Hello Dear Friends, here I am with the promised update.
Before we get to the update I would like to clear bit of confusion for you guys regarding Roshni and Priya.
Priya lost her parents when she was 16 so after this she went to live with her mother's brother, Roshni's father. Her Mami, Roshni's mother, had always resented Priya's parents because of the well to do background of Priya's father so of course this also influenced Roshni. The reason for Roshni's dislike starts here but more things happened that completely turned Roshni against Priya. Arjun's entry into their lives is much later. For now that is all I can reveal, so I hope this cleared some things in your minds.
So here is the update, hope you guys like it.😊
Part 9
Sameer, what are you doing here? Is Priya okay?" Swati asked worriedly.
Sameer turned towards Swati and all sane thoughts fled right out of his head. How can he think straight when she looked so pretty in her casual black yoga pants and a white t-shirt, her wet hair clinging to her forehead and face? Her face was scrubbed clean and without any make up.
Sameer came to his senses when he saw her frown worriedly and realized that he hadn't answered her question about Priya. "I am sorry Swati for worrying you, Priya is fine. I just dropped her at home."
Swati was relieved to hear that Priya was fine but she wondered why Sameer was at her door. For a moment neither spoke just stared at each other as the memories of the past time spent together flashed in both of their minds.
"What are you doing here Sameer?" Swati finally asked.
Sameer sighed and looked down at the floor. He didn't know what had made him seek Swati's address and drive to her apartment automatically. He had wanted to talk to her but now that he is standing in front of her door he didn't know what to say to her.
How can you ask someone for forgiveness when you broke her heart for a baseless reason? He was starting to realize that his fears of failed marriages were baseless really or in his and Swati's case it would be baseless. Now he need to ask for forgiveness and may be for her to give him a second chance.
Okay Sameer Rathore you have faced some tougher challenges than this, so this should be a piece of cake compared to what you have faced. Sameer drew courage from the voice in his head and faced the only woman he had ever loved in his life. "Can I come in Swati?" He finally asked her.
Swati moved away from the door to open it wider then waited for him to enter her home before closing the door. She led him toward the living room then turned back to him. "Have a seat," she said gesturing to the sofa, "Can I get you something to drink?" She asked.
Sameer took a seat on a comfortable sofa and leaned forward with his hands entwined together. "No I am fine," he said as he looked up at her.
Swati nodded then took a seat in the chair across from him. "What's wrong Sameer?" She asked seeing him frown, tension obviously visible in his expression.
Sameer sighed then finally looked up at Swati. "Nothing is wrong, I just realized that I owe you an apology and explanation for why I broke our engagement."
Swati shook her head and started to speak but Sameer leaned forward to give her a pleading look than stopped her from saying anything.
"I realize that its too late for explanation but just hear me out once please." He said. When she didn't say anything he leaned back a little to gather his thoughts to start.
"First please accept my condolence on your mother's passing." He continued after she nodded her head. He doesn't deserve to be forgiven by Swati for hurting her and her mother after what they had been through with Swati's father but he is selfish enough to ask her anyway.
"Swati please understand that my reason for breaking our engagement had nothing to do with you. It was all me and my fears that made me take such a drastic step." Sameer recalled those days when he had tried his best to overcome his fears to be with Swati but in the end his fears had won making him hurt her.
"You know I lost my family long time ago; I had no one but Arjun and his family and then I met you. After our first meeting I never thought I would ever see you again but I never stopped thinking about you. Then fate brought us together through Priya and I thought finally I will have my own family." Sameer could not meet her eyes any longer so he glanced down at his hands.
"Few weeks before our marriage I went to see Arjun to share my happiness with him but he refused to talk to me. I was shocked to see my best friend in such a devastating state. He was grieving for his wife but more than that he was full of guilt. He blamed himself for Roshni's death. I couldn't believe that the Arjun standing in front of me was the same man that I grew up with, he wasn't my friend anymore but a total stranger I didn't know." Sameer stood up and walked to the window to relieve the restlessness he was feeling.
Swati knew what was coming and she was starting to realize where he was leading with his explanations but remained silent.
"I always had this fear of losing you in back of my mind but I always suppressed that fear but my fears refused to stay back once I saw Arjun. When I went back to work all I saw around me were police officers who put their lives on the line everyday to protect innocent people of this world. I realized that life is so unpredictable and life of a police officer is the most unpredictable of all. We not only put ourselves in danger but our loved ones also. I didn't just have a fear of losing you to death I also feared that you would stop loving me and resent me when my duty starts interrupting our married life more often than you would have wanted to. I feared that you would come to hate me when I don't show up for important dates and events or we would not be able to celebrate the important days of our lives because I am too busy with my duty as a police officer." Sameer trailed off when he realized how stupid his explanation must sound to her.
