"Thank you... for coming in my life and loving me the way no one can!"
The moment Sanskar heard those words from her, a feeling of euphoria and happiness filled his entire being like helium. He couldn't explain how much those words meant to him, that how much he had waited for this to happen. All this while, both of them had only dreamt of a moment like this. And right now, they were living their dream!
At this point, nothing mattered to them. Not the resolve that Sanskar made to himself. Not the promise that Swara made to Annapurna. Right now, all that mattered was them... and their love! The love that was unsaid, unexpressed since so long. The love that awaited them since they remembered. They knew their love was being wronged, being tested. And they wanted to move past all those hurdles that stood on their way.
And they did! All they wanted to do now was pour their hearts out to each other.
"Do you have any idea how much I missed you?" He pulled her even more towards himself into a tighter hug, his eyes filled with tears, "Koi aise karta hai kya? Itne din tak mujhse dur rahi, how can you?"
Those words that were uttered with affection and longing filled Swara's eyes with tears. She couldn't help but suck in a deep breath, making an attempt to suppress her emotions.
"Even you went away from me yourself. You didn't... why didn't you fight for me? Why didn't you make any attempt to talk? I was being stupid but at least you should have knocked some sense into me. I swear, I would have left everything behind and come to you."
Pain engulfed her as she completed. Both of them knew what this meant. What this moment meant for them. They had kept so much inside of them since so long, and now finally, here they were, following their heart and expressing their love to each other!
"I missed you too, Sanskar. I missed you so much." She admitted with a heavy heart, closing her tear-filled eyes tightly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything. I know no words will be enough to erase what happened, but-"
"No." He broke the hug and caressed her cheeks to wipe away her tears and he smiled looking at her. "Thank you... because what you have done, I seriously don't know how to thank you for it. Thank you, Swara. If something would have happened to mom again, I swear I would have also..."
"Ssh!" She kept her fingers against his lips stopping him from saying anything inauspicious. "Don't say anything like that, Sanskar."
"You saved her life, Swara. Thank you, thank you so much..."
He joined his hands infront of her and was immediately stopped by her. "Sanskar! No. Not you too, please."
She took his one hand in hers and smiled.
"You don't have to thank me." she said with affection, "I know how important a mother is to her child. And I also know how important you are to me so I didn't want to let you deal with your problem on your own. Sanskar, you have always been by my side no matter what, and now it's my chance. I want to be there for you. Trust me, I really do. If you cry, I want to hold you, tell you everything will be okay. You don't know how much you mean to me. You always have, I never told you. And I know I'm so late in admitting my feelings for you."
Sanskar couldn't help but smile emotionally at her words.
"And you don't deserve what you have been through." she stated. "How well you hid your pain from the world so that no one would know... behind this perfect Sanskar, there is a vulnerable soul yearning for his mother's love."
Hearing her words, he frowned a little as he had no clue that she knew what happened to him, "What?"
"I know what happened." She admitted in a soft voice, "I know everything."
"How do you know?" he was visibly surprised. "I mean, I never told you."
"I have my ways." She chuckled emotionally.
"Your 'Jhansi ki Rani' ways, right?"
She shaked her head negatively, a smile formed on her face in accord of it's own.
His eyebrows furrowed, "Then?"
"My ways... the ways of a Bengali tigress!"
And for the first time in this whole week, Sanskar smiled and laughed wholeheartedly a little and Swara chuckled too, glad to see him smile after so long.
"But on a serious note, I was very worried about you." she admitted, their prior playfulness was gone.
"Why? You didn't need to be." An innocent side of him couldn't stop him from asking.
"Yes, I needed to be. How can you say I don't? You have no idea how worried I was for you. I had hurt you enough. And here... you were going through another pain and I just... instead of being there with you, I distanced you from myself for which..." her voice broke in the end, "I'll never be able to forgive myself..."
She couldn't complete as something very large came to rest on her throat, and she choked in her breath. Whatever words she said to him flashed in front of her and they made her head spin and heart hurt. A tear leaked out from her eye and Sanskar immediately caressed her cheek with his hand to stop that tear.
"Please don't cry, Swara. You know it kills me when I see tears in these beautiful eyes," he cupped her cheeks and she closed her eyes.
