Chapter 69
Avyan ushered Jiyasha to the motorbike that was parked outside their house. He was careful enough to note that the family members had left the house already.
"From where did you get this bike?" Jiyasha asked him.
"Aditi arranged it for me on a rent. I had requested her," he told her simply.
"What for?"
"So that I can fetch you to the hospital for practice." He gestured her to sit behind him.
As they rode, Jiyasha asked again, "Do you remember our first scooter ride?"
"Of course I do. Who on Earth will forget the great insult you had done to me that night!"
"I'm sorry Avyan, I was focusing only on my revenge. But why were you so arrogant in your behavior even outside too?"
"That stupid Tony had kept men watching mine and Amar's movements all the time."
"I see."
They finally reached Jiyasha's hospital outside the village and she bid him a temporary farewell. He promised to pick her up in the evening and kissed her forehead. He said teasing her, "Practise surgeries well and don't dare to forget me! I'll reach you soon."
*****
Raghav and Kriti were into the school arena where they caught up with little kids of not older than eight-nine years. The babies were about to start with their classes and Raghav took his seat on top of the sill of a window. He was determined to listen to the classes Kriti took but more than that, he wanted to keep himself busy relinquishing her pretty eyes. He waited to read what her eyes spoke of him or what her heart muttered in his favour.
The nursery rhymes were taken up one by one by Kriti and when the 'Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall' was being recited, Raghav fell off the wall out of sheer excitement. He was so much engrossed in listening to her that his balance failed.
The children along with Kriti began laughing and the latter uttered loudly, "Children, this is how the Humpty Dumpty had a great wall!"
Raghav twitched his eyebrows for he knew he was making a fool of himself, a tender fool in love. He quickly pushed himself up on his limbs and rubbing his arms said, "Children, your teacher is not a very good one. Don't you feel boring while listening to the same thing daily? Don't you think you need something interesting and some games to play?"
Kriti pinched Raghav in the arm. "You are spoiling my class."
"I'm not. Children at this age should not be given books. They are little champs in themselves and physical fitness is very necessary. Don't you see me?"
Raghav fisted his arms together to showcase the biceps and triceps that he possessed. Kriti's head was swinging with all of Raghav's silly rantings and her thoughts hovered to their horse ride. She remembered how flexible and strong he was when he was riding the horse with one hand and continued holding her with the other. Though they had met just a day ago but he seemed to have left a deep impression in her mind.
Raghav snatched the alphabet book from her hand and held it very close to himself. He started murmuring all the wrong letters and the spellings, even worse than a novice learner. Kriti frowned her forehead and snorted when the children bursted out laughing.
"You don't know how to read the correct alphabet!" the children teased in unison.
Raghav was pretty sure he had annoyed Kriti for her face was dampened. Rotating his eyes towards her, he uttered, "Are you angry on me again?"
"Are you really illiterate? I thought you knew how to read and write." Kriti was astonished.
Raghav widened his eyes. "No.. Yes.. I mean you people like more of illiterate people as far as I've heard."
"Our village follows this but not literates like me."
"It means you like men who are educated!"
"Yes definitely and I hate men who make fun of studies like the way you did just a few minutes ago."
"You will hate me!"
Kriti chose not to answer because of the faces of the children who were staring at them intently. Raghav was getting angry and crazy both at the same time. He wanted to hit his head hard against the wall for trying to be such a fool.
He cooped himself up in the corner quietly while Kriti continued with her classes. He knew he had to do something again to win his good image before her.
*****
Avyan was in time, waiting for his wife outside the hospital. By the early evening, he received her gladly and Jiyasha asked him the reason behind his happiness.
He hugged her instantly and replied, "You are very lucky for me, Jiyasha. After dropping you here in the morning, I rode all the way to Bengaluru's music centre. I had applied for the song recordings from New York itself and today, they recorded my voice. For the initial investigation, they went through all my concert videos in New York and they upvoted them. Rest they'll inform me in a week's time."
Jiyasha caught hold of his left arm and kissed his knuckles. "Oh my God! You are giving me a terrific news. It means my husband is going to become a very big name in India."
"I don't expect that much at the moment. We need to wait." He seated himself on the motorbike.
