||ManYa FF - Against all odds|| Epilogue Pg 45 Updated-12.10.15 - Page 23

Hello everyone!

Happy Diwali and apologies for the delay in updating. Its been a crazy, crazy hectic week and I honestly didn't think I'd get time to breathe till Friday. But I desperately needed a break so here I am. Thank you so much for the love and enthusiasm so far and hope I manage to keep it intact till the story ends.

A huge shout out and big, big thank you to all my readers, old and new for all the love, encouragement and the very, very kind words of appreciation. You guys are awesome!

On that note, here is Chapter 23. Keep reading!

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Neet

Chapter 23

She had been wrong, Rachita thought as she distractedly applied make up on her face. Rama hadn't given her an opportunity to explain. She hadn't had a chance to talk to him since that day. He had been busy helping Mantu with the Tourism Festival and he hadn't even bothered coming home most days. And now..

"What happened Rachi di? You look so distracted," Amaya asked concerned. Rachita looked up at Amaya. "Mantu was telling me that Rama jiju met with a lawyer. Is everything okay?" Rachita felt the stinging sensation of tears prick her sore eyes. Yes, she was distracted and no, everything was not okay, because in her dresser at home lay the divorce papers that Rama had handed her this morning. "I don't want to keep you tied in a relationship that.. That's nothing but a compromise to you.. A burden to you.. I'm setting you free," he'd said. And then he'd left without saying anything more or listening to her. He said he was setting her free but why did it feel like he was taking her very life away from her? How and when had it happened that he had become such an integral part of her life? Why couldn't she think beyond him now?

"Rachi di!" Amaya shook her by her shoulders to gain her attention. "Amu, I'm just not feeling too well. Are you sure you want me to do this ramp walk? Can you possibly make some other kind of adjustment? Please?" Rachita asked. What she really wanted to do, needed to do right then was see Rama, talk to him. "Rachi di.. What.." Before Amaya could say anything though, her phone rang and when she answered it, she went white as a sheet and fell onto the chair by Rachita's side.

"What happened Amu?" Rachita shot up from her chair and caught hold of Amaya, momentarily forgetting all about her own problems. "It was the manager of that model we'd hired. They won't make it. Their flight got cancelled! What will we do now Rachi di? We don't have a show stopper!" Amaya asked worried. "Maybe.. Maybe we could get someone else to be the show stopper or not have a show stopper at all," Rachita suggested. "But what about the fitting Rachi di? And we are showcasing 20 different kinds of work from 20 different local artisans, whose work do we reject at the last moment? And all those flyers and publicity. It's all going to get ruined!" Amaya said panicking.

A few feet away, Uma stood behind the curtain and smirked. Thank you Mahadev! Thank you! You are with me today! I want to make sure that this show is a major disaster. I want the whole of Banaras to ridicule Amaya. I want Amaya to be the biggest failure in Mantu's dream project. Then he'll hate her and he'll come back to me, where he belongs, Uma thought with malicious glee.

"Amu, we don't have any other option. You'll have to be the show stopper," Rachita said. "But Rachi di! Who'll oversee the whole show and make sure everything happens in order?" Amaya asked.

"Hum hain na!"

Amaya and Rachita turned to find Sneha and Jazz at the door. "Don't worry about anything beta. Jazz will be the MC for the event and I'll manage everything here in the background and we promise not to mess up, right Jazz?" Sneha turned to Jazz and they high-fived as Jazz nodded in agreement. Amaya felt relief wash over her and she hugged her mom tight. "You better start getting ready Amu," Rachita said. "You are the show stopper. You have to look perfect."

Perfect my foot, Uma clenched her jaw angrily. How and why did she manage to get out of every trouble? But then, this had just happened by chance. Uma's actual plan was still very much in place. "I'll see how you strut down the ramp in the show stopper's dress, you chudail," Uma muttered under her breath.

Uma sneaked into the room where all the dresses were hung, neatly packaged and labeled. She shifted through the hangers till she found the garment bag labeled "Show Stopper." This won't be just a Show Stopper, it was going to Amaya's Happiness Stopper, Uma thought as she took the dress off the rack.

