*Important Note >> Rudra and Bhavya were successful in capturing Sultan.
Shivaay couldn’t believe what he had just heard. His mother, his own mother was the reason behind Anika leaving him like she did 4 months ago. That his mother in her hatred for Anika destroyed his happiness, that a mother declared that her own child was illegitimate, a mistress son! He was stunned as Pinky told them about her plan to separate him and Anika, how she had planned his kidnapping and placed Mahi in place of him and all the things that Anika blamed Pinky of back then were actually true. Pinky did all that.
What more was shocking that his mother refused to acknowledge Mahi as her own son just because he wasn’t raised in an environment like Shivaay, had no class, was illiterate and was raised in slums. What kind of mother would that make her? A mother who took away the reason of happiness of one son and refused to accept the other because of his lack of high society ways. Shivaay felt disgusted to the core.
He looked at OmRu who were equally stunned, then towards Mahi his identical twin brother who had tears in his eyes and a defeated look on his face. For years Mahi was called illegitimate, for 31 long years he was deprived of the love of a family, the security of a proper home and all other privileges that he deserved being the eldest Oberoi brother. Yes Mahi was born a few minutes earlier then Shivaay and while the baby Mahi was getting cleaned up Kamini had kidnapped him and gotten away. If it hadn’t been Anika…..
Shivaay’s gaze wandered around until it settled over Anika, the woman of his dreams, his love, his life, his everything. Just to avoid him breaking down Anika had left him, she had left him so that he won’t have to suffer. He remembered all those moments he had spent with Anika before she left him. A sudden burn, an ache rose up in his chest and hurt so bad that it was becoming difficult to breathe. Ignoring his mother he went towards Anika and the moment he was close to her he collapsed. He broke down and slid to his knees and let the ache in his heart flow through his eyes in form of tears.
“Main kissi k saamne nahi jhukta, not even nature.”
But today Shivaay Singh Oberoi was kneeling in front of the woman who gave him everything and never demanded something in return, his Anika.
“Shivaay..” Anika’s heart broke as she stared at the fallen Shivaay Singh Oberoi, “Shivaay please sambhaliye apne aap ko. Please Shivaay get up.”
“I am sorry Anika, I am really very sorry.” Shivaay cried, “I can’t believe that…” he hiccupped.
Anika slid down on the floor and wrapped her arms around Shivaay to comfort him, “Shivaay please don’t cry. You are my strength so you can’t fall weak please Shivaay.” She hugged him tight to herself not thinking about the whole family present there watching them.
Shivaay held Anika tight and close to him. He had once trusted his mother and let Anika go but he couldn’t do that now. No Anika was his everything, she was his air which he breathed in, he would die without Anika.
“Shivaay! Get away from that filth! My son can’t you see what I had to do for you.” Pinky cried as she placed her had on Shivaay’s arm and tried to pull him off Anika’s hug.
Shivaay shrugged off Pinky’s hand from his arm had and stood up still holding Anika’s hand tightly in his own. “Mind your language Mrs Pinky Singh Oberoi! I won’t bear one more word against my wife!” he roared.
“Shivaay she is not your wife. You divorced her remember!” Pinky snapped.
“No! We are still husband and wife. Yes we did sign the papers but I didn’t file them in court so our divorce wasn’t approved and registered. Anika is still my wife but you, you Mrs Oberoi are no longer my mother.” Anika was shocked hearing that, they weren’t divorced? She was still his wife? She was still Anika Shivaay Singh Oberoi? A relief and a surge of happiness erupted inside her at that thought.
“Shi-vaa-y!” Pinky cried hard.
“No! Don’t touch me!” he moved away and went towards were his brothers stood and dragged Anika with him. “For years I thought that it was me, the great wall of Shivaay Singh Oberoi that was protecting his family but no! It was my family who was protecting me. My brother Omkara he didn’t say a word when he was called illegitimate instead of me so that I won’t break apart, he and Rudra hid the truth or should I say the lie that you conveniently sold as truth from me so that I wouldn’t hurt. My bade papa, my badi maa they faced the world’s questions about Omkara’s birth truth but they didn’t snap or turn on me and faced everything so that they could protect me.” Shivaay said.
He then looked at Mahi and gestured him to come towards him which Mahi did, “My..my brother Mahi.” He gulped the emotional clot that clogged his throat hard, “My brother Mahi, my twin saved me from those goons that you and Kamini had sent to kidnap me.” Shivaay hugged Mahi sideways who himself was in a very emotional state. Anika stood on his right while Mahi was on his left and OmRu stood behind him.
“And Anika..what hasn’t she done for me?! When you got me kidnapped and no one could point out a difference between me and Mahi, it was Anika who saved me from that trap. It was Anika who’s been saving and protecting me since the day we met!.”
