Posted:
Hello people!! This is my last doze is Eidie for you all! Another angsty AbhiGya mush!
Hope you like it and shore me with your lovely comments again!
Love and peace to all!
Eat lots of Biriyani!!
-----------------
She had woken up in the morning to commence the daily chore that awaited her, here in her maiden home, she wasn't in charge of breakfast, her mother and Janki bua looked after it, she in fact wasn't in charge of any "heavy housework" at all - how much ever her mother detested her decision of abortion, now that it was done, she had to accept it - but whatever be the reason, her health needed to be taken care of, post abortion. They spoke with her very less, even Bulbul seemed to maintain her distance with her - though she did try talking with her to find out the "real" reason for the abortion, once confirmed it was Pragya's high-headiness' and nothing else, even she couldn't completely forgive her sister - she chose to stand by the jiju she had once hated - she had seen in his eyes the pang of separation which Pragya had cleverly masked from hers. After a month of rest, and silent treatment, she begun to feel claustrophobic at home - true Abhi had tried calling and messaging her many times, but in fear that the people around them may find it edgy and guess something is wrong, she started avoiding him - Abhi eventually stopped, realizing Pragya wouldn't put her charade down.
But after a month of being treated like she is in house-arrest she decided to give life a chance, after convincing her mother she was medically fit to join college, she re-joined her college - those five six hours she spent in college each day, soon became her relief - life to her was those few hours at college where she happily did what she did best - the rest of the time she spent in waiting for the next day of college - true life in college was also not the easiest - after all she was a celebrity cast away wife - even though Abhi had taken to the social media to announce his separation and had strictly maintained that even though the marriage didn't have a future, he will always feel responsible for Pragya and look-out for her - even then she faced questions once in a while. But mostly it was her happily teaching the students who loved to have her back.
It was one such Wednesday when she was sitting in the staff room hidden behind a pile of assignments, reviewing them, when she suddenly heard a group of students shriek in excitement just outside the staff room corridor, it annoyed her - but she remained quiet. They must have won some fest again she thought and smiled then she got back with her assignments. She didn't even look up when the staff room door creaked open, must be some other professor she had assumed. She only looked up when Prof. Sharma deliberately cleared her throat and asked politely, "Yes?" and she heard the voice that responded.
"I came to meet my wife, Mrs. Pragya Abhishek Mehra" came his deep voice from behind her. She froze on her seat. In a moment she heard Prof. Sharma's voice calling her shakily, she slowly turned around and when she saw him, she slowly let the vision soak in; it was like drinking water after a long thirsty day outside in the hot sun, it quenched her age-long thirst, it helped pace down her throbbing pain in the chest, and breathing seemed easier. He wasn't his usual self though - no dog tags, no bright coloured tee, no denim with one leg folded with a contrast colour, and no jungle of wrist bands - just a grey V-neck slim fit tee and a pair of cargo shorts - he looked like he had walked out with his night clothes on - she frowned, why was he not dressed? In fact he looked sleep deprived too - she checked her watch, it was 8am - now she realized, it was way before is waking up time, he really must have trudged out of bed and come here - why though? Was daadi okay, came her first thought.
"Aap?"she looked surprised, "Is daadi..." But he smiled.
"Yes fug"Pragya, daadi is fine. But I needed to talk to you, is it okay if you come out with me for the day? It's important" he said meaningfully before Pragya could deny. It must be about the divorce she thought automatically.
"Are you in a hurry? I mean, can you give me an hour? I have one lecture now and the other is not due in a few hours - so let me finish this and see you?" she said softly.
"Sure, I will wait in the car outside" he replied. She smiled, then she collected her papers and left.
Abhi walked back to the car and decided to wait, he was very sleepy, wish he had had some coffee before leaving, but he wanted to catch her before her lectures begun, Purab had casually mentioned once that she had re-joined college - he thought this was his best chance, while at home she wouldn't even take his calls, he knew even if he turned up to meet her, she wouldn't - it would lead to her mother being upset with her and again another row for her would begin in the house.
