FAMILY a journey to forever (COMPLETED)

24

  Raksha's POV

Aaryan was right or luck was on his side. He had won all five games and wanted to play more. We were about to begin our next game when someone showed up, ready to patch up. The door opened and he sat beside Aaryan.

"Put the cards for me Aaryan".

"I've won five games in a row Rohan. Are you sure, you want to play?"

"I'll show you who the real champion is. Tell him Princess..." Rohan bhaiyya looked at me. 

I had a smile and my eyes were welled up. Rohan bhaiyya immediately hugged me tight.

"I am sorry Princess. Sorry for hurting you. I missed you so much", his voice hurt me more.

"Don't be sorry bhaiyya. I missed you more. Please don't go away from me. If you are upset, yell at me or slap me but don't stop talking to me".

"I won't. I love you".

"I love you..."

Aaryan's face turned pink, he was about to cry but decided to hide it anyway.

"If you guys are done, can we start the game?"

We chuckled.

"Let's play. You first Raksha. Go. Remember, one goal, defeat Aaryan".

"Yes Sir", I replied and we hi-fived each other.

"Seriously, you changed your team. I should have known Miss Traitor Kapoor", Aaryan said.

Someone else knocked the door.

"Come in..." said bhaiyya.

It was his pretty wife Ayra.

"Rohan...oh, okay I'll come by later".

"No Ayra, come sit. You wanna join?" he asked.

"I mean...sure. Can we all play together? The whole family? It will be fun", she smiled.

I had not seen this side of Ayra. Family meant so much to her.

"Sure, after this game, we'll play together".

"But Rohan, do we have enough cards?" she asked.

"Of course we do. We have old sets. Why don't you call everyone to the table? We can have so much fun like you said.

"Okay..." said Ayra and left the room.

After one minute, Rohan bhaiyya won the game, then Aaryan, I lost again. Just as Rohan bhaiyya said we had a family game for three hours. It was coffee time. To my surprise, Alia and Ayra were there helping Ma and Sheila Ma. Once again we were all around the table, for coffee and of course Ma's delicious snacks. I was sitting between Ma and Rahul bhaiyya. We were listening to the stories of Alia and Ayra when Ma began shedding tears. Rohan was on the other side of Ma, he held her hand.

"Ma, what happened to you? Please don't cry", Rohan bhaiyya said. 

"I miss your father so much Rohan", she wiped away her tears and soon her eyes was filled with rage.

Rahul's POV

The next second Ma let out her anger on Raksha, shocking everyone. Ma threw the hot mug of coffee on to her face. Raksha's reflex action saved her face and burnt her right hand. 

"Ma!" I screamed and hugged Raksha immediately. "What the hell are you doing?" I took her in my arms and rushed to the car.

Rohan ran after and sat behind with Raksha. I drove the car to the hospital as fast as I could.

Dadu's POV

"Reema, what have you done?!!"

"I should have done this way before. She is a demon. She killed my husband!" Reema yelled on top of her voice. 

I slapped her to put her in her place. 

"Listen to me very carefully Reema. If your husband is in heaven, that's only because your daughter forgave him and not because of his deeds. Do you understand. I'm sorry kids, you got married to a dysfunctional family and your first day had to be so bad".

Alia and Ayra was sad.

"Reema, you will not go near my granddaughter again. Kids, this is your real mother-in-law. Don't fall for her fake actions. There is no limit to which she and my son abused my granddaughter. First with words and now...my eyes are always on you Reema".

"Ma, I don't know why you hate Raksha so much but she is a good person at heart".

"Alia, don't take sides. Who knows, she might hurt you too. Be careful".

Alia and Ayra had not seen this part of the family even though they had a small idea before marriage. Now they were slowly seeing it all.  An hour later Rohan walked in and Rahul with Raksha in his arms. She had a bandage covering her right palm. Rahul kept her on the wheelchair. Aaryan immediately went and hugged her. Rahul was in rage with his mother.

"Ma, are you out of your mind? How could you do this to your own daughter? I know you hate her with all your life but this? Do you have any idea about what you have done to her? I guess things are being a lot clear now. We know you are sad and haven't overcome Papa's loss but is this how you do it? How can we leave her in this house and go, when you hurt her right in front of our eyes?"

"Take her with you or where ever, I don't care! Stop calling her my daughter". 

"It was not her fault to have you and Papa as her parents, Ma", a tear ran down Rahul's eyes. "I was holding onto my ego all this time, I even destroyed our dream of being married together. I didn't even want her to be around that day, yet she took care of everything so that Rohan and I would be happy and would have a memorable and unforgettable wedding day. That's who she is Ma. Hurt her as much as you want, even try to kill her, but she will still love you more and more", Rahul knelt down and touched her cheek. "I am sorry for going away my little princess. I won't do that again. I love you. I've learned my lesson. Sorry, I missed you so much".

Raksha hugged her big brother and felt his love silently, she did not speak a word. 

"Dadu... Aaryan and I will go home with Raksha. Some will never understand the value of some one, until its too late. Its not safe for her to be here", said Sheila.

"No Sheila Ma. I am not going anywhere. This is my home. After all she is my mother. Let her do whatever she wants. Papa was hurtful with his words but not once did he hurt me physically or even have an intention to do it. But she did. I know I'm making a decision by putting my life in danger. But the important thing here is that I don't care Mrs. Reema Kapoor. I don't care about who you are or what you have done. You have lost all my respect for you, so there is no place or love or hatred. You never considered me as your daughter, so it wouldn't bother you anyway and the scar this burn will leave, will remind my that you don't have a place in my life anymore", Raksha was more powerful than ever.

She made her heart stone and decided to fight for her survival and I was proud of her more than ever. She never wanted to be scared anymore. It was her own mother on the other side but Raksha did not want to keep her self respect at anyone's feet, ever again.