A/N: Hello peeps, Hope you are all doing well, I am so sorry for keeping you all hanging in there, RL has really got so busy and then I spectacularly lost my password for IF and I was almost losing hope that I am going to lose this account. Somehow, recovered the account now. I know, why am I like this?
Thanks for leaving those beautiful messages on my inbox / thread, I am truly blessed to get all your love, Thankyou from my heart. So here is the next update, Hope you will love it.
Happy reading !
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Chapter 21: Whirlwind of emotions
Part 2: Steps gone wrong
About 48 hours after her surgery, Anjali regained her consciousness. She was retained at the hospital for another 2 weeks before she came home on a weekend. But it would be nearly 4 weeks before she could start her regular activities.
“That would be a month of restriction” she had whined
“Thank god you are alive to say this” Payal had commented pulling the curtains in her room to allow some sunlight, one morning, 2 days after she came home.
“Aren’t you going for work today?”
“I took an off today”
“Thank God, what will I do without you? I thought I will be hit by boredom, you are my savior angel, my sweetheart, my baby girl…”
“Calling me all that isn’t going to help you escape my question session”
Anjlai huffed
“Dadi, Nani and Mami are downstairs. I am sure they want to know about what happened as well.”
“Why wouldn’t they question Arnav?”
“You think they didn’t already?”
“Then why are they wanting it from me as well?”
“A lot of things from what he says don’t add up” Payal looked at her in annoyance. “Looks like he wants to protect you”
Anjali bit her lips.
“I am just back from hospital”
“I just go away for 2 weeks, and you manage to get kidnapped and then get hit on your head and fight for your life” Payal rambled, rearranging the already organized table by Anjali’s bed.
“Is that what is bothering you?”
“No, what’s that cut going deep on your right hand? Don’t tell me the kidnapper tried to bleed you to death”
Anjali kept mum.
“I need the deets Anji”
“Can I talk about it later? I will tell you, but not now…”
Payal stared at Anjali
“Ok” she said getting up
“Where are you going?”
“You are not ready to talk, I thought you wanted to be left alone”
“Nooooo… I want you to stay”
“And do what?”
“Keep me company, talk about other things?”
“Other things?”
Anjali bit her lips, she hadn’t yet told Payal and her other two brothers about her long running crush on Abhi. Though Arnav and Khushi found about it accidentally, Payal had been Anjali’s confidante right from childhood. How should she open up about that now?
“Payal, when did your crush on Akaash turn into something more?”
“hmm, I don’t remember exactly. But I think back at school, when he got paired up with one of his classmates for some stupid skit – you remember? He was playing Romeo and some pigtail hairstyle girl, whose name I don’t remember, was playing Juliet and he was practicing the dialogues with her all the time- that was my breaking point”
“Haha, the infamous fight happened in front of the drama club members”
“Right! I might have got a bit jealous and vented on that girl”
“He was so smug for days after that fight”
“Oh God, I was so immature and stupid”
“No, you weren’t. You were brave to confront your feelings”
“I didn’t immediately. I might have realized it was too over the top for having a crush on a friend, but the actual realization came way later” Payal paused a bit and then stared at Anjali suspiciously “Now, wait, why are you asking me all this now?”
“Nothing, just wanted to know- you know for future reference?”
“I see, if you have someone in your mind, this is the right time to disclose, or Dadi will make sure that you don’t get to” Payal whispered loudly to her, inviting a groan from Anjali.
“Extra sanskari lessons!” Anjali whined again
“Nah, looks like you have got yourself an upgrade”
“What do you mean?”
“From yesterday, she has been on about getting you married”
“What? HELP! THIS IS ATROCIOUS!”
“Shhh, Don’t Shout”
“THEY CAN’T… ABSOULTELY CAN’T… THIS IS CHILD MARRIAGE…”
“Stop… stop, relax… Don’t panic”
“How can I not, Payal, I am 19”
“I know”
“My brothers know about this?”
“Akki was the one who told me that Dadi is hinting on it”
“And?”