"What about the tears that I had been the reason for in all these days?" she said in a low, wet voice, her soul cracking into bits.
"It's okay-"
"It's not okay, Sanskar. It's not okay at all. On one hand, you were always there with me but when I should have been there for you, when I should have supported you, I pushed you away and hurt you so badly. I..."
She was stopped by Sanskar as he placed his fingers over her lips. When Swara looked at him with regrets of her past doing and with questions swirling in her eyes, she was welcomed by his smile. The smile that spoke volumes.
The smile she would move the heaven and hell for.
"After such a long time, I finally feel like living again. Breathing again. Smiling again." He admitted wholeheartedly. "Do you know why? Because after so many days, tumhari inn aankhon mein mujhe apne liye pyaar dikhaye de raha hai. Woh pyaar dikh raha hai jis ke liye mai bohot tarsa hoon, jis ke liye naa jaane mai ne kitna intezaar kiya hai."
She couldn't help but smile sadly, "Bohot intezaar karwaya na mai ne?"
"But I think I can truly say that it was worth it. It's the reason why we are here together, right now."
"I'm sorry!" she raised her hands to hold her ears looking at him. "For everything. For hurting you, for pushing you away, for naming your love as pity, for not being there for you."
Sanskar shaked his head and immediately pulled her hands down and held them in his.
"It's okay, Swara. We can talk about this."
"I don't know how to tell you what was the reason that I distanced myself from you."
Sanskar took in a deep breath. He felt like there was something she wanted to say but was not able to say. But he was adamant on knowing the truth. And he knew that this was the time. It was time to know what happened that she took such a grave step of going away from him. He wanted to know what was it that happened after that blissful evening when he admitted his feelings to her.
"Swara," he held either of her arms. "Do you trust me?"
When he asked her that, it just hit the right chord of her heart. So, she stared at him in the eyes and gave him the most honest answer.
"I trust you, Sanskar. I trust you like I trust God. I trust you to the extent that I know if I close my eyes and was going to fall off a cliff right now, you will come and hold me, saving me."
Her words were filled with so much love, so much sincerity and with so much confidence that he was the right one for her. And that said it all. She trusted him! Her belief in him was like his anchor, and his biggest strength. What more could he have wanted? All this while he had been working on this, and now it was right in front of him!
So, next, he said something that was the last thing that she expected from him.
"I know you have a reason for what you did. And I know you didn't do this by your own will."
Her eyes widened a little and lips parted in shock and her gaze stayed fixed on him. It was not a question, and there was no uncertainty anywhere. It was something he declared. It was something he knew.
"And I want to know what that reason is, Swara." He continued, being more firm than ever, "Because by now I know it is something you didn't have control over. I know you didn't want to go away from me but something happened and you had no choice. I just want to know who was behind that. Because I know you love me and trust me enough. Please tell me, Swara and I promise nothing will go wrong ever."
"I..."
'Just leave him. Stay away from him. You don't leave Sanskar and I don't leave anything in exposing you and ruining your family.' she recalled the words of his Badi Maa and she couldn't help but take a step back. It was very conflicting and she didn't understand how to handle it. Sanskar sensed her hesitance very well and that just confirmed what he said before.
He held Swara's hand and Swara, not understanding anything, just looked on as Sanskar raised her hand and kept her palm over his head.
"Sanskar?!" She gasped in shock.
No. No. How could she tell him it was no one but his Badi Maa, the mother who looked after him after his own mother? No matter what she did, she didn't want to spoil their relationship.
"You have my swear, I want to know everything Swara." she was shaken by his soft yet thick voice, for he was more than ever determined to know what happened. "I want to know why are you doing this. Has someone told you anything? Is someone threatening you? Is it... is it Kavita?" He thought of the worst possibilities.
"No, Sanskar. No." she blurted out. "It's... Kavita has not said anything to me."
"Then what is the reason, Swara? I... I'm sorry for making you tell me the truth like this. I know it's wrong, forcing you like this. I know you have some big reason. But I want to know what is it that is threatening our happiness. And trust me, once I know what it is I will make sure I will fix this!"
"Sanskar, I honestly don't understand if what I'm doing is right or wrong. If I'm still doing the right thing or not." she whispered and it left him stupefied.