While ruminating with his eyes shut, as he relaxed on the driver's seat, he heard a tap on the window - he looked up to see a peon from the college had walked up to his car with a cup of coffee - he felt grateful, he lowered his window and took it, but before he could pay, he had left - he looked surprised - he decided to ask fuggy to pay the boy for him - for now he wanted to enjoy the coffee that was going to finally wake him up - in his first sip he understood, the coffee wasn't just' brought for him, it was brought on fuggy's instruction, for it had the unique flavour of his favourite cinnamon in it - he smiled as he relished it - it had been more than a month that he wasn't served cinnamon coffee - daadi wasn't keeping well, so she was advised to avoid the kitchen and fuggy wasn't around - Robin did try but he could never get the amount of cinnamon right, so tired he asked him to make regular coffee. These were the things that never let him forget her - her small gestures, how the tiniest of the things of his she took care of - even today, he didn't tell her but she saw through him and realized what he needed, and had silently sent it across - fuggy and her silent ways, the spoke more loudly in his life than any other.
As her lecture got over, she felt conscious, she had to meet him now - she knew the divorce was inevitable, but still it was something, to still be his legal wife, he had said he had come to see his wife, not ex-wife and had referred to her as Mrs. Pragya Abhishek Mehra not Pragya Arora - guess this was the last time - as she dropped her files and walked towards the driveway, she was confounded by a plethora of mixed emotions, the dominant one being the nervousness of being so close to him.
He was sitting and looking towards the campus gate with baited breath - she was due any moment now - as he spotted her walking towards him, a smile automatically reached his lips - the sighting of fuggy walking to him, it soothed him internally, a part of him wanted to go and hug her tight and never let her go, but he knew he wasn't allowed to do that - meanwhile she walked up to him and he opened the door of the car for her - as she entered the car, the car seemed to smell of fresh jasmine - her smell, the one he was so used to and he loved, but hadn't realized it till she left - he breathed in the smell that relieved his senses, as she looked at him awkwardly.
"If you have ever considered me a friend truly, you will spend today with me - all of today" he spoke looking into her eyes.
She first didn't respond, she just kept staring at his onyx eyes had reeked possessiveness, she was captivated by it - wasn't she always? But she soon recovered, and was about to protest when he spoke, "Of course I can understand if you never did consider me as a friend in the first place, I haven't really done the best justice to our marriage" he spoke spitting regret with every word - her expression softenend, he knew she would deny any longer.
"What do you want to do with today Abhishek?" she asked quietly. He smiled satisfied.
"For starters, we are going to go home and have the best breakfast that awaits us" he smiled. Pragya looked scandalized, "Home? Abhi after whatever has happened how can we ever""she begun all flustered.
"I meant my apartment at Carter road" he corrected.
"Oh" she sighed in relief. "I got confused, you usually call that the flat and the mansion your home so" she replied.
"I consider that my home is where my heart is" he said thoughtfully, and my heart is where you are - he thought. As they reached his apartment, Pragya was surprised, from what she remembered when she came here last time, the apartment looked like a service apartment, it had all the luxury items that a hotel suite would possess but nothing personal - but now was different - as she entered the luxuriously decorated living room, the walls were in a shade of peach, her favourite colour - the curtains were huge and alternated between white and beige, the massive leather sofa set was replaced by smaller, cuter settees in various soft earth shades, the coffee table held a few books, coincidentially her favourite classics of all time - Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. The room had the best collection of lamps Pragya had ever set her eyes on, of various sizes - Pragya had always loved lamps, she would always enjoy buying them, and in her earlier days, whenever she had some extra money to spend, she would go lamp shopping with Bulbul - her eyes crossed over to the gigantic wall sized window overlooking the balcony, fresh sunlight was filtering in and a lot of potted plants were on display in the verandah - she had instantly fallen in love with this place, it somehow housed everything she ever held close, including her now separated husband - under the same roof.
"You have renovated this very nicely - it's lovely" she complimented. "Do you come here often?" she enquired. He looked at her sheepishly before answering, "I come here when I need to come home. Do you like it?" he asked cautiously, somehow not meeting her eyes. That was when realization struck her as she went about looking at the room again - it wasn't a coincidence at all, it was specifically done up with her taste in mind - she looked up at him with shock and pain evident in her eyes.