Shivaay looked at dadi and said, “Dadi do you remember what that Pandit Ji had said, that my wife, my better half will protect me from every harm? Do you remember?” Dadi nodded in positive.
“That’s what Anika’s been doing from the start. She’s been protecting me all this while, loving me, caring for me and I didn’t even trust her. How could I believe that Anika loved my money and not me.”
“Shivaay! How can you praise this filth while I, your mother did so much for you!” Pinky wailed.
Shakti stepped forward and slapped Pinky hard on her face, “You didn’t do a thing for Shivaay, Pinky! You did that all for yourself. Just because Shivaay became the husband that Anika deserved that didn’t mean that he no longer was your son. And how could you keep a son away from his father. You knew Mahi was our son right? When did you get to know? Tell me Pinky I am asking you something!” Shakti shouted.
Pinky stepped back and caved, “I met him 15 years ago when he tried to steal money from my purse. He’s Shivaay’s identical twin so the moment I saw him I knew who he was.”
Everybody was stunned would be an understatement. It was Mahi who dropped on his knees this time. Shivaay, Rudra and Omkara bent supported him, held him and made him stand up but didn’t leave their hold on him, “You knew! You knew I was your son and you didn’t do a thing!” Mahi sobbed.
“When I got to know that Kamini was raising you and that you were being raised in a slum and were illiterate I couldn’t..I couldn’t accept that my own blood was turned into some filthy thing.” It was Dadi who slapped Pinky this time.
“How dare you say that about my grandson? She pushed Pinky with all the strength she had, “I curse the day I got you married to my son Shakti! I am ashamed of you.” Dadi rubbed at her chest as Shakti held her from her shoulders, “Mera bachha inspite of living like a king that he actually is had to live in slums!”
“This is a new low Mrs. Pinky Singh Oberoi. Ab aurr kuch baaki hai?” Shivaay sniffed.
“Chup! Sab chup karo please! I can’t bear this anymore!” shouted Pinky and ran away to her room.
Shakti and Dadi got close to the Ob-bros and Anika, Shakti stared at his son Mahi with love and yearning shining bright in his eyes, “Please forgive me my son. I could do nothing. I am so sorry.” He placed a comforting hand over his head, “Please forgive you old father, please.” He folded his hands asking for Mahi’s forgiveness.
“Aap maafi mat maangiye..Dad.” uttered mahi and the very next instand he was engulfed in a bone crashing hug.
“Arre let me meet my eldest grandson as well.” Dadi patted Shakti’s back asking him to step away so that she could meet and greet her grandson properly. “Mere bachhe last time you were here I thought so bad of you, called you a culprit as well. I am really sorry beta.”
“Arre Dadi why are you people saying sorry, it was never your fault. Haan jinki Galati thhi…she doesn’t even acknowledge my presence.” Mahi let out a dark chuckle.
“Don’t let her taint your happiness son, she doesn’t deserve to be your mother.” Dadi fondly caressed Mahi’s cheek.
“Haan bhaiya we are here for you now. We are your family.” Rudra smiled hugging his brother from behind. Mahi smiled, this time genuinely, “Of course my dear pehelwaan. I am happy that you are my family.” Said Mahi making others smile as well.
And then dadi went into commanding mode;
“Hari Lal! Arre oh Hari Lal.” Dadi yelled.
“Ji Dadi Ji?”
“Go clean up the room next to Om’s. I want it squeaky clean.”
“Ru puttar contact that fashion designer of yours and get him to make some new suits for my Mahi and take my card and shop for all the stuff that Mahi will need.”
“Okay Dadi” Rudra grinned as he flashed Dadi’s credit card in his hand, of course along Mahi he was going to shop for himself as well.
“O you are in charge his whole makeover. I want the best for him. Mera itna handsome pota hai do tell that hair dresser of yours to give him some nice hair cut.”
“Dadi.” Mahi gasped while the others chuckled.
“Billu you organize a press conference I want to announce it to the whole world that my grandson has come home.”
“Ji dadi.” Shivaay smiled and Anika laid her head on his shoulder.
“Aurr Anika puttar tu, you will organize tonight’s party, Gauri and Bhavya you too. I want it to be the greatest party of the century.”
“Ji Dadi!” everybody yelled in unison and just like that the happiness was back.
The Oberoi hugged each other and laughed as the song Lafzon ka yeh rishta nahi played in the background.
********
New York
“Sia! Sia!” Raghuvendra Pratap Rathore yelled loudly as he held the newspaper tightly in his hand.
Sia came out of the kitchen hearing her husband’s loud shouts for her, “What happened Raghu?” seeing her husband cry she hastily walked towards him and wiped the tears off his cheek, “Kya huya?”
