Chapter 63
Aarohi left Gaurav's place early that morning. For the entire week, she had been crazily searching for a job to sustain herself in Indore without having to depend on anyone.
Between her struggling period, she also connected over a phone call with her parents who offered her money and other support she needed during her tough times, but she politely denied. Sticking to her point of not having committed any mistake by escaping from her own wedding, she also obediently pleaded for forgiveness for the inconvenience caused to them.
Her mother Nidhi was no more reluctant as Arjun was mature enough to knock some good sense into his wife's head. The dream of becoming a renowned dancer which was left incomplete by Nidhi was now to be fulfilled by their daughter. Holding their faith high in Aarohi, they ultimately mingled with her and gave their consent wholeheartedly.
Dragging her lazy footsteps into a newly constructed building, Aarohi stared at the loose pamphlet in her hands. It was an open invitation to girls of her age and a few years older to apply for auditions of dance choreographers for a tele-industry.
Her limbs trembled as she stepped inside, feeling nervous for the entire time. She had earlier faced dance auditions when she was in college, participated in inter-college competitions and also appeared for an audition for a reality show. But today it was definitely different for her. It was solely a do-or-die situation as extracting the job was utmost necessary for her.
The entire corridor was lined by girls of her age, and some of them were as well married. Aarohi hoped against hope that every applicant must be good performers but she ought to outshine others for the day.
"Has the audition begun?" Aarohi asked the girls, her mouth refusing to stop shivering. "Who are the judges? Any movie directors or producers, or who? Anyone famous?"
Most of them shrugged their shoulders while a few slumped. When she could not extract enough information from them, Aarohi chose to keep her mouth shut for the time being.
A few minutes later, a young lady dressed in a light green saree came out of a room and glanced at every other girl present in the corridor. Aarohi stared down at her own clothes which were a pinkish peplum top paired with black denims.
"Attendants are wearing sarees. Will I be allowed to perform some western hiphops, or will Indian classical be imposed on us?" Aarohi wondered to herself. "I am a sucker for classical dance but I thought I should go with some western moves today. I am so scared!"
"Before I start admitting the participants into the auditorium, I must make you aware of a few things." The lady broke the silence. "The industry is very novice and is looking for recruiting female dancers who may not be very experts but understand the seriousness of their job."
Aarohi frowned before asking, "Who are the judges? Anyone famous we know?"
"You mustn't ask such questions, ma'am. You are already being monitored on the camera." The lady pointed at the rotating device over their heads. "I can only assure you that one of the judges is indeed from the film industry."
A part of Aarohi's mind jumped excitedly upon hearing the news. Even if she might not get selected, she would be performing in front of a movie director and for the same, she was supposed to give her best shot at it.
The waiting time for Aarohi was no longer than half an hour and the call for her came sooner than expected. She walked straight into the dimly-lit auditorium with the speed of a tortoise until the row of three judges seated next to one another came to her view. She could not recognize any of them even though she assumed one of them to be really involved with the movie industry.
"Your name, miss?"
"Aarohi Agarwal, and I come from Omkareshwar." She murmured, trying to be as humble as possible. "I have done my masters in classical Kathak and a diploma in Bharatnatyam. I have already submitted the supporting documents along with my resume."
One of them laughed. "You can't be more funny. If classical dance has been your strength and stream of study, why have you donned such a western appearance?"
"I beg your pardon, Sir, but I thought to move out of my comfort zone and give this audition a chance in order to prove my self-worth." Aarohi explained calmly. "Please give me the opportunity to showcase my capability."
The two of the great men and a woman briefly discussed amongst themselves before shaking their heads. "You are permitted. We may like to see you performing some freestyle first."
Aarohi bent down to touch the transparent glass floor before folding her palms. As the loud music began to play around her, her eardrums almost became used to the tune gradually. She swiftly made her body movements, including her upper and lower limbs, and when it came to rolling on her knees, she was also quite adept to it.
In about three minutes, the music stopped abruptly and a very slow classical melody began to play. Aarohi jolted upright in her place before flexibly trying to adjust her body to the new tune, taking over the viable Kathak moves for as much as her learnings provided her.
Once she was accomplished, she ended her short performance with a vivid step of Bharatnatyam and fell on her knees with a bow. She was panting immensely, yet tried to conceal the uneasiness from her viewers. Surfacing a beautiful smile on her face, she briefed a cleaner end to her performance.
Having been mesmerized by her bountiful moves, the three judges clapped impressively before ticking her for the next round. Winning the first battle came to her like a drop of water in an empty vessel on a hot afternoon and she took a respectful exit from the place.
"I can't believe it, Shai, I made through the first round." Aarohi chattered over the phone. "They have assured me that I'll be called for the next round shortly."
"I told you that you'll make it. I always knew you're worthy of it." Shalini told her. "I can't wait to see you choreographing actresses in movies. Oh my Gawd!"
"Hey, shut up. It's only the first round and I don't want to expect anything. Expectations always hu-rt." Aarohi stopped short of her speech as her expectations had always been tossed around like game consoles since ages. "Talk to you later, bye."
