SS: To Belong Part *Note on page 70* - Page 15

Part 5A

Half hour later Gopi turned on her back. She felt tired but was unable to keep the memories of the past at bay.

FB...

Six weeks after her accident Gopi felt as though she was back to her normal self.

On this day she woke up at her usual five am. She sat up and glanced at her husband, she smiled seeing his relaxed face. The first thing she did every morning when she woke up was glance at him. Once she saw that he was still on the bed she relaxed.

Gopi said a quick prayer to her Kanaji and got up front the bed to get ready for the day. Once she was ready she went to the kitchen to get the vessel for milk.

"Gopi vahu?" she turned to see her maji and Kakiji at the kitchen door. She went towards them. "Jai Shree Krishna kakiji, Jai Shree Krishna maji." She said with a smile. Hetal kaki smiled at her widely, while her maji smiled her tender smile and caressed her head gently.

Koki was so proud of her vahu, but worried still. "Gopi vahu, why are you up so early? I know the doctor said you could resume your normal routine, but that doesn't mean you have to start the very next day." Koki felt her Motabhabhi put her hand on her shoulder.

Gopi's heart swelled at her maji's words. She felt so loved by these two women that she didn't even miss her parents during her recovery. "Maji I am fine, I am tired of sitting around idly, I want to get back to my routine." She gave them a pleading smile.

Hetal kaki chuckled. "Kokila let her help, now that she is feeling better she won't rest at all." she turned to Gopi. "Gopi dikra do the work, but don't overdo it, if you feel tired then be sure to rest." Gopi readily agreed. With this the three women started their daily work.

By the time the rest of the household woke up and came down they had finished preparing most of the things for the Pooja that was to take place later in the day.

When rest of the family came for breakfast they were all, except for Rashi, pleasantly surprised to see Gopi coming out of the kitchen.

Everyone praised her for making the great breakfast and also commented how they had missed her cooking. Jigar glanced at Ahem and with a smile teased Gopi. "Yeah Bhabhi, I think Bhai is enjoying his green tea after a long time" Everyone smiled when Gopi and Ahem both blushed.

Rashi glared at Jigar then at Gopi. When no one said anything to her she left the table in a huff. The family was used to her disrespect, but Gopi was startled by het sister's attitude. She looked at Jigar worriedly but he just smiled at her.

She thought her Rashiben had changed for better, but then why was the family ignoring her? She had noticed the family being standoffish to her sister but she thought they needed more time to realize that Rashiben had changed for the better.

Ahem sighed when he saw Gopi glanced after Rashi worriedly. His family hadn't wanted to stress Gopi while she was recovering, so they haven't revealed all the tricks she tried to play on Gopi to make herself look good in front of the family. More than once the result of one of Rashi's tricks might have landed Gopi back in the hospital, but none of them had wanted to hurt Gopi by revealing that the person she trusts so much and just about begged Koki to bring back to the house, doesn't even have an ounce of sympathy for her.

They had all hoped that Rashi would come to her senses, but all of their hopes have been dashed. Jigar didn't care for Rashi at all anymore, and rest of the family didn't care either. They would have kicked Rashi out of the house again, but only thought of Gopi stopped them all for taking any action.

Ahem did not know how Gopi will react if she ever finds out about her sister and also about her Mami's reluctance to donate blood to her when she was fighting for her life. He put his thoughts aside for now, he will have to speak to his mom and Kaki about making sure Gopi continues to be careful. He turned to his mom. "Mom I am going to the office for few hours, I will be in time for the Pooja." He then glanced at Gopi. "Gopi take it easy, don't over do it, and don't forget to take your medicines, you still have to continue with those for few more weeks." She smiled at him and nodded shyly. He wanted to reassure her about Rashi but thought better of it and got up from the table. "Bhai, I am also coming with you." He stopped when Jigar spoke up. He told Jigar to meet him at the car, gave Gopi one last glance then left.

Present..

Gopi sat up, giving up trying to sleep while her mind was churning with the memories of the past. That day, months ago, had changed the whole course of her life, it had started out on happy note. Everything had gone perfect for the rest of the day.

Ahem had rushed home just before the guest started arriving, and had been pleased to see that she had his clothes all set out. He asked her to make him a cup of tea while he changed. Once he was ready, they had come down to together, and everyone had commented on how good they looked together.