"What happened, Swara? And how can you think this is wrong? How can this be wrong?! We both love each other and want to be together. What's wrong in it?"
"Yes, Sanskar, we love each other, but..."
She made herself free from his grip and walked towards the window, still thinking if telling him what really happened would be right on her part or not. She still remembered how Mrs Maheshwari told her to stay away from him or else she would do something that would get her family's heads down again -- something she didn't want again. But deep down, why did it feel like he was here to sort it all out for her! He was here to set everything right. Because that's what he had always done.
No doubt.
And when Lord himself had shown her the right path today in the morning, should she follow her heart and tell him everything?
Sanskar's eyes followed her and he waited for her anticipating her to answer him.
"I'll tell you the truth, but at the end you have to promise me something." she turned to look at him. "Promise me you will listen to what I'll say after that."
"Okay, I will." He nodded. "Now tell me what happened."
"Sanskar..." she licked her lips once before letting out a deep sigh. "There... is someone who isn't happy with us being together and I can't go against that someone who clearly knows more than anyone else what's right and what's good for you."
It was Sanskar's turn to get shocked.
"What?" he said in disbelief. "What are you saying Swara? I don't understand. Who is it that doesn't want us together?"
"Someone whose place in your life is more important than mine or anyone else." came her calm reply which made him even more confused. He couldn't make sense of anything she was saying.
"Who is it, Swara?"
She closed her eyes while blurting out, "Mrs Maheshwari."
The name she took was the one he would have never expected.
"Mom?!" He thought she was talking about Sujata. "Wait. But how can she..."
"Not her." she immediately clarified, and gulped before speaking again. "It was... it was not her."
The way she sounded, Sanskar realised who it was and she was refusing to say her name like this.
"Are you saying... it was Badi Maa?" He didn't know how it clicked inside of him that it was her she was talking about.
"Yes." She said in a voice that was so inaudible, but he still could hear it.
There. She said it and she was ready for the reaction that would follow the revelation. And it was exactly how she thought.
"Wait... h-how come?!" he stammered as he still failed to believe and make sense of anything. "You both never talk. Swara... w-when did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?!"
"Leave it Sanskar. It doesn't matter when that happened-"
"It freaking matters Swara!" He went closer to her and held her by her shoulders, "Everything about you matters the world to me. Everything about you. Now tell me, what did she do? What did she say to you that made you come to this extent? What exactly happened and when?"
Swara closed her eyes with her heart beating very fast. She could sense the panic and helplessness in his voice, and she felt guilty in a way.
"It was... the day after you said you love me."
In any other normal circumstance, she would be smiling hard thinking about how beautiful that evening had been. Hadn't it been the storm that shook the next day and tore them apart, she would had said it loud and clear to him that she too loved him with all she had and they would had given their blooming relationship a new name. She was the one who messed up and she would never be able to forgive herself for putting him as well as them through this pain.
"The call you told me to pick... it was supposed to be Dr Maheshwari but..."
"... but... it was her, right?" He dreaded to think about what would have happened next. He wished that the assumptions his mind were involuntarily making were proven wrong somehow. But Swara's silence confirmed his assumption.
"What did she say?" he asked her mustering lot of courage. "Tell me Swara, what. Did. She. Say?" he asked softly.
"She wanted to talk to you. But you were having bath, so I told her. And she came to know I was in your room. I think that made her angry but I don't blame her. It's not her fault, Sanskar. She was just looking out for you."
"So what? So what if you were in my room? I don't see anything wrong in it!" He yelled at the shocking revelation.
"Maybe, for her it was wrong. And trust me I don't blame her." she said because she didn't want him to hate his Badi Maa.
"You came there and you helped me by giving me my towel. So why was it wrong to her? Did you tell her?" He felt so frustrated with his Badi Maa's shallow mentality.
"I couldn't." She averted her gaze from him.
"What else did she say?" He felt like he would faint any minute as all pieces were slowly falling to place.
"She told me... to stay away from you." She said what he wished he'd never heard. But it was the truth.
"Shit! Seriously shit!" He cussed and walked away from her as he lost the courage to face her anymore.
