*Rabir FF: True Love...Note, Chap 55 @ pg 143, 145 (2/1) - Page 83

Originally posted by: prachi_vrushan

nice update

Excited for next part Nivi. Hope you post today.

Originally posted by: RaBir

Excited for next part Nivi. Hope you post today.

Sorry Poonam. Aaj nahi hoga, I have a headache so I wasn't able to finish the update today. I'll try to post tomorrow.

Originally posted by: nividances

Sorry Poonam. Aaj nahi hoga, I have a headache so I wasn't able to finish the update today. I'll try to post tomorrow.

Kal milega? Pakka? Will be waiting.

awesome update

Originally posted by: RaBir

Kal milega? Pakka? Will be waiting.

Originally posted by: meenu_taarey

awesome update

very well written

update soon npm me

take care

Please excuse any errors. I didn't have time to edit.

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Chapter 46:

"You gave him a poisonous injection and then hired someone to bury him in a deserted place. Somewhere near the outskirts of Pune, right?" Rachna spoke softly, as though she was thinking out loud.

Everyone in the room looked towards Rachna, surprised by her statement.

"How do you know it was near Pune Rachna?" Kabir stared at his wife incredulously, confused by how she could possibly know anything related to his father's attempted murder.

"Kabir, the moment I saw your father, I couldn't help but vaguely feel that I had seen him somewhere before too. It was only when I heard the bit about the injection that I remembered something...now that I think about it... from...just...about...13 years ago." Rachna finished her thoughts slowly, as she tried to recall the exact details of the day she was referring to.

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"Mummy, when we get home, can I invite Chaya over for a sleepover?"

The Garg family was driving home after spending the entire day volunteering together at an orphanage in Pune, where they had organized a charity lunch on the occasion of Rachna's birthday, as was customary. Shail turned to face a 12 year old Rachna in the backseat of the car. Pihu was sitting next to her sister and was fully engrossed into her books, preparing for her upcoming board exams.

"Sleepover? But you have your exams coming up in less than 2 weeks Rachna. You should be studying every day from now until then. Look at Pihu, she hasn't put her books down for even a minute in the last month."

Rachna frowned as she stuck her tongue out at Pihu, who ignored her little sister and continued to memorize the formulas in her study guide. "But mummy it's my birthday! At least let me have some fun today. I promise I'll do nothing but study starting tomorrow."

Shail smiled as she nudged her husband Dayal, who was chuckling to himself at his younger daughter's antics. Keeping his eyes on the road as he drove towards Mumbai, he nodded to give his permission for the sleepover.

"Okay Rachna, but you have to keep your word. Sleepover tonight means only studying non-stop for the next 13 days until exams start. Promise beta?"

Rachna leaned forward and wrapped her hands around the passenger seat in front of her, as she gave her mother a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you mummy! I promise."

Rachna sat back into her seat comfortably and excitedly began planning all the things she would do with Chaya that night. Suddenly, Dayal floored the breaks, causing the car to come to a screeching stop. After making sure that everyone in the car was okay, Dayal got out of the car and walked to the side of the road, where he had caught a glimpse of something startling. Moving closer to the edge of the road, Dayal looked down into the deep ravine that bordered the highway and was shocked to see someone dropping off what appeared to be a dead body and attempting to cover it with the fallen leaves on the ground. The mysterious man, unaware that he was being watched, then ran off to drive away in a jeep that was parked a few hundred meters ahead of where Dayal was hiding behind a tree and watching the suspicious events take place.

It was dusk and the sun was about to set, so Dayal grabbed a flashlight from the car without a word, despite Shail's barrage of questions, and ran down into the ravine to take a closer look. Pushing away the leaves to uncover the cold, limp body of a middle-aged man, Dayal immediately checked for a pulse and any signs of physical injury. A quick inspection revealed a very weak pulse, shallow breathing, and what appeared to be a small stab wound on the forearm. Dayal realized quickly that the man had a very slight chance of survival if he wasn't taken care of straightaway. Instinctually, he ran back to the car to get his wife and the first aid kit, better termed the Garg mobile pharmacy, which was always stored in the car and kept stocked with a variety of medical supplies. Reassuring the two girls that they would be back soon and locking the doors of the car for safety, Shail and Dayal focused on treating the stranger to the best of their ability with the limited resources they had.