“And what?”
“THAT DUMBO DIDN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT?” Anjali asked feeling betrayed.
“Anji, none of your brothers are going to support this, RELAX, or you will start getting your headaches”
“I am already getting it” she moaned. She had been getting these headaches after her surgery. While the doc had told her that she will be prone to these side effects for a few days, she was on the path to recovery and will soon grow out of it.
“I am sorry, I didn’t mean to tell you this to give you headaches.” Payal said holding Anjali’s face on both her palms looking into her teary eyes “I am sorry sweetie”
“I don’t want to get married this early” She whispered pathetically.
“of course not!” Payal agreed.
“Nobody can change my mind” she pouted.
“hmm, Not even if it is Kim Taehyung!” Payal said, with her tongue in cheek, referring to the younger girl’s KPOP celebrity crush.
“Awww!” Anjali exclaimed “I would say yes for my Taehyungie” earning giggles from the older girl.
“Yeah right, So, if it is not him, you are not saying yes”
“On second thoughts, I can say yes to Troye Sivan too”
Payal giggled. “Isn’t he Gay?”
“Who cares, I would still marry him”
“Dadi will be petrified of your choices though”
“Don’t make me imagine”
Payal laughed with the younger girl, hoping that she was now relaxed enough.
“Ok, take your pills and lie down a bit. I will come back later”
“Please stay around for some time and talk to me?”
“Talk about what?”
“Anything… how was your trip?”
“It was all that I was telling you for the past two weeks…”
“Then talk about your office”
“Oh, it’s been crazy in there…I thought once the AGM is done, they will be able to relax a bit, but no, what with the announcement of going public and the new projects announcements and lately the acquisitions talk -God! – Akki is in a mode where I have to remind him to eat or sleep… I don’t even want to mention about Arnav, he is seriously looking like panda with black circles around his eyes. I doubt if that dumbo is getting enough sleep” Payal rambled on and then bit her tongue, too late realization.
“My problems should have added to their woes too, right? I made it all the more difficult for them”
What will she say now? She can’t deny or agree, both answers will add to the younger girl’s guilt.
“Anji, you know what” she said taking both her hands in her own “Of course, we were all worried for you, but don’t think that it is a chore for us to be there for you. None of us will ever think of that as a burden. Whatever be the demand of the jobs they have, your brothers- all the three, will not even blink before dropping everything and coming to your aid and no,” she said raising her hand to stop the other girl from interrupting “You are not allowed to hold that guilt, whatever happened- wasn’t very pleasant experience but, don’t think you were a burden”
Anjali nodded her head gratefully.
“Thanks, Payal” she said as the elder girl gave her a quick hug. “You are so, so, so kind!, I am so grateful for that douche bag of my brother for falling in love with you and marrying you…”
“I don’t need the title of your sister-in-law to comfort you, you silly girl, you are my best friend first”
“Yeah, you are my safe place. But thank you for being there for him too… for making sure he eats and sleeps well”
“For being his personal assistant?”
“I don’t know about that, aren’t you guys doing the husband and wife things too?” Anjali asks, raising her eyebrows suggestively which earns her a smack on her thighs.
"Of course we do sweetie, But I thought you were too shy to hear me talk about it?"
“Shut up you vixen”
Payal laughed as the younger girl slapped her playfully.
“And I wish things worked out between Arnav and Khushi too” Anjali said growing serious again.
“Don’t tell me that those two didn't move forward after we left”
Anjali shrugged at Payal
“I don’t know, they did spend good time together, I thought he was going to ask her out. But then things took a bad turn. I don’t know what the dynamics between them is right now… Arnav looks so stressed out all the time I saw him – He was constantly worrying about me– I couldn’t even check if he was doing well- or things got sorted between him and Khushi… and even Khushi… when she visited me in the hospital a couple of times, I tried asking her but she wasn’t very openly talking about it either.”
“Hmm, let me try and give her a visit- she is at Shantivan right?”
“hmm. Yeah.”
