Hello Friends.
Again we would like to thank you all for all the great response.
Here it is the next part.
Enjoy!
Part 2
They both walked out the mandir together without saying anything. Ahem waited until they were outside before he stopped Gopi by placing his hand on her wrist. "Gopi, why didn't you tell me you were coming to the mandir?"
Gopi was not prepared to tell her Ahemji why she had really come to the mandir. She looked down at his hand on her wrist and felt her nerves tingling under his hand. Slow hum of electricity traveled up her arm. Her Ahemji's arm jerked and Gopi looked up at him. He was staring her intently.
When more people started coming out of the mandir he pulled her to the side. "Gopi, what is it? Tell me what is bothering you." Gopi tugged her arm free and thought about how to best answer her Ahemji without completely lying to him.
How can she tell him that she had come to pray for him and for her kanaji to keep his hand on her Ahemji and give him strength to face the new crisis in his life. She had thought long and hard last night about what Rashiben had said and realized that Anitaji's marriage was what had caused him so much distress the day before. She knew he will not share his pain with anyone. She prayed to her kanaji to give her strength to stand by him and support him as a friend.
She looked up at him and tried to smile. "I am sorry Ahemji I did not mean to worry you. I only wanted to come and thank kanaji for bringing our family unity back and to ask him to always bless us and continue to keep us all together."
Ahem knew it was more than that. He had seen the pain in her eyes before she lowered her lashes to hide it from him but he did not want to push her right now. He just wanted to see her sweet smile back and the sparkle in her eyes to return also. He nodded slowly. "Okay, come on. I will drop you home then go to the office."
Gopi hesitated. "Ahemji, you go on to the office, I will take the rickshaw back home."
Ahem looked at her steadily. "Gopi, I am taking you home first. Now come on or I will be really late ."
Gopi followed him to the car. Ahem opened the door for her and waited for her to settle in before closing the door and going around to the driver's side of the car.
The drive back to Modi Bhavan was silent. Ahem wanted to tell Gopi everything but he was afraid of bringing back painful memories by mentioning his past. If he mentioned Anita to her, she will immediately think back to the day he revealed that he only married her for his mom's sake. Also, he only loved Anita and she could never take Anita's place.
That would not be the only thing she would remember. She would also remember the most violent act of his life. His hands clenched on the stirring wheel. If he smashed his hand through the window at that very moment, the pain that it would cause him would not even be a tenth of the pain he caused her that day. He had not only caused her physical pain but he had taken her pride, self-confidence and self-esteem smashing them all under his feet. On that day he had instilled fear in her and made her out to be a liar and a gold digger.
As if that was not enough from that day on, he never failed to remind her that she was nothing to him. He abused and insulted her at every turn, even when she did the most courageous things to save his family from harm. She didn't even whimper at the pain it must have caused her. All the abuse and insults for his own sense of guilt at hurting and betraying someone, he thought he loved. Even after Anita's brother almost ruined his family's reputation, Ahem had been unable to completely let go of his guilt.
He had lived to work and to make sure that no one ever hurt his mom again. No one and nothing else had mattered to him except his mom. Until that one night when he heard Gopi crying bitterly because her dream of learning to read and write had come to an end. It was in that moment his journey of self-discovery and getting to know the real Gopi had started. He now realized how precious and important each moment had been. Now he wants to begin a new journey with her and hoped that he is able to prove to her that he loved her more than life and hoped that he was worthy of her love.
Ahem stopped in front of the house and waited for Gopi to say something. When she opened the door without even looking at him he stopped her.
"Gopi, are you not forgetting something?"
He waited for her to turn to him, he most especially liked the cute confused expression on her face. He smiled at her.
"You forgot to give me prasad."
She flushed at his reminder and immediately reached in the basket to offer him the ladoo. When he took the ladoo from her he was again reminded of Holi. He had a brief flash of coloring Gopi's rosy cheeks with color at the mandir in the house, but the memory was gone in blink of an eye.
Gopi waited for him say something, anything to give her a clue as to if he remembers what happened on Holi. When he gave no indication of remembering, brief flicker of hope that reflected in her expressive eyes died, leaving her eyes lackluster.
Ahem did not miss the light go out of her eyes leaving them lifeless and he knew her recent withdrawal from him had something to do with Holi. He just can't understand why he does not remember that day. "Jai Shree Krishna Ahemji." He heard Gopi's soft voice and nodded. His throat was clogged with emotions seeing the pain on her face that she tried to hide from him bravely. He watched until she was inside the gate before driving off.
