Chapter 48
The next day was bright and refreshing for Jiyasha at the Saxena villa. The whole day was spent blissfully with the thought that she was able to punish the culprit and performed her duty. Though there might be a possibility of a third culprit, she had bestowed the responsibility on her lawyer and on the police involved in the investigation.
Amar informed her that Aryan had already left for the court. Jiyasha spoke to Pooja over phone and informed her of the new developments.
"Jiya! You were trying to fight all alone and we didn't know anything. Aryan was really involved in all these?"
"He was and I'm more than happy to have pushed him to the court. He will be punished very soon and now I can move on in my life. I'm tired of all these fake acting."
"But Jiya, your marriage took place in real. Monica and I were the eye witness."
"That was a coincidence. God must have done it to plant me in his house and I could reach all the evidences so easily."
"You really don't love him?"
Jiyasha thought of the third chip. It shuddered her in pain. "No I don't. Even my hatred for him will be scarce," Jiyasha stuttered.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Pooja asked her to confirm again.
"Yes."
"It is unbelievable but I still believe you. Now listen, Jatin and I are trying to fix a marriage date. He wants to wait till our semester results."
"Do that whenever it's comfortable. Don't take any decision in a haste," Jiyasha advised her.
"Yes I know and Jatin is already sensible enough."
"All the best to both of you. I'll meet you on the day of our results." Jiyasha disconnected the call.
*****
By the evening, Jiyasha met Amar again at the villa and he informed her that the court gave Aryan an another week's time to get evidences on his behalf otherwise the police would be compelled to take him under their custody. The evidences present in the court were very strong enough to hold him guilty of everything.
"So is he returning to the villa again for an another week's time?" Jiyasha asked Amar.
"No he won't. He appealed to the court that he would stay under the police custody for the next week and till the case is resolved," Amar informed her.
Jiyasha frowned, she remembered his words of promise that he would never meet her again. Most probably it was his decision to stay in the custody. She smirked and replied, "Now he'll get the taste of his own medicine. Anyways Amar, I'm leaving for my sister-in-law's house. I'll not return here again. If there is anything to inform, please inform me at Aditi's apartment or give me a call."
*****
A week passed very quickly and even Jiyasha's lawyer had informed her about Aryan's going into the custody with his own will. Jiyasha spent her days at Aditi's apartment and had started preparing for the next and last semester of her degree. She was determined to do well this time and score outstanding marks. She wanted to retain the title of the topper of the year. Just one more semester and her dream of becoming a doctor would be fulfilled. She would earn her degree easily and take pride. She didn't want to waste more of her time joining the puzzled pieces of her heart anymore.
Pooja called Jiyasha early in the morning and informed her that their results would be out on the next weekend. Their new semester classes had already started a couple of days ago and they would start attending after the results.
As Jiyasha disconnected the call, her phone beeped again and it was a call from the office of her college. She received it and the receptionist informed her that she had to pay the fees of the final semester before the last date which was due in fifteen days. Medical fees per semester wasn't a small amount and Jiyasha had no provision to pay all by herself.
Jiyasha threw her phone on the bed and wondered, "It skipped my mind due to all the drama these days. How will I pay now? My scholarship is gone forever and even if I submit the government proofs of divorcing Aryan, the procedure of retaining the scholarship will take a very long time. I can't afford to skip even a single semester. The little money I have in the bank, I can sustain myself till the end of the degree but I can't pay the fees with that. Shall I remind Aditi once? Has she forgotten to pay my fees for this semester? She was really tensed when she left the city and I don't want to annoy her by reminding her. What should I do now? Shall I talk to Jatin Sir?"
Jiyasha quickly picked up her phone and dialed Jatin's number. He addressed her and she said, "What happened Sir? Your voice sounds bad today."
"I'm really tensed Jiyasha. I have decided to hand over the college to the Government officials. I'm waiting for their approval and they haven't yet contacted me."
"Why Sir? Don't you want to take up the responsibility as the principal or as the professor? Don't do this, we need you."
"No I can't remain attached with the college anymore. I'll be resigning from the professor's position after your results. I can't tolerate people teasing me with my father and sister's wrong doings. I'm fed up."
"I see," Jiyasha lowered her voice. She knew it would be wrong to ask money from him in such a situation. She changed her mind to some other plan. "Sir, before you leave the college, please can you do me a favor?"
"Yes tell me."
"Actually I'll be getting the payment of my fees a few days later since my sister-in-law has gone out of station. Could you please extend the date of payment?"