"Fuggy, may I have this one day with you, like the olden days? When we stayed together? Like how we fought, like how we laughed, like when we were in lo---" but he couldn't complete as Pragya held his lips and stooped him, she shut her eyes to stop the glistening tears from coming out, "Stop, don't say further" - what was the point in spelling their feelings out before each other when the end was inevitable? It would make the separation all the more difficult. Abhi coaxed further, "Can we fuggy? Can we spend today as"the husband and wife like we were before all this mess?"
She nodded softly before asking, "You wanted us to do breakfast nah? What have we got here today? I am very hungry" she said caressing her stomach. Abhi grinned. "Whatever you make fuggy!" he responded laughing.
"What? I have to make?" asked startled and then laughed seeing his goofy expression - as she entered the kitchen she saw all ingredients ready for making scrambled eggs and bread - she looked up surprised - Abhi just smiled and gently held her waist from behind, never going too close. He rested his head on her shoulder and spoke, "Remember the first monsoon shower when we met? When my car hit a pothole and the muddy water and splashed on you? You were going to go home and make this preparation nah?" he asked in a soft whisper close to her ear, she gulped in pain as she remembered the memory of a life so distant - she was almost choking, when he spoke again, "Please don't avenge that now okay - make me good breakfast and cinnamon coffee and also fruits - you know my favourite ones! Now carry on as I exercise" he said and walked away leaving Pragya startled - this was truly like her olden days - Abhi didn't want intimacy he truly wanted to feel at home - she shuddered to think of how lonely he had been in this time when she wasn't around.
After making breakfast, she went to fetch him from the gym that was booming with loud music (his crappy songs!) she laughed and walked in, she was most surprised to see a small mandir hooked to the wall, but there was no lamp lit there, it was as if almost out of habit that she switched off the loud music and neared the mandir to light the lamp and pray, but before she reached the mandir, the music was back.
"Offo, can't you manage sometime without music? I need to light this lamp in peace" she scoffed out of habit.
"This is my house chashmish, not your God's - it's gonna be my way!" he huffed, each word he spoke did exceptionally well in untying that silent knot in his chest.
"Uff, as long as I am here, this is my house too okay, when I leave and you get your Tan---" but she stopped as reality came crashing down on her - they were replaying what life was - this wasn't life. As she stepped back in embarrassment, Abhi came out of his trance too - but quickly in order to relief her of awkwardness, he spoke.
"Offo fuggy where is the food, you want to kill me of hunger or what?" she smiled as she led him to their breakfast.
The rest of the day, passed just that way, full of their usual banters and activities, Pragya did the laundry, fought with Abhi over the TV remote all afternoon as he forced her to watch many of his shows that he had DVDs of - in the evening while having tea in the balcony, Pragya glanced at the watch, her heart clenched tight, office time was over, soon her family would expect her at home - as he looked up at Abhi with a crestfallen face, he looked dejected too.
"Can't you tell them you have extra lectures and then you are dining with a colleague?" he asked expectantly. She looked hopeful for a moment but then her face fell as she said,
"No Abhi, I don't want to lie to them anymore" and shook her head. But Abhi grinned, he was struck yet again with an impossibly impish idea. He snatched the phone from her and texted Bulbul the same excuse. Moments later Bulbul replied with a curt "Okay". He looked up and grinned.
"There, you didn't lie, I did. I texted her from your phone! Happy?" he grinned, as she looked at his childish grin and laughed. Throughout the evening they sat in the balcony and chatted about random things, childhood - friends - college - dreams - their drunken nights - conversation flowed easily and with their hearts at peace, they didn't realize as time flew by.
"Hey fuggy, I am ordering dinner now" he spoke in between chats. She nodded, but was surprised to see his choice of restaurants. "Abhi we are in Carter road, why are you ordering all the way from Chembur?"
"This is your favourite restaurant right? Didn't you take me there on a bet once? I agree the food was good - but cant have you being letched at again! So ordering in" he sounded miffed at the memory - Pragya soon diverted the topic and tried talking about what to order.
After dinner, when both knew extending their time was impossible they both sighed and decided to call it a day. Abhi was getting ready to drop Pragya, but she had decided to go alone - Abhi refused because it was late at night and insisted he dropped her, if not right outside home, maybe then in a parallel lane - when Abhi didn't budge, she finally agreed.