"I don't know what he could have been injected with Shail. It seems like some sort of foul play is involved after seeing that man bury this patient in the leaves and drive away. We should call an ambulance and take him over to the hospital."

Shail nodded to agree with her husband, but lines of worry remained etched onto her forehead. "But the girls? We should get them home. I don't want them to be affected by all this."

Dayal called a colleague of his from a nearby local hospital and asked for an ambulance to be dispatched urgently. He described the location of where they were to the best of his knowledge and hung up to phone, putting his attention back towards Shail.

"Okay, I've called the ambulance; it should be here shortly. I'll stay here and deal with the situation, while you drive the girls home."

"Nahi ji. I'm not going to let you get involved in this mess alone. I'll just call Sneha and she can take Rachna and Pihu to her house for the night. She wanted to celebrate Rachna's birthday with her anyways."

Rachna watched from the window of the car as the ambulance arrived with flashing lights and beeping sirens. Pihu remained absorbed in her books and became irritated when Rachna poked her continuously to get her attention.

"What Rachna? Leave me alone and let me study."

"Look Pihu didi. There's an ambulance here. What could have happened?"

Pihu looked out the window and observed that her sister's words were indeed true; an ambulance was parked some ways ahead of the Garg's car. The two sisters looked on with intrigue as the paramedics loaded a man into the back of the ambulance and their father followed suit. Rolling down the window of the car slightly, Rachna and Pihu tried to understand what was going on from the bits and pieces of the conversation that they could hear. Rachna only heard complicated medical terminology that she couldn't quite make sense of, though Pihu nodded affirmatively like she could understand everything that was being said. Seeing their mother glance in their direction with a stern look, Rachna quickly rolled up the window and whispered to Pihu.

"What's going on Pihu didi? I couldn't understand anything that papa or mummy were saying."

Pihu rolled her eyes at her younger sister and tried to distill the information into words that Rachna could somewhat understand. "Basically, that man who they just loaded into the ambulance was injected with some sort of poison. Mummy and papa were trying to figure out what it could be. They're trying to flush the poison out of the man's body but the only real treatment is to give him the antidote to the poison. Get it?"

Rachna nodded slowly, as her curious mind began whirring with thoughts. "But Pihu didi, why did the man inject himself with poison? Do you think he was...you know...trying to...kill himself? Or did someone...purposely..."

"I don't know Rachna! Should I go interview the almost dead man and ask him?"

Pihu taunted her little sister with a glare. Rachna frowned and stuck her tongue out at Pihu, who shook her head and went back to her books. Rachna looked out at the scene in front of her and saw the ambulance driving away, while her mother walked back towards the car and sat in the driver's seat.

"Mummy, what happened?"

Shail turned around to face Rachna, who was staring at her with wide eyes, and answered the question calmly. "Nothing that you need to worry about Rachna beta. Anyways kiddos, slight change of plans. Sneha is coming to pick you two up and you'll spend the night at her house while papa and I finish up some work at the hospital. Sound okay?"

Pihu continued studying with a nod of indifference at the new plans, while Rachna looked at her mother with a curious expression. "Mummy, that uncle's face looked all blue and my teacher said that someone's face becomes blue when they stop breathing. So is that uncle not breathing mummy? Does that mean he is..."

Shail stroked Rachna's cheek and cut her daughter off before she could finish the sentence. "Papa and I will try our hardest to save that man Rachna. But you don't think too much about this okay? Look, Sneha's here; I'm sure she has something fun planned for you."

Sneha's car pulled up in front of Shail's and Rachna quickly jumped out of her seat to greet her most favorite person. Rachna gave Sneha a big hug and took her place in the backseat of the car, where Gunjan was already seated and excited at the prospect of having a sleepover with her two older sisters. Pihu took her place in the front seat with her pile of books, while Sneha talked in hushed tones with Shail for a few minutes. Sneha came back into the car and the four girls began their drive to Sneha's house, where the remainder of Rachna's birthday was spent watching movies, playing games, and eating cake.

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A few weeks later, Shail smiled as she greeted Sneha at the door and let her into the house.