“It was so shocking when I heard that she had a spat with Dadi and moved out”
“Yeah, a lot happened”
“Care to update me?”
“Dadi called her derogative names.” Anjali sighed. “For once, Khushi felt she wanted to stand up for her self-respect. She moved out to Abhi’s place. Then Arnav asked her to move to Shanthivan”
“Is that why they fought? Arnav and Abhi?”
Anjali drew her breath. What?
“What do you mean?” she asked slowly.
“You don’t know?”
She shook her head.
“Looks like Arnav and Abhi fought that evening when you got your head injury- they have not been talking since”
“Oh!” Anjali muttered absentmindedly. Was it why Abhi always came to see her in the hospital only when Arnav wasn’t around? She also remembered Arnav gritting his jaw when she gushed about how Abhi brought her flowers.
“Then why is Khushi blaming herself for the friends not seeing each other in the eye now?” Payal asked Anjali
“What? how is she responsible?”
“I don’t know, you tell me. When I briefly met her when she came to see you at the hospital, I asked her about this and this is what I gathered”
Anjali sat thinking deep.
“No, it wasn’t her fault. If anything, it is because of me?”
“You? What did you do?”
Payal shook her head at a mute Anjali
“When did you grow so secretive Anji?”
“I am not secretive Payal, I feel… guilty. I wish I could have done things differently. I wish… its … Why did things turn out like this?”
Anjali blinked back her tears as Payal came forward and hugged the other girl.
“Ok, look- I don’t think both of you are anyway responsible- those two ass of men are grownups and their fights needs to be sorted out on their own.”
Anjali nodded at Payal.
“I wish things get sorted soon between them”
“I know there is a lot of things that I don’t know yet… But Anji, please don’t be so harsh on yourself, I will not make you speak now if you feel so much pain. But when you want to speak, I will be all ears ok?. Now take these pills and go to sleep, I am working on something for you, I hope it will make you happy”
“What is it?” Anjali hiccupped through her tears that Payal brushed away
“Wait for the surprise, I will let you know this evening. Now sleep tight”
As she tugged the blanket around a whining Anjali and closed the door to Anjali’s room and stepped out, she huffed in frustration. Everything looked so bleak. How in the world was she supposed to work towards making things ok if she didn’t have a clue about what went wrong where?
She saw glimpses of it while she was at the hospital visiting Anjali. The first blow came when she heard of the fall out between Arnav and Abhi. Then the obvious simmering tension between Khushi and Arnav- weren’t they almost at the verge of confession when she left for the trip? Anjali’s near-death experience had pushed everyone on the edge.
The family had rushed to the hospital in shock, not less than an hour after Payal and Akaash had arrived. Interrogations with Arnav had resulted in bits and pieces on how and why Anjali got hurt.
So far, they had gathered that Anjali got kidnapped by someone – a suspected business rival and the rescue mission was led by Abhi. They had been fighting the goons when the accident had happened, resulting in Anjali getting hurt.
Why is this a reason for two decades long friendship to be in tatters? If anything, Abhi had led the mission himself and accidents do happen!
A visit to Khushi should help, she decided as she walked down the steps.
***
“Alright gentle men, lets wrap up this meeting for today, we will do a regroup sometime this week to see where the action items stand” Arnav spoke to the team in the conference room. The men stood up, collecting their things and scurrying out.
Akaash let out a deep sigh.
They have just completed a overview meeting after the AGM and their quarter results announcement. AGM had gone off well despite a week of postponement. Their results were quite stable, though they weren’t as good those times when they were performing well, but for the first time in some time, they have seen a uptrend.
When Arnav had first discovered that there were unknown forces that were planning to gain majority in shares, he and Akaash had been working on a plan to see if they can gain enough momentum to announce the company as a public limited. This would not only help them with additional fund raising required for the new projects that they have been working on for the past three months but will help squash the unknown opposition’s plans too.