The drive back home was a silentl one, outside that apartment their real life and knocked in and all pretence had gone - the heaviness was settling inside them again as he reached near her house. As Abhi killed the engine, both sat in the car in silence for a bit - then Pragya had to literally force herself to trudge her feet out of the car, when Abhi held onto his wrist gently - she looked back trying to hide the tears of separation when he spoke. I have something for you.
He pulled out something from his pocket - it was a key. "This is the key to the life we led today - I have one and this one if for you - when our circumstances are so bizzare we can't be expected to be correct always - you can walk into that life anytime you want - no one will know - it will be just us, like we were today - whenever you want to live and not just exist, use this key - and I will too" he finished with a crack in his voice.
Pragya was overwhelmed, she was holding her most precious possession of her life in her hand . "But Abhishek, I can't accept this" she begun, he shushed her. "Of course you can - you're my wife" But when she wasn't convinced he finally said the truth out loud, "Even you can't stop me from giving you a gift today fuggy" he spoke soflty not looking at her, when she questioned back, he just looked at her for a moment and spoke.
"Happy first anniversary love." Pragya's head shot up at him, even in the dark it was impossible to not notice the glistening tears filing his eyes. How had she forgotten this date? Was life so bitter to her that she didn't even remember the best day ever of her life? But he did - Not being able to control her tears any longer she let them fall - she wanted to wish him too, but what was the point? They were hitting the end of their journey shortly anyway - she just shook her head and rubbed of the tears, then she breathed in once to relax and then turned to him, "Goodbye Abhishek, and thank-you for the best day of my life. But I haven't any gift to give you"
"You already have given me my gift - a day with you in our old life" he spoke as tears rolled down his eyes. Pragya made to rub them off, but something stopped her - maybe their reality? She just hurriedly got out of the car and turned to leave, but before walking away, without turning back she said, while clutching the key tightly, "You have responsibilities to meet Abhishek, go home"
"I keep my responsibilities in the Mehra Mansion Pragya, all the needs of my responsibilities are taken care of there - and I don't go home nowaydays - I go home only with you - and I will go home next when you decide to take me home" that he drove off, as she stood there shaken to the core, as he left her far away from her home.
Hope you like it and shore me with your lovely comments again!
Love and peace to all!
Eat lots of Biriyani!!
-----------------
She had woken up in the morning to commence the daily chore that awaited her, here in her maiden home, she wasn't in charge of breakfast, her mother and Janki bua looked after it, she in fact wasn't in charge of any "heavy housework" at all - how much ever her mother detested her decision of abortion, now that it was done, she had to accept it - but whatever be the reason, her health needed to be taken care of, post abortion. They spoke with her very less, even Bulbul seemed to maintain her distance with her - though she did try talking with her to find out the "real" reason for the abortion, once confirmed it was Pragya's high-headiness' and nothing else, even she couldn't completely forgive her sister - she chose to stand by the jiju she had once hated - she had seen in his eyes the pang of separation which Pragya had cleverly masked from hers. After a month of rest, and silent treatment, she begun to feel claustrophobic at home - true Abhi had tried calling and messaging her many times, but in fear that the people around them may find it edgy and guess something is wrong, she started avoiding him - Abhi eventually stopped, realizing Pragya wouldn't put her charade down.
But after a month of being treated like she is in house-arrest she decided to give life a chance, after convincing her mother she was medically fit to join college, she re-joined her college - those five six hours she spent in college each day, soon became her relief - life to her was those few hours at college where she happily did what she did best - the rest of the time she spent in waiting for the next day of college - true life in college was also not the easiest - after all she was a celebrity cast away wife - even though Abhi had taken to the social media to announce his separation and had strictly maintained that even though the marriage didn't have a future, he will always feel responsible for Pragya and look-out for her - even then she faced questions once in a while. But mostly it was her happily teaching the students who loved to have her back.
It was one such Wednesday when she was sitting in the staff room hidden behind a pile of assignments, reviewing them, when she suddenly heard a group of students shriek in excitement just outside the staff room corridor, it annoyed her - but she remained quiet. They must have won some fest again she thought and smiled then she got back with her assignments. She didn't even look up when the staff room door creaked open, must be some other professor she had assumed. She only looked up when Prof. Sharma deliberately cleared her throat and asked politely, "Yes?" and she heard the voice that responded.
