Chapter 2
That Day, The Whole Universe became the silent audience, watching spellbound, waiting with baited breadth for the ultimate meeting of The Two Estranged Soulmates. Even Time itself had lost count of the number of times the two lovers had parted ways. Sometimes for the love of others, and at other times, simply because another would come in between them. Then, there were those times when they never met, when they simply withered away and died alone. This time, even Destiny and Fate had come together to scheme and plot, to put an end to their endless pain. Finally, they will meet, and never part or so they feverently hoped!!!
Unawares of the plight of Time, Fate and Destiny, Arnav stretched his glorious wings and swooped down, trying to beat his fellow Angels in the race down to Earth. Sidharth wasn't going to make it easy for Arnav, he thrust his wings forward, and then drove it downward to obtain maximum speed. The race was on.
"Sometimes they behave like kids, really, I mean who would expect Angels to be like that?" complained Payal.
"Okay Payal, you tell me how is an Angel to behave? hmm? All serious, quiet, and serious? Really?!! Tell me, would you have been attracted to Aakash if he had behaved like that with you?" defended Maansi.
Payal laughed. She knew Maansi was right. Both friends descided they had had enough of talking and descided to join the race too. Arnav just barely managed to win.
"Ha! Got you Sid!! Next time I will give you a couple of hours head start?" said Arnav, having a poke at his best friend.
"Oh, that's ok. I will just make sure next time I Don't Slow Down for you to catch up!!" responded Sidharth. "Anyways, what took you so long?"
"Oh, nothing. I just have to protect and watch over a girl. She is an orphan and all, and as soon as she finds her Prince Charming, I am free from her. No biggie" answered Arnav.
"Okay, we better disguise ourselves as humans now. That would make it easier for us to blend in. Then we have to arrange for shelter and all and then we have to ...by the way, how do we differentiate the vampires from normal humans?" asked Maansi.
"We have to wait for it to get dark. Then we can find them easily as they will be hunting for food. During the day it would be next to impossible to identify them as they look pretty ordinary." suggested Aakash.
"What? So they can walk in sunlight? Don't they burn to ashes if they come out during daytime?" asked a shocked Payal. All the other friends smiled at her. Afterall, she wasn't as old as the other Angels.
"No, there is no such thing. They are fibs made by humans, but in reality you cannot tell them apart until they attack, which is why we have to be extra careful. If we kill an innocent man under wrong suspicion, then we will loose our powers and would have to stay as humans on earth until the end of our lifetime," explained a calm Arnav.
The seriousness of their mission downed on them. They could not make any mistakes. There was nothing such as collateral damage in an Angel's or a Gods dictionary.
"Well Arnav, how about you go see if that girl, whom you're to protect, needs any help for now and we will go arrange everything else. We can meet back here. Arnav? Aren't you going as a human to her? " asked Sidharth.
"I just have to protect her and keep her safe until she meets her prince. She does not need to see me. So, I will go as an Angel, invisible. Only when I need to interfere, then will I go as a human to her, makes sense?" came his angry reply. All his friends knew that Arnav did not like getting involved with humans personally. He believed that if he stayed away from them then he would be able to keep himself from falling in Love. To him, love meant messing things up.
Who knew it better than Aakash. The number of times Arnav had to cover for him so that he could go and save Payal (when she had been a human), were endless. The worst one was, when during one of the battles he had to leave Maansi's side to go to Payal's aid, but even then, Arnav had assisted him without a question. But after Payal had passed all her tests sent by the Gods then she had become an Angel. Now they were together forever. He couldn't be happier. He just hoped that Arnav would one day find that true happiness.
That same wish was being thought by the other three Angels. They dearly loved Arnav and they wanted him to discover his happiness. Little did they know that the Whole Universe sided with them in that wish. What the future was going to unfold, only the Gods knew.
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As Khushi turned around, she gasped at what she saw!!! There on the floor, next to her father's feet was a small pouch, which wasn't there before. She looked around but nobody seemed to be searching for a lost pouch. She picked it up gingerly and opened it, hoping to find some clue as to who the owner of the pouch was. She was gobsmacked at the sight of the amount of money the little pouch held. She looked outside again for its owner but found no one howling for their lost treasure. She went inside the house and emptied the contents of the pouch. A letter caught her eye. She opened it, happy that soon she will know who the owner was and she could return their possession to them.
The letter read:
To My Darling Khushi
You really must look beautiful today, on your wedding day. I am giving this letter to your father as I enter the 9th month of my pregnancy. The doctor's have already warned me about the complications regarding having a child in my weakened condition. But know this my sweet daugther, I wouldnot change anything for the entire world. Your father and I love you heaps and I never regretted making this choice. You are my baby, my last link to your father. I love you with all my heart and I am sorry.
