Ishra FF- Main aur Mrs.Khanna- COMPLETED - Page 28

He hardly heard what she said and passed out as she finished talking falling onto her. His head rest in the crook of her neck and she felt his warm breath on her chest. She hugged his head and clutched onto him not wanting to let go. She let go of the tears she had been holding back for so long and just cried. Cried as much as she wanted to for letting this happen to the man she had loved more than anything.

As she sobbed, Romi watched everything from the door; he remembered that day where he saw his brother get slapped by her and remembered how he cried as she married another man and now...she was crying for him, supporting him, and promising him she would be by his side. Who was she? Was she the Ishita who he called Bhabhi and who saved him from his brother's scolding when he goofed up or was she the woman who left his brother, hated him, and broke him apart? He looked at her continuously crying as she hugged him and took the bottle out of hand. She still wept as she tried to help him up, but in vain.

Romi stepped forward and held Raman helping her take him inside to his room. As they placed him on the bed, she covered him with a blanket as Romi came forward and took his shoes and coat off. In the process they heard him mumble things in his sleep they couldn't understand. She sat on the edge of the bed.

She knew things had gone too far. The amount of pain he had tolerated, the humiliation he faced, the loneliness he dealt with had to stop now! He had deserved none of this, but he got all this because of her. Her weak love, her lack of trust cost him so much...and now it was enough! She looked at him once and stroked his head moving away the hair that came in front his face. She got up to leave and saw Romi standing the by the corner of the room just looking at Raman.

"He'll be okay."

She said as she walked over to him placing her hand on his shoulder. Romi looked away avoiding any eye contact with her and brushed away her hand. Just like his brother, she thought to herself. She walked around him to face him and saw the tears in his eyes. She asked him to sit and as he did, she asked...

"He's going to be okay, but are you?"

He burst into tears as she held his shoulder tightly...

"I've never seen him like this...He hardly ever drinks...and never this much...I...I don't know what happened." He said between his sobs.

"Romi, do you know what happened between me and Raman?" she asked deciding to tell him everything...

"Not the whole thing, why? Does his drinking have something to do with?!" he asked infuriated at her for causing Raman pain and making him resort to drinking.

"Listen to me and I will explain everything..."

She sat there and told him the whole truth, he was shocked to know what had happened with Raman that day and what he is facing till today because of that one misunderstanding. He was mad for sure, but he also saw how sorry she was over what happened and genuinely wanted to apologize and fix things. He didn't know what to think of her and she didn't give him time to think as she continued...

"Romi I know I hurt him a lot, but I promise I will make sure he never suffers because of me again. I think it's time to let my family know the truth. I need them to take back this unreasonable condition."

He didn't know what she was going to do and how her family would react. He didn't even care about what they thought of Raman, all he wanted was for his brother to go back to being the way he was until a few days ago. All he could do was request to her...

"Please just make things okay...please."

"I will, but I need your help."

"What should I do?"

"Take care of him. He is really hurt because of my family. So just stay with him and let him know he's important and matters to you. And don't cry like right now, be strong and take care of him like he did for you and Mihir years back. He also lost his parents back then, he was broken and scared as well, but he didn't show anyone. He became strong enough to hide his tears and emotions for the sake of you two and today he needs you to do the same for him. Don't cry in front of him, just be happy and make him happy. And if it's possible have him talk to Ruhi once. He needs his family right now."

He nodded as he wiped off his tears. She also got up to leave, and they saw Mihir standing at the door. Romi ran over to him...

"Mihir, Bhai is okay, he came just-"

"I heard everything."

They all became quiet and Mihir just walked out the room in anger. They both followed him to his room where he paced back and forth upset.

"Mihir-" Ishita came forward to talk, but he cut her off...

"Why did he do this? Why does he think he can make everything okay? Is him staying away going to help me? It's not, he is wrong, he is wrong this time! And if he thinks I will let him stay away from me, no way this is happening."