Though, Arnav had been very sure that the opposition would not succeed as the family held more than 50%, unless they were planning to create a wedge between the siblings – which according to him was very unlikely. But the attack on Anjali brought to front that this unknown opposition may not stop at anything and can resort to inflicting pain on people close to him. He had immediately made sure that NK or his aunt were safe enough. He had also asked his aunt to cancel her travel plans to India for AGM.
When the plan to going public was announced at the AGM, with necessary facts and artifacts to support the benefits, they got an approval to take it forward. After two weeks, the efforts look promising.
“I am quite relieved” Akaash said
“Me too” Arnav agreed.
“Want to grab a quick Lunch?” Akaash asked his brother.
“Nope, you carry on. I need to go somewhere now”
“Ok, I thought we can discuss on an acquisition project I am working on. I need your inputs before the call this evening”
“I will be back at 2 Akaash, I need this hour to myself”
“Going to meet Khushi?”
He nodded and sighed.
“Talk to her, sort it out.”
He nodded and then chuckled.
“Remind me, Did I ever ask you for a relationship advice?”
“Are you confessing to me that this is going towards relationship direction”
“When did you get snoopier than Payal?”
Akaash laughed.
“With experience, I am telling you, Get her flowers- roses”
“God, that’s so cliché”
“Always works”
He shook his head as he grabbed his phone and wallet from his cubicle.
“Chocolates too”
“Doesn’t work with her”
“Tried that already?”
“Hmm, kind off” he said as he thought of the day her had been teasing her relentlessly and got her pissed off- chocolates didn’t even help her agree to let him stay with her for that counseling session with Tara and Abhi. He groaned thinking of why his thoughts ventured towards those two now…
“Perhaps you should try the ring then”
“Too early” he muttered.
“Teddy bear? Ice creams?”
“Gosh! Shut up”
“Tell me about it later”
“No way!”
“All the best bro” Akaash cheered as he started to walk towards the parking lot.
The work had been so demanding for the last few weeks, what with the pressure to handle the AGM and the decisions and announcements that came with it, the fact that he had to tackle the unknown force that was trying to gather support against him for amassing majority shares, but that was no where compared to the problems that needed to be sorted at home, because, things weren’t that rosy at personal level too.
Nobody knew all that transpired in the weeks prior to Anjali’s injury. All they knew was that she had been kidnapped and she got hurt while the rescue was under progress. Anjali’s accident had kept all the family members on the edge. The family was first trying to figure out what had happened and then came the subtle insinuation that he had been probably too distracted to keep an eye on Anjali’s safety.
He had not reacted well to that. He had of course been a bit reckless, but not irresponsible. He had always been an overprotective brother and the accusation had hit closer to his heart, appending to the guilt factor that he was already feeling.
Moreover he was well aware of how Dadi had mentioned that he was too distracted to focus on work or even the protection of the family members. She had been hinting at Khushi. He had then lost his temper. Losing his temper with dadi wasn’t very new, he had infact had been in a shouting match with her only weeks before when Khushi moved out. But then, he had been so frustrated with everything that it culminated into a overheated argument between him, Abhi and Khushi.
He knew he was at fault and he has to sort it out. One step at a time, he reminded himself as he started his car towards Shantivan.
***
“I am so sorry. I wish I listened to you” Khushi whimpered.
“Don’t blame yourself” Abhi told her.
“No, I should have listened to you- at least she would have lived. You told me so many times that it wasn’t safe, I insisted that you give me her custody and now, see I have put you in a spot- thinking that I can tackle things, I …”
“Khushi, things could have got worser”
“What is worser than this? Tara is no more” she said, with a lump in her throat, her eyes filled with unshed tears. “I am not even able to console Tanu sometimes”
“She died an easy death” Abhi told her “She was saved from a hellish hole that she might have ended in.”
“Abhi ji, she died! How can you talk about easy death as if she deserved to die… She was just 15! She deserved a happy life like any kid out there”
“I agree Khushi, but we tried our best, didn’t we? You put your life on stake to save her, she deserved to be happy, but at least she wasn’t sent back to the place where she escaped from. We were able to save Tanu and give her a befitting life now -that was Tara’s dream – don’t blame yourself, it is not worth it”
“You got suspended” she said as her tears spilled.
