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Chapter 34: Graduation Day
She was stood clenching her fist, uncomfortable with his hug yet feeling an unfamiliar weirdness in her heart. She was still startled by his hug, shrugging a little for him to let go. He broke the hug and stared at Swara, feeling slightly awkward. "Sorry, I got a little overwhelmed. . ." He trailed off and cleared his throat. "Thank you for seriously forgiving me Swara." He added and she lowered her gazes, awkward around him too.
"We should go." She managed to utter and avoided eye contact. He nodded his head agreeing to leave.
She walked towards the door and he followed, embarrassed by his actions yet so glad that she finally forgave him.
While walking, her phone buzzed and she slid it out of her pockets, glancing down at the text message. She immediately stopped and unlocked her phone, tapping to view the full message. Her heart skipped a beat and Sanskaar stood next to her confused to why she had stopped.
"It's negative." She spoke, sounding so disappointed and Sanskaar creased his forehead, "what's negative?"
"The DNA test, all of them came back negative." She replied and looked at him, he was surprised to hear that none of the samples they submitted matched her DNA.
Despite knowing that there were chances all of them would come back negative, she still had small hope for something positive but her hope has now shattered. Now the possibility of Swara finding her real identity and family was beyond low, there was no other way she could think of.
"Don't be sad Swara. I'm sure there will be another way we could find out. . ."
"There's no other way now Sanskaar. This is all we had. . . How else am I supposed to find out?" She asked, giving up and releasing a sigh. "Why am I so unlucky?"
"Don't think like that." He responded, "maybe Shekhar would know who he took you away from. . . We could ask him."
"He wouldn't tell me even if he knew, cause why should I get it so easily? He would want me to suffer."
"Why does he hate you so much?"
Swara shrugged, "I don't know what I ever did to him for him to hate me."
"That's it!" Sanskaar exclaimed after getting an idea, startling Swara with his loud tone. She looked at him confusingly and he faced her. "What if the reason why he hates you is related to your parents? What if he hated your parents so much and took it out on you? We could go through his enemy lists and see. . ."
Swara was in deep thought after that, thinking about this option. Finding nothing wrong with what he said, as it would make sense why he treated her so bad, she nodded her head "you're right. Maybe the hatred he had for my parents was vented out on me." She thought again and sighed, "but the list we got from the hospital. . . I don't think any of them must've met him." It was the list, that was confusing her.
X
Ragini was walking around the college, feeling bored while the student that was helping her out was giving her a full history of the college.
"The corner over there is where the music department starts."
"I think the main routes I need to actually remember that are relevant to me are, the canteen and the fashion department. I'm sure I wouldn't be walking around the whole college in my spare time. . ." She uttered sassily while blinking at the student, who nervously chuckled. "Sorry. . . I was told to give you a tour around the college so I thought it meant the whole college, I didn't know which department you wanted to see."
Ragini rolled her eyes and the student changed directions. While following her, Ragini's eyes fall on Swara and Sanskaar who were walking out from the music block. She stopped and surprisingly blinked at them.
"Swara!" She yelled and waved her hand at Swara, who looked forward after hearing her name. She flapped her eyes at Ragini and so did Sanskaar. Sanskaar was confused and Swara curled a small faint smile, waving her hand back at Ragini.
XX
While driving, tears seeped down Janki's eyes. Her heart ached after hearing the truth from Shekhar yet, what pained her more was the fact that Rajveer came to meet Shekhar and knew the truth but still didn't bother telling her about it. She sniffed, and wiped her tears. Images of Swara flashed in front of her eyes and the tears continued seeping down. As much as she wanted to believe Shekhar fully, her mind wasn't willing to trust so soon, piling her with thoughts such as, 'could it be that he's lying to me?' 'Why didn't Rajveer tell me?' 'If Rajveer didn't tell me, does that mean Shekhar lied?' 'What should I do?' 'Is Swara really my daughter?' 'Or is this another plan of Shekhar to make us suffer?' Yet, her heart was willing to deny all these questions from her mind, already attaching itself to Swara. She felt a void and started sobbing, trying her best to focus while driving.
"I will hear the truth from Rajveer." She made up her mind and declared her final decision to herself, only willing to believe the person she trusts the most.
XX
College.
Ram, Durga Prasad, Sujata and Annapurna started walking inside the college to attend the graduation ceremony. Adarsh couldn't come as he had to handle the company for the amount of time Durga Prasad and Ram were going to be absent. They headed towards the directions after glancing at the arrows that were displayed to lead the parents towards the graduation ceremony.
Kavita waited near the hall with Sameer, Sahil and Sheesh, waiting for Swara and Sanskaar.
"Where are they?" Sahil wondered impatiently leaning against the wall, releasing a sigh after glancing from both sides of the corridors.
"Finally!" Kavita sighed a relief after seeing Swara and Sanskaar walking towards them with Ragini.
"Yeah, as far as I'm aware my mother has been born and raised here and so has my father." Ragini replied as she stared at Swara, who nodded her head at Ragini, staring down at the floor while walking. "Why?" Ragini added, wondering why Swara was interested in knowing where her parents were from.
"I was just wondering casually." Swara responded back with small smile over her lips, making eye contact with Ragini, who flapped her eyes for a bit. "Do you want to find your real parents?"