"So your saying you didn't think I could handle being your wife because for you, your duty would always come first and me and our marriage second?" Swati asked calmly but inside she was feeling anything but calm. She couldn't believe that Sam thought she was not strong enough to handle the fact that he would always be a police officer first then a husband. May be he hadn't loved her like she loved him otherwise he would have realized that she knew what it meant to be the wife of a police officer.
Sameer turned and walked back to the sofa to take his seat again. "No Swati, I already told you that this had nothing to do with you. You are a very strong person Swati; you had to be after going through what you did with your father. I was afraid that I would drive you away from me because there is a part of my life, my work, which I would never be able to share with you. There was also a fear of some criminal coming into our home and killing you just to make me suffer because I arrested him or one of his loved ones."
Swati was beginning to understand his fears but that still didn't justify him breaking the engagement. He could have talked to her about it and she would have helped him put his fears to rest. "Has that ever happened?" She asked him.
Sameer looked at her with a frown. "I mean has someone you arrested come back to take revenge?" Swati clarified.
"About five or six months ago I was taken hostage by the son of a guy I arrested for taking bribe. At the time I didn't know his boss had set up the man but the son didn't care about that. All he wanted was to take revenge for his father who had been wrongly accused of committing a crime he did not commit. If it hadn't been for Arjun, Chotu and Shree I would have died that day for sure." Sameer remembered that after he left the ETF office he had gone straight home and stared at Swati's picture for hours. That had been the only day he hadn't regretted walking away from her.
Swati's heart clenched at the thought of Sameer in danger but she pushed her own fear aside for the moment. "In that case I would be the one to have more to lose if any of the criminals you put in jail came back to take revenge on you Sameer." Swati leaned towards him, "Don't you think I would have understood your fears had you bothered to discuss them with me instead of running away like you did? Or is there still another reason for you walking away that you haven't even admitted to yourself yet?"
Swati stood up and took few steps back to distance herself from Sameer physically. "In any case what does any of this matter now? It is way too late for any explanations Sameer. I have learned to move on with my life on my own, my mother is gone and my father is happy with his second wife."
Sameer closed his eyes as he realized the meaning behind her words. He had lost any chance he could have had with her long time ago. She is right it is way too late for explanations and forgiveness and he deserved not to be forgiven for walking away from her. He was no different from her father, who had decided that he no longer wanted her mom in his life after being married to her for twenty-five years.
Sameer stood up, "You are right Swati it is too late for explanations and to ask for forgiveness. I have no right to come back and make you relive all the past pain that I caused when I walked away. I am sorry for bringing back those memories, I should have never come here." He walked out before Swati could say anything more.
Swati walked to the sofa and slumped on it in defeat. Damn you Sameer Rathore for being the man that you are, she cursed silently. She finally stood up to head to kitchen to make some coffee; she decided she might as well get some work done since sleep will be a commodity for the night.
Next morning, coffee shop near Swati's house
Swati looked across the table at her friend again just to make sure she was fine; she looked fine physically, except for the bruise on her right cheek, there were no marks on her anywhere but emotionally she looked drain as Swati herself.
"So why do you look so lost today Priya?" She finally asked breaking the silence between them.
Priya in turn also looked at her friend and knew that Swati also looked trouble even though she tried to hide it behind her smile. "I could ask you the same thing; you also look just as lost."
Swati rolled her eyes, leave it to Priya to not miss anything. "But I asked first."
Priya wanted to argue but decided to let it go; she knew Swati won't tell her anything until she is good and ready. "Arjun asked me about the night that Roshni was killed last night after we went back to the office."
"Did you tell him?" Swati asked knowing Priya's answer.
Priya shook her head, "What do I tell him now? I am not even sure what I would have told him when I tried to talk to him after getting out of the hospital. Actually now I am glad he hadn't even wanted to see me."
Swati leaned forward, "What will you tell him when he finds out? Will you tell him everything then?"
Priya looked away from Swati so she wouldn't see the sudden tears in her eyes. Thank god the coffee shop was not crowded and they had a table in the back of the shop where no one could see them. She turned back to her best friend when she felt Swati place her hand on top of hers in reassurance.
"I can't tell him everything Swati," Priya looked down in shame.
Swati made Priya look at her by squeezing her hand. "How many times have we told you that what happened to you, what those monsters did to you when they found out that you are police officer, is not your fault?"
"Don't you think I know this Swati?" Priya cried, "In my heart I know that it is not my fault but they stripped me of everything on that day Swati. They left me with nothing to offer to anyone. I lost everything that day, my self-respect, my dignity, any possibility of being with any man for rest of my life."
There she said it out loud, what she has feared since the day she woke up in the hospital with a scar on her right cheek and found out that what had been done to her had left her a half a woman. Priya closed her eyes as the memories of that day flooded her mind.
