Karan went towards his room to see mrudula shivering in ishita's arms. His heart broke seeing his little life crying and shivering this bad.
Seeing him ishita signalled aradhya and Diya to move down while she tried breaking the hug. But mrudula whimper seeing which karan came forward and hold her from ishita's arms.
Sensing warm embrace mrudula turned back and hold karan so tightly as if her life depends on him seeing which tears escaped from ishita and Karan's eyes. But nevertheless she along with aradhya and Diya moved down who was still confused as what happened to mrudula.
Karan was leaving kisses all over her head and side neck, trying to make her calm.
Karan-(softly) please Jaan, please calm down, I'm here... nothing is wrong, everything is fine. Please baby. Look at me naa
Mrudula (sobbing)- blood... blood Karan...he...died...
Karan closed his eyes tightly. He just can't stand this mrudula,so weak,so vulnerable.
Karan-( pulling her more close) shhh... I'm here. So close to you. I won't let any bad thing touch you, I promise.
He was doing all he can, to calm her down which was actually working.
************************************
On other side Manik reached his room breathing heavily followed by nandini.
Manik was going to smash the mirror in anger when nandini's loud shout stopped him.
Nandini-(cryingly) manikk!!
As soon as Manik stopped she ran towards him and pulls him towards herself holding his collars sobbing.
Nandini-(concern+cryingly) how can you do this Manik? How can you harm yourself like this? How many times I have to tell you to come to me, to talk to me whenever you can't handle your emotions? Haan? You don't care about me anymore na manii? You don't love me now.
Manik-( wiping her tears+ sternly) shut up...how can you say this? I don't love you? I don't care about you? Nandini Manik Malhotra hear me loud and clear, the only person I first cared about or love with all my heart is you and after you it was our kids and no one else and I'll continue doing that till I die or maybe even after that. Do you get that?
Nandini-(softly) then why were you hurting yourself? Hmm? What if you would have actually smashed your hand? It would have hurted you so badly manii.
Manik-(taking deep breaths) I'm sorry Jaan but what should I do? I feel so angered right now seeing that douchebag roaming around in our house and having guts to call my son mentally unstable. Already karan is so insecure about this psychiatrist thing and now some idiot will come and say all this shit to him, how will he feel? We can't ignore this fact that he is still a teenager, no matter how strong he tries to show himself,we can't ignore this fact that he is broken. Broken beyond repair nandini.
Nandini-(warmly) I'm understanding everything manii, but you tell me... will you hurting yourself will solve anything? Hmmm? It will hurt karan more Jaan. We have to act calmly manii. We can't take impulsive decisions.
Manik- (lowly) where is he? He must be really angry at me.
Nandini- then go and manofy him.
Manik nodded and both come out of the room to see myrah sitting on aarav's lap in living room as he was peppering sweet kisses all over her face while myrah was smiling cutely and aradhya was sitting beside them holding glass of water.
Aarav-(softly) are you okay now? We will go and have lunch today after school at your favourite hotel. Okay?
Myrah-(clapping her hands in excitement) okieee. We all will go na?
Aarav- yes, don't know about elders but we all will surely go. Now come, let's call your karan bhaiyu.
They both turned around and saw manan standing there with smile on their faces. Aarav came near them , leaving myrah in aradhyaa's arms and said slowly so that myrah doesn't hear him.
Aarav- (concern)are you okay dad?
Manik-(smiling) I am,buddy. Where is everyone?
Aarav- dhruv chachu was bleeding so they all are in room as doctor is checking him. Karan is with mrudula, idk what happened to her but she was crying and shivering badly when she saw you guys fighting. Even myrah was scared earlier but now she is good. We are planning to go for lunch after school.
When manan heard about mrudula, they were too worried about her. Even Nandini noticed how scared mrudula was and she don't think it was quite normal. Being scared of fights is something else but she was literally shivering there.
Nandini-(worriedly) we should check on mrudu Manik. Even I saw how terrified she was. Aarav where is she?
Aarav-in Karan's room.
They all turned to go towards Karan's room but stopped when they saw everyone except dhruliya and Diya coming down.
Manik immediately reached mrudula and cupped her cheeks- baby are you okay? What happened kiddo? Haan?
Mrudula (bending her head down)- nothing appa, I'm fine.
She was holding Karan's hand very tightly as if he will vanish if she will leave it while karan too was holding her closely assuring her of his presence.
Manan weren't satisfied but when nandini looked at Ishita, she signals her that she will explain it later so she agreed and they both didn't question further.
In all this karan for once didn't looked at manik or ram and told nandini.
Karan-maa, we are going school.
Myrah-(happily) bhaiyu you know, we are going to eat lunch at my favourite hotel after school.
Karan looked at aarav who blinks in assurance so he too agreed and then they all went to school except diya as she was going to spend time with dhruv and take care of him.
Manik-(whispering sadly) he is mad at me nandini.
Nandini-(softly) he will be fine manii, have patience please. ( Then she turned towards mukti) Mukti, I'm going to hospital will you come?
Mukti- yeah bhabhi, you go... I'll be there after 2 o'clock.
Manik-(looking at ram and ishita) come, let's go together. I'm already dropping Jaan at hospital.
They all nodded and went with him. Once they were settled in car ram initated the conversation.
Ram- Nandini, what's up with Mukti?
Nandini- I don't know, she said she wants to talk with me regarding something so she will come at hospital.
He nodded while manik said- forget about her, first tell me what's wrong with my kiddo? Why was she so scared?