"Uma didi.. What are you doing here?" Chiklu asked just as Uma was about to escape after setting the iron on the lehenga to make it look like someone had left it like that accidentally. "Arey lift the iron off the dress or it'll burn," Chiklu said hurrying towards her and unplugging the cord from the socket. If it had been any one other than Chiklu, Uma would have cursed them to the burning fires of Hell. Instead, she pasted a cheery smile on her face as she set the iron aside and asked, "Chiklu? What are you doing here?" "I am helping Amaya Bhabhi. Mantu Bhaiyya has some other work to attend to so he asked me to come here and help Amaya Bhabhi. She has been working so hard to make this event a success. Mantu Bhaiyya and I want to make sure nothing goes wrong," Chiklu replied proudly. Uma wanted to do something to wipe that proud grin off of Chiklu's face. Such an unfaithful brat, she thought. Even he was singing praises of that chudail now. "That's very sweet of you Chiklu. Now go check on your Amaya Bhabhi. I am going to go get ready," Uma said. She followed Chiklu to the door, but when he sprinted out, she turned and went back inside. Her original plan had flopped. If she stuck to it, Chiklu would tell on her. She had to do something else. An idea struck her as she folded the dress and put it back into its bag.

***

"Oh my God!" Rachita exclaimed as she took the lehenga out of the bag. There was a tear on the side of the bag from top to bottom and the delicate net fabric of the lehenga inside the bag had been ripped along the same line, right through the middle. "How did this happen?" Amaya stared at the lehenga and felt her heart fall. The show would begin in an hour and the show stopper dress was ruined. Everything that could possibly go wrong was going wrong. No, she couldn't let this happen. She couldn't let Mantu's dream project get ruined. She had to think of something and quick. "Jazz, quick! Ask Barfi Miyaan and all the other dressmakers to get here now!" she instructed Jazz and she ran off.

Ten minutes later, Barfi miyaan and all the other dress makers were gathered in the green room examining the lehenga. "Lets just stitch it up and hope no one notices," one of them suggested. Amaya frowned. "Lets put some patchwork on there," another suggested. "I have an idea," Barfi miyaan finally spoke up. "Anything that can be done in less than an hour," Amaya said urgently. "Okay. Lets get to work. I'll need some stuff though," he replied. "I'll ask Mantu to bring it. Just let me know what," Amaya pulled out her phone and dialed Mantu's number.

***

"Rama! Good that I found you. But what are you doing here? Aren't you going for the fashion show? Rachita is participating in it too, isn't she?" Mantu asked. Rama shook his head, "We have stock being delivered to the shop and I need to be here." "Oh.. But, can you do me a favor please? It won't take long, I promise. Amaya has asked me to get some last minute stuff urgently for the fashion show and I had some tourists call me asking for passes to the show as well. I can't be at both places at the same time and Amaya was really distressed. Can you please go drop these passes off to the tourists?" He handed the passes and a note with the address to Rama. "Okay. I'll do that," Rama replied. Mantu thanked him and rode off on his bike. "Babuji, I will be right back," Rama told his dad as he left.

Rama stopped his bike at the address Mantu had given him and found a group of men. "Are you waiting for the passes?" he asked them. "Did you bring the passes?" they asked. "Yes, here," as Rama reached into his back pocket to pull out the passes, one of the men punched him in his face. Before he could react, another of them had punched him in the gut and Rama fell over, balled up in pain.

***

"Its time for the showstopper! Its time for the showstopper!"

Uma heard the urgent whispers as she exited the stage after her ramp walk and she smirked. She could also feel the silent anticipation of the audience gathered as seconds stretched into minutes and there was no sign of the show stopper. She peeked from the back end and saw people starting to whisper among themselves. It was all a good sign. This was just the beginning of the downfall of Amaya Mathur. Then, the lights dimmed and a single spotlight fell on to the entrance to the ramp as the music picked up volume. Uma turned just in time to catch a glimpse of the trailing edge of Amaya's lehenga as she took to stage. Uma pushed past the rest of the people gathered and was dumbstruck.