"It's not going to happen. I promise you that. But just don't say anything to Raman, please. He is already so upset and if you say anything, he won't be able to take it. Just remember what he did was for your happiness."

"That's his problem! He always thinks about everyone's happiness, but what about his? Didn't he for once feel like saying no to this nonsense?! Doesn't he ever want to be happy?"

"He probably did, and he does want to be happy. But he weighs your happiness more than his own. You matter to him more to him. You, Romi and Ruhi are all he has, so he will do anything to give you want you want. You wanted to marry Mihika, so he did all that he needed to, so you would be able to get married."

"Why can't I get married and still be able to stay with him? I don't want to choose between the two!"

"You won't have to. Just wait until tomorrow morning. I will fix this all. And for now, just take care of him."

She walked away quietly leaving Romi and Mihir to be with Raman...

~~~~~

She entered her house to be greeted by her family and all of them looked mad.

"Ishu, how many times do I have to tell you to stay away from him?!" her mother yelled at her.

"Amma, do you realize what your stupid condition has done to him and his family?! He came home drunk and broken. You just brought out all his insecurities of losing his loved ones! He was crying in his sleep because of us. The man has no peace in his life because of us Amma and you are telling me I shouldn't even help him?!"

"Akka, some people don't deserve help, he brought this upon himself. None of us did anything to him!"

"Really Mihika? He brought it upon himself? He could have easily said no to Amma's demands, but he agreed for you and Mihir, yet you cannot accept his kindness. And how would you feel if I told you Mihir is extremely upset after hearing about what we asked Raman to do?!"

"Mihir...he knows?"

"What were you thinking? He would never find out?! He has and he is very angry. He feels stuck between Raman and you now! You don't care about Raman, but do you realize what you have done to Mihir?"

Mihika was silent and so were her parents. They realized everything was getting worse and out of hand. But Ishita looked at their silence and continued to speak wanting to tell them the while truth.

"Amma, Appa I know you care about Mihika, but you don't even know the truth. Mihika, you asked me why I defended him that day and why I act like everything was my fault the other day. It was because he wasn't ever at fault, he never did anything wrong!"

She earned a confused look from everyone which was expected, so she continued to speak...

"Amma, it wasn't his fault! Ashok tricked us all and we believed him over Raman. We were the ones who couldn't keep our relationships together, we didn't trust him enough. You called him a son, but believed an outsider and I called him my love, but believed his friend's cheap accusations. It was us who messed up."

"Ishu...is this really...true?" her father asked as a wave of guilt hit him. If this was true, then if he had spoken up and stopped her wedding with Ashok, then things could have been sorted out...

"It's true! I heard it from Ashok himself. Raman was innocent this whole time. I ruined everything, it was me who ruined our lives, not him!"

She cried like she had never cried before as she narrated everything single detail of the day and what led up to that video to them. Her parents and Mihika didn't know how to react. They had behaved so badly with someone who had called them his family. If they were considered family, then her parents wished no one got such family who couldn't trust their own when it came down to difficult situations. They had committed a huge blunder and there was so doubt about it.

Amma was feeling the guiltiest. It was her impulsiveness and worry of Ishita's marriage that got her in a relationship with Ashok and that just complicated things. And today she had hurt Raman again by asking him to cut off his ties with Mihir. She didn't know what to say and just slumped onto the couch crying cursing herself for making this mess worse. As Mihika calmed her down, they all decided tomorrow morning they would go to the Bhalla house and take back the condition they had put forth and apologize for their behaviour knowing it couldn't take back what they had put him through, but it would hopefully make things slightly better.

Ishita walked away from her family and went into her room locking the door behind her. She sat on her bed just crying since she had finally let out the truth she had been holding in for years. 3 years; it had been 3 years since she had found out the truth and everyday had been another day of hating herself and hating her life. She had just become like a machine who would work and live without emotions. What else could she have done anyways...Ashok's behaviour with her had gotten worse since the day they had that huge argument, a complete contrast to the type of person he behaved like before their wedding or when he talked to her parents on the phone. He would taunt her and say harsh and demeaning things after getting drunk. Each day in the same house with him became a day full of suffocation and torture. She wanted to get away so badly, but had no other choice other than to stay with him. So she did, she tried to ignore him as much as could. She stayed in her room most of the time when she was at home and looked at the only picture of Raman she had with her which gave her a sense of peace and would talk to his picture apologizing and talking about her day with that one picture. That was the only time she would pour our her emotions to someone.

But today she had finally told the truth to her parents and now had someone to talk to. She wasn't going to suffocate with guilt inside of her every day. She had someone o express her feelings to now, her family also knew the truth and they would change their behaviour with Raman along with taking back the ridiculous demand they had. She felt like she had done something to compensate just a little bit for what she had done and it felt like a burden had been taken off her. She fell asleep happy to know she had fulfilled her promise to Mihir and Romi that Raman wouldn't be forced to stop talking to Mihir.