"Come sit Sneha. Rachna and Gunjan just went out to into the backyard with Pihu, so let Gunjan stay here for a bit longer. In the meantime, how about we enjoy some coffee?"

Sneha nodded, placing her purse down on the kitchen counter and rubbing the back of her neck.

"Long day?"

"Don't ask didi. It was just way too hectic. It's days like this that make me want to quit my job at the hospital and just become a stay-at-home mom. You're so lucky that you can choose your hours at the clinic."

Shail laughed as she handed Sneha her coffee. The two sisters exited the kitchen and sat together in the living room to chat.

"You exaggerate too much. You love your job and you know it. You wouldn't trade it for anything."

Sneha smiled at the truth behind Shail's words. "I do love it, but I hate the mountain loads of paperwork that are involved. I mean I'm a doctor so let me treat the patients; why do I have to be responsible for making sure that all the insurance-related papers and police complaints are sorted before I see the patient? It really irks me didi."

Shail nodded in agreement. "Yeah I agree, it's a hassle. Thankfully there's not as much paperwork involved in pediatrics."

"Hmmm, lucky you." Sneha mocked her sister, teasingly. The two sisters sipped their coffee in silence before Sneha re-initiated the conversation.

"Oh didi, whatever happened to that man that you and jija ji found a few weeks ago? Did he recover?"

"Yes and no. I mean we were thankfully able to figure out what poison he had been injected with after a quick blood test so we gave him the correct antidote. Luckily the dose of pentaorbital he had been given was too low for it to be lethal, but it was enough to paralyze him. He will have to remain in the ICU on life support until he comes out of the coma. We're doing the best to treat him, but it's like he himself doesn't want to survive; it's almost like he is in a state of shock. It does seem like the intention of the person that injected him was to kill. The hospital authorities have contacted the police since it looks like an attempted murder case, but so far no word yet on who he is or what happened with him. Hopefully they get some new information soon."

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The next week, Rachna picked up the ringing phone and found herself to be a part of a conference call, listening to a conversation between her parents. She quickly realized that her mother had already picked up the other extension in the kitchen. Just as she was about to put down the phone, she heard something that made her intrigued, so Rachna covered the mouthpiece of the phone and continued to listen to the phone call silently.

"Yes Shail, they're shifting him to a private nursing home next week. He's come out of the coma so he no longer needs to be on life support, but he's paralyzed completely from the neck down so he will need constant supervision and medical attention."

"That's good to hear; at least he is well enough to shift into a nursing home. So did the police ever figure out who he is? Did they contact his family?"

"Yeah, I think the police managed to contact his lawyer. Apparently he's a well-known businessman here in Mumbai, but it's odd that there haven't been any news reports about his disappearance or attempted murder. I guess the family doesn't want the news to get out. I haven't met the family; I don't think they've come to visit him even once. But I did meet his lawyer this morning to sort out all the related paper work; he seemed a bit young actually but quite professional nonetheless."

"Chalo, at least he will be taken care of by someone now. By the way, what did you say his name was?"

A tap on the shoulder caused Rachna to jump and drop the phone. Turning around, Rachna saw Pihu standing over her and glaring.

"What do you think you were doing little missy?"

"Nothing Pihu didi. I was just...oh look at the time. I should go finish up my homework." Rachna ran off into her bedroom, while Pihu shook her head disapprovingly.

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"I didn't hear the name of the person that mummy and papa were talking about, but knowing everything that I do now, I'm sure it was..."

Rachna trailed off as her eyes gravitated towards her father-in-law, who was sitting next to Karan on the couch completely expressionless. Kabir looked at Rachna with shock, coming to the unexpected realization that it had been her parents who had saved his father's life all those years ago.

It seems that destiny had begun to build the path for a love story that would begin in Benaras exactly 10 years later, joining together two strangers who were already unknowingly seamlessly entwined together by the darkness of their individual pasts.

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❤️ Nivi

Well done Nivi, I would never have expected this twist! So happy to have read this before I headed off to sleep!

Originally posted by: crtkelly

Well done Nivi, I would never have expected this twist! So happy to have read this before I headed off to sleep!

Hope you are working on the next update😉

thanks for PM