Once her cover had been blown they hadn't spared her. She had been drugged but not to an extent where she hadn't realized what they were doing to her. She had been assaulted many times and so brutally that when she was finally rescued they had to do an emergency surgery on her to stop the internal bleeding. On that day her life was saved but the life ahead of her was nothing but empty and barren.
It had taken many therapy sessions, and Sameer and Swati's unconditional support for her to not give up on life completely, for this she owed them both but there are still days when she felt ashamed of what happened.
After a moment Priya pulled herself together and turned back to Swati. "When the time comes I will tell him everything that happened up to when my cover was blown but that's it." She told Swati stubbornly, "Besides when he does find out what happened then he will probably hate me even more because I am the reason his life is the way it is now so what is the point of worrying about it now?"
Swati wished that Priya would realize that Arjun was made of sterner stuff than that, she is sure that he won't hate Priya, if anything, he will feel his own share of guilt and shame but he will not hate her she is sure of that. She is also sure that when Arjun comes to terms with everything his old feelings for Priya will start to resurface and this time he will do everything in his power to keep her close him.
"You are not responsible for the way his life is now, it is his choice; you had nothing to do with it." Swati said sharply.
Priya didn't want to argue the point and she didn't want to talk about her situation anymore so she changed the subject. "Forget about me, I don't want to talk about what ifs, tell me why you look like you haven't slept a wink last night."
It was Swati's turn to confess about the night before. "Sameer came to see me last night."
Priya instantly pushed her problems back when she heard what Swati said. She leaned forward eagerly. "What did he say?"
Swati pushed her coffee aside then leaned forward as she told Priya what Sameer had said to her.
When Swati finished telling Priya about her conversation Priya gave her a thoughtful look. "I am not surprised by Sameer's reasons at all Swati. Police officers and marriages don't seem to work well; some are lucky enough to make it but most end up in divorce and then there are those unfortunates who either gets killed while on duty or their family members are targeted by the criminals they put behind bars."
"I am not at all surprised either Priya and I do know the risks of being married to a police officer but what upsets me is that Sameer didn't think to talk to me about his fears; he chose to run from it all by breaking the engagement." Swati had thought about this the whole night.
"Who said men are intelligent when it comes to being reasonable?" And Sameer would never consider admitting he is scared of anything because that is a sign of weakness and he would never admit to having a weakness, that would be against the rule of manliness." Priya reasoned.
Swati rolled her eyes at Priya and threw a napkin at her. "Where do you come up with these things?"
Priya dodge the napkin and grinned at her. "I am being serious about this Swati and you think it's a joke. Can you come up with any other reason for him not talking to you about his fears? The guy fell for you the very first moment he saw you, he loves you to distractions and to top it off everything happened so quickly between you two so I wouldn't be surprised if he chose to run instead of showing his weakness to you."
Swati thought about it for a moment and concluded that Priya was right in a way. Sameer is a very traditional guy, and very protective too so he walked out rather than put her at risk. He would have known that if he had talked to her about his fears she would have dismissed them easily and at that time, considering what happened with his two best friends, he would not have been able to dismiss them so easily.
"I don't know about that but I can understand that at the time his fears were not easy to dismiss; seeing Arjun's condition would have made it worse for Sameer." Swati said out loud.
Priya nodded, "So what do you intend to do now that you know and understand why he walked away from you?" She asked Swati.
Swati shrugged her slender shoulders, "I am not sure, and it depends on why he came to clear things last night."
Before Priya could say anything her phone vibrated in her pocket. She frowned wondering at the intrusion, Sameer had given her a day off considering the events of the night before so she didn't think it was work related.
She looked at the phone screen and was surprised to see Shree's name displayed on the screen. She answered quickly, "Hello?"
Swati felt uneasy when she saw Priya's face turn white as she listened to the caller, she hoped it wasn't bad news.
Priya pressed the end button and stood up quickly to gather her things. "Swati we have to go."
Swati followed suit, "Where are we going? What's wrong Priya?"
Priya hurried out of the shop without answering Swati and didn't stop until they were by Swati's car. She turned to Swati and placed her hands on Swati's arm. "Sameer is in trouble, he went to the bank about an hour ago and now there are some people trying to rob the bank and holding the people inside hostage."
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Please let me know what you thought of this update, and thanks in advance.
NOTE: So I revealed what happened to Priya, but what led to her assault, how her cover was blown and how she was rescued will be revealed later. I thought many times to change this part of the story, but when I plotted this story I questioned myself about the vulnerability of a female police officer. I kept thinking that no matter how strong I make Priya, there is one thing that she would be unable to protect when she is surrounded by the most ruthless criminals and that is her virtue. This is where any female will remain vulnerable, but most especially the ones who work in these type of professions.
I am not sure if I explained this right but as the story progresses it will be more understandable why I included this in the story.
I hope I didn't confuse you guys even more, but I just wanted to mention it in case if you wonder why she went through this ordeal.
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