~~~~~~~

The Next Morning

He woke up with a severe headache and feeling nauseous. He lazily sat up in bed holding his head and saw Mihir and Romi walk in with a glass of lemon water and his breakfast.

"Bhai hurry up and get ready. Then have all this. We have an important meeting in an hour."

Mihir told him acting completely normal and behaving as if nothing happened. Although he could hardly remember what occurred last night, he remembered some bits about Romi trying to help him out and Ishita was also there telling him to get inside the house. He wondered why they were acting normal and not questioning him and then wondered whether he had accidently blurted out the truth of Amma's condition. His head throbbed again and he thought it was best to first get rid of this hangover and then worry about other things.

As he walked out into the living room changed and with a less severe headache, his phone started to ring. He wanted to ignore it and cursed it for ringing so early in the morning, but then smiled broadly as he saw who called. It was Shagun's name on the caller ID, but he knew it was Ruhi. He picked it up excitedly only to hear Ruhi yell at him.

"Hello Ruhi!"

"Papa I am very mad!"

"Why?" his face fell immediately.

"You didn't pick up my call yesterday! I missed you so much!"

He felt horrible for ignoring Ruhi in between this whole mess and getting so caught up in himself that he forgot about her.

"I am so sorry, but my phone was on silent yesterday!"

"Fine, but now you have to get me pizza when I come back."

He chuckled at her silly demands, but agreed...

"Fine, so now are you going to tell me what you did yesterday or will you stay mad at me the whole time?"

He heard her giggling on the other side and smiled. She talked for a good 20 minutes about everything she did yesterday right from things like when she woke up and what she ate to how she went shopping and bought toys for herself to how much she missed him in the whole process. He listened to every single thing she said not paying attention to anything else but her voice. Before ending the call she asked him...

"How is Ishita aunty?"

He was silent for a moment and remembered whatever he could about how she helped him last night and her encouraging him when he went to talk at her house. Ruhi's voice brought him back to reality...

"What happened Papa? Why aren't you answering?"

"Nothing, Ruhi and your Ishita aunty is absolutely fine. By the way, are you ready for your friend's party in the evening?"

He asked to distract her from asking more questions about Ishita. And his method worked since Ruhi went on to talk about how Shagun and she had gone to find her a new dress and a gift for her friend. Shagun finally called her in the back to let her know she had to get off the phone now and they both sadly said goodbye. As he hung up the phone and finished up his breakfast, the doorbell rang. Romi ran over to fetch the door as everyone was engrossed in doing their own things. However the voice they heard as the door opened caught everyone's attention.

"Good morning!" Ishita chirped in a sweet and happy voice.

Hearing her voice Romi and Mihir knew everything would be okay now. She had fulfilled her promise and would things okay again. Raman on the other was confused as to why she was her so early in the morning. He walked up to the door and was pleasantly surprised to see the whole Iyer family at the door. He couldn't believe his eyes that they had actually come to his house themselves. He welcomed them all in happily and asked Romi to get them something to eat. Romi went off to the kitchen as Mihir came and sat down with everyone else.