Aarohi reached Gaurav's place and retired to the guest room. Screaming her heart out in front of the mirror, she wiped away her tears. "After losing myself to every expectation, my only hope is the skill I'm best at, my dance. I want to prove it to myself that I'm worth it— I'm worthy of being loved, if not as a girlfriend or a wife, but as a choreographer, as a teacher, as a dancer. . ."
While Aarohi cried loudly in the room, Tripti watched her quietly from outside and pressed her forehead against Gaurav's chest. Gaurav rubbed her shoulders before saying, "Hadn't you placed the audition pamphlet on her desk, she would have never found out her own worth. Today's audition has surely brought in a good amount of motivation and confidence in her saddened life. Let her cry to her heart's content."
"I only did what I was instructed to, by her brother Dhairya." Tripti told him. "I so wish that she gets united to the love of her life so that she doesn't have to keep crying over her fate again and again."
*****
"I do not under-stand how it is always you who is involved beh-ind each and every diffi-culty that comes our way, for good heavens sake!" Sanchi prompted over the phone call that Vihaan had shot to speak to her. "How can the wad of crimi-nals not stop swarming behind you like ants follo-wing their leader?"
"Are you flattering me?" Vihaan bulged his eyes before leaving a witty remark. "We shouldn't chat with such a great distance between us, because I won't be able to silence your traditional banters with my lips on yours."
"I am not even surp-rised that the criminals acted like it!" She exclaimed monotonously, gulping the chunk of saliva invading her mouth. "You have your-self earned such an unreputed fame for those dece-itful men to pick you out of every-thing."
"Going by the kind of reputation I held under my belt, I was a living threat for them. And who would want to miss such an opportunity to invade me on a personal level?" He cackled, earning a loud snort from her. "If luck had favoured me, I would have also pasted the stamp of a criminal on you and you would have joined the swarm of ants to pester me."
"We are devia-ting from the topic under discu-ssion, do you realise it, God of Arr..."
"Arrogance." He completed the statement for her before raising his collar to a level from where he could pride upon the fact that he had managed to silence her ultimately— something which used to happen to him very rarely. "Now listen to my careful advice, hickory. You must sit down and jot the names of every other conman you might have crossed paths with while working at our bureau."
"Umm..." Sanchi ran her fingers through her hair. "The biggest conman I can reme-mber right now is YOU."
Vihaan raised an eyebrow. "What sort of conman activity did I perform to offend you?"
"You tricked me into marr-iage, remember?" Sanchi stifled a laugh. She loved to pull his legs every often. "Very few, in fact nobody pro-poses a woman for marriage in the middle of a seclu-ded street at the late hours of the night. I guess you've got my ans-wer."
Vihaan fell short of words. Swiftly folding his raised collar back to its original position, he coughed. "Who is deviating from the topic under discussion now?"
"You."
"What!"
"Why the hell wo-uld I force my brain into remem-bering such silly ancient things? And why will I label any ran-dom person I would have met as a con-man?"
"If you can't do this pretty little thing, keep your assumptions hidden in your stomach and stop accusing me for all the wrongs happening with us!"
"Okay." Sanchi responded lazily. "Jokes apart, did you have din-ner? What is Pihu doing and wh-ere is Rihu?"
"Our children have been doing great since they popped out of their mother's womb." He teased softly again. "Pihu hasn't returned home from her duty and Rihu was spending time with his grandfather when I retired to my room. I so wish you were also here in Omkareshwar and we would be now together into each other's arms."
"Why are you beco-ming a pain in the ass with ea-ch passing day?"
"Because I feel so youthful only for you." He said involuntarily. "You have always managed to intimidate me."
"The great Vihaan Singh Bun-dela, who has alw-ays been the talk of the town for the crim-inals stands intimi-dated by a petite woman!"
"Because the one to intimidate me is no ordinary woman; she is a witch who crafted her magic on me— black magic to be precise."
"This isn't going gre-at, Vih, not at all!" Her annoyance was clearly audible in her voice. "You are provo-king me now."
"Because our marriage anniversary is round the corner, hickory, which is going to be a silver jubilee." The excitement in his voice sounded like the playing of a hundred of pianos. "I can't wait to make love to you on that particular day just like our very first."
"Our annive-rsary celebrations will be one of the best events we'd ever cele-brated in our lives if you are able to solve within time the dr-ama that's currently going on in Omkare-shwar."
As Sanchi prepared to disconnect the phone call, Vihaan whispered, "I miss you."
Sanchi grinned adorably like a young college girl before reciprocating the same. "I love you."
Vihaan mumbled the words of his love before disconnecting the call and dropping his phone on the side of his bed. Thinking of Sanchi and their life together, he could not recall when and how quickly he had fallen into a deep slumber. It was only until the next morning when his sleep broke and a pair of light brown eyes came to his blurry view, peeking into his as he lay on the bed motionlessly.
The moment he saw Rehaan peering into his face, he sighed and closed his eyes. Sleep had not yet left him he knew and visualizing Rehaan early in the morning was only a mere coincidence.