She was going to be the death of him, Mantu thought. She looked so breathtakingly beautiful, he couldn't handle it. Clad in traditional bridal attire, from the solah shringar to that gorgeous blood red lehenga choli she wore, she was too beautiful to be true. Honestly, he had been really worried too when he had come in with the stuff Amaya had asked him to bring and found out that the lehenga had somehow gotten ripped right through the middle. But, in the hands of the talent, expertise and experience of Barfi miyaan and the other dressmakers they had, even that ripped lehenga had been redesigned and remodeled. Where the rip was, now the lehenga had been pulled back to give a gown like appearance, seamed with golden beads and layered with golden zari fabric and now it looked like this was how it was always meant to look. This is was something no brand name designer could have accomplished. Barfi miyan and all the other dressmakers had years of experience working on fabric with their hands, sewing on patterns and zariwork by hand. Only they could have pulled this off with such elan, Mantu thought happily. Now with the proceeds from this fashion show, he would make sure that they got their long overdue recognition and dues.

This couldn't be happening. How had she gotten the lehenga fixed? She should have just given up any pretense of making it look like an accident and just torn up the whole dress, Uma thought viciously as she stood in line to go back on stage again for the final walk through with all the models, still reluctant to blow her pretense of having changed for the good. But she'd be damned if she let Amaya just walk away without any pain. Very smoothly, she tugged off a pin from the curtain and hid it in her hand. Amaya was the second one behind her so Uma waited patiently till Rachita walked down the ramp and came to take her position before she tossed the pin onto the stage with a flick of her wrist, making it look like she was adjusting her stance.

Thank God! Amaya thought as she glided onto stage. Thank God things had gone well. As soon as she finished the thought, a sharp prick shot up her foot. She wanted to scream and fall over in pain.

Uma watched Amaya flinch and grinned. She had zero tolerance for pain, this chudail. Uma was sure she would raise a hue and cry and ruin the show. To Uma's utter amazement though, Amaya fixed a smile on her face and kept walking as if nothing had happened.

Mantu saw her freeze for a second before she started walking again. Her smile was fake and Mantu knew it, even from so far away. What was wrong? He wondered and started inching closer to the stage through the crowds.

The pain was unbearable and she could feel the sting of tears in her eyes but she had to keep smiling. She couldn't let anything ruin this. Nothing at all. Not even her own pain. So she smiled for the cameras, turned and glided gracefully towards the back of the stage. She became aware of her bloodied footprints on the ramp but thankfully, the stage and the ramp were done in black so no one would notice. She went back towards the end and this time, she brought along Barfi miyaan and the other dressmakers who had worked so tirelessly to make all of this possible. This time, she genuinely forgot about her pain as she smiled and applauded for them along with the audience gathered.

***

"Amaya, are you okay?"

As soon as Amaya was backstage, Mantu was there, waiting for her, worry etched on his face. Of course, she could have hidden it from the whole world, even from herself, but not Mantu. The truth was, because the show had been such a success, she had momentarily forgotten about her pain, She shook her head as she said, "I'm okay. I guess I stepped on something." She placed a hand on Mantu's arm as she lifted her foot gently to check what it could be. To her utter horror, her whole foot was covered in blood and a big golden pin, the kind you hold curtains in place with, was lodged in her flesh. "Amaya!" Mantu exclaimed as he saw her wound. Everyone gathered around and fussed over her. "Call a doctor, quick," Mantu said, as he picked her up in his arms and rushed to the green room.

***

"You did this, didn't you Uma didi?" Chiklu asked as soon as the doctor left after bandaging Amaya's foot. Though Uma hated seeing Mantu fuss over Amaya like this, just the fact that Amaya was in so much of pain made her feel a lot better. "What nonsense are you talking about?" Uma charged at Chiklu. "Don't lie Uma didi! I saw you take the pin off the curtain right before you went on stage. I was right there," Chiklu said. Uma was flabbergasted. "And you were the one who tried to ruin Amaya bhabhi's dress too. That's what you were trying to do when I saw you!" Chiklu said. Uma's eyes shot daggers at Chiklu but Chiklu was too angry to care. "What are you talking about Chiklu?" Amaya asked him. "Haan Amaya Bhabhi! I'd seen Uma didi in that room where you'd kept all the dresses. She was ironing your dress. In fact she had left the iron on your dress and if I hadn't seen it in time, the dress would've gotten burnt," Chiklu informed Amaya.

Mantu turned towards Uma, his eyes dark and stormy, almost like Mahadev's third eye. "Is that true Uma? Were you the one who did this?" his voice thundered. "No! No! Chiklu is lying. Why would I do this?" Uma tried to defend herself. "I am not lying!" Chiklu retorted. "I trust Chiklu more than I trust you Uma and if he is saying you are the one who did this, then you are the one who did this!" Mantu retorted. "How dare you Uma? How dare you try to harm Amaya? I thought after all this time, you'd have gotten some sense. I told you Amaya," he turned towards Amaya, "Didn't I tell you that she could not be trusted!"