Why?! Why the hell did he make her talk on the phone?! Then she wouldn't have suffered this much. She wouldn't have broke them apart like this.
And right from that moment, Sanskar cursed himself with utmost anger. He felt a rush of hatred for himself. All this while, he had been thinking Swara was letting her past come in between the future they would most probably have together and this... In the whole time, he hadn't been expecting this.
Swara walked slowly, near to Sanskar as she knew what he was going through. She expected this reaction from him. As he went on drowning in his own misery -- which was the fact that it had been him who told her to attend his Bade papa's call -- he blamed himself for all that happened between them.
"Sanskar..." She kept a hand over his shoulder but he gently brushed her hand off.
"I can't believe this. The person who is responsible for all this... she had been right in front of me and I... how did I never know anything?! It was I who made this happen in the first place! And Swara, you... you listened to her? Like seriously? You paid attention to that person who doesn't even know you but don't pay attention to what Bade Papa and Papa think about you! They admire you, Swara."
"I know, but Sanskar, I want everyone to approve of our relationship with each other. I want everyone in your family to wholeheartedly accept us being together. I want everyone to accept our love because family and relations are very important to me, as much as you are."
She was interrupted as she was engulfed into a bone-crushing hug. She held him near to her, and he buried his head over her shoulder and let all his pain, all his guilt out.
"I'm sorry!" he said weakly, "All this time, I was thinking that you were doing this because you didn't trust me enough. I'm so sorry... I have nothing to make up for what Badi Maa did. I'm so sorry Swara. I'm sorry that she wronged you like this, hurt you like this. I'm sorry I misunderstood you! I'm sorry I let this happen in the first place. But I assure you, I won't allow her to do any more damage to our relationship."
He broke the hug and held her face in his palms, and brushing his forehead against hers. Swara, on the other hand, closed her eyes due to the level of proximity between them.
"You don't know what is the truth behind my relationship with her."
The moment she heard this, her eyes opened in accord of their own and she looked at Sanskar as if she knew something. She remembered whatever Rajat told her about Sanskar before.
"What happened, Swara?"
"I... I kind of do now. I mean... Rajat told me."
"Everything he told you is right, Swara. Each. And. Every word."
Swara sighed, "Will you listen to me now?"
He shaked his head in approval but he was still worried of what she would ask.
"You have to promise me that no matter what happened, you won't let it affect your relationship with her." she said. "Please, you won't hate her for what she did because-"
"No, Swara." he averted his gaze from her and walked a few steps away much to her dismay. "Don't. Please, don't make me promise something I won't be able to keep."
"Please, Sanskar." she came to him. "For my sake, you won't do anything. You won't hurt her in any way. She did it thinking that it was for your good. It was her misunderstanding."
"Even if it was her misunderstanding, it's not an excuse for what she did. She just made an opinion about you without showing any interest of knowing the right thing, Swara. In my eyes, what she did is wrong, and will always be wrong. Just because of her, you stayed away from me for so many days. Both of us went away from each other."
"But-"
"It's not only about us, Swara!" He turned to look at her. "The thing is... she has always been unfair to me. This is not the first time she has tried to set fire to the good things in my life. I still haven't forgotten how she used to ignore me when the younger me seeked for her refuge, that is after I lost my mom. I was told by everyone I was lucky that I have a mother figure like her, and even she behaved like that with me in the public. But once we were inside those four walls that is our home, she would never even look at me. I loved her, Swara. I still do, but now I have stopped expecting anything from her. And I respected and worshipped her just the way I do for my own mom. But she... she never felt the same way about me nor she returned that love ever. A child needs love. Needs care. Needs attention, right? Even papa didn't pay much attention to me because of all that happened and all that he had to take care of after mom went away from us. Since childhood, after my mom, I had to be on my own. You know... sometimes I felt like an isolated child. A burden on my family members. And I hated that feeling."
Hearing his thoughts now, Swara was understanding his side. Not that she had not understood before but this was the most he had told her about his life and what he went through in his life. And keeping it in mind, she knew he was right in his place. He had been alone, isolated as he had no mother with him. And when he yearned for motherly love and seeked it from his Badi Maa, she didn't provide it to him.
