Parivaar

Chapter 19: Her

Rudra had enough. Anjali couldn't even process what she was hearing. It hurt her so badly that no words could express her pain. Tears rolled down her cheeks expressing a minuscule of what she felt. Rudra wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her out of the house to their cars and asked the drivers to head to the airport. He didn't want to do anything else with his brother or family. She didn't do any of these things that she was accused of. He knew it. Period.

Anjali's mind was all over the place. The accusations, the theft, their words, everything kept ringing in her head. She held her head trying to stop those words from making an impact again and again. Looking at her suffering so badly, Rudra's eyes watered. He didn't know how he could lessen her pain. He cupped her cheeks and made her look at him, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Listen to me, you did not do anything wrong. Nothing. And I know your equation with Ved, so don't you dare berate yourself for anything." Rudra sternly asserted, his words firm yet true.

"But, chachi. She.." Anjali spoke, her words broken. She couldn't even complete her sentence when Rudra kissed her, shutting her up. He kissed her softly, making her realize his presence and sink into his will. He softly held her as they broke from the kiss, and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"I am here. Do you trust me?" He asked, making her nod her head without any hesitance. "Then, you shall always find me beside you. I shall look into this matter. I am still not sure how such a thing could happen in spite of everything being under our control." Rudra said, pulling Anjali closer. He placed her head on his shoulder and ran his fingers through her locks making her give into his efforts of making her sleep.

As they reached the airport, both of them boarded their flight to Delhi. Rudra had put both of their phones in airplane mode, the moment they stepped into their car. He didn't want anyone to contact them or track them and his attempts were successful. None of the family members were able to contact him or Anjali. Ved had also tried his best to contact them, but then realized that they needed this silence after what storm they bore. He retired to his room quietly.

Everyone had dispersed to their rooms after Pratap, Rudra's dadu ordered them. He was worried for his grandchildren's safety and could only pray that they were safe and maybe at peace.

As Dev entered his room, he found Priyanshi packing a bag of clothes. He quickly walked towards her and pulled the clothes out of the bag and dumped them on the bed. Priyanshi glared at him and put the clothes back in the bag. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He asked, his anger getting the best of him.

"Don't you dare raise your voice on me. Else, the consequences shall be dire." Priyanshi threatened. Dev calmed down immediately seeing her speak like this.

"Sorry, but what are you doing? Why are you packing your clothes? Why are Mahi's clothes here? Are you–Are you leaving me?" He asked, his voice wavering.

"I don't know. As of now, I was planning to stay in the guest room with Mahi. I don't see a reason to stay here." Priyanshi said, zipping the bag on the bed.

"What? Why? What happened?" Dev asked, holding her hand over the bag.

"What happened?" She chuckled humorlessly. "Seriously? What was that you were doing downstairs? What was that way of talking to bhabhi?" She asked him, her anger rising seeing his indifferent attitude.

"That. Seriously, you want to talk about that?" Dev was pissed. "There is enough proof of what bhabhi has done, then what is wrong in pointing them to her?" He asked, not understanding why she was getting so riled up at this.

"So just because there are some proofs that point to her and that frame her, you are ready to believe them? What about those items when you left us all alone and she was the only one standing by me, with me and for me? Oh right, there is no proof for it right? No one might have explained it so clearly to you and your mom." She was cut by Dev who tried to tell her that he never forgot that, but she cut him off. "Did you and your mother forget that bhabhi is the reason your daughter is alive today huh? Did your mother forget that her son wanted to kill his own daughter? If it was not for bhabhi who supported my decision and stayed by me, I seriously can't even think what would have happened to Mahi, what would have happened to us. I would have never accepted you back in my life. I didn't want to at all. But it was she who stood by me saying that I should give you a chance. She knew my love for you and wanted us to be well. Do you know I had complications during my pregnancy? Do you know?" She clutched his collar, jerking him to face her. Tears streamed down her eyes as she thought of all those times she found Anjali right beside her, no matter how worse the situation was. She let go of his collar and walked towards Mahi's cradle where she shifted in her sleep hearing her voice.

"What happened?" Dev asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He didn't know about all these things. Their lives were full of happiness and bliss that they never discussed the past.

"I went into depression after you left me. I couldn't function properly at all. Your words made such an impact on my mind that I would constantly hear your words to abort her. I would cry myself to sleep, I began neglecting my food and everything. Bhaiyaa and bhabhi tried their best to keep me happy and healthy but nothing could change my mind. And everything went downhill at the end of my first trimester. I fainted and when they took me to the hospital, the doctor said that my body was weak. If I didn't take care of myself, then I might even lose my baby. I still remember, the drive back home was so silent that it felt that no one knew what to speak. But later I realized that both bhaiya and bhabhi were living in guilt of not taking care of me well. Bhabhi sat down with me that night and told me that if I am going to take care of myself well, then even bhabhi would do the same. Out of fear, I obeyed their words. I would consciously divert my attention from you, stop reading articles about you, and stop thinking about you. What I didn't expect was for bhaiya and bhabhi to change their lifestyle for me. Bhabhi started sleeping with me instead and bhaiya and she adjusted her routine with me. We would go for walks daily instead of her yoga, the three of us would eat the same breakfast that was specially prepared for me. Bhaiyaa would go to the office while bhabhi stayed with me working from home all day. If she had important meetings that needed her presence then bhaiya would work from home so that I would not be neglected. She would be the one who would wake up in the wee hours of the night making cake for me or a sandwich just because I would crave one. She was the one who held me every time I cried and never asked me anything. She would accompany me while eating pani-puri's, chaat and eating every junk under the roof with me while I had cravings. They accompanied me to every hospital trip, to every baby and mom shopping and even–" She stopped closing her eyes as those beautiful memories came into her view. "Even planned my baby shower. Both of them never let a stone unturned in any case. I could, hell anyone could see both bhaiya and bhabhi spend so less time with each other. They were newly-weds for god's sake, but neither they complained or expressed it. They were just happy with my happiness. She was the one who was with me in the labor room when Mahira was born. It was she who held her the first and became a mother for her before me. She would wake up in the midnight when Mahira would cry or become fuzzy so that I could rest and recover. Sometimes bhaiya would be there to help her but she would do all of it alone. She would get severe back pain and headaches due to the change in her own sleep cycles and the work she would do, but not once, she complained. Your mother helped her for sometime, giving her a gap, but without her, I don't think Mahi would have been such a healthy and happy baby. Every time I freaked out, she would be right beside me consoling both of us. And any small gap she got from us, she would work." She chuckled, her laugh devoid of any expressions. "I wonder where she had the time to plot so much and steal such a plan?" Priyanshi said, sighing.

Dev was at a loss of words. He knew that Priyanshi had a tough time with Mahi in his absence, but he never knew that Anjali and Rudra had done so much for her, for them. 

Author's Note

Looks like it is raining bonuses for you guys. 1599 words. Just one less than 1600. Longest chapters ever. Enjoy. 

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Luv <3.