"I came to meet my wife, Mrs. Pragya Abhishek Mehra" came his deep voice from behind her. She froze on her seat. In a moment she heard Prof. Sharma's voice calling her shakily, she slowly turned around and when she saw him, she slowly let the vision soak in; it was like drinking water after a long thirsty day outside in the hot sun, it quenched her age-long thirst, it helped pace down her throbbing pain in the chest, and breathing seemed easier. He wasn't his usual self though - no dog tags, no bright coloured tee, no denim with one leg folded with a contrast colour, and no jungle of wrist bands - just a grey V-neck slim fit tee and a pair of cargo shorts - he looked like he had walked out with his night clothes on - she frowned, why was he not dressed? In fact he looked sleep deprived too - she checked her watch, it was 8am - now she realized, it was way before is waking up time, he really must have trudged out of bed and come here - why though? Was daadi okay, came her first thought.
"Aap?"she looked surprised, "Is daadi..." But he smiled.
"Yes fug"Pragya, daadi is fine. But I needed to talk to you, is it okay if you come out with me for the day? It's important" he said meaningfully before Pragya could deny. It must be about the divorce she thought automatically.
"Are you in a hurry? I mean, can you give me an hour? I have one lecture now and the other is not due in a few hours - so let me finish this and see you?" she said softly.
"Sure, I will wait in the car outside" he replied. She smiled, then she collected her papers and left.
Abhi walked back to the car and decided to wait, he was very sleepy, wish he had had some coffee before leaving, but he wanted to catch her before her lectures begun, Purab had casually mentioned once that she had re-joined college - he thought this was his best chance, while at home she wouldn't even take his calls, he knew even if he turned up to meet her, she wouldn't - it would lead to her mother being upset with her and again another row for her would begin in the house.
While ruminating with his eyes shut, as he relaxed on the driver's seat, he heard a tap on the window - he looked up to see a peon from the college had walked up to his car with a cup of coffee - he felt grateful, he lowered his window and took it, but before he could pay, he had left - he looked surprised - he decided to ask fuggy to pay the boy for him - for now he wanted to enjoy the coffee that was going to finally wake him up - in his first sip he understood, the coffee wasn't just' brought for him, it was brought on fuggy's instruction, for it had the unique flavour of his favourite cinnamon in it - he smiled as he relished it - it had been more than a month that he wasn't served cinnamon coffee - daadi wasn't keeping well, so she was advised to avoid the kitchen and fuggy wasn't around - Robin did try but he could never get the amount of cinnamon right, so tired he asked him to make regular coffee. These were the things that never let him forget her - her small gestures, how the tiniest of the things of his she took care of - even today, he didn't tell her but she saw through him and realized what he needed, and had silently sent it across - fuggy and her silent ways, the spoke more loudly in his life than any other.
As her lecture got over, she felt conscious, she had to meet him now - she knew the divorce was inevitable, but still it was something, to still be his legal wife, he had said he had come to see his wife, not ex-wife and had referred to her as Mrs. Pragya Abhishek Mehra not Pragya Arora - guess this was the last time - as she dropped her files and walked towards the driveway, she was confounded by a plethora of mixed emotions, the dominant one being the nervousness of being so close to him.
He was sitting and looking towards the campus gate with baited breath - she was due any moment now - as he spotted her walking towards him, a smile automatically reached his lips - the sighting of fuggy walking to him, it soothed him internally, a part of him wanted to go and hug her tight and never let her go, but he knew he wasn't allowed to do that - meanwhile she walked up to him and he opened the door of the car for her - as she entered the car, the car seemed to smell of fresh jasmine - her smell, the one he was so used to and he loved, but hadn't realized it till she left - he breathed in the smell that relieved his senses, as she looked at him awkwardly.
"If you have ever considered me a friend truly, you will spend today with me - all of today" he spoke looking into her eyes.
She first didn't respond, she just kept staring at his onyx eyes had reeked possessiveness, she was captivated by it - wasn't she always? But she soon recovered, and was about to protest when he spoke, "Of course I can understand if you never did consider me as a friend in the first place, I haven't really done the best justice to our marriage" he spoke spitting regret with every word - her expression softenend, he knew she would deny any longer.
