yet whom eternity acknowledges as true lovers
Were ones destroyed for love........

Fanaah:

Prolog:

The path to the cliff was sequestered. Thick trees and bushes covered the ground with a barely visible trail. The wind, bolstered perhaps by the raging ocean below, seemed as wild and uncontrolled as the fury of the solitary man who raced up the path. It had taken him close to an hour but Manthan Karan Virani finally reached the summit of the narrow bluff. And looked around narrowly, searching for his adversary.

"Well...well well..... You made it in good time Manthan Virani. I was thinking I would have to endure your habitual unpunctuality. " A cool, mocking voice sounded from right behind him. He turned instinctively, throwing his arm out to parry the blow which the speaker aimed from behind. "And as alert as ever....".

"I think your ears and your brain lack coordination. I explained to you, didn't I, that it would be in your best interests to stay away from my sister?" Manthan said, "Then how dare you............" This time, his opponent smashed a fist straight into Manthan's jaw, sending him reeling back. His voice lost its cool octave as he heatedly answered Manthan's unfinished question with, "I only did to her what you did to mine, you wretch..."

"D-O-N-T D-R-A-G M-Y W-I-F-E I-N-T-O T-H-I-S, S-C-U-M." Manthan enunciated, rolling out of the way of the potentially fatal knife edge, the other man lunged at him with. "T-H-EN S-T-O-P A-B-U-S-I-N-G H-E-R, T-O-A-D." he countered. For a minute, Manthan considered telling him that he had the victim-of-marital-abuse incorrect, but then, the shorter man never had a head for reason. And no excuse, revenge or love, gave a human being the right to violate another. His sister would never be safe till this reprobate still breathed. Jails, asylums, nothing had been able to keep him away. He still remembered the way she barricaded herself within her room, refusing to come out in fear with a tearful , "Woh bahaar hai.....Mujhe bahar nahi jana......Kahin nahi jana....." Earlier he had fought to defend himself, to avoid hurt. Now he fought to inflict it.

The struggle lasted for a good hour and half before Manthan finally dragged his foe to the edge of the cliff. Wiping the blood off his mouth and cheek with the back of his hand, he slowly drew a gun from his pocket.
"I want to make sure you're truly dead and gone before I toss your body out to dirty that expanse of water." He said with uncharateristic hostility. He placed the gun on his almost senseless rival's forehead and was just about to pull the trigger when he heard his wife's heartbreaking "No............."

Ira ran to her brother's side, sobbing. "No Manthan......Please don't........He's all I have left....My only family.....Please....." She knelt down, holding her brother in her arms. "I'm begging you Manthan......Please spare me his life...........I'll never ask you for anything else........Please Manthan...." Manthan refused to relent. "He does not deserve to live, Ira.....And if you don't stand aside, I'd rather push you down the cliff too...." He said ominously. "Fine then...go ahead.....I won't let you kill him while I am alive...."

It took Manthan fifteen seconds before he lowered the gun and with an embittered, " For once think about right and wrong, Ira.....Not just about the person you love the most in this world. I didn't expect you'd give me such a choice." He put his weapon back and walked away. "I wouldn't have given you such a choice if I wasn't sure of the outcome, Manthan. " Ira said almost inaudibly, her voice rife with sorrow.

Jai Vardhan got up to his feet slowly,painfully . " He won't trouble you anymore Ira.." he said drawing his own silencer-fitted-revolver and aiming it at Manthan. Only to stagger back as a sharp weapon sliced his spine. He turned back and sagged against Ira, falling down. "If I can't let him hurt you......I can't let you hurt him...I can't let him suffer what is essentially my punishment......I'm sorry Jai....." Ira's emotional anguish changed into a physical one as her brother shot her. Point Blank. With his last words being "I'm sorry too.... Ira."

