FF - Mere sapnon ki Kalpana, meri haquiqat! Ch 15 pg 75 link on page 1 - Page 7

Chapter 4

Till we meet again

Kalpana. Raghav found out that the girl to make him smile was called Kalpi by everyone. But he liked calling her by her real name. Kalpana. Yes, he never called her Kalpi. She was his Kalpana.

Whenever he would get sad thinking about his lost family, he would go sit with Kalpana holding her hand. It would give him immense calm and comfort. She was his angle. And she in turn would smile at him as if telling him, "I am there. For you." They were too young to understand the bond between them, but they knew that they just had to look at each other's face to feel all turmoil of their hearts fleet away.

Apart from going and sitting by Kalpana, Raghav would keep to himself. It did not take him long to understand that he was an unwelcome addition to the Kapoor family.

There is a saying that when you are happy time flies faster than you can blink but times of sorrow drag their feet along the way. This was how the next seven years of Raghav's life passed. It was as if a beast had its claws on his back and with each passing day, the wound just got bigger. He had started to see the evil in his dad's so called best friend. He started asking questions. Not a very smart thing to do when you are 15 and still too young to protect yourself!

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Parallel to his life was Kalpana's. she had her own set of setbacks and insecurities. Her mother would always put Paakhi before her. She had to make innumerable sacrifices just to make Paakhi happy. She could never choose what she could do or play. It was always decided by the memsaab's daughter. It didn't take too long for Kalpana to realize that she was the Bai's daughter. Those things come easy when you see the rich remind you of your status day in and day out. The only reason she was allowed to come into the house was because that was one condition Kamla had put while accepting the job. She could not leave her baby alone to take care of the memsaab's daughter as a baby that small needs a mother. And later Paakhi needed a playmate and so Kalpana was accepted into the house.

When it came time for her to go to school, she would go to the charity school nearby and come back to the Kapoor house to spend the rest of the afternoon. While Paakhi and Prem had tutors to help them with their studies, Raghav became Kalpana's mentor. She would go to his room after school and sit by his side to do her homework while he did his and he would help her with her problems. They both now understood that they were not a priority in anyone's life and so stayed away from other's eyes. And so they learnt to find solace in each others company.

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Their friendship was so that they did not feel the need to pretend to be happy in front of each other like in case of others. They would be the only ones to see each other cry and wipe the tears off with a determination that this will be a thing of the past soon. They just didn't know how soon.

It was a little after Kalpana's seventh birthday, one day she overheard Sahil Kapoor tell someone on the phone that they need to take off Raghav as he is becoming too smart for his own good and asking questions about his father's business. Kalpana did not understand what it all meant but because Raghav's name was involved and the tone that was used made her shiver with fear. She confided with him and also her parents. More spying on the Kapoors resulted in the ugly unveiling that they meant to get Raghav involved in an accident and kill him. This shook everyone. Kamla took a loan from Neetu saying that her mother in law was really sick and needed treatment. They bought a ticket for Raghav to go to USA to a friend's house that had kept in touch with him over the years. As the night of his departure, Kamla stole his passport from Neetu's drawer and pretended that they were taking the kids to their home for a sleepover as sometimes Paakhi would force them to do it. This way they could take a bag of Raghav's stuff out too without anyone getting suspicious.

Raghav spent the evening sitting with Kalpana and giving her instructions on how to take care of herself in his absence. He gave her his abacus and his pen. His two most prized possessions. She in turn had nothing to give him. all she could think of was her pencil sharpener that she had just gotten for school, so she gave him that! He took it with a smile at her innocence and promised that he would be back. For her.

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