A Fresh Start- An Abhigya Fanfiction Episode 4

A phone is seen ringing…with an unknown dialer tone and an international number appears on the screen…Pragya is seen picking up the call but cannot understand anything that’s coming from the other end…She grows worried as she hears a familiar voice…A voice she thought she would never have to hear after what happened 20 years ago…The phone abruptly cuts, but the last thing she hears is Pragya help me…She sits down on the couch with her hand on her head and her forehead creasing in worry…She begins sweating and her breathing becomes deeper…She slowly starts taking deeper breaths and tries to use grounding techniques to calm her nerves and anxiety, something that she has developed over the past 20 years and which in fact has worsened over time…She makes a few calls to some friends and manages to trace the phone call to London…She is seen checking her bank balance of her private account and realises that she doesn’t have enough money to travel to halfway across the world. Just then she gets a call from her long time friend Ragini Khanna…Ragini and Pragya have been the best of friends ever since Pragya moved out of Delhi…However unknown to everyone, Pragya and Ragini are business partners and own a multimillion dollar company…Pragya and Ragini first met in Mumbai, both single parents with children after Ragini’s separation from her husband Nachiket Khanna…Even Though both of them are billionaires, they live middle class lives and no one knows the face behind their pharmaceutical company…they do everything via emails are people are really eager to know the face behind this company…Ragini sounds worried herself and fails to hear Pragya’s worried voice…Ragini informs Pragya that for the first time in 20 years, someone wants to meet in person and will not do a deal via email. Ragini informs her that this deal is super important and that the owner is a huge doctor in the US and will really broaden their company…Pragya simply agrees with her and informs her that she and Prachi will come to Mumbai asap…this is when Ragini senses the worry in her voice and asks her what’s up…Pragya narrates the story and Ragini immediately asks Pragya to use her other bank account, with is full with a lot of money…Pragya reluctantly nods as she has saved up this money for Prachi’s future education…Ragini lets out a sigh and reminds Pragya that she has enough to sponsor two more kids education…Pragya zones out and remembers her two other daughters that she lost because of that man…She is brought back into the present by Nishi yelling very loudly at Ragini…Pragya cuts the call and smiles thinking of her and Raginis friendship and how none of their kids know that they are so rich…and thinks about Prachi, Nishi and Arav and how they have so much fun together…She then books a flight to London and sighs thinking about who is she going to have  to see once she reaches there…

A phone is seen ringing…Abhi rushes towards it hoping for some news about his daughter who has disappeared…He checks the caller name and is surprised and a little shocked to see who is calling…Sarla Ma…He immediately answers and greets her…She however doesn’t make small talk and directly tells him about Rhea and how her driver brought her…Abhi grows worried but is thankful that she is with her nani, who will take full care of her…Sarla curses Pragya for never being there for Rhea, but Abhi defends his ex-wife…Sarla asks him whether he will ever stop defending her… Abhi doesn’t know what to say and before he can reply his phone dies…

 

Abhi sits down on the bed with a worried expression on his face…This is all my fault, Rhea has turned out like this because of the horrible upbringing and parenting, actually non existent parenting because when was I ever here? She has grown up with Meera and Aliya and even though I am very thankful to them she has adopted all their bad mannerisms…I should have let Pragya take her…Sarla Ma always asks me why I defend Fuggi and it’s because I know she didn’t want to leave Rhea here…She was forced! Does she still hate me? Does she still blame me for the death of Kiara? My princess and my queen I miss you both so much and even though I have Rhea with me she doesn’t complete our family…I wish I could ask both if you to come back but one of you will never come and the other? I don’t know where she is? Or where my second daughter is? Would Rhea be different if she would have gone with Pragya instead? Would she be caring and lovely like Prachi? Abhishek Prem Mehra , what are you thinking? Rhea is in such a bad condition but only Prachi is on your mind? Why? Because she reminds you so much of someone? Is that why you don’t want to be away from her? 

Meanwhile, In Mumbai Nishi is seen cursing at Ragini while Arav looks on helplessly…Nishi yells at Ragini angrily and the always composed Ragini breaks down…Both Arav and Nishi are shocked to see Ragini in this state and worry about her…However she walks into her room like a dead person and takes out some photographs and hugs them close to her heart…She sits like this for three hours and is suddenly broken out of her thoughts when she smells something burning…Her senses are awakened and she quickly rushes to the kitchen to find a big vessel of maggi burning…She wonders which one of her children have done this since both her children are terrible cooks and smiles a little…She however then remembers all the rude things her children have said to her in the past few weeks and her eyes begin to water…Suddenly Nishi and Arav appear again, both with a very guilty expression on their face as they have never seen their mother so broke…However she doesn’t acknowledge them and takes a bowl of maggi and starts eating it lifelessly…Nishi and Arav begin to look at each other and wonder what is wrong…Nishi calls out her mother who ignores her…Nishi begins shaking her hand and in that process drops some maggi onto her mother’s hand…Ragini breaks out of her trance and winces in pain…Both her children rush to her and help her do her first aid… Nishi looks up at her mother and sees a pool full of tears ready to come out…She pulls her mom and her younger brother into a hug and that’s when her mother lets her guard down and is crying inconsolably…Ragini tells her children to never leave her, even if they hate her very much…Nishi is also crying now and promises her mother that they will always be there for her…Ragini slowly starts to gain back her strength and pulls away from her children…Arav senses the perfect opportunity to ask his mother what is wrong and to his surprise she shows him a picture, a picture of a happy family of 4…all of them smiling and celebrating the young girls birthday… Arav doesn’t understand and shakes his head signally his mother to go on…Ragini nods and starts by saying promise you both will never leave me? Nishi and her sibling nod in unison…She then continues by saying I only have you two! This was my family once upon a time, but they had a very old mindset…This man wanted me to get married at 16 to some random boy, while I wanted to study and pursue my dreams…I tried convincing them for hours but none of them would listen to me, My bhai loved me very much, I don’t know about today but at that time he did…When he was away at University, this couple tried to get me married off, I didn’t want to and I knew that I couldn’t spend my life like this so I took a few of my things and ran away to Mumbai…She shivers and Nishi comforts her…She goes on…I studied her and worked part time, that’s when I met your father, he was a very successful young doctor, and I don’t know how he fell in love with me…We then had you, then ranbir, and then Arav and Agham, but things slowly went out of control and we no longer understood each other like we used too! One fine day, we decided to separate and that’s how you two are here with me…I know you hate me from keeping you away from your rich father, but the truth is I’m proud of the middle class upbringing that I have given you’ll…Nishi your words really hurt me and now that you’ve become so big it’s time for you to know the truth…Her eyes well up again and she goes on…I know you both think that Me and Pragya Masi work at a hospital but the truth is….

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