"What do you want to do with today Abhishek?" she asked quietly. He smiled satisfied.
"For starters, we are going to go home and have the best breakfast that awaits us" he smiled. Pragya looked scandalized, "Home? Abhi after whatever has happened how can we ever""she begun all flustered.
"I meant my apartment at Carter road" he corrected.
"Oh" she sighed in relief. "I got confused, you usually call that the flat and the mansion your home so" she replied.
"I consider that my home is where my heart is" he said thoughtfully, and my heart is where you are - he thought. As they reached his apartment, Pragya was surprised, from what she remembered when she came here last time, the apartment looked like a service apartment, it had all the luxury items that a hotel suite would possess but nothing personal - but now was different - as she entered the luxuriously decorated living room, the walls were in a shade of peach, her favourite colour - the curtains were huge and alternated between white and beige, the massive leather sofa set was replaced by smaller, cuter settees in various soft earth shades, the coffee table held a few books, coincidentially her favourite classics of all time - Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. The room had the best collection of lamps Pragya had ever set her eyes on, of various sizes - Pragya had always loved lamps, she would always enjoy buying them, and in her earlier days, whenever she had some extra money to spend, she would go lamp shopping with Bulbul - her eyes crossed over to the gigantic wall sized window overlooking the balcony, fresh sunlight was filtering in and a lot of potted plants were on display in the verandah - she had instantly fallen in love with this place, it somehow housed everything she ever held close, including her now separated husband - under the same roof.
"You have renovated this very nicely - it's lovely" she complimented. "Do you come here often?" she enquired. He looked at her sheepishly before answering, "I come here when I need to come home. Do you like it?" he asked cautiously, somehow not meeting her eyes. That was when realization struck her as she went about looking at the room again - it wasn't a coincidence at all, it was specifically done up with her taste in mind - she looked up at him with shock and pain evident in her eyes.
"Fuggy, may I have this one day with you, like the olden days? When we stayed together? Like how we fought, like how we laughed, like when we were in lo---" but he couldn't complete as Pragya held his lips and stooped him, she shut her eyes to stop the glistening tears from coming out, "Stop, don't say further" - what was the point in spelling their feelings out before each other when the end was inevitable? It would make the separation all the more difficult. Abhi coaxed further, "Can we fuggy? Can we spend today as"the husband and wife like we were before all this mess?"
She nodded softly before asking, "You wanted us to do breakfast nah? What have we got here today? I am very hungry" she said caressing her stomach. Abhi grinned. "Whatever you make fuggy!" he responded laughing.
"What? I have to make?" asked startled and then laughed seeing his goofy expression - as she entered the kitchen she saw all ingredients ready for making scrambled eggs and bread - she looked up surprised - Abhi just smiled and gently held her waist from behind, never going too close. He rested his head on her shoulder and spoke, "Remember the first monsoon shower when we met? When my car hit a pothole and the muddy water and splashed on you? You were going to go home and make this preparation nah?" he asked in a soft whisper close to her ear, she gulped in pain as she remembered the memory of a life so distant - she was almost choking, when he spoke again, "Please don't avenge that now okay - make me good breakfast and cinnamon coffee and also fruits - you know my favourite ones! Now carry on as I exercise" he said and walked away leaving Pragya startled - this was truly like her olden days - Abhi didn't want intimacy he truly wanted to feel at home - she shuddered to think of how lonely he had been in this time when she wasn't around.
After making breakfast, she went to fetch him from the gym that was booming with loud music (his crappy songs!) she laughed and walked in, she was most surprised to see a small mandir hooked to the wall, but there was no lamp lit there, it was as if almost out of habit that she switched off the loud music and neared the mandir to light the lamp and pray, but before she reached the mandir, the music was back.
"Offo, can't you manage sometime without music? I need to light this lamp in peace" she scoffed out of habit.
"This is my house chashmish, not your God's - it's gonna be my way!" he huffed, each word he spoke did exceptionally well in untying that silent knot in his chest.
"Uff, as long as I am here, this is my house too okay, when I leave and you get your Tan---" but she stopped as reality came crashing down on her - they were replaying what life was - this wasn't life. As she stepped back in embarrassment, Abhi came out of his trance too - but quickly in order to relief her of awkwardness, he spoke.