Ram-(glaring) you mean OUR kiddo?
Manik-(glaring back) no, I mean MY kiddo. I gave her this name so she is only my kiddo.
Nandini- ohh God Manik, stop it.
Ishita- yes ram, sometimes you really act as kid.
Manik/ram- he started it.
Nandini (rolling her eyes)- forget about them ishu, you tell me. What's wrong?
Ishita-(sadly) actually, it all started when we were in New York.
Flashback ( in ishita's pov)
We all were settled in New York with Karan. They too were inseparable. Always laughing together, eating together, studying together. Our days were passing happily.
That time some kind of fight was going on in our city. About white and black people. People were protesting, participating in debates and what not but it was all in limit.
One day Karan was not feeling quite well so mrudula alone go to school with our driver. Suddenly a riot took place. People were killing each other mercilessly. Schools, hospitals, offices everything got closed. We were at home when we got to know about this and we were damn scared.
Karan was hell bent on going out and bring mrudula back but we already had a talk with our driver and guards appointed for her. They said everything is under control and they are coming back. We even talk with mrudula and she was fine too.
They were in mid-way when some people came in Front of their car. Driver stopped the car right there and asked mrudula to hide in back seat while he too did the same as those protestors would have killed them if they would have seen them.
But mrudula while hiding saw a really dreadful scene which haunts her till date. Some people grab one man and beat him to death, that man was shouting for help, crying in pain but those monsters burned him alive which unfortunately mrudula saw.
Soon with lot's of luck and patience they all reached home safely but mrudula was just numb. Driver told us what happened and we were shocked too.
Flashback ends
Ram- we consulted counselor for her and that helped her alot but still whenever she sees anyone fighting, she gets all scared and those scenes starts playing in front of her eyes. Karan did alot for her, he used to stay awake in starting days, just to make sure mrudula is sleeping peacefully, whenever she used to get panick attacks only karan was able to calm her down. She is much better now but still she gets really scared whenever something like this happens Infront of her.
Ishita-that's the only reason why Karan and ram never raise their voice even if they are hell angry Infront of her but I don't know what happened to ram today. How can you loose your calm like this ram?
She said last line asking ram who was looking really guilty. Manan were having tears in their eyes. They never treated mrudula differently. Infact she was Manik's first daughter according to him. Manik had parked the car already as it was being difficult for him to control himself.
Manik-(looking down) I'm really sorry bhabhi. If I would have known about this, I wouldn't have ever initated the fight. I'm really very sorry.
Ishita- don't say sorry Manik. It wasn't your fault either. You didn't know about this and any parent would have loose their calm if someone would have called their children mentally unstable.
Now even manan knew why Karan was not looking at him and ram. Now until and unless mrudula won't be happy like before, Karan is not going to get his peace back.
After this everyone remained silent and reached their particular destinations indulge in their own thoughts.
***********************************
Other side aarav was driving the car and aradhya was sitting beside him whereas karan was holding mrudula closely and was sitting at last seat. Varun was sitting in middle seat with myrah on her lap.
Everyone was quiet. Araav was thinking about today's fight. He just wanted to throw dhruliya out of the house. He was trying hard to not hate Diya but he was not able to forget this fact that dhruliya came back because of her only and how it's affecting everyone in the family. His one side of heart was showing sympathy for Diya but other side he was mad at her, at her dumbness.
Aradhya was concerned about mrudula. She is like her soul sister, she remembers when mrudula came in their life, she was the happiest. As she always wanted a girl best friend which she never got in the form of Diya. But today seeing her so weak and vulnerable, her heart pained. She even saw how Karan ignored ram and Manik, so she was worried about that as well.
Varun was replaying his conversation with Mukti in his mind. Yes, he had a talk with Mukti, he told her how he feels...how he feels so guilty whenever he saw her trying to harm the family. How he feels so pathetic when he sees how his own mother is becoming so evil. He never wanted to talk to her like this in his whole life but this reality check was quite needed for her and also even Varun Wanted to let out his all frustration and anger towards her.
Karan was thinking of ways to cheer mrudula . He knows she is feeling really low and wants to rest and he himself wouldn't have forced her to come to school if it wasn't that important. Above this, the fact that mrudula has science as her main subject wasn't really that helpful. She is going to have all the practicals assignments soon, so skipping classes at this moment was not even a choice for her. On the other hand, he was upset with both manik and ram. Specially with ram, he knows how sensitive mrudula is, still he beat dhruv like this and he had told manik hundred times to be patient in front of Dhruv. They can't let their plan go in vain just like that but manik never listens. Karan had made up his mind today, that he won't talk with both of them unless and until they truly won't understand their mistakes and rectify it.
Mrudula was just thinking about those days. It was not easy for her to forget all that but she tried and she was quite successful too. But still, she can never calm herself down on her own when some fight is going on Infront of her. Today, when blood was oozing out of dhruv's nose , it triggered her badly and all her memories came rushing back. But still she tried to be sane and didn't loose her sense of ability unlike other times. She remembers, that it was during those days only when she fell in love with Karan. The way he used to handle her, take care of her make her fall in love with him badly.
While our myrah was just busy day dreaming about her lunch in hotel. She was wishing for time to pass quickly so that she can go to hotel and have some quality time with her siblings. She knows elders won't be there so her mummaji won't be able to stop her from eating all sorts of junk food and ice creams.
So this is the end!!!
How was it?
Manan moments?
Aarav concern?
Karan and Mrudula?
Mrudula's fears?