Om runs inside the house and sees Shivika and Ruvya awake.
S: Why were you screaming? What happened?
O: Gauri… Gauri…
A: What happened to her?
O: Someone kidnapped her. She called me and sounded so scared…
B: Can you please calm down and tell us the entire story.
Om tells them the entire story. How Gauri called them and the broken bangles and blood that was outside.
R: Bhavya, can you use your police resources to find her?
B: I will. Om, can you send me the number Gauri called you from? I am going to trace the phone and also get the recorded call to see if we can find any clues.
O: Can we all go out and look for her? Despite her personality, I still need to know she is okay.
S: Then, O, if you care about her so much, then why did you let her go?
Om just looks at Shivaye and heads outside.
O(Thinking): I do not know why I did that.
They have been searching for the entire day. Dadi and the older couples also found out and decided to go out and look for Gauri. They return home at night, tired. They still could not find a single clue regarding Gauri.
Om comes homes and sits on the sofa. His eyes red from crying and his face was expressionless.
O(Thinking): Did I do the right thing sending Gauri out? Kali took her and now I cannot find her. I went to Bareilly and the villagers told me that Kali left the city after their last encounter.
Shivaye and Rudra goes to Om with a plate of food.
S: You should eat something. After Gauri left, you did not even eat anything.
O: Shivaye, just leave me alone. I am going back out and search for her.
R: We will come too.
O: No, this is my problem. I kicked her out and now I need to find her. Your wives look tired so you guys should go and sleep. You can help me tomorrow
A: So what happened to all for one, and one for all? Did you just say it at the moment because you wanted to keep your brothers happy?
B: Gauri will come back. I know her. She will fight back with her Dabang avatar. When she comes back and sees you like this, do you think she will feel happy? She will feel guilty for making you go through this.
O: If she comes back…. If she is alive.
S: STOP IT OM. Whatever is done is done. Now eat up or no one leaves the house to find Gauri.
Om quickly eats up and as soon as he is done, everyone gets up and goes outside to their cars.
O: Guys, there is something we need to do. Come here.
They all get together and Om sticks his hand out. Shivaye and Rudra realizes what the next step is so they also put their hands out.
O: Annika and Bhavya, you are also part of this group. Put your hands in as well (Bhavya and Annika put your hands in as well)
All of them: One for all and all for one!!!
B: Om, come with us. Rudra and I are going to the police station. Why don’t you come with us?
Om agrees with them and decides to go to the police station. On the way, Bhavya gets a call. She parks the car to the side and Om goes outside to get a water bottle.
B: Yes… okay.. that is not possible. We will be there.
Then she says something to Rudra.
B: I do not know how he is going to react.
R: We cannot tell him now. He will start to panic if he finds out now.
Om opens the car door and they immediately start talking. Om can sense that something is wrong. But, he does not ask them. Bhavya turns the car in the opposite direction.
O: I thought we are going to the police station. Where are we going now?
B: Somewhere different. I will tell you once we get there.
O(Thinking): It looks like they found Gauri. Gauri probably asked me to keep it as a surprise.
The car enters the hospital.
O: Gauri… what happened to her? She is fine right?
B: Please come inside so we can tell you what happened.
Shivaye and Annika also come there as well
S: Do not panic. Everything is going to be fine.
They all walk inside the hospital. Om first sees the ICU department but they pass it.
O(Thinking): Good, so she is not seriously hurt. Just properly a minor injury.
Then they pass the wards.
O: Where are you going? Gauri is here. Let’s go here.
A: No Om. She is not here (Tears in her eyes.)
And they walk toward the mortuary. There is a police officer waiting there and he greets Bhavya.
PO: The body is inside. We need you to come inside and identify her.
O (Tears in her eyes): SHE IS NOT DEAD! I KNOW SHE IS NOT. I do not want to go inside.
S: Om, please come. I know it is not Gauri but still we need to check.
They all drag Om inside the mortuary.
O(Thinking): Gauri will not leave me that soon. This is probably some other girl.
They go the farthest bed and they open the bed sheet. There lied a petite body that was burned beyond recognition. The body matched Gauri’s height but apart from that, they were not any identifying features.
O (Quickly grabs the blanket and closes it): This is not Gauri. This is some other girl.
Then police officer brings in a bag.
PO: We found some stuff beside the body. Maybe you can use these items.
He takes the first item and it was the same salwar Gauri wore when she left. There were blood stains on the sleeves.
O: There are so many salwars like this. What is the possibility that this is Gauri?
Then he takes out a necklace. On it, there was a pendant with Om.
Om just gets on his knees and screams Gauri!!!.
O: Gauri, you promised me that you will not leave me but now you have left me over. She told me that she will always wear this necklace and on the day of the divorce, I told her to take it off. But, she said no.
They all take Om outside and make preparations for the body to come to the OM mansion.
The body comes to the Oberoi mansion and everyone is crying except for OM. He was just standing there without any expressions.
D: Gauri, you were like a daughter to me. Please do not curse my family. What we did was wrong. Om, you are her husband so you are doing the last rites.
O (Looks at Dadi and then the body): She was my wife so I am doing it.
S: What do you mean, Om? She is dead and you are still not letting of your anger. Please do it for her. She sacrificed so much for you just so you can be happy.
O: I do not care. I am not doing it. (Thinking) I killed her. I kicked her out. The reason she died is because of me. Kali wanted to hurt me so he killed her. How can the murderer do the last rites?
S: Forget it. She treated me as her brother so I will do it. (Shivaye looks at him and then seeing he is just standing there, he starts the rites.)
The rites are completed and everyone leaves from the hall. Om is standing there and Gauri’s picture on the table with a garland. He takes the picture and goes upstairs. Om goes upstairs and locks him room. He starts to cry.
O: Gauri, how do you expect me to perform your last rites? I killed you. Please forgive me. I loved you but my anger buried it. And now I completely lost you.
He then removes the garland from the picture.
O: You are not dead. You will always live in my heart. I promise that you will be the only person who lives there and there is no room for anyone. I do not care what reports tell me but I trust you.
The entire family stands outside Om’s room.
J: Let’s not bother him. Let him cry so his sorrow can come out.
The entire family walks away from his room.
Few days later
The family is back to normal but Om has still not come out of his room. Shivaye or Annika will bring him food and most of the time, he does not eat it.
Then he gets a call from a doctor.
D: Hi Om. This is Dr. Mishra. Gauri’s mom just woke up and asking for you and Gauri. Can both of you come now? (He cuts the call.)
O: How can bring Gauri if she is dead? What am I going to do now? She is like my mother so I will bring to the mansion and slowly explain to her what happened.
Om runs out with his car keys. The entire family sees him and calls him but he does not care and just heads to the car. When he gets to the hospital and goes inside her room, he sees an empty room.
O(Thinking): They probably took her to do a few tests. I will just sit here till she comes.
Then a nurse comes in and the nurse knows Om really well as they have met often.
N: Mrs. Sharma is missing. We cannot find her. We tried to call you but you did not pick up. (O checks his phone call and there were 19 missed calls. His phone has been on silent all this time as he did not want to be bothered.)
O: What do you mean she is missing? Did you check the CCTV cameras? She had to be here?
N: We did but we cannot find her. There are a few blind spots so it is possible that she went to that route.
O: How can a comma patient know all the blindspots in the hospital? That does not make sense. You guys were careless and now I lost her too.
Om gives them his phone number and leaves the hospital.
Note: I know you guys are disappointed that I killed Gauri but remember this is a Rikara story. Also, I will try to post longer chapter until Gauri comes back just so it does not seem like it is dragging.