"No I can't do that because the college follows a certain rule. But I can always do something for specific students whoever need it and I've done it before. There are many pupils from middle class families who can't make payment before the date and I extend time only for them. So you do one thing, you write one application pleading for the extension of date for only you and get it signed by me. You can make the payments anytime by the end of the new semester. But remember, you will receive the final hardcopy of your degree certificate only when you've made the payment."
Jiyasha thanked Jatin and disconnected the call. She at last found a way to extend the time and was hoping that Aditi would make her payment very soon. But she was not sure so she had to start planning for an another method to make the payment. "Until I pay, I can't receive the certificate in hand but my degree will be completed. So I have enough time to think on it," she thought to herself.
****
The second week also passed quickly and Jiyasha only received the news that Aryan's date of the case has been extended again. Jiyasha and Pooja had started attending college and their results was ready to be declared on that day.
"I'm so scared. What will happen today, Jiya?" Pooja held Jiyasha.
"Everything will be good. Why are you so worried? Think of how Monica's results will be. She had worked hard this time," Jiyasha said.
"But what's the use? She left it."
As they both were discussing, students at the college shouted excitedly. The results was declared and they were rushing to know it. Pooja's throat dried up and her palms were cold. Jiyasha pulled her and they both reached the notice board.
Jiyasha was forcing her way through the crowd but Pooja continued pulling her. "No wait, let the crowd subside. I don't want to go."
"The crowd will not subside so soon. You come with me, don't be so scared. I know you'll pass with good grades." As Jiyasha was explaining her, the crowd started uttering Jiyasha's name.
Jatin came out of the cabin and stood between Pooja and Jiyasha. He smiled. "See Jiyasha, you have topped again this semester. Congratulations."
"I don't believe this!" Jiyasha said excitedly.
"See yourself. Your don't need to push through the crowd when I've brought your results with me.". Jatin handed over Jiyasha and Pooja's marksheets to them.
Pooja unfurled her own marksheet and to her surprise, she had also garnered a first class this semester. She jumped with joy and hugged Jiyasha. Even Jiyasha's marks were shining in the sheet of paper.
" I wish Monica were here. How has she done?" Pooja asked Jatin.
Jatin took out an another sheet from the file he was carrying and handed over to them. "This is Monica's marksheet. Unbelievably, even she has scored first class for the first time throughout her degree exams."
Jiyasha and Pooja smiled. They wished if they could share it with Monica and hug her. Jatin said again, "She made me proud of her today. Before leaving the responsibility of the college, I'll be marking her grades in the final project."
Jiyasha and Pooja were happy because Jatin cared for Monica's career. Jiyasha took Jatin's signature on the application for the extension of date for payment of fees. Then Jatin continued, "I've selected a marriage date for us. It'll be taking place in the court since Pooja's family is not ready to accept me now. They consider me to be belonging from a bad family. Since Pooja's family is a little economically backward, I will be giving a big amount of my earned money in their name. But they'll not know it since we are keeping it a secret. Her family won't accept anything from me and has given Pooja the liberty for whatever she wants to do. Pooja has promised them that she'll be sending them money every month and will stay away from them after marriage."
"So how will you both stay after marriage? At your home and away from Pooja's family? What about your job Sir?" Jiyasha asked Jatin.
"We haven't decided that yet. At the moment, we might stay at my house after the marriage. I want Pooja to complete her degree. But then destiny knows everything what our future will be and we will be waiting eagerly for Pooja's family to accept us," Jatin said and Pooja nodded in his support.
Jiyasha passed a weak smile. She could imagine that she was going to lose her last hope too, her hopes on Pooja. Pooja might also be going far away from her. But it was destined, nobody could stay with anybody forever, except one's soul partner. Though it was a different case for Jiyasha altogether!
****
The next few days were full of events for Jiyasha. She was performing her duties as a college representative and welcoming the newcomers for the current year. She had started teaching a group of weak students after college hours in return for a minimal fee.
In the meanwhile, Pooja and Jatin got married in a private affair. Jiyasha was present at the court and one of Pooja's distant cousin had also attended the wedding. Everything passed on peacefully and Pooja got married to her love. Secondly, Jatin had received the final nod from the government and his college was now officially in their hands. The legal papers were signed and Jatin resigned from his post. Jiyasha and Pooja were unhappy but they knew that the old college environment and Jatin's own home were suffocating him emotionally.
Jiyasha was keeping constant touch with the prosecution lawyer regarding Aryan's court case. She had overcome her pain of staying away from Aryan to some extent. She hadn't seen him since the day he went in the custody and hadn't even attended any of the court dates. She was scared of going to the court and viewing her husband getting severe punishment. She was even afraid of falling weak when she would see his face.
