Well, everyone, thank you for your patient waiting. This part gave me fits to figure out. I'll have a few more notes at the end, but now, on to the story, with just a reminder that I have no understanding of Hindi grammar so please forgive any mistakes 😳
(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) Part 4 - The early hours of the day after the wedding, in a teeny tiny visitor's room Pragya finally turned away from Abhi, reaching to open the door. "Let's go and see about Daadi. We have to tell the others -"
Abhi caught her wrist without getting up from the sofa. "How do you know Purab?"
Pragya frowned at him. "I don't know him, really. He's my sister's boss and we've met a few times."
"That's it?" Abhi's voice was edged with disbelief. He released her wrist, letting his arm drop.
"Yes, that's it!" Pragya crossed her arms, feeling tension start to thrum through her body. "I certainly wasn't having an affair with him. I didn't even know he was your manager."
"He was more than my manager. Woh mere liye bhai se barkar tha." His eyes returned to the painting on the wall behind Pragya. "He was my best friend."
"Was?"
Abhi gave her a troubled glance. "He has been engaged to my sister for a year, and now he says he loves someone else." Abhi sank back on the sofa. He shut his eyes and began massaging his forehead. "Aaliya thought it was you."
Pragya wanted answers, but something inside her softened at the sight of Abhi so obviously overwhelmed and tired. He looked vulnerable and human, and almost on instinct she just wanted to make him feel better. "Why?" she asked softly.
"She saw the two of you alone in his office. She showed me a picture."
Pragya remembered going to Purab's office to talk about Bulbul. Why had Aaliya taken a picture of that? "And you just assumed from one picture that Purab was involved with me? I don't understand, why didn't you just ask him?"
Abhi's eyes snapped open and he glared at her. "Because he broke my sister's heart! He broke my trust. I didn't care about the details."
Pragya was not intimidated by Abhi's temper. Her thoughts raced ahead and she realized he must be leaving out some part of the story. "But then...why did you marry me? If you thought -"
"Obviously, there's been a misunderstanding. This was a mistake." He sighed and stared down at his phone, waiting for Purab's message.
Pragya's heart clenched. Did he mean that he hadn't actually wanted to marry her? "What exactly was the mistake?"
"This whole - we had a plan, a stupid plan." He raked a hand through his hair and dropped his phone to the sofa. "I'm sorry you got dragged into it."
Pragya noted the sincerity in his apology, but she still wanted to understand what had happened. "What do you mean you had a plan?"
Abhi met her eyes. "Aaliya and I wanted to teach Purab a lesson. We wanted to show him that what he thought was love was just a gold digger's trap." His gaze trailed down to the elaborate jewelled necklace she was wearing. "When you accepted my rishta, we thought it proved that you love money more than Purab."
One assumption after another! Pragya thought, astonished by his arrogant thinking. Has fame destroyed his brain cells? "But none of that makes sense! Why did you doubt Purab's love? Why would you want to marry the woman who broke your sister's engagement?"
"It was what Aaliya wanted!" Abhi finally stood up from the sofa. "She just wanted that other woman out of Purab's life. She was counting on her big brother to fix the problem, so how could I refuse?" He threw his arms up in frustration.
"But it doesn't solve the problem," Pragya replied calmly. "Even if you married the right girl, Purab would still be in love with her. And then you would be stuck - you are stuck - with a wife you chose for all the wrong reasons!" Her voice rose as her thoughts caught up to her words. Because you chose me.
"It was only supposed to be a year." As soon as he said it, a flash of regret crossed his face, and he briefly squeezed his eyes shut. It was obvious that he hadn't meant to tell her that.
Did I hear him right? Pragya wondered in a daze. Only a year? "What?"
Abhi looked toward the door. "Nothing. Let's talk about this later,"
"No. Tell me the truth. Tell me your whole plan," Pragya insisted. She felt a tide of worry and sorrow building in her heart and wanted to stop it in its tracks.
Abhi shifted uncomfortably. "Look, now is not really -"
"You said you were sorry for dragging me into this. The least you could do is give me an explanation!" Pragya looked him in the eye. She resisted the urge to push him back onto the sofa.
