Omkara got up next morning to see that Gauri wasn't there in the room, the couch was empty. Maybe she went downstairs to pray?
Omkara came out of the bathroom, to see that Gauri still wasn't there in the room, but her suitcase was there. Omkara wanted to talk to her, yesterday night words were not necessary. Gauri came back and slept off, on her couch. But this morning, Omkara wanted to talk. And she was nowhere to be found.
A staff member came and knocked on his door, and told him that Jahnvi madam has called him to her room. What now?
Om went to her room, to see that his dad was there as well, with a triumphant look on his face. What had he done now?
"Mom?" asked Om.
"Don't look at me, I have no idea. Tej, will you please hurry? I have told Shivaay to gather everyone in the hall in a few minutes, there is something important he needs to do" said Jahnvi.
"Yes, yes, Jahnvi, I know. I just found out some information, that you should know. Remember that Dhurindhar called you three days back that someone had tipped him off about Omkara's marriage being a farce, and Gauri not living here anymore?" said Tej.
"Oh God! are you still stuck on that Tej? I have better things to do and witness this morning" said Jahnvi irritated.
Tej hurried. "I got that call to Dhurindhar traced. You know where that call originated from? From public payaphone near the chawl area where your precious Gauri lives. Looks like she herself made that call to worm her way back to this mansion. You always told me that she wasn't after our wealth, then why did she come back here, eh?" asked Tej, smirking because he finally proved himself right.
"How glad you look to get dirt on somebody Tej. I wish you put as much energy in undoing the damage you have inflicted on your kids lives" said Jahnvi shaking her head.
Omkara had an ill feeling in his stomach: Gauri had lied to him, again?
"So much for your effort, but it went to waste, Tej. Gauri already told me all this, this morning" said Jahnvi.
"Told you?" asked Tej, surprised.
"Yes, Gauri had met Annika a few days back. Annika had collapsed in the market, because of depression and stress. When Gauri found out what happened, she decided to investigate Pinky, because unlike Annika who was consumed in her worry for Shivaay to see the truth, or my sons, who worried too much for their brother, Gauri as someone new to the family, saw the something was wrong clearly. She thought of coming directly to me initially, but maybe she thought I wouldn't believe her. You know why she had to resort to lies and subterfuge, Tej? It was exactly because of this, your attitude towards her. You have mocked her since the beginning and hinted she is doing this for the money. She didn't want to be humiliated by you, thats why she chose to lie to return to this mansion" Jahnvi sighed. "I told her that she should have trusted me, and come to me with all honesty. But maybe sometimes, people not having faith in you, can damage you to an extent that you don't trust in them in return." Jahnvi said these words to Tej, but looked at Omkara significantly.
Omkara understood why Gauri chose to lie. He, Om, would have questioned her, may have even believed his father. When had he become this distrustful, suspicious, hurtful creature? And specially with regard to Gauri?
"Now if you are done with making a fool of yourself, please leave Tej. I hope now you would give up this agenda of proving an innocent girl wrong, only to cover up your own faults or make yourself appear as caring for your family" said Jahnvi.
Tej was truly ashamed this time. He left the room, and Jahnvi followed, as Shivaay had asked everybody to assemble downstairs.
Jahnvi stopped to look at Om, and patted him on the shoulder sadly.
Had Gauri left? thought Omkara as he rushed to his bedroom. Shivaay was calling everybody to assemble in the hall in some time, but Omkara ignored that.
Gauri was in the bedroom, the suitcase in her hand, ready to leave.
"Kahi jaa rahi ho?" (Are you going somewhere?), asked Omkara.
Gauri wasn't expecting him, maybe she thought she could sneak away while he was busy with what Shivaay had to announce to the family.
"Chiraiyaa aur kaha jaayegi, vaapis apne ghosle mein (Where else will the bird go, back to her nest). I'm going back to Dandi bhaiyaa's house. Where he is waiting for me" replied Gauri.