"Offo fuggy where is the food, you want to kill me of hunger or what?" she smiled as she led him to their breakfast.
The rest of the day, passed just that way, full of their usual banters and activities, Pragya did the laundry, fought with Abhi over the TV remote all afternoon as he forced her to watch many of his shows that he had DVDs of - in the evening while having tea in the balcony, Pragya glanced at the watch, her heart clenched tight, office time was over, soon her family would expect her at home - as he looked up at Abhi with a crestfallen face, he looked dejected too.
"Can't you tell them you have extra lectures and then you are dining with a colleague?" he asked expectantly. She looked hopeful for a moment but then her face fell as she said,
"No Abhi, I don't want to lie to them anymore" and shook her head. But Abhi grinned, he was struck yet again with an impossibly impish idea. He snatched the phone from her and texted Bulbul the same excuse. Moments later Bulbul replied with a curt "Okay". He looked up and grinned.
"There, you didn't lie, I did. I texted her from your phone! Happy?" he grinned, as she looked at his childish grin and laughed. Throughout the evening they sat in the balcony and chatted about random things, childhood - friends - college - dreams - their drunken nights - conversation flowed easily and with their hearts at peace, they didn't realize as time flew by.
"Hey fuggy, I am ordering dinner now" he spoke in between chats. She nodded, but was surprised to see his choice of restaurants. "Abhi we are in Carter road, why are you ordering all the way from Chembur?"
"This is your favourite restaurant right? Didn't you take me there on a bet once? I agree the food was good - but cant have you being letched at again! So ordering in" he sounded miffed at the memory - Pragya soon diverted the topic and tried talking about what to order.
After dinner, when both knew extending their time was impossible they both sighed and decided to call it a day. Abhi was getting ready to drop Pragya, but she had decided to go alone - Abhi refused because it was late at night and insisted he dropped her, if not right outside home, maybe then in a parallel lane - when Abhi didn't budge, she finally agreed.
The drive back home was a silentl one, outside that apartment their real life and knocked in and all pretence had gone - the heaviness was settling inside them again as he reached near her house. As Abhi killed the engine, both sat in the car in silence for a bit - then Pragya had to literally force herself to trudge her feet out of the car, when Abhi held onto his wrist gently - she looked back trying to hide the tears of separation when he spoke. I have something for you.
He pulled out something from his pocket - it was a key. "This is the key to the life we led today - I have one and this one if for you - when our circumstances are so bizzare we can't be expected to be correct always - you can walk into that life anytime you want - no one will know - it will be just us, like we were today - whenever you want to live and not just exist, use this key - and I will too" he finished with a crack in his voice.
Pragya was overwhelmed, she was holding her most precious possession of her life in her hand . "But Abhishek, I can't accept this" she begun, he shushed her. "Of course you can - you're my wife" But when she wasn't convinced he finally said the truth out loud, "Even you can't stop me from giving you a gift today fuggy" he spoke soflty not looking at her, when she questioned back, he just looked at her for a moment and spoke.
"Happy first anniversary love." Pragya's head shot up at him, even in the dark it was impossible to not notice the glistening tears filing his eyes. How had she forgotten this date? Was life so bitter to her that she didn't even remember the best day ever of her life? But he did - Not being able to control her tears any longer she let them fall - she wanted to wish him too, but what was the point? They were hitting the end of their journey shortly anyway - she just shook her head and rubbed of the tears, then she breathed in once to relax and then turned to him, "Goodbye Abhishek, and thank-you for the best day of my life. But I haven't any gift to give you"
"You already have given me my gift - a day with you in our old life" he spoke as tears rolled down his eyes. Pragya made to rub them off, but something stopped her - maybe their reality? She just hurriedly got out of the car and turned to leave, but before walking away, without turning back she said, while clutching the key tightly, "You have responsibilities to meet Abhishek, go home"
"I keep my responsibilities in the Mehra Mansion Pragya, all the needs of my responsibilities are taken care of there - and I don't go home nowaydays - I go home only with you - and I will go home next when you decide to take me home" that he drove off, as she stood there shaken to the core, as he left her far away from her home.
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
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