FF:First Love~LAST PART~ page 81 12/9/11 - Page 22

Part 12

Gopi finished the painting she had been working on for Kinjle's rakhi gift from her. She had only been able to work on it couple of hours at a time. Only her maji and kakji new what she has planned. They had help her set up her studio in the guest house, so on one knew about her paintings.

She finished cleaning up and quickly rushed out of the guesthouse. She had just walked in the house when she heard her name. "Gopi?" she turned when Hetal called her. "Ji , kakiji."

Hetal smiled at her. "Your mamiji called." Gopi tensed and waited for Hetal to tell her why her mami had called. "She wanted to see if you were free to visit today, your father wants to see you." Gopi didn't respond. "What happened Gopi dikra? You should go visit him for a while, and don't worry about dinner Koki and I will take care of it. Go get ready and have the driver take you to your dad's house." Gopi couldn't refuse to go so she did as she was told.

An hour later she walked into her fathers house and stopped in her tracks. She was shocked to see her bhabhi sitting in front of her dad, crying bitterly claiming Raj left her, and it was all because of Gopi.

Gopi's mami was sitting beside Nisha, soothing her and telling her to calm down everything will be ok. Just then Rashi spotted Gopi standing by the door. "Here is Gopi now." At this everyone turned towards the door and glared at Gopi, who was unable to move at all. She couldn't comprehend what was going on. Her bhai was back in India, and she didn't even know.

Gopi's father stood up and came towards Gopi in anger. "Are you happy now? Why did you come here, to rub salt into Nisha's wounds. You managed to separate her from Raj, you should be happy. You should have died with your mother; you will always remain a manhoos.I don't know whose blood runs in your veins, but it certainly is not mine." Gopi felt as though he had physically slapped her. There was a shocked silence following his last harsh words. Gopi felt a roaring in her head. She couldn't have heard him right. Did he just say she wasn't his daughter?

Then Gopi thought this is all her mami's doing, she didn't know what her mami told her father, but this was the last straw, she is putting doubts about Gopi's mother in her father's head, and she will not stand for it. He father may not love her, but she knew first hand that her mother had been the love of his life and he had changed when he lost her. "Are you listening yourself dad? You are now doubting your wife, the woman whom you loved more than your life, and for what? Mamiji is putting all these doubts in your head and you believe her blindly, why can't you see that she is out to destroy this family, and that has been her intentions all along?"

Gopi was horrified to see her mami and Nisha smiling cunningly at her. Her father grabbed her arm and tried to push her out of his house. "Just shut up, you are the one who is trying to destroy this family not your mami. Now get out of here, I don't ever want to see your manhoos face again and don't try to contact Raj either." Gopi lost her balance when he pushed her, she would have fallen but just then she was caught in familiar strong arms. She looked up to see Ahem glaring at her father. A muscle was ticking in his jaw and his eyes were flared in temper. Gopi felt tears streaming down her face.

Ahem looked down when he felt the wetness on his hand, he flinched when he saw his wife's savaged face. This would be the worst pain she would endure and if he could take this pain away from her he would do it in a heartbeat.

He had been on his way home when his mom informed him to pick up Gopi from her father's house on the way back since the driver had to leave. He had immediately called Raj to let him know Gopi was visiting his house. Raj had also been in route to home and had asked Ahem to hurry, something hadn't felt right.

They had both arrived at the same time, but it had been too late to do anything. They had both stood frozen just outside the door, listening as the horrifying words were flung at Gopi with no regards to how it would make her feel.

"Dad, why are you doing this?" Gopi's head snapped up when she heard her brother, she pulled away from Ahem and wiped her tears. Her brother was home, and no one had informed her, he hadn't even bothered to let her know he was back. Suddenly Raj turned towards Gopi and took a step towards her, but stopped when she stepped back. "Gopi…" when she didn't respond or look at him he turned away and faced his mami and ex-wife. "Nisha, I told you it was over between us, now I want you out of my house, and don't ever come back here. Don't try to contact me and stay away from Gopi, or else you won't like what I do to you. Do you understand?" Nisha knew better than to ignore Raj's threat so she left without a protest, throwing Gopi an angry look on her way out the door.

Raj turned towards his mami and Rashi. "Mamiji for years you have lived in this house, but I think now it is time for you to go live with your son, he makes decent money and his own place, there is no reason for you to stay here anymore, as I am back and neither dad nor I will be needing you."

"Raj, what are you saying, who will take care of you and your father?" Urmila pretended to be sincere, but inside she was seething as once again her plan was destroyed, if only Raj had stayed away longer, Nisha would have convinced her father in law to ask Raj to give her another chance, but now everything is going wrong.