Song dedication:

Woh ghadi aa gayi aa gayi aaj
Pyar mein hadh se guzar jana hai
Maar dena hai tujhko, ya mar jana hai



Chapter 1: Aa Khel Khelein Hum

"Why can't you play fair and square for once?" a chubby ten year old asked his rival crabbily. "Why can't you stop being a snivelling cry baby?" his year younger rival retorted. "I-am-not-a-snivelling-cry-baby". "Oh yes you are.....A perpetual whiner.....If you compete, you should be willing to accept failure." "I don't mind losing if the competition is fair. But Ha....The only way you can beat me is by resorting to sabotage......" "Are you calling me a cheater?" "Why thick-head....It takes you that long to figure out the obvious!!!!!!". S-M-A-S-H.

"Stop." Fifteen year old Eklavya Virani walked amidst two very angry kids holding each other's collar. "Manthan.....What happened now?" "She spiked my bike....." "What? How?" "Well......." Manthan began hotly....."We were racing back from school through that trail path and she dropped nails on the path.....I got a flat tyre and had to walk all the way....." He finished in injured tones. Eklavya crossed his hands and looked sternly at his younger cousin. "If she dropped nails on the route, how come her bike's not punctured. It means you were behind anyways...." "Oh...I was leading half way through....then I thought I would give her a little leeway coz she's a girl...." Ira Pratap Vardhan snorted. "Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.....You gave me leeway coz I'm a girl......And I thought I was the worst liar on planet earth." Eklavya raised his hand up for silence and with a curt " Continue Manthan..." silenced the nine year old. "Well I would have overtaken her just before we reached the goalpost....." He said sullenly. "Hmmmmm......What do you have to say Ira?"

The girl tossed her tightly tied two plaits behind her ears and shrugged with a "If he were any good a biker, he would have avoided those nails......". "Fair enough....Manthan made a mistake of underestimating you and he paid...." "But Bhai......" "Nopes.....The matter rests and no further arguments...." Eklavya knew that both of them were raring to have a fist fight with each other and given half a chance, would jump enforced-by-his-presence peace. "I'm not going to ask you guys to kiss and make up or shake hands even, you'll do your best to pull each other's arm's off their sockets." "Manthan....I'm taking you home right now ...." "Oieee.....Manthan needs an escort home....too afraid to go alone...." Ira danced a little jig. And stopped abruptly as Eklavya narrowed his eyes at her. "Sorry ......." she picked up her fallen by the roadside cycle, stuck her tongue out at Manthan and pedalled away.

"I fail to understand Manthan....When are you going to stop fighting with Ira? Wasn't it the last week where you glued her plaits together with chewing gum? And before that during the swimming practice, you forcibly pushed her head under water for more than half a minute..." "You always forget she starts it....I glued her plaits together because she tied my shoelaces together during the running race event....I fell down and everyone was laughing at me...." "Well .....Why do you play or contest with her then...Keep away from her and she'll keep away from you." Eklavya adviced his younger brother sagely for the fiftieth time. "Whom do I play with then? Sis is busy with books. Archita and Pari play with dolls all the time. Nakul and Lakshya always gang up together and leave me alone....And if we have a fight Lakshya goes crying to Tripti chachi and she scolds me. Mom and Dad never stand up for me. And spank me if I say anything back to her. And besides....If I fight with Ira and best her, everyone at school will be scared of me. Coz they're real scared of her."
"So when are you going to stop fighting with her?" Eklavya asked, thoroughly exasperated. "Never" was Manthan's simple, truthful answer.

Song dedication:

Haye haye re haye yeh ladki haye haye re haye
Karti nadaniyan kyun pucho to haye
Kabhie yeh humse ladti hai kabhi jagadti hai
Karo door se chedkhani
Yeh ladki hai deewani hai deewani

I would appreciate any comments about continuing further 😊

great...do continue..though i really would like a manthan/kt fic frm u 'cuz u have the ability 2 write n weave in characters really well...
n btw...its prologue.....u mite wanna correct tht

Great intro. Loved the last part. Manthan's logic made perfectly sense. 😆 Instead of picking fights with everyone why not try and beat the biggest bully and everyone else will follow. 😆 😆 😆

I was waiting for you to continue writing after Saat Rang.. and then in one day you post two stories, each one catching my full interest.Thanks a lot and I will be waiting for the next parts.

This may seem discontinous --- > reference Saat Rang Pyar Ke........chapter 34 and 35........