Rubbing his eyes again, he looked around only to find Rehaan's steely gaze tensing on him. "Rihu, what are you doing here?"
Rehaan was taken aback by the weird expressions plastered on Vihaan's face, and asked in a humble tone, "Did I surprise you, dad? You seem to be horrified by my presence. Weren't you expecting me? You thought it might be Pihu—"
In an effort to read Rehaan's eyes that led to the door of his heart, Vihaan zipped his lips. In all these years, he had come to realize that Rehaan was quite a sensitive guy who preferred being acknowledged by others. Opening his eyes widely, Vihaan passed a quick smile before adjusting Rehaan's cap and slapping his back.
"I was facing a nightmare when you shook me." Vihaan lied. "I was so horrified by the ghastly dreams that I recoiled late to recognize you."
"Oh was it too bad a dream?" Lines of worries occupied Rehaan's forehead. "Here, sip on some water, dad."
While Rehaan offered him a glass of water from the nightstand, Vihaan sipped on the liquid and nodded, "It was your mother who came in my dreams. Now you must understand how bad it had to be."
Rehaan gulped before staring at the closed window panes. "I must open the windows for you."
"Rehaan mustn't suffer from this inferiority complex of being unwanted or redundant in the family. I know how he feels and I can't let this happen anymore." Vihaan thought to himself before taking a glimpse of Rehaan, who was now fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. "So young man, how is your business going on? I heard that you took a few business lessons from Shaurya."
"True it is, but how do you know?" Rehaan asked with a frown. "I did not tell you or anyone else."
"I am your father and I always make sure that I keep myself updated on the events taking place in the life of my son." Vihaan asserted wisely. "So can we work in partnership? I promise your share of profit will be fractionally greater than mine."
Rehaan grinned, widely this time. "Dad, you are unimaginable. I came here to speak of something very urgent but you are cracking jokes!"
"Oh really? I thought you were here to spend some time with your oldie kind of a father." Vihaan wiggled his eyebrows. "You mustn't let tensions creep into your nerves and hollow your insides. Instead, focus on living your life like a carefree bird without the cage of stress."
Rehaan heaved a sigh, smiling merrily. "You really thought that I am here to talk. I can't believe it."
"I did, why won't I?" Vihaan said genuinely. "Can I not expect this little thing from my son?"
You can, dad," Rehaan said, grinning from ear to ear. "I promise you I'll spend more time with you once I'm out of every chaos troubling me."
"Okay, so what's the latest concern that's boring you so much?"
"I'm unable to reach Ishaan over the phone. How will I connect him with Pihu?" Rehaan reported sadly. "I can't see my sister suffering for reasons I am responsible for."
"Let me suggest you a few ways out." Vihaan scratched his chin. "When I were a cop, I used to trace criminals even from their remotest hiding places. Searching for Ishaan wouldn't be that difficult for you."
After Vihaan imparted to him an ample of his advice and hints to make a progress, Rehaan made sure he uttered some words of solace for his father. Jauntily hugging Vihaan, he caught the edge of his father's palm. "Trust me, dad, I won't let you down due to my snobbish behaviour."
No sooner had Rehaan exited from the room than Prachi approached Vihaan, who was wrapping up the blankets and arranging the bed linens. Amazed by Vihaan's whistling, Prachi felt her heart flutter as she teased, "I guess some-body is missing my mother way too much."
"Misconceptions!" Vihaan exclaimed as soon as he heard her voice. Leaving his blankets in mid-way, he focused his eyes on Prachi. "I don't happen to treat people on priority who can't seem to treat me like one."
"But going by the past records, I've heard that you used to miss her so mu-ch that you sneaked in her room at the Tri-vedi nivas only to be with her. In fact, you also travelled to Gwalior to her parents' house to fet-ch her back home and. . ."
"Enough of the detailing, Pihu." Vihaan spoke in a rebel-some voice. "Why are you here early in the morning? Has anyone implanted you?"
Despite feeling the mockery hidden in his voice, Prachi managed to stifle a laugh. "I was here to discuss on a seri-ous issue, but your good mood delighted me, papa."
"Let's discuss the serious things then. The talks of your infernal mother aren't much of significance right now."
"Ahem." Prachi sighed before adding, "Papa, can you remember the time wh-en the bomb blasts had taken place? Can you exa-ctly recall the date?"
Vihaan narrowed his eyes at first, trying hard to force his brain into remembering the major details. When he failed after numerous times, he raised his hands. "I think I can't recall at all."
"How will I extract this infor-mation?" She was glued to her thoughts. "Do you have any idea? Kno-wing the exact time period can lead us to many revelations from the past."
"Eleven years ago in 2013, but I can't remember the date," Vihaan repeated again. "Weren't you telling us that Ishaan had handed over the winning certificate from Shimla camping to Rihu months ago? Why don't you look up for the exact date from the certificate itself?"
To be continued...
A/N: Our SANVI and their children are going to go through another mystery and so many past revelations. Are you ready again?
Can you remember when was the marriage anniversary of SANVI? Their anniversary is going to be the final event of my AND series. Please do not forget to vote on the chapters.
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