And what about me? thought Omkara but didn't voice it.
"Jana...zaroori hain?" (Is it necessary to go?) asked Omkara.
"There is no reason to stay. I came here to help Annika bhaujaai, and I did what I could. My work here is over" Gauri sighed.
"And if I say don't go? Stay?" asked Omkara, hesitantly.
Gauri looked at him surprised, and sad.
"For what? And why?" Gauri asked. She desperately wanted for Omkara to give some answer to this question. After last night, they both couldn't pretend that there was nothing.
Kuch toh hai tere mere darmiyaan (there is something between you and me), thought Omkara, but how to say to her.
"Maybe I was wrong in understanding you, Gauri" said Omkara, not finding the right words to express what he was feeling.
"You never understood me, Omkaraji, because you never tried. And that has been the greatest, and perhaps the only, truth of our equation" said Gauri sadly.
She was right, Omkara thought. He had always tried to 'figure' Gauri out, what she is thinking, why she is doing what she is doing. He had never tried to let her be, let her live, his own distrust of her had made her conscious. He had never sincerely tried to know her.
Gauri was about to cross the threshold of the room, when Omkara held her hand. She stopped and hardening herself up for what he had to say, she turned around.
"I'm sorry, for all the bitter things I said, and all the preconceived, half formed notions I held. But I want to know who is Gauri? Not the one I met in Bareilly, not Chulbul, but who is Gauri? Ab toh ruk jaayo (Please stay)" Omkara said his piece.
Gauri reflected for a moment. She didn't know what to say to this.
Omkara took this as her considering his request, and added, "You believe a lot in your Shankarji, maybe...maybe you can ask him, maybe he will tell you?"
Omkara wanted to say more, but at that moment a staff member knocked on his door, and told him that Shivaay sir is waiting for him and Gauri downstairs. Everyone else has already come.
Omkara couldn't hold off Shivaay any longer. "Please think about it" he requested Gauri one last time before he left for the hall.
Bade bhaiyaa had called for Gauri too, but Gauri didn't feel any inclination to be part of their family matter. And that's what it was.
As much as Gauri felt connected to this family, to Jahnvi Maaji, to Omkaraji, this was not her family. She was an outsider, and she had no reason to be here. All reasons were exhausted: Svetlana was gone, they didn't have to pretend to be married any longer, even this reprieve of two days for helping Annika bhaujaai was over. It was done, there was nothing keeping her here. And to stay back to resolve this puzzled relationship between her and Omkaraji was not a good enough reason for Gauri.
So she picked up her suitcase, and left from the route reserved for the staff through the staff quarters. She didn't want to meet anyone.
She looked back one last time at the mansion, but the feeling that there was something unfinished stayed in her heart.
***********************************************
Rudra was pacing outside Shivaay's room. In the last two hours, everything had changed.
Jahnvi asked Shivaay to pretend to hand over his shares to Annika, and see what happens next. Shivaay bhaiyaa and Annika had a heart-to-heart conversation the night before, but despite everything, despite knowing that Pinky played her and OmRu, Annika did not give up the truth about Pinky's lie to Shivaay. She did not tell him what compelled him to do what she did, but she promised that she would never give up on their relationship again, even if to save Shivaay. Shivaay apologized to Annika, but he had to know what compelled her, and if she was not going to help him, then he was going to follow Jahnvi's suggestion to discover the truth.
Everyone assumed that Pinky had lied about Shivaay's legitimacy only to separate Annika from Shivaay's life, but the truth was uglier. Kamini was caught a day before, thanks to Gauri and Soumya finding out her location. Kamini always kept Mahi as a trump card to use against Shakti and Pinky, by replacing their son. Kamini had found Mahi in some orphanage and brought him up to believe that he was Shivaay's twin brother, when he only shared Shivaay's face through a mere coincidence. When Kamini made a reentry in their lives as Ranveer's aunt, Pinky knew something was fishy. She followed Kamini and found out the truth, but instead of exposing her and saving Priyanka, she joined hands with her to kidnap Shivaay, to separate him from Annika. However, Kamini and Ranveer's plan failed. It was Pinky who had helped Mahi and Kamini escape, so that they will not reveal the truth about her. Pinky who exchanged the Mahi's medical reports so that Annika would think that Shivaay and Mahi are twins. And Pinky, who ultimately used all this in her favor, to separate Annika from Shivaay.