Chapter 2: Takkar

"Manthan....I want to have a word with you...." Karan's severe tone made Manthan look up sharply from the guitar he was fixing. " Yes Dad? " "Will you tell me why Chaitanya Pandit called off his wedding with Ira a week before they were about to tie the knot?" Manthan stiffened for a minute before answering coolly, "That is a private matter between Ira and Chaitanya....Why ask me?" "If it is a private matter between them Manthan, why did Rakesh Pandit accost me at Virani Hotels during the annual Commerce Chamber's Association, holding you responsible for the same? He said that you told Chaitanya that Ira was two timing him? She is in 'love' with you? And you reciprocate? Should he not believe you, ask Saniya? Or that you were having a rendezvous with Ira at the Panvel farmhouse? Like father , like son....", Karan's voice was full of bitterness now. " I was supposed to be the reason of rift between Nandini and Ansh and now my son follows my footsteps .... "

" That's not true..." Manthan was furious now. "What do you deny Manthan? " Karan said down on the bed, defeated. " That you 'love' Ira? Or you told Chaitanya you do?...... I fought for you, told him that my son would never do something as depraved as that. He knows what it is to lose out on the person you love, he would never do that. I refused to believe his accusations. Even when Chaitanya confirmed the same. And then I asked Ira........" "And she told you all this was true?" Manthan asked, incredulous that Ira would disregard his threat to her brother so lightly. "No......Manthan......I have known Ira to raise her hand at the slightest provocation.....Today Manthan, she did not even raise her voice.....Why?"

Karan looked at Manthan's stoic face before continuing further ...." I might have not taught you a lot of things Manthan.....But I thought I taught you to respect the importance of preserving someone's reputation. Particulary someone who has been your childhood acquaintance. I don't know whether this was intentional or accidental....But it is your transgression and you will make amends. I've spoken to Pratap. We hold your engagement ceremony next week and your wedding immediately afterwards. With Ira." He walked off without a backward glance to his son.

Manthan took a while to regain his composure. His father's words left him incapable of any words or action. He would have continued in the same dazed state if he hadn't heard his phone ring. "You did this......" he snarled at the voice on the other side.

"But Manthan...." Ira's voice sounded smug over the phone...."I did what you said.....I didn't counter any assumptions which anyone made.....Even your father......." She continued in a grim, unyielding tone, "I warned you ....didn't I that if I am to be miserable for the rest of my life.....So will you.....Why do you think I went to that particular meeting and endured so much belittlement? This is just the beginning Manthan.....You stir a hornet's nest, expect to be bitten........" " I'll advice you to remember that too, Ira......Let's see who wishes out of this arrangement........And how soon........Good luck Janeman....."

Song dedication:

Tu kabhi na bhool paye
Main tujhko woh sazaa doon
Aaon jo apni zid pe
Tujhe kya se kya bana doon........



Please let me know if this is good enough.........

2 stories updated on the same day. Thank you so much. Great part once again and am looking forward to the next round. By the way which actress are you modelling her after? If I recall correctly you modelled Barkha after Bani, right?

omg that woz so gud...plz keep updating 👏 👏 👏

Chapter 3: Ram Milaye Jodi

A smiling-outside-scowling-inside would-be bride and groom aside, Manthan and Ira's wedding digressed from the customary Virani tradition in one more way. The pre-wedding rituals were to be held in a small hospice, not very far from Shantiniketan due to Baa's not very good health. Both the marriage parties were housed in the hospice for the simple reason that the rituals would oft go late into the night. The wedding itself was to be held in Shantiniketan and Nakul, Eklavya, Joydeep and Krishna Tulsi had the swell job of decorating the dwelling. Barkha, of course, was the caterer-in-charge. And Bhumi was the planner.

Ira had always felt that the quintessential 'mehndi' tradition was a royal waste of time. It was near impossible for her to sit still for half an hour, a painstaking mehndi session during wedding took over two hour. She would have shooed away the professional henna artist in ten minutes if Saniya and she didn't have a bet going on who would have the better design. After Ira's assumed betrayal of Saniya's love for Lakshya, she and Saniya hadn't spoken to each other for weeks. Still, Ira could not not invite her one time very good friend to her wedding, one which she had helped orchestrate. It didn't help matters that inherently Ira held herself responsible for her obtuseness about Saniya's obvious affection for Lakshya. She had gone to Oberoi Mansion to hand deliver her wedding card and for the first fifteen minutes both girls kept avoiding each others faces by taking undue interest in the plush furniture, the wall color, the ceiling color, the ebony wood showcase and other such microscopic details of Saniya's opulent living room. And then the first word they uttered together was "Sorry.....". The feud had ended there and then.

