Dear readers,
Thanks a lot for the love you showered on Arjun.
Let's talk about his parents.
Mathur's are a simple straight forward, conservative family. While they love their kids, they do not support them stepping out of the line.
Arjun's case was extreme.
He was found heavily drunk, with a molested girl, who happened to die later on.
That is the first glimpse of the scenario for everyone. The fact that he was drunk and was under the effect of alcohol cannot be ignored. Any sane father would punish his son for destroying the life of a young girl.
This, at the age of eighteen is not acceptable, not at least when he doesn't have enough explanation.
No one knows what exactly happened, not even Arjun has a clear picture and that made him even more guilty in the eyes of everyone.
Talking about his friend, it was his sister who gave the statement of Arjun's innocence.
Arjun was barely eighteen, but Kunal is much older and much more mature than him and helped him clear the charges. It is nowhere mentioned that the case was closed. It's only mentioned that Arjun was cleared of all the charges.
If anything is still bothering you, please remember that this is just a story.
No character is same and people have different methods to deal with different situations.
We have seen many fathers...
We have seen Vihaan, who can make his kids tow the line with an ice-cream...
We have seen Vijaysingh Shekhawat, who can be there with his son, who chose to remain silent, and offer his full support...
And, we have a devil like Kabir, who can be helpless for his son.
Arjun's father has just seen a son who has molested and killed a girl, not to mention, the same son kidnapped a girl and married her forcefully. He can't sit back and watch the show.
Kindly be mindful while you give the comments.
We will witness a few more dark stories in the future.
Appreciate your support.
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It was afternoon when Kunal came back to the hospital, with a bag in his hands. Mitra followed him. She had swollen eyes and appeared as if she had been crying.
He straight away walked to Aniket, who was already eyeing him skeptically.
The family had seen him in the morning with a young girl, and even before they could inquire about him, he was gone. But now that he came back, their interest piqued up. He looked at everyone, but his gaze halted at Richa, who could not stop meddling her fingers, nervously.
"How is he now?" He asked Arjun's father.
Aniket stood up and looked at him with furrowed eyebrows.
"He is doing better. But, do we know you?"
Kunal shook his head in denial.
"I am here to talk to you. I need to discuss something really important."
"Is it more important than than my son, who was almost on death bed?" Aniket did not know if the anger was on the young man or on himself.
Kunal scoffed.
"You left him to die on streets. Anyways, I need to clear a few points. If your family can give me few minutes, you will know the answers to a lot of questions. I am sure you all are wondering why Sahil tried to kill him."
Richa looked up at him and then at Arjun's father, who was giving Kunal a meaningful look.
"I will meet him and then we can go to your place. Mitra will be staying with him until anyone of you wants to come back. If not, I and Mitra are there for him."
Kunal's words were not appropriated by Aniket. He clenched his fist, but did not say anything. He was really curious to know what this man knew that he did not.
Mitra pushed opened the door and walked in, followed by Kunal.
Arjun was under the effects of medicine and was sleeping peacefully. Kunal sighed and stroked his head, combing his unruly hair. He then looked at Mitra.
"Will your be fine by yourself for a few hours? If you say, this can wait."
She shook her head.
"It should not wait any longer, Kunal. Get done with it. I am there with him, don't worry. And, Dad would be arriving in an hour. So it should be just fine."
Kunal nodded and walked out, after a glance at his sleeping friend.
"I want everyone to be present." Kunal had asked, when Arjun's mother protested and demanded to let her stay at the hospital.
"Please, Aunty, trust me, Arjun needs to clarify his side of the story. Can't you give him the benefit of doubt?"He pleaded.
Sapna broke down bitterly.
It was not about giving a chance to Arjun anymore. She had been blinded by rage when he came back, but watching him almost dead, made her regrets resurface. She realized, she was not ready to let go of him.
She was held by Aniket as they left the hospital with heavy heart.
The drive back home was filled with anticipation. When everyone was home and Kunal stepped in the Mathur Residence, he pulled out a pen drive and asked Samrat to put it on the big television.
The confused family sat around the television as Samrat commenced his task to connect the pen drive.
Veena looked at Kunal and realized suddenly that he was the one who helped Arjun kidnap her.
"You were there with him that night. Samrat, he is the other guy." She suddenly screamed.
The family was taken aback.
Samrat halted his movements and looked at Kunal with furrowed eyebrows. His face contorted to slight anger.
"Why do you think we will listen to whatever you have to say? You can show yourself out." She seethed in anger.
Richa looked up hopefully.
Kunal was momentarily at loss of words. If the family decided to not believe him, that would be the biggest loss ever, for him, and for the family too.
But to his surprise, Aniket intervened.
"Let us see what he has to say. Go ahead, Samrat."
Richa blinked and bit on her thumbnail, praying to the almighty for all the luck that she would need. She did not know what was to appear on the screen about Sahil's. She just prayed that she was nowhere mentioned.
The video started with a loud thud. There were no faces on the screen. Arjun's phone had fallen down and the only thing visible was the ceiling, but the conversations, the thudding of the punches, Arjun's groans and screams and Sahil's mention of each and every incident was recorded with crisp clear voice.
Mention of the young girl who was mercilessly killed, made the hair on everyone's skin stand up.
They realised that Arjun was as clueless as they all were. He too was a victim all along.
Naren could not believe his ears when Sahil mentioned about Richa. He looked at her with disbelief and she had tears pooling in her eyes. She could not defend herself anymore.