Pinky herself, revealed all this in a fit of rage, when she thought Shivaay transferred all his property to Annika. The only thing Pinky had in her life was her son. Her husband, Shakti, always ignored her, her mother-in-law preferred Jahnvi over her, and Jahnvi herself was drowning in alcohol. Pinky's life circled around only one thing: her son. She had made peace somewhat, with Shivaay's love for his brothers and Prinku, because at the end of the day, they were his blood relations. But Pinky hated that Shivaay loved someone else, of his accord, as much as his mother: Annika. Pinky was fine with Tia, because Shivaay didn't love her, it would have been a marriage of convenience. But Annika? Despite having no lineage, nothing, Shivaay loved her deeply to take a bullet or her. Pinky had become bitter towards life, and that bitterness drove her insane inside. The only reason Shakti married her was because she was from good family, but Annika despite having nothing, gained place in her husband's heart, which Pinky could not in years of being with Shakti.
Shivaay was distraught and torn at the betrayal. It was not the betrayal about Annika but the betrayal that his mother saw him as means to an end, to having respect to a family, ruling over the Oberoi empire, but she did not love him as her son. Her mother, in fact, was no better than Bade Papa. Worse. Bade Papa would never go to the extent of kidnapping his own sons. In fact, he agreed with Badi Maa to let aspersions be cast on Omkara's legitimacy so that Shivaay's truth could be protected, or at least that's what Annika and all of them believed that time.
Shivaay lost his sense of self, for a few moments. His mother was the reason he saw everything as a deal, he weighed a person's worth in their name and bloodline. His brothers were the reason why there some goodness still left in him. He couldn't handle all this at one go, and ran out dazed from the hall.
Annika ran after him, to protect him, and stop him from hurting himself. But it was too late. A car came from the opposite direction, and Shivaay didn't notice it. Annika pushed him out of the way, and got hit instead.
"Rudra?" asked Soumya, hesitantly.
"Soumya, Soumya, I'm so worried. The doctors have been here for an hour, but I don't know what's going to happen. Annika bhaabhi just came back yesterday, I cannot, my family cannot lose her...." said Rudra, tears in his eyes.
"Everything will be fine Rudra. Bade bhaiyaa got the best team of surgeons from the hospital flown in here, in the mansion. The accident was just outside the mansion, not much time was lost in starting the treatment. Have faith...." Soumya broke off as her phone buzzed. Who was calling?
Gauri reached Dandi bhaiyaa's house. He wasn't there, he must have gone to work, it was only morning. Gauri kept her suitcase down, and began to unpack. She took out her small idol of Shankarji which she took with her everywhere.
Shankarji, did I do the right thing by leaving the mansion? If I did, then why am I feeling so restless? Please show me the way, thought Gauri as she closed her eyes.
A sudden terrible sensation shot through her. Something had happened in the mansion, something was wrong. For some reason, she was uneasy about Annika bhaujaai.
Should she call Omkaraji? No, that would be awkward. Yes, she should call Soumya.
"Hello, Soumya?" spoked Gauri in the phone.
"Gauri bhaabhi? Where are you? Why were you not there at the mansion this morning?" asked Soumya, anxiously.
"I'll tell you all that later, first tell me, is everything alright? Is everyone okay in the mansion? Is Annika bhaujaai..." asked Gauri, quickly.
"Gauri bhaabhi....Annika didi met with an accident" Soumya choked back a sob.
The phone fell from Gauri's hand.