Ira seemed to be suffering from dual bad luck this night. It had been close to 9:30 p.m. when the artist had started on her hands. She had been a quarter done when Archita 'accidently' dashed against a woman carrying a jugful of water drenching Ira and her hands completely. She had started all over again at 10:30 p.m. when an 'accidental' dash to the mehndi artist by her soon-to-be-co-sister Barkha ruined the work done so far. Ira had come this close to tearing her hair in frustation at the prospect of starting afresh yet again, she made sure of no future mishaps by locking herself in a room with the mehndi artist. It was close to midnight, her neck and back ached like hell but Ira was thankful that it was finally over. Almost. An insistent knocking and an urgent "Ira....Ira...Please open the door" in what happened to be Saniya's voice made her run to the door and open it with as little damage she could do to her still wet hands. And catch, in what was an involuntary reflex action, a basketball tossed to her. By her grinning fiancee.

Manthan congratulated himself for two achievements. It had been almost a month since he had seen that stunned, angry look on Ira's face. And she'd lost her bet to Saniya. He spent most of the next day smug. And most of the night under a cold shower. Ira paid him back by spiking the 'haldi' applied to groom according to Vardhan customs. With a more than liberal dose of slow-to-begin-working-but-more-than-potent itching powder.

Song dedication:

Mehndi vehndi na mujhko lagana
Mujhe saajan ke ghar nahi jaana

amazing dear 👏 . the last one was funny. 😆

😆 😆 😆

Both Manthan and Ira are too much, but am enjoying it.
Waiting for the next parts of Mannat and Fannah.

Chapter 4: Koi Mil Gaya

Even a small event has many contingencies. Like something as trivial as stealing the groom's shoes and hiding them in a secure place till he and his family members pay up. When exactly to filch, how to filch and most importantly, where to hide them. Saniya Oberoi thanked her lucky stars that she was sufficiently familiar with the layout of Ira Vardhan's home to know that the safest place to hide the shoes was in a corner of the loft with other discarded junk. She had just bent down and retrieved them when a sound in the door way made her turn and she found herself face to face with a rather piqued Eklavya Virani.

"That was most unethical of you" he began in a severe,censurious tone. " You were introduced to me in capacity of Lakshya's friend. You are supposed to help us protect Manthan's shoes, not pilfer them." "Well.....I'm representing the bride's side in this wedding." "I didn't know that. " "Now you do. Now if you'd excuse me..." Saniya tried to walk right past him. Eklavya caught her arm.

"You owe me an apology. " "For what?" "You misrepresented yourself when you took those shoes from me saying that Lakshya asked you to keep them someplace safe. " " That's not my lookout. I had to get Manthan's footwear. By hook or crook. " "So you lied. Blatantly." "Yes I did. As if you never lie." "Never. I'm very conscientious about doing the right thing. Always." Saniya gave him a Are-you-sure-you-are-in-the-right-era look. "Raja Harishchandra....we'll bicker about your idealistic and my pragmatic behavior later. I just need to..." she tried inching her way forward only to be jerked back. "I'm not letting you go....Give the shoes back to me."

The struggle went on and on with Saniya refusing to relinquish her hold on the shoes and Eklavya refusing to release his hold on her arm. The other wedding rituals were drawing to a close and soon they would be calling out for the groom's shoes. Desperate, Saniya did what she hoped would cause just enough lapse in Eklavya's concentration so that she could free her hand and sprint away. She leaned forward and kissed Eklavya, leaving the eldest Virani scion with a loss of composure and words for perhaps the first time in his life.

Song dedication:
Khwabon Khayalon khwaishon ko chehra mila
mere hone ka matlab mila
Koi Mil Gaya