Meanwhile Rashi was on cloud nine. She has discovered a way to make Gopi's life hell and she will leave no stone unturned this time to make sure Gopi is out of the house once and for all. She called her mother to find out if she has put the plan in motion for the next day. Her mother outlined the whole plan to Rashi. Only thing Rashi had to make sure that Kagdi did not get hold of the invitation card. Rashi couldn't wait to see the expressions on everyone's face the next day when they realize that they are attending Anita's wedding. Everything had to be timed just right in order for their plan to work. She had promised her mom that she will follow her instruction perfectly.
That evening at dinner the conversation turned to the wedding next day. Ahem stayed quiet and did not input his opinion. He did not want to attend the wedding, not because he couldn't see Anita get married but he did not want Gopi or his mom to know that Nilesh is marrying Anita. Seeing Anita will only bring back all the painful memories for both of them and he wanted to avoid going. "Kaka I don't think I will be able to attend the wedding tomorrow, I have an important meeting I need to attend and it might run late. May be only you, kaki, Jigar and Rashi should attend. He is a good friend of yours before becoming our business associate."
He didn't miss the sharp look his mom gave her or the surprised one from Gopi. Rashi was afraid her plan is going to fail and hoped that someone spoke up to make Ahemjiju go to the wedding. She noticed kakiji's disapproving look and relaxed. "Ahem that is not done. You heard what Baa said yesterday when Jayantibhai came to invite everyone. He was the first person to help your kaka and he insisted we all attend the wedding. Finish your meeting early or reschedule it, but you must attend the wedding."
Ahem couldn't do anything but agree with his mom's order and nodded reluctantly. "Ji mom, I will reschedule the meeting for the following day." His mom smiled at him approvingly but Gopi's expression was still pinched with worry.
Next evening the whole Modi parivaar gathered in the hall to attend the wedding. They were waiting only waiting for Rashi to join them. Ahem glanced at his watch impatiently. He wondered why it always took Rashi so long to get ready. Thank God Gopi didn't have the same problem. She was quick and efficient and he liked her simplicity way better than Rashi's glamorous look. He thought it was artificial anyway and one day it will all fade.
His mom glared towards Jigar who looked uncomfortable and he felt a sorry for his younger brother. Ahem wanted this night to be over as quickly as possible so he can move on with his life with Gopi. He knows he can't keep Gopi or his mom from seeing Anita and hoped that they both didn't assume that his distraction the past two days was due to the fact that he knew about Anita and was upset because she is getting married.
They arrived at the wedding venue just as Anita was going in the main hall with her friends. He wouldn't be human if he said he didn't feel the twinge of regret after seeing Anita in a wedding dress. But his regret is for not realizing his true feelings about their relationship until recently. If he had thought back a year and half ago he would have saved her and Gopi both lot of heartache. He had been too angry at the time to think straight but now he knew what is right and what is wrong.
He turned his head to see his mom looking at him sharply and Gopi standing still as a statue with her head down. He realized they misinterpreted his expression but there was no way to reassure either of them at that moment. Ahem relaxed a little when Anita's friends nudged her to hurry as the photographer was waiting for them.
Gopi did not hear anything after seeing her Ahemji look at Anitaji with so much regret on his face. She realized all her hopes and dreams just turned into a dust. She felt a loud roaring in her ears and it took her a moment to realize her maji was calling out to her softly.
Koki could not believe what she was seeing. Seeing Anita again was shocking enough but the expression on her son's face made her heart shatter in thousand pieces. She put her pain aside and glanced at her Gopi vahu and realized she knew all about Anita and Ahem. She felt sting of tears in her eyes seeing the total devastation on her vahu's face. She was pale as a ghost and looking lost as a child would. When she swayed on her feet Koki quickly caught her arm to steady her. Koki didn't know how to console her vahu. Gopi looked up at her with blank expressions in her eyes.
"Gopi vahu?'
"Ji Maji."
Koki shook her head and looked around her.
"Rashi!" she spoke sharply, "take Gopi vahu out for fresh air, she is not feeling well."
Koki thought this would give Gopi few minutes to compose herself. She looked around to see her son watching Gopi with worried expression but did not feel like consoling him at the moment.
"Ahem, why don't you go join your kaka and Jigar."
She told him sharply and waited for him to leave.
Rashi smirked. How lucky for her that she didn't have to invent an excuse to take Gopi away. This fit perfectly into their plan. She took Gopi outside.
"Gopi wait right here, I will go get some water for you."
She didn't wait to see if Gopi heard her or not and escaped from there to call her mom. Once she told Urmila, the timing is perfect she went to stand by the door to see where Ahem was and what he was doing. Her whole face lit up when Ahem pulled out his phone and read the text sent by someone anonymously. She knew what the text would be about. Anita would have gotten the message sent to her by now, so now it's time for Rashi to find the groom's mother.