"I grew up believing that my mother had died." He revealed the biggest pain of his life to the girl in front of him, the one he loved. "When I was ten years old. It was painful for me to get over the woman who had given birth to me, because of whom I came in this world, but with time I learnt to live with that pain. Yet... I felt like so much in my life was missing. I know no one could replace my mom but still... the child in me yearned for love which I never got."
Swara reached out to him by keeping her hand on his shoulder, ready to support him if in case he broke.
"Then there was a time when I learnt that I was living a lie all my life." he sighed. "The truth is... mom had never left me, she never died. She was in coma, in a condition in which it was impossible for her to wake up again. What's more, she was admitted in this very hospital! I think... that was the time I severed my relationship with my papa. For the first time in my entire life I got so angry that I felt like breaking something. I was angry on my father for hiding this truth from me. So what if mom was in coma? Didn't I have any right to know about my mother? He hid it from me for so many years and he himself lived with that... that his wife died. I'd never forgiven him, until today because... today, I understand what he might have gone through as well. He couldn't have told me she was in coma and in a state where she will never get up again. That was... nothing less than death."
Tears welled up her eyes as she couldn't imagine what he might have gone through all this time. Sanskar, on the other hand, had no tears in his eyes. He was standing his ground and Swara couldn't have been more proud of his strength.
"Years later, I grew up. And then I realised whatever I did for Badi Maa was of no use and that no matter what, she will always remain distant towards me."
"Sanskar," she said in a weak voice. "I really don't know what to say to you. I-"
"It's okay, you don't have to." he comforted her with a small smile. "In fact, I'm sorry... I know what I said is not relevant to what we were talking about. It just happened. It's just that... I just can't stop when I start talking about it-"
"You can share anything with me, Sanskar." she told him firmly. "Anything. Anytime. Anywhere." she gave special emphasis to the three words. "No matter what, I'm always here for you. And with you."
"For once, I can forget how she behaved with me when I needed her love the most, but I can't forget what she did to you." He said shaking his head. "I will never forget it, Swara. Never. You know, even when she doesn't care that much about me, doesn't even accept me as her son with her heart, she gets to interfere in my personal life. Do you think it's fair? I don't think it is."
"But why would she do this to you?" she asked what she'd been thinking. "Why would she behave like that with you?"
"I don't know, but she has problem with literally everything I do." He frowned. "She used to be jealous of my mom, and I think now she is jealous of me too. She was insecure as my mom was -- I'm not bragging or anything -- but mom was better than her in many ways. And now she is insecure of me."
Whatever he said made her want to hug him so bad and tell him 'it will be okay' till the time when it actually would be okay.
"But she doesn't matter, Swara. And today I have found my real mother, I know one day she will remember everything. I couldn't have asked for anything else."
She shaked her head in yes with tears in her eyes, a small smile on her face as she agreed with him.
"Bas..." she cupped her cheeks and wiped her tears, "Please Swara, ab iss sab ke baare mein jyada mat socho. You need to trust me. You have to trust me that I will set everything right. These are my words, Swara. You don't have to worry about Badi Maa anymore. She is not worth it. And I promise you, I won't let her lay a single finger at you or your family."
For Swara, those weren't just mere words. Those words mattered to her more than anything else in this world. Because they were Sanskar's words. Her Sanskar's words. And they were the most promising words she'd ever heard.
"I'm sorry." She said like a broken sob. "I'm sorry you went through so much, Sanskar."
"I'm sorry too, Swara! I'm sorry I didn't know anything about what Badi Maa did with you. If I had even the slightest hint of what was going on, I would have stopped it from happening."
He pulled her close to himself dearly and both of them looked at each other with eyes full of affection and longing.
"All I know is you are the other half that makes me complete, Swara." he admitted in a soft voice. "And I can never imagine anyone else in that place. The place that you... and only you own!"
"You own the whole of my heart, Sanskar." she admitted. "Now this heart beats only for you."
He reduced the distance between them and he touched his forehead against her forehead, and their eyes closed in accord of their own. They cherished each other's presence and their love.
"I'm sorry again." she whispered.
"Don't be." he whispered back.
"No, I really am." She pulled herself slightly away from him. "I'll never be able to forgive myself for hurting you when you didn't deserve to be hurt."