"I cannot be trusted? You don't trust me?" Uma asked Mantu. "You were the one who betrayed me and got married to this chudail and you say you don't trust me!" "I did not betray you! Never once did I tell you that I love you or that I'll marry you. You were delusional! And to what extent Uma? Even now, knowing that Amaya and I are married you are out to harm her? What is wrong with you? What has gotten into you?" Mantu yelled at her.

"Its all because of you," Uma screeched at Amaya as she headed towards her. Before she could get anywhere near her though, Mantu had blocked her way. Uma grabbed at Mantu's shirtfront as she began to screech hysterically. "Its all because of this firangi chudail. Its all because of her. You were always mine. You would have been mine if it hadn't been for her. I am tired of playing games. I am just going to end this once and for all." Mantu pried her hands away from his shirt and pushed her away. A sharp, resounding slap silenced her.

Amaya, Mantu and everyone else gathered turned to find Uma's badi amma. "Stop it! Stop it! Have you gone mad or what?" Badi Amma scolded Uma. "Badi Amma?" Uma looked at her disbelievingly. "In all these years, you have never once raised your voice at me, and today, today you slapped me? For this girl who is an outsider?" "I wish.. I wish I'd done this long ago. I wouldn't have had to see this day then. I wouldn't have had to see you become this raving lunatic who does not know right from wrong. I wouldn't have had to see you strangle the best relationships in your life with your own hands," Badi Amma lamented.

Badi Amma turned to Mantu, "I am sorry beta. But I have a huge hand in what Uma has become today. I always thought that since she lost her parents, I should try and give her everything that she wants from life. I was the one who planted the thought in her head that you would make a perfect husband. I knew she was heartbroken when you got married but I never thought she'd go into such obsession. Forgive me beta." She folded her hands in front of Mantu and Amaya. "No Badi Amma. No. Please don't apologize to me. After Amma and Babuji, you are the closest to them I had all these years. Please don't apologize," Mantu replied.

"You are too kind beta. But enough is enough. I am taking Uma with me to go live with my sister in Rajkot. Maybe, maybe there is still time for me to change her and make her see reason," Badi Amma said as she turned to Uma, who sat still as a stone. She caught her hand and dragged her away.

Mantu turned to Amaya and she placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Just then, Shyamu burst in through the door. "Mantu bhaiyya!!! Mantu Bhaiyya!!!" "What happened Shyamu?" Mantu asked worried. "Somebody has beaten up Rama Bhaiyya!"

Before he could say anything more, Rachita had already rushed out the door.

****

Originally posted by: Mystic013

I've always been a silent reader on IF but your story, which I read in one go, has compelled me to comment. You're absolutely brilliant! I'm an avid romantic novel buff & I can safely say that your work is in the line of the top most and my two of my favorite authors, Judith Mcnaught & Johanna Lindsey. Please continue to write more such amazing stories & please do share your other work, if you have, would love to read more.

Also, thank you for completing Manya's incomplete love story. I don't think anyone else could've portrayed in words, the innocence & purity of their love the way you have, it's simply amazing! Can't wait for the next update!

Originally posted by: itssound

Fantastic neet day by day the story just goes amazing as u say it extend only for few weeks I have an idea as in other serials karwachauth track is going why don't u include it in ur story or of diwali

What say guys how may of u agree with me karwachauth track will be awesome for manya

Originally posted by: Riti011

NEETTT .. 😊 What do I say ??? U r jst magicalll !!! I got 2 noe bout ur FF thru FB nd aftr dat I hve jst been hooked !! maybe its d closure dat i needed or ur impressive style of writing .👏 ur fabulous, mind blowing, superb nd wat not ... I wznt on India Forums but i wz a silent reader nd finally i registered jst 2 say A BIG SE BHI BIG SE BIG SE BIG SE BHI BIG WALA THANK YOU .. u actuallyyy soothed my aching heart .. I may sound cheesy and aunty typesss bt u will receive a lot of <3 nd blessings from all CRAZY MANYA fans like me ... 😃

PS- ure now on my list of fav writers