It had been 15 minutes since he had come back from work. His eyes searched for someone. He was talking to Dadi, Aaliya and the rest of his family, but his eyes wanted to see the person who he had hurt this morning. He was apologetic beyond words. How fate was playing games with them..
They had been married for four months and he had started to get to know this woman better with whom he had a matrimonial alliance for a year. In his mind he knew it was all business like and sorted out. But he didn't know why he had grown so fond for her in the last few months they had spent together. He had not seen anything that would make him believe that she was a gold digger and had got into this marriage for money. On the contrary he found her to be very righteous and sensible. He had once asked her about any love affairs and she had told him about some Suresh. He had not reacted but had got the information verified which was found to be correct. Also the Purab fiasco, he couldn't believe a minor misunderstanding on Alia's part had spoilt so many lives. Pragya had been very forthcoming with the truth about everything that Abhi had asked her. Though he did not react in front of her, he knew his wife would never lie to him and all the allegations that had been made against her before their marriage were wrong.
Plus the girl had all the right values instilled in her. It was nice to see her taking care of Dadi. He would often stand outside Dadi's room and hear them talking; he knew Dadi was the only person with whom Pragya had opened up in the house. He found her talks very endearing.
Still he knew of the undercurrent tension between Alia and Pragya. He knew his little sister well. If she didn't like somebody she would go out of her way to destroy them. Though he didn't love Pragya, his heart ached whenever Alia would rake up some or the other drama. Pragya would be shocked and would not react at all. He intervened once but Alia told him to back off since his wife only has a couple of more months in the house.
Today hell had broken loose. Pragya had to make her PHD submission next week so she was deep neck into her work; She had requested Abhi if she could use his study for some days. He had gladly accepted. Though they slept separately, he on the bed and she on the couch, he missed her presence at night when she passed out in the study while studying.
This morning Abhi had woken up to a bad news that some fan had filed a case against him for hurting religious sentiments through some lyrics of his song. His secretary called to inform him and Abhi blasted the poor man. He has fuming. He walked out of his room and was shaking with uncontrollable fury. When he stepped out he saw Alia shouting at Pragya and accusing her of stealing some jewellery that had been kept in the study. Abhi lost it!! First the news of the court case and now this drama. He asked both Pragya and Alia to shut up and end this drama. He had had enough of these accusations every day. He wanted some peace in the house.
Pragya was standing near the stairs and he could see she had shivering due to his screaming. Abhi wanted some tea and was about to go down the stairs when the unthinkable happened. As he neared the stairs, Pragya thought he was about to hit her due to his body language and she slipped and fell down the stairs and hit her head against the ground and passed out.
Abhi was stunned and frozen. There is a difference between not wanting to be with somebody, being indifferent with them but physically hurting them and being violent !!! No, he wasn't such a man. He rushed to Pragya and checked the wound. It was oozing blood. He called out to Alia to call the doctor. Dadi immediately called the family Doc. Abhi picked up pragya and placed her on the sofa. Alia called from the back and asked him not to bother as it was a drama. He turned and asked her to shut -up.
Pragya was unconscious. Doc came and examined the wound, gave medicines and left. He asked them to take care of Pragya as the wound was deep and had been stitched up. Dadi was crying. ABhi had explained to Dadi that he had no intension of hitting her at all. Just then the police came and he left for taking care of the case.
Now he was back since morning. His lawyers had taken care of the case. He was tired. He had called up home to ask about pragya in the afternoon. Dadi was crying uncontrollably and Alia was not bothered. There was a sense of unprecedented guilt he felt. First he ruins her life by marrying her, then cheats on her openly with Tanu to teach her a lesson and then this today. He finally asks Dadi about Pragya. Dadi tells him Pragya is in their bedroom still resting. Dadi said she will wake her up for dinner in another hour. Abhi had dinner and retired to his room.
He saw her lying on the bed. Her head was bandaged and swollen. He felt horrible. He just held her hand and sat on the ground against her bedside and looked at her. He knew they just had a few more months together, he never admitted to anyone but he really liked her as a person and felt protective. He wanted that when she left after a year, he would want her to leave with dignity. Basically he was in turmoil about what was their exact equation. He held her hand and kissed it. He was tired too. He didn't know when his eyes closed and he slept peacefully besides her.
Dadi smiled to herself and thanked God when she opened the door. Abhi's and Pragya's hands were entwined with each other and their faces were very close as they slept, Abhi on the ground and Pragya on the bed. She knew Abhi was a softie at heart. His attitude had changed towards Pragya when the Purabh misunderstanding had been cleared.
Dadi had given up on this marriage when she found that ABhi used to spend the nights at Tannu's house and Alia was behind all this. She had heard Alia and Tannu talking and her heart was broken. Poor Pragya!! Her life was ruined. She prayed to her God to show her the way so that all her kids including Pragya would be happy. Then something happened which showed there was still light at the end of the tunnel..
Abhi and Pragya had gone to this party one day. This was 2 weeks after the wedding. Abhi under Alia and Tannu's influence was at his worst behaviour with Pragya. In between the party Tannu called and asked Abhi to come immediately to her house else she would take sleeping pills. Abhi rushed to her house with Pragya. He asked Pragya to wait in the car saying one of his friends was unwell. He would be back in 15 minutes. He went to Tannu and hugged her. The lovers' resolved their tuff and forgot all about the others and were spending time with each other when someone rang the bell. Tannu's society watchman was there and he was in a disoriented state. He told Abhi that a tree had fallen over his car and it had got completely damaged.
Abhi felt paralyzed. He knew Pragya was in the car. He felt as if the world had crashed. Abhi was a fair man. He was not a sadistic b*****d who wanted others to suffer or die. He could not believe his wife was dying when he was having fun with Tannu. He felt miserable. Why did he come? Why did he leave her in the car? He rushed downstairs and found his car totally damaged. There was no chance anybody could have escaped. He collapsed to the ground like a madman and howled. Death is too ultimate and there are no second chances. Pragya had not done anything so wrong that she deserved this.She had a family what would he say to them?Dadi?How will he live with this guilt? ABhi was talking to himself like a madman.
Just then Dadi called on his phone and Tannu jotled him out of his thoughts and asked him to tell Dadi of the tragedy. Abhi took the phone with trembling hands and said "Dadi". It was Pragya on the other end. She informed him that she was ok. She had seen the pillar leaning it and got scared and came and stood outside the car. Just then the pillar fell and people came out. She thought that people will recognize Abhi's car and create a drama and took an auto and left. She said she just reached home and called him using Dadi's cell since her's had been damaged in the car.
Abhi was ashamed. He knew what a drama it could have been in the press if they had found out that Abhi was having an extra marital affair and his wife died in the car. He didn't care for that as well. He was just happy that she was alive. He sweared to God he could not have lived with the guilt of losing her. He went home. Dadi was waiting for him. She told him Pragya was in shock so she went to sleep and rest. Abhi kept his head on Dadi's lap and begged for forgiveness. He said he would never hurt a woman intentionally. He wouldn't. dadi could hardly make out what he was saying, he was that disturbed. She cuddled him and asked him to go and rest.
Abhi spent that night next to his wife just looking at her sleeping face...
Kumkum Bhagya
Anupamaa