I am sorry I will not be there when you cry for me, for your mothers love. I am sorry for not being there when you take your first step & stumble n fall , or when the first time you say your first word. I will also miss your first day of school. But most of all, I am so so sorry, for not being there when you need my hugs to soothe away your worries and fears. I am sorry for not being there when you need my encouragment. I am sorry for missing out on all important events of your life and for not being the first one to congratulate you.
But know this, my child, I am watching over you. I am there with you in spirit and as you are a part of me, I know in some way I still live. Everytime you smile, I will share your joy and everytime you shed a tear, I will hassle the Gods to come to your aid. Even though you may not see me, feel me, I will be there.
My dear, today you are getting married. Be happy. Love your new family as you have come to love your own. If you ever make a mistake, then don't cry over it! Instead, learn from it, and make sure to never repeat it. Live life to its fullest and at its best. Be quick to forgive, but not quick to judge. People make all sorts of mistakes, so give everyone a chance. I hope your husband loves you more than the number of stars present in the sky, but if he doesn't already, then I am sure he will soon, it is impossible to not love you.
I know that as I am already in love with you and I have not even met you!!!
Stay safe and look after your father. Could you do something for me? Can you make sure he does not miss me a lot. He would get more careless with old age, I know him. Make sure he takes all his medicines on time, please, as a favour to an absent mother.
Since its your wedding day, I have a very small gift for you. I am leaving my anklets (payals) to you and also, I will attach a recepie for Jalebi to this letter. Why Jalebi, you ask? Well, while I am pregnant, I got this huge craving for Jalebi and no matter how much I eat it, it just does not seem to go away. So I am guessing that it must be your favourite. And who knows, maybe someday, when you are expecting your little angel, you might crave jalebi as well...
Take care my little gudiya
I will always watch over you..
My Aarshivaad and Best wishes to You and your Husband
Khushi burst into tears and turned the letter over and sure enough there was the recepie for jalebi and her mother's anklets taped to the bottom of the page. Khushi hugged the letter to her heart and cried out for a mother she never got to meet. Then fresh tears broke loose when she realised that the one man for whom her mother was worried had also passed away.
After sometime, when she could not cry anymore, Khushi collected all her money and put it back in the little pouch and went out to make arrangements for her fathers cremation.
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The greedy Landlord stepped into his house quickly and bolted the doors shut. He went over to the table and shoved his hands in his pocket to take the pouch of money out. He couldn't find it!!! He looked inside his pockets and he saw there was a hole at the bottom lining of his pocket. He became puzzled. He was pretty sure there were no holes in the pocket when he put his clothes on in the morning!!! How? what?, the Landlord thought.
<FLASHBACK>
While the Landlord had been talking to Khushi:
["Since I am a very kind and noble man, and I can see how your fathers death has affected you, I will allow you till the sunset today to gather all your belongings from my house and move out. But beware girl, only till sunset. After sunset, I will come and lock the house and then whatever of your things are left behind will then belong to me. Do you understand me?" said the selfish Landlord, happy that he had cleverly pocketed some extra money from the dead tenant's daughter. ]
Arnav had appeared, but, because he was in his true form, he was invisible. He had watched the Landlord pocket the poor girls money when he had been in heaven. At the time he had not known that he would soon be assigned to protect her. It was her he had been watching when Aakash had asked him to go before God.
"I can not punish you as your bad deeds one day will come back to haunt you. But I can help her." Arnav thought. He gazed at the Landlords pocket and willed the threaded seam to unravel, causing a gap to appear. Just as the Landlord had stepped past the dead body, the pouch had slipped down and fallen next to Shashi's feet.
<END OF FLASHBACK>
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I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter, please let me know what you thought of Khushi's mothers letter, and I hope I didn't disappoint anyone.
Thank you very very much for the kind words and your support. Originally, I had thought I would update it next week, but then as I sat down, my fingers started to type out this chapter. So here it is for you all. Please don't forget to comment, who knows with more encouragements I may come up with chapter 3 as well...lol...but definitely not tomorrow...I have to work on my other FF as well...
Oh and one more thing...Whoever Comments First Gets To Make A Special Scene Request which they wish to see in the upcoming chapter...I would write it in, maybe not exactly but as close to it as possible...so good luck...so here goes...comments and bashing can officially begin now...
Edited by s-576 - 13 years ago
CID
10