During the Pooja she had thanked Kanaji for bringing her so much happiness and wonderful family that loved her. She had also thanked him for granting her a husband like Ahem, who had stood by her during her recovery. He had been truly loving and caring husband during her time of recovery. She thought he had come to love her, but it wasn't until the next day that she found out what she thought was love, had only been guilt and responsibility on his part.

In the course of twenty-four hours her belief in her sister and her belief that her husband loved her had been disillusioned.

Ahem paced the terrace slowly, lost in the past. How had he let things go so far? In his need to keep his distance and to prevent Gopi from finding out how attracted to her he had been from the beginning he had gone so far that she had started to fear him.

It wasn't until he started to teach her that, he started to know her well, even then he had kept his distance, but her determination to learn had impressed him and he couldn't help but help her. He always knew his wife was timid, but when she believed in something she didn't let her inability to voice her opinion, even if it make her stammer and take long time to voice that opinion, and usually whatever opinion she voices it is usually wise.

When she disappeared on Janmasthami, he had been scared and he thought it was because his mom was worried for her, yet when she came back with the Kanaji idol he had felt as though his world was back to normal. The feeling was completely different from the feelings he had when she disappeared in Switzerland.

Her tears and pain on her birthday had moved him. He had realized how lonely she must have felt all these years, especially after seeing how her mami had treated her. He had slowly started to realize that his wife's life hadn't been all bed of roses, and his belief had been confirmed after listening to his mom's conversation with Gopi.

He had promised himself that day that he would do best to be civil to her and not show his anger on her. His promise hadn't lasted long, first time something went wrong he had taken his anger out on her, but she never said anything and continued to do her duty.

Things did get better, but Rashi's truth came out and that changed everything. He realized that Gopi may be uneducated, but she was a much better person than his selfish sister in law. Her loyalty is priceless, even after Rashi's truth came out she continued to stand by her. She even faced his mom's anger for her sister.

When Rashi was kidnapped, he agreed to let her go with the money and promised he would be there with her every step of the way as her shadow. Things had gone well until the goons got greedy and wanted to keep Gopi to get more money, and he couldn't let that happen, and his impulsive decision had almost killed her. When he had seen the ceiling and poles fall on her he had felt his world turn upside down.

The hours spent in the hospital waiting to find out whether she will survive or not had been the worst for him. He had felt helpless upon not finding her blood type, and anger when he found out they could have saved precious time, if her aunt wasn't a selfish woman.

He had been willing to promise anything to anyone, if they could just find her blood type. He had felt as though his life was slipping thru his fingertips, and only thing he could do was stand there and watch. Even after she came thru the surgery the doctor were not sure she would make it, and when she didn't wake up he couldn't accept that and had taken the matters into his own hands. He shouted at her, pleaded and just plain demanded for her to wake up, and finally she had.

During her recovery he continued to stay by her side. His mother, at first couldn't understand his behavior, and worried that he was neglecting his work, but once she realized Rashi was up to her old tricks she had relented and even supported him.

He doesn't remember at what point he fell in love with her, but it was during this time that he realized he loved his wife, and what he thought of as guilt and responsibility was actually love for his wife and fear that he would loose her forever. Unfortunately for him, his fear had reared its ugly head and he had pulled back from her instead of confessing his love.

His perfectionist personality, his ego and his need to stay in control had made him loose the most precious thing in his life. His belief in relationships also contributed to his fear. One thing had been hammered into his head over and over. "Ahem don't let others see your pain, don't show your feelings, the minute you do, you loose control of your life. Never show them what you want from them, but let them show you what they want from you." At the time when he was being thought to be strong and always stay in control his mom's aim had been to not let him become like his father, soft.

He had taken his mom's lesson and applied to all aspects of his life instead of just the business side of it, and she had not wanted this, but he had realized it too late.

Ahem leaned against the wall and looked down at the garden. He had been an arrogant idiot. Rashi's truth had caused enough damage to her heart and self-esteem, but he had destroyed what was left of that self-esteem. He had shattered her hopes and dreams, making her believe that what her mami said about her was the truth.

The clock struck eleven o'clock yet the two restless souls in the house had yet to rest. They were both lost in the memories of the past.

FB.

Gopi followed her cousin to the kitchen. She had noticed Rashi upset face during the Pooja and when everyone was blessing Gopi. When her Maji gifted her the necklace set, Gopi had seen her sister's anger and had wondered why Rashiben had not been happy for her.