Ahem frowned when he read the text, he didn't check who had sent it. When he read Gopi needed him outside in the garden he moved quickly. Once outside he looked around but could not spot Gopi. He looked but could not see her anywhere so decided to go back in the hall. He turned and ran right into someone and froze when he realized it was Anita.
"What are you doing her Anita?"
Anita was shocked also. She had received a message saying the photographer wanted to take the bride and groom's picture in the garden so she had come outside to find no one was there. Just as she looked further in the garden someone bumped into her and she was shocked to realize it was Ahem.
As soon as Anita recognized who it was holding her, she forgot the fact that she is to be married in little while. This was her first love, the only man she ever loved. She held on to him tighter when he tried to pull away, but came to her senses when one of her friends called out to her. She moved back quickly towards the hall, not realizing the small encounter was witnessed by the woman standing by the back entrance of the hall.
Ahem frowned thinking what just happened. He turned to go back to the hall and froze when he saw a familiar figure walking quickly towards the hall.
"Gopi!"
He called out to her and to his relief she stopped. He walked over to her and looked at her bent head.
"Are you feeling okay?"
Gopi bit the corner of her lip to control her tears and nodded her head.
"Ji."
In the next moment she felt dizzy and swayed on her feet.
Ahem saw Gopi staggering and caught her arm.
"You are not okay at all, come with me."
He took her arm and walked to the front of the hall. He made her sit on one of the benches outside then pulled out his phone and called Jigar.
"Jigar come outside for a minute."
He hung up the phone and looked back at Gopi. He wanted to explain to her about Anita but knew she was not in the right frame of mind to listen to him. He can imagine where her mind was right at this moment.
He turned back towards the doors as they opened and Jigar rushed out.
"Bhai is everything okay?"
He asked as soon as he saw his bhabhi sitting on the bench quietly and the worried expression of his bhai. Ahem glanced at Gopi then back at Jigar.
"Yes Jigar everything is fine. Gopi is not feeling well so I am taking her home. I will send the driver back with the car. Please let everyone know so they don't worry."
Jigar glanced at his bhabhi worriedly but nodded to his bhai.
"Okay bhai you go ahead and don't worry I will let kakiji know that you took bhabhi home."
Ahem nodded and helped Gopi to stand. He held her arm as they walked towards the car. Jigar watched them leave and went back inside, only to stop suddenly to see the drama unfolding in the wedding hall.
Rashi stood to the side and smiled gleefully when Nilesh's mother shouted that this wedding will not take place shocking everyone into silence. She further went and accused Anita of duping them into believing that she would make them a ideal daughter-in-law, but that is not the truth.
Nilesh's mom was unstoppable and she refused to listen to any excuse from Anita's parents, she told them she herself saw their daughter in the arms of another man just few minutes ago. She told them they had ignored the phone call they received the night before. They should have listened to the person on the phone and broke the marriage right away, instead of facing this type of humiliation at the hands of their daughter. She told everyone to leave because the marriage will not take place.
Within the few minutes the hall emptied of wedding guests. Only Anita's parent, her few friends and Modi's remained too shocked to move. Koki was sure her son was the one that the woman saw with Anita. She looked around for Ahem but could not see him or Gopi vahu.
"Jigar, where is Ahem?" she asked softly.
Jigar gave his kaki an understanding look.
"Kakiji, bhabhi was not feeling well so bhai took her home."
Koki was relieved to hear this.
"Theek hai, take everyone outside I will join you in few moments."
Jigar took signaled Rashi to follow him. Rashi wanted to stay and see what kakiji was about to do but didn't have a good reason to stay behind so she walked out reluctantly. Koki walked towards Anita and her parents.
At Modi Bhavan, Ahem was really worried for Gopi. She hadn't uttered a word to him when they came home. If he asked her something she either didn't answer or only answered in yes or no. She was lying on the bed with her back to him but he was sure she was not sleeping. He wished he could have spared her this but knew that eventually he will be able to explain to her and make her understand.
Next morning Ahem woke up from another restless night of sleep. He looked around and was not surprised to see Gopi gone. He glanced at the bed and saw that his clothes were laid out for him as usual. He got up to get ready and head down for breakfast. He was sure Gopi would not bring him his tea today.
Forty-five minutes later he walked to the table to see the family had already started breakfast. He frowned at the quietness of his family but shrugged it off. He ate his breakfast quickly and stood up to bid everyone good day. His wife was avoiding him but at the moment it was fine with him. She needed time to come to terms with everything then they will talk.
The doorbell rang just as he entered the hall. He saw Gopi rush to the door to open it and walked towards her. He had reached her just as she opened the door and was shocked to see Anita on their doorstep.
"Anita! You? Here?" He asked sharply.
*~+~*
CID