"No, no, Swara. In fact, I'm sorry for letting this happen. I'll never be able to forgive myself for letting her do this. Even you didn't deserve to get hurt like this."
"No Sanskar, it's okay. I think..." she held his hands in hers, "I mean, I believe that everything in our life happens for a reason. I think it was a test of our love, as God wanted to test the strength in our love."
"And there is no doubt that we passed this test together Swara." he shaked his head smiling. "We have shown God and everyone else how strong and pure our love is for each other."
She nodded her head smiling, wholeheartedly agreeing with him.
"Let's forget everything that happened, Swara." He said smiling. "Let's put all this pain, all that happened behind us and give it a new start. And an assurance to each other that what happened this time will never happen again. We will never let that happen. We won't let anything or anyone come between us, ever again."
"You mean, a new beginning." she stated.
He nodded smiling, "Together."
"Before we do that, I want to tell you something. Do you see this?"
She asked while raising their entangled hands to the level where they could see them. Sanskar nodded his head answering her question.
"Jab mere paas tumhara saath ho, mai kisi se bhi lad sakti hoon Sanskar. Our hands entangled to each other like this -- this is my biggest strength. My courage. My backbone. My everything." He smiled at her words and so did she. "My life is nothing if you are not there in it. We have known each other for nearly four months but I can't believe how attached I have become to you and how important and special you have become to me in such a short span. It's like an invisible force keeps pulling me towards you. Even when you are not there with me physically, you are always there in my mind, my thoughts and my heart. And I didn't tell you one thing."
"What?"
"Some months ago I got a patient who reads palm and predicts future. At that time, when I was treating her, she read my palm too. Do you know what she said?"
He nodded his head negatively, not knowing what to expect but an amused smile was still present.
"Very soon I was going to cross paths with my destiny, and during that time even we were falling in love with each other. Whatever she said came true. Do you know why?"
He nodded his head slightly, as he was visibly surprised and delighted by what she said.
"Because you are my destiny. The destiny I'm more than fortunate to have."
Saying this, she leaned towards him and encircled her arms around his chest, so that Sanskar's happiness was on cloud nine. He couldn't feel happier that Swara finally admitted her love to him, and that she believed that he was her destiny. She was here, in his arms. And they both were finally together. He felt like he had everything. Every happiness of this world. He smiled emotionally and returned the hug back and grabbed her closer to himself, making Swara feel even happier.
As both of them lived this moment, shedding happy tears inwardly, with broad smiles on their faces, knowing how long they had waited for this, they remained in each other's embrace and wished that the world stopped for them. The time stopped for them. All they knew was this time was too small for them to cherish their love. Their heart were too small infront of the love they had for each other.
Tenu itna main pyaar karaan
Ik pal vich sau baar karaan
Tu jaave je mainu chhad ke
Maut da intezaar karaan
Tere liye duniya chhod di hai
Tujhpe hi saans aake ruke
Mai tujhko kitna chahta hu
Ye tu kabhi soch na sake
Tere liye duniya chhod di hai
Tujhpe hi saans aake ruke
Mai tujhko kitna chahta hu
Ye tu kabhi soch na sake
On the other side, Anushka and Rajat smiled widely and wiped happy tears at the corners of both of their eyes looking at the emotional sight of Swara and Sanskar from the door of Sanskar's cabin.
"I'm not crying, you are." Anushka said smiling.
"I'm not crying either. I think someone is just cutting onions." Rajat said in his defence.
"Really? Who cuts onions in a hospital?" She asked him challengingly.
"Ugh... Woh..." he stammered. "I remembered I have some work to do. Bye!"
"Me too. Bye!" And with that, both of them went their separate ways.
Swara recalled all their happy moments together... whether it was their first meet, him helping her multiple times, when he admitted his feelings to her once through his song and other time that evening, when he also had kissed her forehead. She tightened the hug as if never wanting to let him slip away from her and Sanskar too did the same. His mind travelled back to all the times that he spent with Swara.
