Seven Vows Part 1- Published

The Fire, The Tear

Tilak composed himself as he knocked the door of Harkishore's house. Poornima looked at her father. She could see he was nervous.

" Papa it will be fine. Don't be so tense" told Poornima as Pratap opened the door.

Tilak and Pratap looked at each other. Pratap was not there when he had eloped with Anu. Tilak knew that if Pratap was there he would have ensured Harkishoreji never gave permission for that marriage. That is why he had gone to seek permission when Pratap had gone outside the city as he was a sales representative.

" Mamu" called Poornima trying to diffuse the tension that was filling the air. Pratap hugged his niece.

" Come Tilak. I don't think there is any point fighting over the spilled milk " told Pratap trying to smile. Tilak entered the house and looked around. In the front room there was garlanded of photos of Anu as well as her mother.

Harkishore came from the kitchen. Tilak bend to touch is feet and Harkishore felt his tears falling at his feet.

" Get up beta. Your mother is right. You cannot change the past. Mistakes were there from both sides. There is no point blaming you alone. "

Tilak wiped his tears as he sat on the sofa. He asked Harkishore about Anu. It was Pratap who answered.

" My sister believed till her last breath you will come. That's why she had insisted the baby's name has to be Poornima so that even if she is not there she wanted you to know she trusted you to accept your child."

" We used to get your news now and then whenever Pratap travelled on work. When Anu knew about your elder son's birth the first thing she asked was what was the child's name. When Pratap told it is Aakash she was more convinced you will come to take your daughter. But then somewhere she couldn't go on long as the life of widow being in a room took its toll on her."

" Yes Aditya was suggested but then I believed somewhere Anu wouldn't have destroyed our child. What if someday I end up meeting Aditya. " told Tilak.

" Your wife Renu, when did she.." asked Pratap.

" She knew from the night of our marriage. I told her. She even asked me to go with Anu when she knew Anu was pregnant. I would say she never questioned my past. She was also the one who used to keep on telling if ever the child comes she will ensure the child will get the surname. More than my wife, Renu is my best friend. The woman who had made it possible for me to believe in myself once again."

" I felt so. She is a woman of great strength. To come in a congregation and announce boldly Poornima's father's name needs a lot of courage." told Harkishore.

Soon topics moved to general things as all sat for dinner.

Shyamlal and Bhasker entered the storeroom of MA building. They didn't switch on the light instead were carrying candles.

The two agents who were kept to observe them also reached MA building and stealthily observed the duo from outside.

" Bhaskar do we really need to do this " asked Shyamlal

" See that file is the only document that has evidence of our unaccounted wealth. If we destroy that, then no one can do anything to us. Everything will start and end with Rawat. Without that file even it will be difficult to find Rawat's unaccounted wealth" told Bhaskar.

Soon the duo broke the lock of the almirah and began searching each file in the candlelight. Finally Bhaskar managed to get the file they were searching.

But as they were about to burn it, someone snatched it from his hands. Bhaskar turned to see a masked man. As he tried to snatch it from him, the candle fell down.

The man pushed Bhaskar but then Shyamlal tried to catch him. But the second agent pushed Shyamlal.

The tussle continued but what they didn't notice was the fire from the candle was spreading on the papers that the duo had taken out from the almirah. By the time everyone realized it was too late. The store room was filling with smoke. Maya's agents pushed the two men and jumped from the window with file.

Shyamlal and Bhaskar tried to follow but then Shyamlal's jacket was caught in the sharp edge of the table. Bhaskar tried to take it and it was then his eyes fell on the crackers. It was the remaining stock after the last year Diwali celebration in MA. The fire was spreading toward it. He shouted to Bhaskar they need to remove the crackers.

But before they could take action the crackers had caught fire and even before they could run to the door their silk kurtas were engulfed in the fire as the fire spread rapidly engulfing the building.

Maya'a agents reached outside with the file and called the fire fighting service from the nearby telephone booth.

Sudhir woke up to the constant ringing of the phone. He looked at the clock in his room. It was 2 am. He picked up extension in his room. As he listened to the voice on the other side, his head was working already how to handle the situation as Tilak was out of station.

As he kept the phone he got up, went to bathroom, washed his face and started dressing. In between he told to Vindhya why he need to go. When he came out the entire family was in the hall and Rajasekhar had also dressed.

Sudhir walked to Rajasekhar " Papa please don't strain yourself. I will manage. Sreedhar come with me"

" Yes Bhaiyya I am coming " told Sreedhar.

" See I need to ensure nobody points any finger for lapse at Tilak Varma. Agent 6 and Agent 10, ensure you read the file now itself and before media files the first report, the news of Shyamlal and Bhaskar wanting to hide something from ED needs to go to the press " told Maya.

" Maya we are already in the process. It is a pity both of them perished in that fire" told Agent 6

" That's fine. We still got the file. Let us scrutinize it. There will be some information that can help us to move ahead. " told Maya as she cut the call.