Raj saw straight thru his mami's sincerity. "You don't worry about that mami, as we already have someone to take care of us." Just then Gopi heard yet another familiar voice from the door way. "That's right Urmilaben, you don't worry about Raj and his father, as now I am back to take care of my family" Gopi turned to see her Kakima standing by the door with a proud look on her face, glaring at mami. Gopi couldn't stop starring at her kakima, it has been eight years since she last saw her Kakima, she was different yet the same. She has aged gracefully, her hair had more grays then before, but her face is just as smooth as before. The loving look in her eyes when she glanced at Gopi was still the same, yet Gopi's feet would not move forward to embrace the person who had been a mother to her for the first sixteen years of her life. The person who had thought her to believe in kanaji, who had thought her to cook at a very young age, who had been Gopi's role model for the most important years of her life.

Just then Gopi's father spoke up. "Raj you forget that this is my house and I will decide who stays and who goes." He said this with angry look towards Gopi. "You may not see it, but this girl has brought nothing but bad luck in this house, and I won't stand for her to be here for even one more minute, I suggest you ask her to leave, not your mami and Rashi. You forget that it is them who has been taking care of this house and me, while you left to live your own life, and now you want to come back and change things, well I didn't give you the permission to run my life or my household." Raj couldn't believe his father still refusing to see the truth.

"Fine dad, if this is what you want, I will not tell you how to run your household, but I will not stay here also. I will be moving out, you run your life the way you see fit, I won't interfere." His mami smirked at him for her victory. His father did not react, and after glaring at Gopi one last time left without trying to make Raj change his decision.

Raj turned towards his mami. "You may think you have won mami, but don't start celebrating yet, because you still won't get this house or its money and I will make sure of this. And another thing, I may be leaving but I will be keeping an eye on dad, so you better be sure that no harm comes to him, otherwise you and your family will pay for it." Urmila glared at Raj, twisted her mouth and dragged Rashi with her as she also left the room.

While everyone's attention was on the drama taking place in the Shah family, Ahem had eyes only for Gopi and gauging her reactions to the events taking place.

He hadn't liked it when she pulled away from him, but realized that was an unconscious move on her part, she had always stood alone while other people hurt her with their harsh words, or left her to stand alone to cope with the pain they caused her by abandoning her. Just then she looked at him and spoke softly. "Can we go home please?" Raj and Kakima turned towards her. Ahem frowned, he understood she wasn't ready to see Raj yet, but he was surprised at her refusal to acknowledge her kakima, whom she had asked the Mehta's about not too long ago. Then in next instant he realized that she associated people leaving her with deep-rooted fear of rejection. She may have not said anything when her kakima left, but she had felt rejected and abandoned by her also, and now once again she is distancing herself, just like she distance herself from him physically earlier.

He watched as her kakima came towards her. Gopi also watched her kakima approach her, showing none of her emotions. "Gopi, are you upset with your kakima?" Gopi slowly shook her head, unable to voice what she felt. She was afraid she was dreaming all this, and this was too much to cope with. She was once again faced with the two most important people of her young life, both whom had not been there when she needed them the most, and all of her pain and humiliation is laid out right in front of the third most important person in her life. She didn't want to see the pity on his face; she wished he hadn't been privy to the most humiliating part of her life, her father's hatred for her. She wanted to go home and cry her pain out in her maji's arms, the one person who had been aware of all the events of her life, the one person whom Gopi had been unable to hide anything from, except the humiliation caused by Ahem.

Gopi glanced at Ahem, her brother, then finally at kakima. She bent and took her kakima's blessings. Her Kakima caressed Gopi's face gently and stared at her with tears in her eyes. "How are you? You have grown into a very mature young woman, and are now married also. Are you happy?"

Ahem held his breath and waited for Gopi to answer. "I am fine, and yes I am happy." Gopi glanced at him daring him to say anything. He stood next to her and bent and took her kakima's blessing. She smiled at him and glanced at Gopi. "I am very happy for you dikra, and I can see that you finally have all the happiness you deserve." Kakima wiped her tears and turned towards Raj.

"Raj I am going home with the driver, bring your things over to our house, you can stay with us, then we will both find a place for us together." When Raj nodded, Kakima turned towards Gopi, "I will see you soon dikra, take care." She left after giving them one last look and smiling.

The silence after Kakima left was filled with tension. Gopi glanced at her brother, then at Ahem. He sighed and spoke to them directly. "When did you two meet?" Ahem and Raj glanced at each other with guilt written all over their faces and then at her. Ahem spoke up first. "We met yesterday, when your brother returned." He waited for her to blast him. But she just laughed bitterly. "What was it, lets see what we can do about Gopi meeting?" When Ahem started to speak, Gopi interrupted him. "No forget it, let's just go home, I take it you came to pick me up." She turned towards her brother. "It's nice to see you bhai, and welcome back." Gopi turned to walk out the door, but her brother's voice stopped her.

