Fanaa- Until The End❤

.22.

Chapter-22
Comedic exchanges.

Halting in her tracks, Anjali tentatively gazed at a panicked Ranjani.
"Maa, he'll be back soon. Don't worry." She reassured the lady. But it seemed, she was telling it to herself.
"I hope so Anju. He has taken several sudden trips before. Riya would always complain that she'd felt terrible being alone in the house. But he'd return back in less than 48 hours." She said.

"Then what is agitating you Maa?" Anjali questioned immediately.
"Mothers don't need to have a reason now, do they?" She asked and both of them giggled.
"Anju?" She responded to the call.
"Are you okay to talk about your father?"

The sudden question did overwhelm her feelings. She felt the horros of her past crawling up and squeezing her to death. The agonising moments of witnessing her father curled up on the floor, with a white sheet hovering on his body, to hide the brutality of the truth from her.

She closed her eyes tightly and clenched her jaw.
"Why?" Was all she asked. Ranjani was already guilty for the raising the topic but a little ray of hope rose in her after hearing her.
"Since it is his birthday tomorrow." She reprimanded. Anjali knew this topic would come up.

"I, err, Maa-"
"You don't have to Anju. I don't want to force you." Ranjani added hastily.
"No Maa. But, it's been 11 years. I don't even remember the last happy moment with him. I just feel this enormous guilt that I could have stopped him from going out, if I had been more obstinate. But I had to give up, after Maa had scolded me."

The broken voice of her kid stirred up tears in Ranjani's eyes.
"I don't know if I could ever be alright about how he left me, considering the less time I have." She chuckled dryly. This time, Ranjani didn't stop her from speaking about her illness. She wanted Anjali to open up.

"A part of me, wants to give anything just to see him again. But I know. I'll be with him soon. And I'll get all my answers." She gazed at her.
A sudden chill went down her spine. Anjali was determined. And Ranjani knew, that Anjali had an idea about the secrets that had been piling up since Rahul's arrival.

"Anju, trust me. I want to tell you." She said.
"I know. But you can't." She repeated almost in a haze. The mother-son duo were desperately trying to protect her from the truth, afraid that it'll shatter her. But they didn't know her strength.
"Yeah." Ranjani deeply sighed.

"Maa, isn't that Parvathi aunty?" Anjali effectively changed the subject and seeing that Ranjani eagerly chattered with the lady, she mused on her success.

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"And he- oh my god! He looked as if he was-" Vrinda chortled again for the nth time.
"Either laugh or speak." Anjali ordered boringly.
She had been ecstatic when she reached home. Her bestfriend was sitting in the hall, talking to her mother animatedly. Then she had hauled her up to her room.

"Akshaya had showed my picture to him, so that he could recognise. And when he approached me, I acted like I didn't know you, or anything he was talking about. He stood still for a second and then handed me a flower and fled." Vrinda calmly explained.