“Read this.” He handed her the newspaper. Sia started reading the article it was about Bhavya and Rudra being able to caught Sultan, that infamous terrorist. But what actually caught her eye were the names of Abhayendra Pratap Rathore, Lajwanti Pratap Rathore, Kaveri Pratap Rathore, Mahendra Pratap Rathore and Shiva Pratap Rathore. They were Raghuvendra’s family!
Abhayendra and Lajwanti were his parents whereas Mahendra and kaveri were his elder brother and sister in law whose daughters were Shiva and Bhavya Pratap Rathore.
Raghuvendra and Sia’s marriage was a love marriage which both their families didn’t approve of and that’s why they left their home and settled in New York. A few years later Raghuvendra got to know that his whole family died in a car crash and today he got the news that his family didn’t just die, they were murdered because Mahendra (the then SP) had killed Sultan’s brother in an encounter and that his youngest niece Bhavya was still alive and was the one who captured Sultan and collected all the proofs against her (Sultan is a she not a he).
“Raghu Ki yeh…”
“Sia I thought I lost everyone that day but my Bhavya, my niece is still alive. I can’t tell you how happy I am!” he rubbed a hand across his face in pure delight. “And the fact that she caught her family’s murderer and is a reputable police office…this just adds to happiness.”
Sia rubbed his arm affectionately and smiled, “I can see that. Narayani and Tarini are at school so I will call Shlok and start packing. So we are going back hhhmm?”
“How did you know?”
“I am your wife Mr. Rathore, you don’t have to tell me everything, these things..I just know.” Replied Sia and was immediately captured into a bear hug, “thank you.” Raghuvendra kissed the top of her head.
********
Ragini leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes; soon she will reach Mumbai, her destination and start a new life there. She remembered everything that happened few days ago.
On the day of Swara and Laksh’s wedding she had dropped the idea of cancelling their marriage and herself getting married to Laksh. Sanskar had left few days before and suggested her to stop trying to break SwaLak apart but she implemented that advice a little late. After SwaLak’s marriage she squared her shoulders, straightened her spine and confessed all the crimes that she committed against her sister so that Laksh’s family would accept Swara easily because after the misunderstandings she had created it was hard for them to accept Swara.
What happened after that was exactly what she expected. No one recognized her need of acceptance and love they just blasted at her for what she did. She didn’t justify her sins but they could at least try to understand her. She’s a sheltered child who never got her father’s love. Yes he was there, he paid her school fees then let her study in college but was that enough?
All the decisions of her life were made by her Dadi only. Who she should speak to, who she should not, what she should wear, how she should behave and whom she should marry. She was taught since her birth that what her dadi decided for her that’s the best and that’s what should always happen. Her Dada Ji ignored her most of the time and her father, he never objected. Ragini was like a puppet for her dadi to pull strings as she wanted.
And then Laksh came in her life, Dadi said that he is her would be husband and he definitely would be. And Laksh, he made her dream, whatever he did was to please his father so that he won’t be thrown out of his house. Laksh let her fall for him and then suddenly he fell in love with Swara. Swara loved Laksh and laksh loved Swara. But what about Ragini? The girl who was allowed to dream but never got to make it real.
For start she had accepted that, she had accepted that maybe Laksh wasn’t meant to be hers but then Sanskar came in her life and instigated her to rebel. He filled her mind with nonsense and she became a puppet for him as well.
In all that she had lost the innocent little girl who used to yearn for a father’s love, mother’s affection and who used to wish to live as freely as Swara and other girls used to.
Everybody had lectured her for few hours and then broke every tie with her. She was left alone. And then her Dada Ji came out as her saviour. He gave her the money that he was saving for her better future and told her to apply for the fashion designing institute that she always wanted to but Dadi didn’t want her to go that far alone. He also gave her the address of his friend who lived in Mumbai and told her that he had called his friend and that she could stay at his place.
And so she was here. Only Dada Ji knew that she had left for Mumbai, others weren’t aware of that and mostly they were ignorant of her. It hurt but at least the burden of guilt got lifted off her shoulders.
As the train stopped she got out and dragged her suitcase outside the station. “Bhaiya iss address pe jaana hai. Will you take me there?” she asked the taxi driver as she handed him the chit on which the address was written.
“Sudesh Khanna : B/304, ABC Road, XYZ area, Mumbai” the taxi driver read, “Okay madam, come sit.” He opened the taxi door for her.
“Best of luck me!” Ragini wished herself in mind and smiled as she looked forward to this new chapter in her life.
Precap : > Raghuvendra tells his children about Bhavya and they come to Mumbai to meet her.
> Shivaay proposes to Anika
> Omkara and Gauri talk about their marriage
> Ragini meets Rudra and well… 😉 ”