"Gopi!" She turned towards her brother, and was surprised to see sheen of tears in his eyes. "You can leave now, I won't stop you. I know you are angry with me, but I am coming to you tomorrow, since you won't come to me, for my Rakhi." Gopi glanced at Ahem helplessly, who just shrugged his shoulders. Gopi's shoulders also slumped in defeat. It seems the two of them have decided they will get her to forgive them and accept them in her life, and leave her no choice in the matter. She finally nodded her head slowly and walked out without looking back.

Raj smiled in relief then turned towards Ahem. "You will have to force her to talk about what happened here today, she won't say anything on her own, and keep it bottled up inside." Ahem nodded his head in agreement. "We will see you tomorrow." Ahem followed behind Gopi, while Raj left to pack his things.

Xxx

Ahem hurried towards his room, he needed to talk to Gopi before she fell asleep. The drive back home had been quiet, he had made several attempts to talk to her in the car, but she had not responded, she had gone to a place where he could not reach her. When they arrived home, she had immediately disappeared to kitchen, and all thru dinner she been quiet. No one, except him, had noticed the unusual lost look in her eyes.

After dinner, his kaka had wanted to speak to him about a project so they had immediately closed themselves off into the study, and it had taken longer than he anticipated, and now it was almost eleven o' clock, and he didn't want to take a chance on Gopi going to sleep before he could speak to her.

He sighed in relief when he saw her standing by the window, lost in thought. He quietly closed and locked the door. He waked towards her and stopped inches from her and quietly observed her. She looked sad and disconcerted. "Gopi, are you ok?" Ahem stepped closer to her, stood beside her and waited for her to answer him.

Gopi glanced at Ahem. She had been so lost in thought that she hadn't even heard him come in. She sighed, leaned her head on the windowpane, and starred back at him. "Tell me something Ahem, what am I missing?" When he looked back at her with puzzled expression, she continued. "I mean what is it about me, that makes you guys hate me so much? It is something I can't figure out."

He didn't know why but her question angered him. She had acted all calm since she left her father's house, but inside she must have been thinking about her father's words to her, and now they have taken a strong hold on her and if he didn't bring her back, she is going to be lost to them forever. "I don't know about your father, but I can promise you, your brother and I don't hate you. Yes we were swayed by wrong people and believed them instead of you, but that does not mean we hate you." He could see that he was not getting thru to her. He grabbed her and pulled her against him roughly.

"Does this feel like I hate you?" He didn't wait for her to answer, he brought his lips down to hers and kissed her roughly, she froze for a moment, then struggled to get out of his arms, he tightened his hold on her and softened the kiss. He felt her relax against him and finally put her arms around him. He felt her lips part slightly and he immediately deepened the kiss by tangling his tongue with hers. Pretty soon the kiss spiraled out of control. Somewhere in the recess of his mind, Ahem thought if he didn't stop soon, they would reach a point of no return. He didn't want to take her when she is in no condition to make the right decision. He forced the kiss on her to prove a point, but if he didn't stop soon, things will backfire on him.

Gopi had stopped thinking the moment she felt his lips soften on hers, she had lost all her senses when she felt him deepened the kiss. The moment they left her father's house, she had stopped feeling anything but fear. She had felt nothing but cold from the inside, she had feared she would never warm up again, but the instant Ahem took her in his arms she felt the warm feeling returning slowly.

Gopi tightened her arms around Ahem when she felt him start to pull away from her, she didn't want to loose the warmth of his arms around her, the more she tried to come closer to him, the more she felt him pull away from her. She came crashing down to her senses when she felt him stiffen in her arms. She froze, it seems she did it again, thrown herself at him, to be rejected once again, when will she learn? She dropped her arms to her side and took a few steps back, away from him. She couldn't look at him, so she turned away and took a few deep breaths to control her emotions, she did not want him to see the hurt in her eyes at his rejection.

The minute Gopi turned away from him, Ahem realized he just made things worst between them instead of making them better. Ahem Modi, you are a first class idiot. Ahem groaned when he heard the mocking voice in his head. He had thoroughly bungled things with Gopi, and now was he going to fix this? He took a step towards her, "Gopi…." She didn't let him finish. "Ahem I am really tired, can we talk about this some other time please?" she gave him a fleeting glance without meeting his eyes and walked towards the bed.

Ahem could not do anything but stand there and watch helplessly as she got in the bed and turned away from him. He wanted to kick himself for making her feel worst instead of better. Now he has to wait for tomorrow to explain to her why he pulled away from her. He walked out of the room to give her the space she asked for instead of getting in the bed beside her.

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I am afraid there might be some mistakes in the update, please forgive me. I was not too happy with this part, and I felt I rushed it a little, but I hope you liked it.😊