Abhi sighed as he reached out to her hands.
“Happens, but I don’t hold you responsible for it”
“I was supposed to have been there, I committed to look after them”
“You think you being there would have stopped them from being kidnapped?” he asked “If anything, we would have lost you too. Those bas*ards don’t stop at anything”
“I wish that something like that would have resulted in things happening differently, Anjali would have not been put into danger, Maybe I would have handled things differently- May be Tara would have survived…”
“That’s called survivor’s guilt.”
“You and Arnav wouldn’t have fought”
“Let’s not even get there”
“Really, Abhi ji…”
“Khushi, you promised. Let’s talk about anything but that”
“Arnav had sent a message some time back asking if he could come meet me” Khushi said biting her lips.
Khushi sighed at Abhi as they heard the doorbell ring.
“I will get it” Tara who was playing with Riya said as rushed to the door
Abhi and Khushi looked at each other. The ACP withdrew his hands from Khushi’s hold and stood up.
“I will make a move.” he said as he pulled Riya up “Riya, put on your shoes”
“Are you avoiding meeting him?”
“No, nothing like that, just remembered that I have an urgent call to make”
“Please Abhi ji, it’s so sad to see you both like this – Both of you are hurting, why don’t you both talk and sort it out like adults?”
“This is hypocritical- are you both doing the same?”
“Our issue is different”
“Khushi, let’s not talk about this” he said curtly as he picked up a protesting Riya who wanted to stay back and play for some more time as he walked towards the door.
“Hi dears” Payal greeted from the patio.
“Payal!” Khushi called out as she gave her a bear hug. “Took you two weeks to visit?”
“I asked you not to run away before I came back” Payal said laughing “and you do that exactly”
Khushi smiled at her friend
“I didn’t run away, I shifted places”
“I should have been more precise then?”
“May be, won’t you come in?”
“These days, my vocab is restrained to asking everyone “what happened” in different languages and everyone is so damn mysterious” Payal complained
Khushi laughed harder at that comment
“God, I missed your humor”
“Can I exchange my humor for some tea” Payal demanded
“Hi Payal”
“Hi Abhi, all good?”
“Yeah, how was your trip?”
“Wonderful!” she exclaimed “Leaving already?”
“Yeah, came here to discuss on some of the leads in the case with Khushi, gotta go now”
“No, I want to stay back Daddy, come and pick me up later” Riya whined.
“You are growing so stubborn Riya”
“Please uncle 5 more mins, we will just finish this game alone?” Tanu pled as well.
“Just this once- only 5 more mins”
As the girls ran in, Khushi pointedly looked at him.
“So much for urgent call” she huffed softly.
Abhi rolled his eyes
“I am making tea, come in Payal.”
“I didn’t mean that tea literally. I want you to spill the tea”
“I know what you meant” Khushi told Payal as she turned to Abhi “Wont you have some tea? You don’t have to stand waiting here until they finish the game”
“Who will have tea at 1 in the afternoon”
“Then let’s have lunch”
“You have such a duality; I am telling you” Abhi complained as he came in behind Payal. “I really don’t understand when you are in a mood to whine or tease”
“I don’t whine”
“As if”
Payal looked between the both of them raising her eyebrows. When did these two develop this easy camaraderie?
Just as she and Abhi sat around the table talking about Payal’s trip, Khushi went into the kitch
They heard the doorbell going again.
Payal got the door and exclaimed seeing Arnav, but nothing prepared her for the tension that was building as he came in and saw Abhi and then Khushi- the three stood staring at each other, wordlessly as Payal looked on.
To be continued.
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A/N: I know you might have expected a emotional update, But did you expect this? Payal is so us, trying to get an answer for everything. Let me know your thoughts, I will come back soon with another update.
Cheers, and stay happy, stay safe.
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