FF: Rishtey (Completed) - Page 10

The day of the party finally arrived. As planned, Dilsher took Mala to the temple. Preparations were in full swing as they tried to get everything ready before Mala returned. Pia called Aman and told him to come drop off the decorations, and he showed up a few minutes later. It seemed everyone was getting ready because he entered to find no one running around. Then, he heard the sudden chiming of anklets. Pia came running to him, completely dressed in her party outfit. She was wearing a navy blue lengha and gold choli with a matching blue dupatta. She lifted her lengha so she wouldn't get caught and fall, revealing silver anklets that matched her bangles. Her hair was loosely curled. Aman wanted to continue staring at her, taking in the beauty before him, but he knew he had to talk to her right now. For the last three days he had been working day and night to gather information about Pia's parents. Now that he had all the information necessary to prove the reports were right, he had to tell her.

Pia took the bags from him, "Thank you so much for doing this."

"It's no problem," Aman replied. "You look...nice."

"Oh. Thank you."

"Pia, we need to talk."

"Can this wait? I have to put the decorations up and-."

"It's about your parents. DNA reports came back, and there was a match."

Pia's heartbeat quickened, "W-what? You know who my parents are?"

Aman nodded slowly.

"Who are they? Where are they? Can I meet them?"

"I can't tell you here. Come with me to the BSD."

"Okay, I will get Gaurav and tell Rud-."

"No. You have to come alone."

"Why?"

"Trust me. Just come with me."

Pia paused, "Okay, but I have to inform someone that I'm leaving."

Aman nodded, "Go ahead. I will wait here."

She nodded and ran off. Pia told Maithili that something urgent came up and she would have to go, but she would be back in time to surprise Mala. Maithili was curious to know where she was going, but Pia said she would explain when she came back, but right now Aman was waiting at the door for her. She handed her the decorations and instructed her that she was in charge. Maithili watched as Pia ran off, not missing how she took Aman's hand in hers as they left. With the help of Samrat, Danveer, and Sumer, the haveli managed to get decorated completely.

While all that was happening outside Rudra and Paro's room, inside preparations were happening as well. Rudra was dressed in a black sherwani, waiting for Paro to finish getting ready in the bathroom. He was arguing with her just moments ago about how there was no need to get so dressed up. Paro retorted saying that it was for maa-sa, and that he would have to do it, only for tonight. He agreed to wearing the sherwani, but he wasn't happy about it. Rudra was now pacing impatiently around the room, waiting for his wife to finish getting ready. He didn't know why it was taking her so long. She was already beautiful the way she was, was it possible for her to be more beautiful?

"Paro are you ready yet?" he asked. "Ma and bapu-sa will be back soon."

"I will be out in one minute," she replied through the bathroom door.

"You said that five minutes ago." Rudra heard the bathroom door open; he turned. "Finally it took you-."

Rudra couldn't complete his sentence. His jaw dropped seeing Paro. She came out wearing an cream-colored sari with gold embroidery and embellishments, and a long-sleeve red blouse that matched the color of the sindoor in her hair. Her hair was completely open and pulled to one side of her face. Rudra had only seen her in a sari once before, and that was in Jaipur. Even then, his heart skipped a beat. Now it could've stopped beating altogether. With her sari pinned up completely to her shoulder, he could see a glimpse of her waistband, the same one that tempted him in the day and he had the privilege to slip off at night. His eyes feasted on the image of his wife. Slowly, he closed the distance between them. Paro couldn't meet his gaze, and her voice disappeared somewhere within her as he now stood in front of her. It always seemed to do so when Rudra got closer to her.

"Ma-major saab," she stuttered.

"Paro," Rudra said softly.

Feeling shy, Parvati turned and was ready to run off. However, what Rudra did next stopped her dead in her tracks. As she was walking away, he stopped her by grabbing the dori to her blouse. It untied and halted her from going any further. She let out a small gasp in surprise. Paro slowly turned and saw him holding the dori in his hand, a mischievous smile painted on his face. Rudra slowly pulled her to him with the dori, and she slowly came to him. Paro couldn't stop her heartbeat from quickening. She could feel the warmth rush to her face. She looked into her husband's eyes and found them dark with passion and desire.

Rudra could see his wife's flustered state. He was enjoying it very much. He would have to thank the person whose idea it was to get dressed up. It was genius. All he wanted to do right now was to take Paro, make her his over and over again. Seeing her in the sari had tempted him, but he had to remain in control. If they didn't attend Mala's party, everyone would question it, and if they had to explain, Paro would definitely die of embarrassment, and she would never forgive him. So he decided would have to wait until they returned to their bedroom later that night. Hopefully he would be able to survive that long. Now that he was close to her again, Rudra carefully retied the dori to her blouse. Once he finished, he turned Paro and wrapped his arms around her waist.