"Raman we have come to say sorry and take back the condition I put in front of you."

Raman was completely taken back. What was happening? Until yesterday Amma wouldn't talk to him properly and now she was apologizing to him, and for what? And she herself didn't want anyone to know about the agreement they had and now was telling everyone herself. He looked around the room to find answers to his question, but none of the Iyers looked into his eyes.

"Amma why are you saying sorry? For what?"

"Raman we behaved horribly with you, and sorry isn't enough for what we did, but if possible please forgive us..."

They cried as they apologized with their hands folded in front of him. He held their hands as his own tears formed.

"Amma, Appa now I know what you're trying to say sorry for, but let me tell you I have never felt bad about anything you have said to me. I wasn't mad at you and never will be. You're like my parents, and no one can ever be upset with their parents, at least I can't."

Amma hugged him as he cried like a child in her arms. Everyone else in the room had tears in their eyes after seeing him cry so much. And he felt as if he had gotten his family back today, and he knew who the person behind all this was. As he broke apart from the hug and Amma wiped off his tears, he looked at Ishita gratefully and all she did was smile back at him.

The Iyers stayed back for a while on Raman's insistence and Raman had every delicacy they had available in their house placed in front of them. Mihir and Mihika stood alone in a corner talking to each other while Raman talked to Amma & Appa. Amidst all this Romi found Ishita alone and thanked her for making Raman happier than ever.

"I only did what I promised. I promised him I wouldn't let him be alone and I promised you that condition would be taken back. That's all I did."

A while later, everyone got up to leave and start their day. As Raman led them to the door, he looked over at Ishita. He had heard her talk to Romi and wanted to know what was going on. Clearly she was the person behind the change that happened overnight, but why? He needed to know. He looked her almost stared and she looked back at him. He looked down at his hand and her eyes followed his. He signalled her a 4 and she understood he wanted to meet her. She nodded and with her eyes asked her where. He mouthed "park" to her and she nodded once again before walking away with her family.

~~~~~~~

He sat on the bench they sat on last time as he waited for her. She showed up 10 minutes late frantically running towards him. As she sat down next to him, he looked at her carefully. She was rummaging through her purse for something as he just looked on. She was quite a disorganized person since her childhood and always struggled to find things when she needed them, and just like now she would pout as she failed to find what she wanted. He smiled at her and got so lost in her that he didn't noticed when she looked up and saw him staring at her. She broke the ice as she spoke up...

"Ummm Raman you wanted to meet me all of a sudden...everything okay?"

He came out of his trance and look at her with the softness in his face disappearing and reappearing. He remembered what she had done for him last night and she was the reason behind everything that happened this morning. And now he needed answers...

"I don't remember much, but I do know you were crying for me and helped me yesterday."

"I...I did help you and I...I did cry seeing you in that state." She said hesitating in between and embarrassed by knowing he knew everything.

"Why? Why are you doing this to me? Mrs. Khanna you don't know how long it has taken me to start my life again with my daughter. And now you have come back and I don't know where my life is going anymore. I don't know what to do, what to feel, or how to react. Everything is all over the place."

"Raman, I know everything, I know the truth about what happened that day. I know everything 3 years back. And I came here back then to meet you, but couldn't find you. Today I have come back for the same reason. To apologize for everything I did back then. For hurting you and for breaking our relationship. I am sorry my presence has messed up your life, but I promise you I will leave soon."

"That's all you came for? An apology?"

"That's all. I just you to forgive me for everything I did to you, so I can try to move from everything. Because I don't know about you, but my life is stuck at what happened 6 years back."

He looked around and thought for a while before he looked at her and said...

"If I say I have forgiven you, then what..."

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That was it everyone! Please like and leave your feedback in the comments. Thank you!