Abhi sighed. "...It was only supposed to be a year, until Taanu - my girlfriend -"
Pragya felt a stab of mortification, followed quickly by anger. So that's why they were in the room together. That's why she was all over him.
"--finishes her modelling contract. That would be enough time to sort Purab out, and it would keep Daadi off my back. She's the one who really wanted me to get married," Abhi concluded. He was looking at the door again.
Pragya let her fury and disappointment ring through her voice as she said, "So...what you're saying is, you were willing to live a lie for a year, betray your best friend, break your Daadi's heart, and ruin my life for - for what?"
Abhi scowled at her, impatiently setting his hands on his hips. "For my sister! Maybe that doesn't mean anything to you, but there's nothing I wouldn't do for her."
"Right. You would even play games with other people's lives, and that too without bothering to check the facts." Pragya's voice was thick with disgust. "Aapka sirf pathar dil nahin, pathar dimaag bhi hain."
"Excuse me! Who are you to lecture me?" Abhi ran his eyes over her again, looking at her glittering wedding lehenga and expensive gold ornaments. "And why don't you explain to me what you're even doing here? If you weren't after my money, why did you marry me?"
"For my mother!" Pragya snapped, answering without thinking. Then she sighed, saying more calmly, "Apparently I'm no less stupid than you. I didn't even try to find out why you would agree to such an obviously bad match."
Abhi frowned in confusion. "What do you mean, for your mother?"
Might as well tell him the truth, Pragya thought. It's not like he will care that no man really wants to marry me. "I've had two broken engagements. She collapsed when she learned I wanted to turn away your proposal."
"Collapsed?" Abhi's voice softened as he thought of the times he had met Pragya's mother. Mrs. Arora - Mummyji? he tried out mentally - seemed robust and was always busy and chatty, but she did often look tired...
"She has a stress condition...maybe like Daadi's actually." Pragya shook her head slightly, as if to clear out distractions. "You're right, now is not the time. We can decide what to do about all this later. Let's go back to the ICU," she said firmly.
Just then Abhi's phone beeped, and he picked it up to read Purab's message. "The money is sorted. We should go and meet with the doctors," he informed Pragya.
Pragya turned to leave, reaching for the door handle.
Abhi cleared his throat. "Wait, there is one more thing."
Pragya looked back at him. "Yes?"
He met her gaze. His eyes were bright and intent, and Pragya's compassionate nature recognized the unspoken need for understanding. "As long as Daadi is in a critical state, we can't give her any more stress. Please don't tell her about -"
Pragya patted Abhi's arm. "Don't worry, I understand. Mein Daadi ki pasand ki bahu hoon na? Her health is important to me too."
"Thank you," he said, briefly setting his hand on hers. Their eyes locked for a moment, and a thread of trust stretched between their two hearts. She had touched him in reassurance and comfort, but with his warm, large hand over hers she felt an unexpected sense of security.
"And thank you for coming to get me, and everything else you've done tonight," he continued. "I don't know how I'm going to fix everything, but I appreciate your help. Tum dil se bahut acche hoon," he added, realizing that it was true. She was better than he deserved, he could be honest with himself about that.
"Don't worry," Pragya said, willing to set aside the trouble between them for Daadi's sake. She squeezed his hand, palm to palm. "This is just the beginning. We'll work it out in the end."
"Yes...a new beginning." Abhi kept her hand in his, drawing strength from her patience and goodwill. "Thank you, Pragya," he said, looking into her eyes as he finally said her name.
Pragya gave him a small smile, blushing faintly. She opened the door of the visitor's room.
They walked back to the ICU hand in hand.
Whew, now that that's done, a
BIG HUGE THANK YOUto all of you for commenting, liking, and reading. I'm so flattered that so many members read and enjoyed my story, so thank you, thank you, thank you!
Please comment with your thoughts on the ending. I would like to know what you think about how Pragya handled the truth. I know some of you wanted to see Abhi suffer more and even I think the end is a little too sweet, but I tell you friends, this is how these two wanted to end the scene 😆
Thank you again for reading my story 😃 I hope to write more on this superfun jodi of Abhigya, but it all depends on inspiration.
If you would like a PDF or ePub version of this story, please PM me.Best wishes to all! 😊
Edited by dekhiki - 11 years ago
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