Abhigya FF: WOH HUMSAFAR THA last ch pg 76dt 9.4.16 - Page 12

Chapter 8

Pragya was totally engrossed in the film and why not, after all it was her all time favorite film 'Maine Pyar Kiya'. Working as a maid she'd often seen it in various homes and loved it every time she'd watched it, feeling all the emotions that the characters 'Prem' and 'Suman' experienced. She enjoyed their journey that started from being strangers to friends and then to lovers. She liked the arrogance and passion of Prem, the innocence and intelligence of suman. It was a simple and sweet love story, much like a fairy tale which always managed to bring a smile and tears in pragya's eyes. Even though she'd watched this film countless times still today she was totally immersed into it as if it was the first time.

She clutched the remote in frustration seeing suman being molested by the villain, waiting desperately for Prem to make an entry and thrash the villain black and blue, she clapped her hands in excitement just like a child when he got beaten up, her eyes became teary when people in the film questioned suman and prem's pure friendship by saying," a girl and a boy can never be friends." By now she'd by heart almost all the dialogues.

Finally the much awaited part came when both the protagonists confess their love and break into that romantic song,' dil deewana bin sajna ke maane na'.

pragya immediately got up from the sofa and started dancing to the song, coincidentally like the heroine even she was wearing a yellow sari. She tucked the edge of the sari around her waist and began moving her feet to the rhythm of the music.

She was enjoying every moment of it when the shrilling sound of the landline phone attempted to hamper her spirits. She looked around for someone to attend the call, nobody turned up, she slapped her head on remembering that there was no one at home. Shalini had gone to her dad's office to convene a political meeting for the upcoming elections and where was abhi, pragya had no clue. Biting her lower lip in irritation she switched off the tv and went to take up the call wondering in times of cell phones, who calls up on landline?

"hello" she said rudely. Her annoyed eyes turned wide in shock, almost on the verge of popping out of the sockets and her senses went numb,' sahab was in the hospital..he had been SHOT!' the receiver dropped from her hand and she remained rooted to her spot for a good amount of time before rushing out of the house. A driver took her to the hospital, the place was new to her so was the situation.

She didn't know how to react, what to do, who to approach, all she wanted was to see him. Looking around frantically she went to the receptionist.

" sahab.i want to see him."

" sahab ? who sahab?" the receptionist asked frowning at her.

" sahab." She said again gritting her teeth, was this receptionist dumb? couldn't she understand who she was asking for?

Yeah she was dumb and stupid, pragyaa concluded seeing her confused expressions.

"sahab..has been shot." pragya gave her more information and waited with baited breath for her to respond. The receptionist nodded her head ever so slowly and asked," you mean.." pragya didn't allow her to complete, she was getting impatient with every passing second and said," I mean ..abhishekh.."

" ohh so you're talking about abhishekh bhai." Receptionist said as if she'd solved some difficult puzzle.

" yeah where is he?" pragya inquired pressing her lips hard.

" but how are you related to him?" the question stunned pragya, she didn't know what to say. She thought for a few seconds before gulping the lump in her throat and parted her lips to speak but noting came out. What could she reply when she herself didn't know the answer. Her one hand went down to touch her belly and she replied glaring at her in frustration," how does it matter? Just tell me in which room is he?" the receptionist nodded a no before saying," sorry but I can't disclose information related to him to any random person."

She wasn't just anybody! She was ..she was ..she was carrying his child damn it!

" can't you understand I want to see him?" She screamed banging the table hard, her temper had reached its peak and she swore she would smash the lady in front of her if she didn't allow her to meet him.

" she's with me."

Pragya heard a familiar voice from behind. She turned around and found shalini standing. After closing her eyes for a moment in relief, pragya held shalini's arm and said agitatedly," di, sahib is injured."

" I'm sorry ma'am I didn't know. He's being operated on the second floor." The receptionist finally informed about his whereabouts.

Shalini gave pragya a side hug to calm her down, she didn't wish pragya to create a scene here. Pressing her shoulder lightly, shalini said softly," relax. I've already had a word with the doctor." And directed her towards the elevator.

" but di what took you so long?" pragya asked drawing her brows together. Shalini blinked her eyes slowly and pressed the elevator button after replying," I was in the meeting so I had switched off the cellphone."

pragya fidgeted with the edge of her sari as the elevator was taking ages to reach the floor where they were standing.

" let's take the stairs." She suggested impatiently and before shalini could respond, pragya was already rushing towards the stairs.

Sitting outside the operation theatre, pragya held the bench firmly in her hands and rocked her upper body to and fro, nervously. Her eyes downcast stared the floor blankly as her mind couldn't rest in peace.

" yeah baba..that Raj is behind this attack ." Shalini spoke to her father, shekhawat.

" that bloody backstabber ..after taking money showed his true colors ..don't spare him." pragya's head turned towards shalini as slowly the conversation began to register in her mind. Her eyes were all inquisitive with several questions running in them.

Shalini pressed her hand softly and said," pragya, all this is very common in our field of work. This isn't happening for the first time."

All this was part and parcel of their profession, shalini was well accustomed to it but for pragya it was all new and scary. Shalini could understand pragya's anxiety she had seen her husband in this state earlier also so she wasn't that perturbed as pragya was.

" don't get tensed ..abhi would be fine." She didn't want pragya to take stress and affect her health because then it would harm the baby which she definitely didn't desire. The red light of the operation theatre turned off and the doctor came out.

" bhai was shot twice ..once on his back and the second time close to his heart." While pragya's face lost color and she was left stunned, shalini's heart too missed a beat on hearing the doctor. He further informed that abhi had fallen hard on his left as a result his left arm had fractured .

" operation went off well but he has lost lot of blood so he'll have to stay in the hospital for few days."