All the guests had left only her mama and mami had stayed at Mami's insistence. Gopi hesitated when she saw her sister banging things around and muttering to herself. "Rashiben?" Gopi called out to her softly, Rashi turned towards her and glared but didn't reply. Gopi wondered why her sister was mad at her. "Rashiben, are you okay? Has something happened?"

Rashi slammed the vessels on the counter and turned to Gopi in anger. "What difference does it make Gopi? Why don't you go enjoy yourself. Go listen to them praise you and your deeds over and over. You should be happy, after all you are getting all the attention while they all hate me." Gopi was shocked to see her sister talk to her in this way after a long time.

Gopi had thought that her sister had started to care for her after the accident, but it looks as though she hates Gopi even more than before.

Gopi felt someone push her away from her Rashiben. She slammed into the counter and knocked something to the floor. The noise was heard in the hall and all rushed to see what happened.

The three people in the kitchen were oblivious to their audience. Two had their back to the hall door and the other was too shocked to notice anything.

Gopi looked up to see her mami standing in front of her glaring at her. She turned to Rashi with questioning eyes. Her mami grabbed her arm hard. "Don't look at my dikra, look at me, you have brought nothing but bad luck for us since the day you came into our house, and now you are acting all innocent after ruining my daughter's life."

Gopi was confused. "But Mamiji, I didn't do anything, please tell me what has happened." She tried to free her arm from her Mami's grip.

No one moved, everyone was frozen in place too shocked to move. Just when they thought Urmi couldn't get any worst, she opened her mouth and proved them all wrong.

Urmi was not in the mood to listen to anyone after seeing how her daughter was being treated. "You never do anything! First you snatched my daughter's rishta, then after some hard work and planning I finally get my daughter married in this house, but of course no one could see past your innocent act. No matter what we did to make you look bad in front of these Modi's they forgave you." Gopi knew her mami didn't like her, but she never thought that her mami hated her to this extent. Her mami was listing all that they did to get Gopi out of the house. Setting up the cooker incident, paying the snake charmer to release the snake so it could bite Gopi, and making her wash the laptop. Those were some of the big things they did in the beginning.

"Rashiben please tell me this is not true." Gopi couldn't believe that her sister could do this to her.

Rashi turned to Gopi. "It's the truth Gopi. I wanted to be the older DIL of this house, but you got that spot, so I decided I will not let you stay in this house happily either. I wanted to make sure your husband hates you and kicks you out. So I even encouraged you to decorate his room as thank you, knowing that Ahem jiju would hate you for it and it worked too didn't it? He will never love you. And then when you left I felt relieved, but Nani came and you were brought back the very next day and then your Maji would not let you go, even after Nani left. I continued to try to get you to leave, even made you think Anita's ghost was after jiju, so he could get irritated with you, or declare you crazy to get you out of the house." Both Urmi and Rashi smiled at her evilly.

"Now I wished you had died that day, I don't know why I made mom donate the blood. All of our problems would have ended on that day." Gopi was numb with shock. She felt a strange roaring in her head. All she heard was "I wish you had died." Again and again, she was oblivious to the family rushing in at that point. She felt so cold; she was shaking uncontrollably.

In the next moment she felt warmth surrounding her, but felt nothing else, her mind had gone blank, she felt the wetness of her tears, but no sound was getting to her.

Koki was unable to control her temper at Rashi's words. Her first thought was for her vahu only, but when she saw Ahem reach her first and pull her in his arms she relaxed and turned to Urmila and Rashi she opened her mouth to blast them, but seeing Jigar slap Rashi across her face stopped her.

The family stood back and let their two sons decide how to handle their wives. "How dare you Rashi, do you even know if it wasn't for Gopi bhabhi, you would not have come back to this house. If Gopi bhabhi hadn't talked Kakji in to bringing you back, you would have still been at your mom's house trying to scheme. You will never change. You are my life's biggest mistake."

Rashi's temper flared. "How dare you hit me, all of a sudden you are acting like a man, but you are a wimp. You let your brother push you around and talk to you in anyway he sees fit. You and your wimp of mother are the same. She also let's this woman," pointing to Koki, "push her around, when she should be the one to rule this house she is the older DIL. You are not the one who made the mistake I am the one who made the mistake. I could have done lot better than you."