Veena was taken aback when she realized that she was just a puppet in Sahil and Richa's hands. They were playing with her feelings and her life.
Samrat had a shiver run down his spine when he realized how deeply everything was connected.
Naren slumped on the sofa with a thud, when Geet was mentioned. The betrayal hit hard. It did not help to know that he was being fooled by his wife for ten long years. Suddenly, everything appeared to be a lie. His entire life was a lie.
The video stopped with the mention of spiked water system in the outhouse.
Both Aniket and Sapna broke down in tears, knowing that their son was innocent all along and was played by one other than their own daughter-in-law. It was difficult to digest that he had been drinking poisoned water for an entire day. They did not even want to imagine what he went through for the entire day, suffering in silence.
"Naren" Richa stood up slowly and gathered courage to talk to her husband.
Naren looked up at her. He gave her a blank stare for a long moment. He suddenly stood up and slapped her hard.
She screamed in pain as she landed on the floor.
Naren was about to take a step ahead to do more damage, when he was held in place by Kunal, who was nearest to him.
"Leave me, I will kill her." Naren screamed within angry tears, while he struggled in Kunal's strong hold.
"He is lying, Naren. You don't even know him." She pointed to Lunch add l who looked at her flabbergasted.
"Shut up. Just shut your filthy mouth." Naren pushed Kunal away harshly and grabbed her by her hair.
"What was that lover of yours saying about Geet? Tell me who does she belong to?" Naren squeezed her cheeks harshly.
He was blinded in rage and wanted to kill her. While the family was shocked by the turn of events, Samrat intervened and pulled her away from his hold.
"Enough, Bhaiyya. Don't manhandle her, not like this. Let her explain."
"Stay out of this, Samrat. I need to know if I ever gathered a child. My entire life was a dirty lie." He screamed.
"Will you believe her if she says Geet is yours? No?" Samrat counter asked.
Naren looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. He was breathing hard.
"What do you to hear, that Geet belongs to Sahil? Will that make you feel better? Let's not punish the child, Bhaiyya. She is innocent." Samrat tried to explain.
Naren held a hand to stop him.
"I don't believe in that word anymore." He seethed as he referred to 'innocent'.
Richa looked at him with tears streaming down her face. She was exposed.
"I want a DNA test. And if that turns out to be negative...."
"Enough, Naren." Aniket decided to take matters into his hands and interrupted him.
Naren looked at him and blinked.
"Don't go there. Don't complete that sentence, ever. You are not compelled to take care of Geet. We will decide about her. But not now. Let's not take hasty decisions."
Naren did not like it.
"But... "
"Give us all some time. Please." Aniket pleaded and Naren closed his eyes in defeat.
"Why did you do this to me? Richa? You were like my elder sister." Veena finally spoke, giving in to her emotions.
Richa slumped on the sofa and cried bitterly in the hollow of her palms.
"Stop crying and answer me. You and your... You both spoiled my life. And Arjun? Look at him, he suffered so much, only because you had to keep your little affair going." Veena shrieked with clenched fists.
"I am sorry, Veena. I never knew Sahil could go and kill that girl. I really was not aware that he was involved with anything about Arjun. He never mentioned and I never knew about it."
"Liar." Veena screamed again and she was pulled in Samrat's embrace as she broke down again.
Richa had enough. She glanced at Kunal who was the cause of this entire fiasco.
"I am the liar, and who is he? He framed a story and you all believed it. Why is he even so interested in bringing it out now? Why is he backing Arjun?"
"Because, the girl your liver killed was my younger sister. Kanika Khurana."
Everyone gasped.
Kunal took a deep breath and raked his fingers in his hair.
"Kanika was in bad shape when she was hospitalized. But she gave a statement to the police in my presence that she was molested by a masked man and not by Arjun. Arjun was forced down a bottle of strong alcohol and was being pushed down the railings of the terrace. He could have died that same night, but Kanika happened to intervene. The man left Arjun alone and caught hold of Kanika. But she was too scared and passed out."
This was entirely new to the family, except for Veena. She recalled Arjun telling her the same thing, a night or two ago.
"But by them Arjun was already in the custody. It took me about a week to present the bail and get him out of the jail. But surprisingly, Kanika suddenly passed away. I was at a dead end. When I came back to inquire about Arjun after about a month, I was told by the security that he was not staying here anymore. I looked for him everywhere. One fine day, I saw a video of a young boy performing in a hotel and realized that it was Arjun."
Aniket and Veena were taken aback to know that their son had to sing to feed himself, all this for no fault of his.
"He was singing to feed himself?" Sapna asked out with a heavy heart.
Kunal shook his head.
"Trust me, Aunty, you don't want to know what he had to do to keep himself alive. He did not once, go into depression, even after all this. He faced every challenge and emerged stronger."
Aniket held his head in his hands and let thee way to his emotions. He could never forgive himself.
Sapna to cried bitterly while she hid her face behind her palms.
Retracing was not easy.
"I found him working in a hotel. He used to perform at night and by the day he attended college to complete his education. He slowly and steadily stepped up and now works as a financial manager at the same hotel. We realized that we had a same goal to live for. That is, to find and punish the man responsible for destruction of Kanika and Arjun. We tried to trace all possible details, but nothing gave us a hint that it might be Sahil. But now that I have this evidence, I will make sure he rots in jail all through the life."
Everyone was too shocked by the information.
While all were trying to wrap their head around it, two people were looking forward to something else.
While Naren was planning to file a divorce, Veena thought that since everything was crystal clear, she could finally step out of this marriage.
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Another chapter up
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