Shalini sighed in relief and nodded her head slowly whereas pragya kept wondering how dangerous and unpredictable his life was. Just a few hours back everything was fine and now he was here, struggling to survive. Was all this money and power worth the risk involved?

She heard the door open and saw him being wheeled out of the operation theatre. A huge bandage covered the area where the bullet had hit him, it was indeed really close to his heart, what if it had pierced right through his heart? She shuddered at the thought and shut her eyes tightly clutching the end of her sari.

When she opened her eyes and raised her right leg to approach him she saw shalini already walking besides his stretcher. Something inside her stopped her from taking that step and soon he was shifted to his room.

Shalini sat close to him on the stool waiting for him to gain conscious and cursed that raj under her breath for cheating on him. She kept on pestering her dad on the phone to find and punish that ras*al. hours later she found his fingers moving and eyes fluttering to open up. She smiled and stood up seeing him gain conscious.

" abhi everything is fine..all is well..raj will be caught soon." She said running her fingers through his hair, as if he was scared of raj, as if he really cared that raj got caught.

Abhi turned his head to the other side and shut his eyes again in response.

" I'll go and call the doctor."

After a while when he opened his drowsy eyes and ran them across the room, they automatically halted on the glass window. A pair of hazel brown eyes were looking right back at him. Pragya brought her hands up and pressed the glass with her palms. She didn't know whether to smile in relief or weep in distress on seeing him like this. She curled her fingers in an attempt to control her emotions but failed hopelessly. He saw a tear drop caress her eye for a while until it could no longer hold her gaze and trickled down her cheek. His face creased in surprise firstly on seeing here and secondly on seeing her react like this. Both of them simply stared at one another, unwilling to tear the gaze. Her lips quivered and whispered 'sahab' which his ears couldn't hear but his heart..did, felt and understood even before it escaped her lips.

The door opened and the nurse entered, breaking their ever so long eye lock. She checked his blood pressure, while pragya lowered her head and turned her back to him. When the nurse came out she asked her," sahab ..how's he?" to which nurse replied that his blood pressure was slightly low but there was no need to worry he would recover soon.

Shalini came up to pragya and told her to go home and rest, she'd stay with abhi here. pragya shook her head in agreement and turned to leave but not before looking back at him one more time. His gaze was still stuck on her, he didn't know why.

Late at night, shalini tossed and turned on the couch several times. It was not at all comfortable for her. she wondered how people slept on couches, especially him? For many weeks she'd seen him sleeping on the recliner in the bar or dozing off on the sofas in the hall.

" abhi how do you manage to sleep on a couch ? already my back is hurting."

he smirked inwardly on hearing her question, instead of caring to ask why he'd started sleeping on couches she wanted to know how he slept on them?

" maybe I find comfort in discomfort ." The honesty and sarcasm in his words didn't register in her otherwise sharp mind. She didn't bother to know the reason why they had stopped sharing a bed, maybe she thought it wasn't required anymore.

He closed his eyes to allow the sedatives have their effect on him however for some strange reason they were not working on him. Those wet innocent eyes were invading his sleep. The anxiety and concern in them were genuine yet uncalled for as per him, quite similar to her simple, honest and thoughtful words which she often shared with him. There was absolutely no need for her to make him feel better or relieve him off his guilt yet she always attempted to do so. Not only she but even he could not stop himself from worrying on seeing her sad and grim. Why were her emotions, her feelings affecting him ? What relationship did they share that made her shed tears for him? And when she did then why did his heart twist in pain? What was there between them that he was searching in her eyes? Why a small soundless 'sahab' turned so meaningful for him? He fisted the blanket in frustration, no there was nothing extraordinary about all this, she's here to give him a baby and would leave after doing so ..plain and simple as that..nothing more nothing less! His mind told him to which his heart promptly questioned, if everything was all so simple and straight then why the hell was he thinking about her so much? Lack of his daily doze of alcohol was making him over think, his mind replied and defended him.

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Pragya stared at the rotating ceiling fan and thought about the events of the day, how happily she was enjoying the movie till that phone call came and everything went for a toss. Why had she felt blood rush down to her arteries and burst out on hearing about him getting shot? Why was she so desperate to see him, so much so that she boiled in anger on getting stopped by that receptionist, hadn't she over reacted a bit? She had always been loud and over the top in an attempt to hide her real feelings and pain, what was she trying to hide at that point of time from the world and herself in particular? After all he was just one of the several men she'd slept with but then she never cared whether they lived or died afterwards then why was it different with him? She was not even his wife to have worried so much for him, in fact she was tongue tied on being questioned what relationship she shared with him. How she was supposed to have answered that she'd shared one single night with him and that had given her the right to know about his well being. If she was that anxious to meet him then why did she stop herself on seeing shalini go ahead? Maybe deep down she had realized her actual position, her anxiety and her worry were uncalled for especially when his wife was around even if she was not so disturbed as she should have been. But then she was bonded to him, she's the real mother of his child! That was a good enough reason for her to have felt wretched, to have shed tears for him, to have called him out once at that time. Yeah mother of his child, sounds convincing however how could she forget that she'd be mother only for nine months because she'd sold her womb for a few lacs.

Sighing deeply she pulled up the duvet to cover herself, this was just not today's story she had been behaving strangely ever since she'd slept with him otherwise how could she justify her getting pained on seeing him hurt and lonely? His smallest of things were affecting her big time, which was definitely not a good sign but could she control herself from getting drawn towards him? She closed her eyes shut to sleep, however those questions remained wide awake.

Two lonely souls had unwillingly got connected, they were battling hard against their feelings and emotions to break that bond which was only getting stronger and deeper with the passage of time.

Thanks for reading

Rose