||ManYa OS - The Way It Ends, The Way We Begin||

||ManYa OS - The Way It Ends, The Way We Begin||

When Amaya opened her eyes, the bright light blinded her. She closed her eyes and tried opening them slower. "Amaya.." The concerned voice by her head was none other than Sumitra. "Sasuma.." Her throat hurt when she tried to speak. "Water.." She said. Sumitra put an arm under her head and lifted her slightly up and held a glass of water to her lips. A drink of water helped take away the raw sandpaper feel in her mouth and Amaya took a long sip. When she was done, she nodded her head and Sumitra laid her back down and set the glass aside.

Amaya looked around and realized she was in a hospital. And then the she remembered how she'd gotten here. "Sasuma.. Are you.. Are you alright?" She asked panicking and tried to sit up. A sharp, shooting pain radiated from the side of her belly and Amaya screamed in pain. "Amaya.. Careful! You can't get up that quickly! Your wound hasn't healed," Sumitra said concerned as she helped Amaya lie back down.

Amaya put her hand on her belly from where the pain emanated. Through the thin fabric of her hospital gown, she could feel the large dressing that probably covered her wound. "Are you okay?" She asked Sumitra. She noticed the tears in Sumitra's eyes as she nodded her head and replied, "I'm.. I'm okay.. All thanks to you.. I am so sorry. I know.. For all that I have done to you, a mere apology will not be enough. For what you have done for me, I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you. But I'm going to try and as a first step.." Sumitra walked towards the door and opened it. Amaya lifted her head a little off the pillow to see who was at the door. Her mother stood at the door.

Sneha rushed in and took Amaya's face in her hands and kissed her. "Thank God! Thank God! Thank God you are alright! You don't know how terrified I've been!" She said over and over again as she hugged and kissed Amaya. "I'm fine mom," Amaya replied. But then she turned her gaze towards Sumitra, not really understanding what was going on. "I've told your mother the whole truth. That I was the one who blackmailed you into marrying Rama and doing all those things that you did, just so you could save your mother's respect," Sumitra said, her eyes mirroring the self loathe and guilt she was experiencing as she recollected her misdeeds.

"When did you become so big that you decided to make such a huge sacrifice for our family? You are my daughter and I am your mother. I'm the one supposed to protect you but you took it upon yourself. Why? Couldn't you have talked to me just once? I know I may not handle stress in the best way possible but did you really think you could go through a life time of suffering and any of us would, in any tiny measure, be happy about it? How could you do this Amaya?" Sneha asked. "I only wanted to help you mom.. Because I love you and I cannot see you worried," Amaya responded. "And all this is not worrying me?" Sneha asked, pointing to Amaya's current state. Amaya had no answer for Sneha.

"Rachi di? Jazz?" Amaya asked. "They are here too. After Sumitraji told me about what you did, I confessed the truth to Rachu and Jazz. Because I don't ever want any of my kids paying the price for a mistake I made. All three of you are my strength. I don't want any of you becoming my weakness, ever. And I realized you all have the right to know the truth and deal with it in your own way," Sneha said. Strangely, confessing the truth to her daughters made her feel more at ease if anything. Now whatever happened, she knew her daughters would be with her. "Rachita and Jazz will come and see you in a bit, but before that there is someone else who needs to talk to you," Sumitra said. Sneha looked at Sumitra and both of them nodded at each other.

After Sneha left the room, Rama walked in. His head was bowed down and he wrung his hands in a nervous fashion. "Forgive me Amaya. I've been nothing but rude to you all this time. Amma told me everything and I couldn't believe my Amma could think of and actually do something like this. And you were right. I am a coward to blindly tag along to my mother's pallu and follow whatever she says. So I've decided something. I'm leaving to Mumbai. I'm going to stand on my own two feet and get an identity for myself," Rama said. Amaya looked at Sumitra and saw the hurt in her eyes as Rama mentioned that he was leaving. "But before I go, please sign these papers," Rama said holding out a bunch of legal documents towards her.

Even before Amaya looked at them, she had a hunch what they would be. And her hunch wasn't wrong. It was a deed for divorce. "Rama.." Amaya really didn't know what to say. She hadn't thought about it much when she'd gotten married to Rama. She had taken each day as it came. She had hoped things had been different and that she weren't trapped in a loveless marriage of compulsion. But over the days, she had developed a certain companionship with Rama. Nothing even remotely romantic but a simple companionship, like a roommate, or a friend. In her mind's eye, even though she hated his cowardice in letting go of Rachi di and marrying her just at his mother's behest, in her mind's eye, he was always Rachi di's beau, a gentle, decent soul. "You don't have to say anything Amaya," Rama stopped her. "There was nothing in this relationship anyways and once you sign these papers, I have a present for you," Rama said, the hint of a smile tugging at his lips though his eyes remained sad.

