A New Beginning | COMPLETE | AbhiGya SS by mina

"Bhabhi!"

Pragya woke with a start. After a moment of disorientation, she realized that she was in Abhi's bed, still wearing her wedding joda. A frantic Akaash had just burst into the room, and was hurrying over to her.

"Bhabhi, you have to go get Bhai," Akaash said as she sat up. "Daadi has been taken to the hospital!"

"Daadi? What happened to Daadi?" Pragya quickly got out of bed, straightening her clothes absent-mindedly.

"She was having chest pains and shortness of breath. My father and Aaliya have gone with her but we can't get a hold of Bhai. I have to go with everyone to the hospital so you're the only one who can get him!"

Pragya looked around the room and realized that, except for the flower petals that slipped to the floor as she got off the bed, nothing had been disturbed. Abhi had not come home at all. A glance at the bedroom clock told her that it was 2:30 in the morning.

Pragya caught hold of Akaash's hands. In a calm voice she asked, "How can I find him?"

***

Twenty minutes later, Pragya got out of the auto at the address Akaash had given her. Looking around, she spotted Abhi's car and driver. The car was still decorated with flowers from the wedding.

"Bhaiya!" she called out as she ran up to the driver.

The driver turned to face her. "Memsahib, aap yahan?" he said, looking at her in shock.

"Aap - aapke sahib kahan hai?" Pragya asked, tripping over her words as she caught her breath.

The driver looked away, hesitating to answer.

"Bhaiya, bata kyun nahi rahin?" Pragya prompted impatiently.

The driver pointed to the tall building behind them. "Woh flat number 1803 mein hain."

"Thank you. Please stay here." Pragya turned and hurried over to the tall building.

***

As she entered the tall building, Pragya was stopped by a security guard.

"Excuse me ma'am, do you have an access card?"

Pragya met the guard's eyes, hoping he would understand her situation. "Ji, no I don't, but my husband is upstairs and I just have to go and get him. It will only be 5 minutes."

"Your husband?" the guard said, looking over her clothes and jewellery sceptically. She had not had time to change before leaving Abhi's house. "Shouldn't he be with you, this night?"

"Woh, please sir, it is really an emergency. He is in flat number 1803 and I just need to bring him down. His close family member is in hospital and it is really urgent!" Pragya explained, keeping a calm tone but speaking assertively.

"Well...please be quick ma'am, I'm not supposed to let you inside, but if it's an emergency -"

"It really is, thank you so much," Pragya said. The guard buzzed open the door and she hurried inside.

***

The elevator ride to the 18^th floor took three long minutes. Stepping out of the elevator, Pragya heard loud club music coming down the hall. Won't these neighbours make a noise complaint? she wondered as she made her way to flat 1803.

The door was unlocked so Pragya simply entered the flat. She found a loud and crowded party scene. This is how Abhi chooses to spend his time? she thought to herself.

"Arre, Pragya Bhabhi?" a man called out to her. Pragya recognized him as Abhi's friend Kartik.

"Kartikji, where is Abhi?" Pragya asked him directly.

"Woh, what's the rush?" Kartik said in a slurred voice. "You don't really need him tonight, you'll have him the rest of his life," he continued. Some people nearby laughed.

"It's an emergency about his Daadi," Pragya said curtly. "Where is he?"

"Ohhh...well, he's over there, I guess," Kartik said, waving his hand toward a closed door at the side of the room. "But maybe I should get him for you, he might be -"

"Nevermind, I'll go," Pragya said, brushing quickly past him.

***

Pragya entered the room without knocking. Abhi was lying asleep on a bed, also still wearing his wedding clothes. He even had on the pointed shoes Bulbul and Purvi had briefly stolen from him.

Pragya was not really surprised to see Abhi passed out in exhaustion, but she was startled to see Aaliya's friend Taanu curled up next to him, caressing his hair and looking at him fondly.

"You?" Taanu snapped as their eyes met. "What the hell are you doing here?"

I could ask you the same thing, Pragya thought. "It's an emergency," she replied as she made her way to Abhi's side. What would be the best way to wake him up? she wondered, feeling a little awkward as she looked down at him. She didn't know him well enough to shake him or shout at him.

"What do you mean, an emergency?" Taanu demanded. She put one hand on Abhi's chest protectively. "Can't you see he's resting?"

"His Daadi is in hospital. He'll want to be awake for that." Pragya did not like the sight of Taanu's hand on Abhi, but she didn't have time to figure out what was going on between them. "Can you wake him up please?"

Reluctantly, Taanu shook Abhi out of his sleep. "There's someone here to see you," she said snidely.

"What?" Abhi woke up and caught sight of Pragya. "What are you doing here?"

Pragya ignored the negativity in Abhi's voice. "Daadi is in hospital, let's go."

Abhi hurried off the bed. "What do you mean? What happened?"

"I'll explain on the way, it's too loud here. Let's go!" Pragya grabbed Abhi's hand and pulled him toward the door.

"Hey, wait a minute! You can't go just like that," Taanu called after them.

Abhi glanced over his shoulder on his way out of the room. "Sorry, Taanu, I will talk to you later," he promised.

***

Abhi was so confused and tired that he let Pragya pull him out of the flat in front of his friends. However as they waited for the elevator, he dropped her hand. "Excuse me? What is this all about?"

"Daadi had chest pain. Tauji and Aaliya took her to the hospital and Akaash told me to get you. Why weren't you answering your phone by the way?" The elevator arrived and they entered it. Pragya pressed the button for the ground floor.

"My phone? I don't even know where my phone is," Abhi said, suddenly patting his pockets. He found his phone and unlocked the screen. "Oh. 47 missed calls, 22 messages..." his voiced trailed off as he flicked through the notifications. "Oh, God. Aaliya just sent an SMS saying that Daadi is in the intensive care unit."

He looked at Pragya, his eyes full of worry and fear. "How could I have been asleep at this time!" he groaned.

Pragya took hold of his hand again. She wanted to tell him it was ok and that everything would be alright, but the words got stuck in her throat as she thought about what could cause Daadi's condition to deteriorate so quickly.

***continued in Part 2***

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