He kissed her forehead, "Maybe getting dressed up wasn't a bad idea."

She smiled, "Really?"

"Yes. You look very beautiful Paro."

"Thank you Major saab." She reached up and kissed his cheek as she always did.

"Shall we go now? I'm sure everyone is waiting for us."

Rudra and Paro exited their room and found everyone in the hall standing around. The haveli was decorated beautifully with lights and balloons. Gaurav and Maithili were standing in front of the cake, putting candles in it. Danveer, Dilsher, and Samrat were admiring the simple decorations. Mohini and Sumer were whispering to each other and giving smug looks; it was clear they didn't want to be a part of this but had no choice. Most of the family was excited as they waited for Mala's return. Paro noticed that amongst the group Pia was nowhere in sight. She went to Pia's room to find her, but she wasn't there either. She ran into Maithili when she came back to the hall.

"Parvati," Mathili said. "Is something wrong?"

"No jija," Paro replied. "I was just looking for Pia."

"Oh Pia said something urgent came up and she had to go somewhere. Aman took her. She should be back any minute."

"Oh."

"Parvati, I was wondering. Is there anything going on between Aman and Pia?"

"I'm not sure. Why?"

"I saw them leaving together, and I thought they made a nice pair."

As Mathili walked away, Paro couldn't help but wonder why Pia left. It wasn't like her to leave suddenly. She had been looking forward to celebrating Mala's birthday, so why would she suddenly leave with Aman? Then it hit her. Could it be Aman found Pia's parents? Maybe they found a clue, but then why wouldn't Pia take Gaurav with her? Paro went to Rudra and told her what Maithili had said.

"What?" Rudra said.

"Do you think Aman found something out about Pia's family?" she asked.

"If he did he would've told me. You're sure bhabhi-sa said she went with Aman?"

"Yes."

Suddenly, Gaurav came running to them, "Rudra, Pia called me. She said to start without her. Something came up and she will be a little late."

"What happened?" Paro asked. "Where is she?"

"She's with Aman. I asked her where she went, but she won't tell me. If she's not back in one hour, I'm going out to find her."

"Aman bhai-sa will take care of her. Don't worry Gaurav."

"I just hope everything is alright. It's not like her to leave during something important like this."

Meanwhile at the BSD, Pia was sitting in Rudra's cabin, waiting for Aman. She kept looking at the time on her mobile. Mala should be back at the haveli by now, and the family must've already surprised her. She felt bad for not being there right now, but this was very important to her. This was about her parents, and she just had to know the truth. But now that she was sitting in the BSD, waiting for Aman to give her the news, Pia was nervous. She had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn't know if she would like what she heard. It was nerve-racking. The tension was building up.

Aman came in and saw Pia deep in thought. The file was in his hands, and he had been mentally preparing himself to tell her everything, but now that she was there, he wasn't sure if he had the stomach to. He couldn't believe it when he read it, then how was she going to handle it. He swallowed his fear and stood in front of her. She had opened this door, and she wasn't going to like what he found, but she was going to have to learn about the truth one day. And that was today. Right here. Right now.

"Pia," he said.

Pia stood up, "Aman, what have you found out? What did the DNA reports say? Is that it in your hands?"

"We compared your DNA to all records in our BSD system. Before I give this to you, I want you to know that I made sure that what this said is true. I have proof to support it."

"I trust you." Pia took the file, opened it and began reading.

Aman saw the smile leave her face as she read. The pink hue in her cheeks disappeared. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked up at him. He had guessed this would be her reaction. Pia was shaken to the core. She couldn't believe what she was reading. It had to be a lie. It couldn't be true. It wasn't possible. Yet, Aman wouldn't have given this information to her if he didn't have evidence to prove its validity. The look on his face was all the confirmation she needed. Pia could feel herself losing the feeling in her legs. They were ready to give out, but she mustered all her strength to remain standing.

She began stuttering, "A-Am-an. This...th-this can't be. It's...I-it's not possible. This has..to be..it's a mistake."

Aman shook his head, "It's not Pia. I didn't believe it either. I went to two other analysts and their reports are the same. You share a high consistency of matches in your genetic makeup. I have other pieces of evidence to show you to support it, so you know this is true. I don't know how it's possible, but the DNA report isn't lying."

Pia read and reread the reports again. The tears fell from her eyes as she tried to cope with the reality written in black ink on the paper. She was filled with anger, shock, sadness, fear, but most all...disbelief. She looked back at Aman and, in a pained voice, spoke, for the first time, the unbelievable yet undeniable truth before her.

"Rudra...is my brother?"

**********

That's right! You guessed it! Rudra is Pia's brother! And yes, I'm going to leave it at that! You will have to wait for the explanation in the next chapter! Leave your comments and feedback below so I know what you think!

Thanks for reading!