She looked at Sumitra. The honest grief and repentance in Sumitra's eyes told her that indeed, she was free to end this relationship. And maybe this was the point from where her life could get back to normal and some day she would be able to forget this phase of her life as a nightmare. Slowly and carefully propping herself up with Sumitra's help, Amaya took the pen that Rama held out and signed on the papers.

As soon as she was done, she felt as though a physical weight had been lifted off her chest. Like she could breathe again. She managed a smile as she returned the papers to Rama who looked pretty relieved too. "Thank you... For everything.. And I'll be right back with your present," he said as he headed out the door.

When Rama left, Amaya looked at Sumitra, "What about Kangana?" She saw Sumitra stiffen a little at the question. "They are admitting her in a psychiatric hospital. They cannot file a case against her because of her mental condition. We never realized when it got so bad that she'd.." Sumitra trailed off when the door opened.

Amaya's heart began to thud painfully in her chest when she saw who it was that Rama had brought to meet her. Mantu.. He looked a mess. There was no other way to put it. There were blood stains on his shirt. His hair was tousled. His eyes were red and puffy like he'd spent the last year of his life crying. When their eyes met, she saw a fresh bout of tears trickle down his cheeks. Amaya looked towards Rama questioningly.

"When Kangana's insanity got the better of her in the middle of the Mahotsav and she charged at Amma with the knife in hand, you jumped in front of Amma to save her and got stabbed instead. But the one other person who almost died with you at that moment was Mantu," Rama said. "He almost turned into a raving lunatic as he tackled Kangana and got to you. He didn't trust anyone else so he held you in his arms all the way to the hospital. And as you can see, he hasn't left this place for a second since," Rama explained. "None of us needed any words or explanations to know how much he loves you. It's only right that in an effort to undo, in whatever small measure we can, all that we've done wrong to you, we also give you back the love of your life," Rama said as he nudged Mantu forward. He took Mantu's hand and placed Amaya's hand in his.

"You saved my life Amaya and I'll never be able to repay you for that but I promise that whenever you start your new life with Mantu, I will host your wedding and make it the grandest wedding the whole of Banaras has ever seen," Sumitra said. She came to Amaya's bedside, ran a loving hand over her head and folded her hands in apology, "You've won me over my child and you've made me realize how evil a person I had become. If you can, please forgive me." Amaya reached for her folded hands and shook her head, "You've given me my life back. What more could I ever ask for? This is all I need. Thank you." Sumitra thanked her and Rama and she left the room.

It was just Mantu and Amaya in the room. "Mantu.." She started to speak but Mantu immediately sat by her side and hushed her with a finger to her lips, "Shhh.. You talk way too much.." His voice was hoarse from all the crying he'd done and all the emotions that were choking him. "You've said enough and I've heard enough. Now I'll speak and you'll listen to me. How dare you? How dare you risk your life like that? Do you have any idea the kind of hell I've been through in the last 24 hours? How could you even think of doing something so stupid? I don't care if you tell me a hundred thousand times that you are Rama's wife and that it's none of my business what you do.. It's still my business because it may be horribly wrong but I still love you.. When I saw that stain of blood spread on your saree when Kangana stabbed you, I knew in that one moment that even if in the world's eyes you are someone else's wife, my life still exists with you. And I can't help that! I don't care if you are my best friend's wife and I never get to call you mine in this life ever. I will always love you and you can't do anything about it!" Mantu said emphatically.

When he was done, Amaya smiled. "You are impossible! You almost got yourself killed and you are lying here smiling?" Mantu asked incredulously. "Because I am going to make you smile by telling you that I love you.. I love you just as much as you love me, if not more and that I am no longer someone else's wife, that I am yours, all yours, today and forever and now it's up to you to make sure I don't do any more silly, disastrous mistakes in life," Amaya said smiling. "Rama and I just signed divorce papers," Amaya told Mantu.

That was all Mantu needed to hear as he leaned in and hugged Amaya tight, burying his face in her long silky tresses. "I thought I was going to die wanting to hug you so," Mantu sobbed against her ear. "Shhh.." Amaya soothed him by running her hand through his hair as she held him.

"But why did you marry Rama in the first place? Why all this drama?" Mantu asked pulling away from the hug. Amaya pulled him right back to her and held him tighter as she said, "it's a long, long story Mantu. I'll tell you some other time. Maybe this was the way it had to be. Maybe this was the way we were meant to begin.."

***