"Shut up Rashi, if this is how you feel then go and do better, but I want you out of this house right now, and I don't ever want to see your face again, get out." Jigar told her angrily.

Urmila twisted her mouth. "Ha, we are leaving, anyway, I was going to take my daughter with me today. She has gotten a big modeling contract, she doesn't need the Modi's anymore." She grabbed Rashi's hand and walked out. She stopped in front of Jeetubhai, who was too stunned to move or say anything. "We are leaving, Rashi and I will wait for you outside." She turned and glared at the Modi family one more time before walking out.

Jeetubhai moved forward slowly, he put his trembling hands together and bowed his head in front of the Modi family. He never felt so ashamed in his life. "Chiragji, Paragji, please forgive me, if I had known about all this.." he trailed of and shook his head because truthfully, even if had known he wouldn't have been able to stop his wife and daughter's hatred. He glances to his niece who was clinging to her husband, tears flowing from her eyes, but they were blank. She has detached her self from reality so to control her pain.

Jeetubhai moved to stand in front of Gopi. He put his hand on her head. "Gopi dikra please forgive your mama, this all happened because of me. I should have stopped your mami the first time she was cruel to you. I should have stood up for you, not let her treat you harshly. I should have stopped her when she used your father's pension money for Rashi. Your Kanaji will never forgive me for turning my head away every time she abused you."

Gopi slowly started coming to her sense when she heard her mamaji say her name. He looked defeated and ashamed. "Mamaji "she called out softly, she moved from the warmth and threw herself in her mamaji's arms. "Nahi Mamaji, don't say that, it is not your fault, you didn't do anything wrong." Jeetubhai moved back.

He faced the Modi family. "Please take care of my dikri, she has been thru so much hardship in her short life." He blessed Gopi one more time and left the kitchen.

Gopi couldn't control her tears as she saw her Mama's slumped posture walk out of the kitchen. Koki and Hetal moved towards her. Koki pulled Gopi to her. "Gopi vahu, don't cry. Everything happens for a reason, I know it's hard for you now, and you've been hurt, but just leave everything to your Kanaji, and as always he will show you the way." She turned to her son. "Ahem dikra take Gopi vahu to your room, she needs to rest." Gopi straightened up. "Nahi maji, it's okay I will help you and Kakiji with the clean up."

"Gopi dikra, Kokila is right, you have been working hard all day, and you are not yet hundred percent better, you still need to be careful. Go rest, we will take care of the work." Gopi looked at Ahem and nodded reluctantly. He took her hand and walked out with her to go to their room.

Rashi paced back and forth in front of the Modi Bhavan gates. "Mummy I am not going to leave Jigarji, how dare he slap me in front of everyone. What does he think of himself? She stopped in front of her mother and started scolding her also. "And why didn't you let me get my things before dragging me out of there?" She wanted to hit something or someone. She has never been so humiliated.

Urmila tried to calm her daughter. "Rashi, stay calm, you don't need any of those things now. Remember when you came to visit me last week?" Rashi nodded her head; she didn't know what her mom was talking about. "The agent asked me if you would model in Kinjal's place, since Kinjal was getting too demanding lately and I said yes right away, and even got a contract for you." Urmi said with excitement.

Rashi was elated, but still had doubts. "Are you sure mummy, I never modeled before, why would they take me without any experience?"

Urmila reassured her. "Don't worry about all that, I told them you never modeled before, but they said it was okay, they can help you with all that. You start day after tomorrow. I wanted to tell you all day, but that Kagdi kept her eyes on us all day. Finally we are free of your wimp husband and that gawar also." She grabbed Rashi's hand to signal her to be quiet when she saw her husband come out of Modi Bhavan.

Present'

Gopi sighed and sat on the bed again. She had relieved those twenty-four hours many times, and every time they left her confused and hurt. Where did she go wrong? What is it about her that made people that she loved the most turn away from her? She lay back on the bed to try to sleep, but in the next moment sharp pain in her leg made her yelp.

Ahem walked back to his room slowly, he hoped Gopi was asleep by now. He had left because he knew she would feel uncomfortable sleeping next to him, and he didn't want to distress her further. He had just reached the door, when he heard her cry out in pain. He rushed into the room to see her sitting up in the bed rubbing her right leg.

*~+~*

I wanted to Post it all together, but it was too long, so I had to split it and show what Rashi did first, the next one will be what Ahem did.