Swara was surprised to hear Ragini, and merely shook her head positively. Ragini curled a smile, "my Dad is a doctor, maybe he can help."
"How?"
"He knows every hospital in this city, and their board directors, maybe he can inquire and find out. What hospital were you born in?"
"We already know the names of the people that gave birth there. . . But that didn't help." Swara replied and Ragini confusingly looked at her, "so, what's the issue?" Swara shrugged at Ragini, "I lost hope. . ." Swara trailed off sounding disappointed and Ragini frowned at her.
"Don't give up! I'll help you. . ." Ragini determinedly uttered to cheer Swara up. "We can go to the police database team and match your DNA with everyone they have on the system, that could help right?"
Sanskaar rolled his eyes after listening to their conversation. "As if that's easy. . . We don't have the authority to do this."
"I'll ask my Dad to help, he's rich and well known so he wouldn't mind letting us use his name to sneak through. . ."
"And on what basis would they do this? Swara is neither a suspect or a witness." Sanskaar argued back and Ragini rolled her eyes.
"Hush, why are you making it complicated? It's easy. We can contact the Minister who my Dad operated on and ask for a favour. Simple as that." Ragini remarked and Sanskaar closed his mouth.
Swara exhaled while glancing at the floor, thinking about Ragini's offer. Kavita leaned forward and held onto Swara's hand, "let's go. It's about to start." She muttered and pulled Swara inside the hall along with her.
Ragini blinked at Kavita dragging Swara away and slowly moved towards the hall, followed by Sameer, Sheesh, Sahil and Sanskaar.
The teachers and Rajveer were sat in the front row while the parents and guests all sat in the last rows. The students started to fill in the empty spaces in the middle, ready for the ceremony to begin. The Principal was sat on the stage, ready to present in a while after everyone had arrived.
Swara took a seat next to Kavita, and Sanskar took a seat next to Swara, while Sheesh and Sahil sat next to each other in the row in front.
Ram, Sujata, Annapurna and Durga Prasad were waiting in the guest area, staring at the stage and looking around to spot Sanskaar. Next to Annapurna, there was an empty space that Ragini decided to sit in. Annapurna turned her head to the side and passed her a smile, she returned a quick smile before looking back at the stage the Principal was sat in. Sameer sat next to Ragini before anyone else could fill in the space, it was the last seat in the row and Ragini glanced at him, rolling her eyes. Sameer made eye-contact with Annapurna and Durga Prasad, recognising them and glanced away without any interest.
"Why are you even here?" Ragini genuinely wondered while turning her head towards Sameer, who looked at her. "Are you talking to me?"
"Who else am I looking at?" She rudely questioned and he passed her a look, "isn't it obvious? For my sisters graduation."
"She's not even your real sister." Ragini uttered which Annapurna heard and creased her forehead, helplessly listening to their conversation. Sameer was stunned to hear Ragini, "how. . . Do you know?" He was confused and totally amazed to hear Ragini speaking the truth.
"She told me." Ragini replied and Sameer creased his forehead. "Why would she tell you, who even. . ." That's when he realised that she was in his house yesterday night with her mother and looked on. "Since when did you become so close to her? She barely opens up to anyone and you're a stranger."
"I guess she liked me more than she would ever like you." Ragini casually remarked and Sameer grit his teeth. "So what if we're not blood related? I grew up with her and that's enough for me to be her brother, you're not even her friend, so keep your mouth shut!"
Ragini rolled her eyes, "says the son of the man that is in prison for killing his first wife." She mumbled and faced the stage, offending Sameer.
He had nothing to say, cause it was true. No matter how much it would hurt him, it was the truth he couldn't defend himself from. He was indeed the son of the man who committed heinous deeds which included murder, and kidnapping.
After a while, the principal began speaking in front of the microphone after all the students had entered and taken their seats, starting the graduation ceremony.
"Before moving towards the main ceremony, we would like to invite Dr Rajveer Rathore on stage to give his motivational and inspiring speech." Amid everyone clapping in the auditorium, there were only two individuals who were shocked and flabbergasted to hear the name, watching him head towards the stage in amusement.
X
Janki turned the engine of her car off after parking outside the college car park, nervous and anxious. She released a breath of confusion and clenched her fists, closing her eyes to calm herself down. She panicked each time she considered Shekhar's words being true, it was weighing her heart thinking that her child was tortured by Shekhar for almost all her life only because he carried hatred for her in his heart. Her heart pained every time the thought of Shekhar telling the truth piled in her mind, because if he is telling the truth then every scar he gave her daughter, she would be responsible for it, solely her. She opened her glassy eyes and exhaled, swallowing.
"Please Rajveer. . . Please say that he was lying. . ." She mumbled to herself and clenched onto her clothes, resting her fist on her chest while trying to breathe normally. How horrible does it sound that she wished it was a lie, she should be happy that her child who she thought passed away was alive and healthy, yet the guilt of the suffering and pain is slowly starting to kill her inside. Who else could she blame apart from herself, everything that happened was only because of the hate Shekhar had for her. Tears seeped down her cheeks and she began sobbing, hitting her chest with her fist. "Please, be, a, lie. . ." She cried, resting her head on the steering wheel.
To Be Continued
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