Joint FF:Second Chances:Trailer 3 Updated - Pg 51! - Page 28

Gunjan stared intently at Rachna as she closed the distance between them; her heart lurched at the irony of her train of thoughts.

"Here, Rachna was closing the distance, but what about the eight years gap" she thought distastefully.

That thought was short-lived as she felt herself embrace her sister in a bone crushing hug. Involuntary tears rolled down Gunjan's face as she felt the familiar warmth in the hug. Rachna, on the other hand, wanted to ignore the familiarity of all this. It was too much on her emotional state of mind. She returned the hug whole-heartedly, but she was certainly not overwhelmed, hence, she broke the hug after a few minutes. She plastered her professional smile on her face and looked at Gunjan in the eyes. She saw the love and care and her defenses broke. She held her sister, again, in a firm hold for a long time and relished the feeling.

"I missed you so much," was the only thing on Gunjan's tongue, repeating like a mantra through sobs that were now slowly halting.

"I missed you too," is the stiff reply. Rachna was confused at the way her emotions got the best of her. In the past five years, she had steeled herself completely, that no one, except him, ever made her react so emotionally.

Their mother interrupted the "crying session" with her trademark humour. The puja and rituals were completed soon after and everyone proceeded to the Garg's residence, after meeting Rachna. Her father hugged her lovingly and patted her head, as her two Chachus. Her aunts were a bit hostile, as expected. But Dholu, as tall as she is, squeezed her tightly. Rajeev, however, stood to one side and the scenario unfolded before him. His eyes were plastered to two persons...his wife and her sister.

The house looked like the same, as she left it years ago, the same hall, doors and windows. Sure, the curtains looked new, as well as the rugs, but the physical appearance was the same.

Settling on the couch in the living room, she accepted some chai from Seema Chachi.

"Where are your luggage beta?" her father spoke up, awkwardness dripping his voice.

"I'm staying at a hotel," she replied matter-of-factly. She felt something stirred in her heart when she said that, but ignored it.

Everyone was shocked.

"Why a hotel, dear?" her mom questioned immediately, her voiced laced with hurt.

Sheepishly, she replied that her secretary booked the flight and requested a luxury hotel room habitually. She wanted to cover the fact that she no longer felt comfortable staying in the same house as her family members.

As if on cue, Zara called her mobile. She confirmed that she reached safely and all was well. She hated to talk about work at that point in time, but Zara insisted she Skyped with a junior editor of their company later that evening. She asked her tightly to email her the time and the status of the report to be discussed.

The entire Garg's household watched with mixed emotions and expressions as they saw their "little, homely daughter" conversed in perfect English with a hint of New York accent. They all understood what she was saying, but the way in which she carried herself whilst speaking on the phone oozed authority. They were astonished and impressed, since none of them knew the extent of work she did and handled.

Gunjan sat in front of the dressing table brushing her hair. Shail insisted she and Rajeev used her and Rachna's old room, during their stay at the Garg's.

"Why did life have to be so difficult? Why did bad news always come in threes?" she questioned no one in particular, hopelessly.

She had to tell Rajeev about the phone call or else she could not sleep peacefully tonight. She knew that would be the final blow, after all he had seen Rachna just today.

"Probably that was a huge blow in itself," she thought sadly.

The door clicked and she turned to see Rajeev walking towards her. She handed him a towel from the bed and asked him to freshen up, she knew a hot shower would calm his nerves.

"Join me?" he looked at her suggestively. But she just nodded and politely declined.

"When was the last time they made love?" they both wondered silently.

She didn't remember since for a few months now, sex was just a science project. She sighed and proceeded to lay out the spreading to get ready for bed.

Rajeev came out of the shower and was surprised to see his wife pacing the room.

"Kuch kehna chahati ho," Rajeev questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Gunjan braced herself for what was coming next, "I got a call from Dr. Nair just as we reached Benaras and the reports are negative. We can never have a baby!" she looked at him teary eyed. She steeled herself for his reaction.

It looked like the world came crashing down in front of his eyes, Gunjan tried to touch his shoulder but he walked away without saying a single word.

"This would be the perfect excuse to go back to the hotel," Rachna decided, as she told her mother that she needed to Skype her secretary.

"My Mac book is in the hotel room Ma," she pleaded. Dholu who was in the kitchen, offered Mayank's.

"Hmm...obviously they would have one, after all they did talk to each other once a week for fifteen minutes," she pouted distractingly.

"What talking!" she chided herself, "her mom was the one who talked, while she agreed to everything and grinning."

Every Saturday night she would wear her Indian clothes and sit in front of the laptop. Many times he would be sitting across the room making all sorts of faces, she could barely control her laughter at such times, the last few months she had wanted to tell her mom about him but she knew she won't be understood. So she didn't bother, after all he made her feel alive.

She borrowed the laptop and made her way to Mayank's room. She had a strong urge to see him and Zara could wait.

Rajeev didn't know what to do, he had been looking forward to the day Gunjan would announce she was pregnant. He was looking forward to hold his own flesh and blood in his arms but now God had played a cruel joke with him. The only thing that came to mind was a five mile jog.

He walked past Mayank's room when a hearty laugh distracted him. He looked through the window and was surprised to see Rachna sitting on the bed wearing headphones and a laptop in front of her.

"So she decided to stay back," he observed.

She was giggling continuously and the sound of her being so happy irked him. She looked so carefree without any concern when suddenly, she kissed the mouthpiece, "of course, I miss you too. There is no place I want to be more but kya karoon," she pouted cutely.

Rajeev looked at her and before he could even decipher how he felt, she looked up and saw him staring at her. Rachna was shocked.

"How long had he been staring at her? Did he hear everything?" a hundred questions popped in her mind.

"You there Rach?" the voice on the other end questioned, "why are you looking above me?"

"Guess who was staring at me?" she countered but before he could reply, she continued, "My Hockey Coach!" she said a little too enthusiastically for his liking.

And he guffawed, "so how does he look?"

"Handsome as ever!" Rachna drawled dreamily.

Rajeev came back to his room and was shocked to see Gunjan sitting on the bed without any light. He went next to her and offered a sincere apology, which she accepted understandingly. He held her chin and placed a quick peck on her forehead and guided her towards the bed.