Her respect for him had vanished after knowing the dirty truth of his past. Her lawyer had even cross-examined the contents of the third chip and he reported it to not have been morphed. Also, Aryan's self confession of his past had fortified her disbelief and hatred towards him.
One more week passed and Pooja met Jiyasha at the college. She caught hold of Jiyasha's palms and spoke softly, "Jiya, I'm sorry that I'm informing you so late. Jatin has got a job at a college in Delhi. We both will shift there in a couple of days. I've agreed to him because I can't see him breaking down day by day. His own house and this college, both are suffocating him and pointing fingers at him. The psychologist said he needs a change of atmosphere, then he'll improve. I can't take risk."
Jiyasha nodded her head. She had already prepared herself for this and she knew she had no right to interfere in anybody's life. After all, Pooja was now Jatin's wife and keeping him healthy was her first priority. "What about your exams, Pooja?"
"I'm taking a transfer to the same college in Delhi and I'll complete my final semester there. They agreed to get me admitted because Jatin has promised to take up the responsibility," Pooja said sadly.
"Then it's fine Pooja. Live your new life to the fullest and take care of yourself. It's already destined, nobody can stay together for a long time. New friends come and go but our bonding is very strong. We may be staying far but we'll always be connected by the heart." Jiyasha hugged her.
"Are you alright, Jiya? I know it's very disheartening that Aryan turned out to be like that. I'm not liking to go away leaving you all alone but you said you are staying at your sister-in-law's place comfortably, and after getting the degree, you will return to your family."
"Yes I will. So you don't need to bother that much. I'm alright and working hard for the final semester." Jiyasha assured her and they promised to each other that they would meet on friendship day at the same restaurant as decided by Monica too. Their friendship was supposed to pass through a very tough test for a few months. They both bid each other a final goodbye.
*****
Jiyasha was staying back all alone after the close people in her life had left the city for an unspecified period of time. She was falling in love with her loneliness and tried to spend most of the time with her books. Little by little, she was even depositing money from her tuition fees to pay for her college fees later. But college fees was a huge lumpsump and her tuition fees wasn't too huge. In a couple of months she could hardly arrange ten to twenty percent of the total payment.
As she was scuffling through her collected money, her phone beeped. It was a call from the prosecution lawyer.
"Hello Mr.Shinde, is there any new news?" she asked.
The lawyer cleared his throat before saying, "Yes a very big news. The real culprit has been caught. Navin has submitted certain strong evidences against the actual culprit."
"Does that mean Navin and Aryan were not involved but somebody else?"
"I didn't say that. Navin was always the culprit but he was not the only one. There was his boss who had hired him. He couldn't afford to survive the punishment alone and he disclosed the truth of his boss along with evidences."
"Who is it? What about Aryan?"
"It is Tony aka Tanmay. He had hired Navin for the drug deals and was the only one to record the videos of Aryan with Navin. Tanmay used to know everything beforehand and used them as his ace so that they did what he demanded."
"Why would they do what he ordered them to?"
"Because Aryan's vast empire belonged to Tony's family once upon a time. When their business started to deteriorate, Tony's father had handed over the entire responsibility to Aryan who was their employee then. Obviously Aryan was getting involved in signing the contracts with Navin and he didn't know that the company was still in the name of his son, Tony. Tony arrived in the city to take back his company from Aryan. He used his power to his own advantage and found things about Navin. Navin used to inform Tony about the location of every deal and Tony used to record the videos to blackmail Aryan. Navin couldn't even imagine that the chips would reach your hands and alongwith Aryan, he could also be exposed. So at the court, he disclosed Tony and gave proofs that held Tony guilty."
"Oh I understand now. What about Aryan and the third chip? Even if he was blackmailed and forced, but he was involved in the crime. He had indulged into the drug deals even before Tony started blackmailing them."
"The third chip was very much true, the other proofs were also true. But Mr. Saxena had a special pleading at the court and his court proceedings took place very confidentially. I can't tell you the rest because we had to sign the legal papers of the rules for not leaking information of confidential cases to anyone. Only one thing you should know that Mr. Saxena was absolved of all charges by the court and he has come out clean in the case. He is free and has gone out of the custody a couple of days ago."
Jiyasha's phone fell from her hand as she stood rooted in her place. She could not believe her ears. The thought of Aryan being innocent and not held guilty in any of the charges rigorously shocked her.
To be continued....
A/N: Hey, I know the story is taking my readers through a tumultuous journey but that is how all my stories are. The next chapter will be the climax of the story for which I was waiting for so long... Enjoy 😉
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