Kuch bhi nahi hai ye jahan
Tu hai to hai ismein zindagi
Kuch bhi nahi hai ye jahan
Tu hai toh hai isme zindagi
Ab mujhko jaana hai kahan
Ke tu hi safar hai aakhiri
Ke tere bina jeena mumkin nahi
Na dena kabhi mujhko tu faasle
Main tujhko kitna chahati hoon
Ye tu kabhi soch na sake
Tere liye duniya chod di hai
Tujhpe hi saans aake rukhe
Main tujhko kitna chahta hoon
Ye tu kabhi soch na sake
"I love you, Sanskar." She confessed those three magical words for the very first time to Sanskar, for which his happiness turned a manifold.
"I love you too, Swara." He said in a heartbeat, and Swara's heart leaped in extreme happiness and joy.
"I can't live without you. If I'm the body, you are my soul. If I'm the heart then you are the heartbeat." she said closing her eyes.
"And you're my world, my life. I promise you, I will give you everything that you deserve."
"I don't want anything, Sanskar. You are with me. I have everything. I don't want anything else."
Ankhon ki hai yeh khwahishein
Ki chehre se teri na hatein
Neendon mein meri bas tere
khwabon ne li hai karwatein
Ki teri ore mujhko leke chale
Ye duniya bhar ke sab rastein
Main tujhko kitna chahta hoon
Ye tu kabhi soch na sake
Tere liye duniya chod di hai
Tujhpe hi sans aake rukhe
Main tujhko kitna chahta hoon
Ye tu kabhi soch na sake
"I promise you Swara, I will never let anyone wrong you, ever." There was no smile on his face, he was serious. His jaw was set, his mind preoccupied by all the things that his Badi Maa did.
He had made up his mind to confront her about this. And he was going to do that today itself!
~*~*~*~*~*~*
"BADI MAA!"
Sanskar shouted as he made his way inside the mansion that was his home. It was evening and since he didn't have much duty today, he decided to come home and talk to Annapurna about what she did.
Whatever Swara told him about what happened, it made him absolutely livid. If Annapurna hated him or had some enmity with him, it should have been him she would do wrong with. But why did she do wrong with Swara? He wanted answers. And he was not going to go without getting those answers.
"Badi Maa" he called out as there was no revert and stood in the centre of the hall.
"What happened, Sanskar?" Hearing his son's loud voice, Ram came out. "Why are you shouting?"
"Papa, is Badi Maa home?" He asked.
"No. Laksh has taken her to the market as she wanted to buy some things."
"I'm here!"
Came the female voice Sanskar had been anticipating since he came here.
"What happened? Why are you shouting? I just came back." Annapurna's confused gaze shifted from Sanskar, to Ram, then her husband who had also come out and then back to Sanskar.
"And where is Laksh?" Sanskar asked.
"He dropped me home and went to his college to submit his form for his University exam. But why?"
"Because I don't want Laksh to be here and hurt him by letting him know what you did."
"What?" She said in a disbelieving tone. "What is this boy talking about, devar ji?" She looked at Ram.
"I don't know, bhabhi sa. Sanskar, what are you saying?"
"I will tell everything." He said sharply and looked at Annapurna with as much disappointment as he could. "What you did... I seriously can't believe you can ever do this. And I hate to beat around the bushes so I'll just come to the point -- will you say what you did yourself or should I tell everyone what you did!"
Annapurna scowled, "What did I do? What is it?!"
"Don't play dumb, Mrs Maheshwari!" he warned.
"Sanskar!" Ram shouted at him. "Watch your tone. Is this how you talk to elders?"
"Wait!" Sanskar's voice boomed across the silent hall, making each and every elder there numb. "Yeh sirf Badi Maa or mere bich ki baat hai. No one else will say anything. I was quiet and silent for last fifteen years, now no more."
And after that, nobody in the house could dare to say anything.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
Precap : Sanskar and Annapurna's clashes and then... SwaSan moments!
A/N : I had written two scenes in this but the first scene became too long so I had to cut the last one short. So that will be continued in next chapter.
So... all misunderstandings finally cleared. I hope you are happy with this chapter. Honestly, I couldn't stop smiling myself while writing SwaSan scene in the beginning. I hope this chapter was worth the long-period wait. I'm sorry for delaying it when I said I'll update on 12th November. Something unexpected came up and I couldn't update it on time.
A humble request to all silent readers -- Do comment so that I can know your views ❤️