Jiyasha followed and said, "Avyan, I want to take you somewhere. Will you go with me?"
"I will willingly go anywhere with you, be it to heaven or to hell." He kickstarted the bike and she laughed. He added, "Come on now, show me the way."
*
Within half an hour, JIyasha and Avyan were in the Home meants for the thalassaemic children. She showed him the situations around and he felt as sympathetic as she was. The pale faces of the children were devoid of any happiness and it pained his heart inside out.
"What do you think Avyan, can we do something for them? Can I really do something for my village?" Jiyasha asked him as if he was her only expectataion in life and she knew he was the only one who could fulfill all her dreams and hopes.
"I think we can do, give me some time," Avyan promised her.
Avyan busied himself befriending the little children while they were reluctant to come near him. He was a stranger as well as the fear of the children were preventing them from speaking to him. He simply smiled at them and thought, "I must do something so that they agree to start their treatment as soon as possible."
JIyasha received a call from Aditi. Jiyasha assured her that she would be home very soon. "Avyan, we need to reach home as soon as possible. We will come here some other day."
"Is the matters urgent?"
"You will understand once we get back."
*****
Jiyasha rushed inside the house hurriedly and Aditi met her at the side of the entrance. "Jiyasha, she is back home and was looking for you."
"I will just go and meet her. Don't worry. Where is she?"
"As usual, confined to her room."
Jiyasha departed faster than ever. Avyan was all the more confused and asked Aditi, "Who has arrived?"
"Jiyasha's biological mother, Mrs. Veena."
"She wasn't here earlier?"
"No because she is serving a term in our village's self custody and is released only for some time so that she can meet her daughter."
"What was her crime? Why was she punished by your village head?"
"Our village head is my father-in-law. He could never punish his wife but under constant pressure from Jiyasha's stepmother's family and the other members in the village's ruling body, he sentenced a term for her."
"I see. What did she do?"
"If you remember I told you about Jiyasha's promise to her stepmother. It all happened only because of the crime by her own mother. Mrs. Veena contained the same amount of rage that Jiyasha had once possessed. My own mother-in-law Mrs. Kasturi and Jiyasha's mother Mrs. Veena were forced to stay under the same roof. They used to quarrel almost daily and everything had become a common nuisance in the family. In a fit of rage, Mrs. Veena had hurt Mrs. Kasturi physically in such a way that she damaged her heart to some extent. It was all under my perseverance that a pacemaker was put on her but the doctors said her conditions would only stabilise after a permanent heart transplant. Mrs. Kasturi refused for any more treatment and was determined to die. Jiyasha's mother was sent to the custody and Mrs. Kasturi is in bedrest at home. I have also arranged the Heart Rate Monitor for her and the local treatment is going on. Ankit and Kasturi's family bursted out at Jiyasha because of her mother's crime. She was held hostage for taking the responsibility for her mother's deeds. They forced her to accept the most difficult condition."
"And the condition was that either Jiyasha becomes the reason for her stepmother's treatment in the future or leave the house forever along with her mother," Avyan interrupted.
"She was asked to promise to operate on Mrs. Kasturi with her own hand and cure the one who had brought her up. This is the reason why she took up cardiology in her graduation. If Mrs. Kasturi is cured, her mother Veena will be out of the custody. But in the process, Jiyasha will have to lose her mother's existence in the house if at all Mrs. Kasturi is fit. Mrs. Veena and Mrs. Kasturi will never be staying together again," Aditi concluded.
Jiyasha gave the promise because she couldn't afford to see her own mother in the custody. Also, she couldn't even tolerate the pangs of her ailing stepmother. She would have to lose her own mother's existence and stay back in the house with her stepmother after she had operated her. This was the biggest dilemma in Jiyasha's life which she had been suffering from the past four years. She could not choose one over the other for both the mothers were very close to her heart.
*****
Jiyasha entered the room where her mother was let alone by the custodian securities. The woman in her mid-forties was seated on the chair and Jiyasha tapped her shoulder. "Maa..."
Veena felt her daughter's touch and turned to face her. "Jiyu, my child. How have you been?"
She instantly hugged her daughter and cried to her heart's content.
"Maa, I am fine but what have you done to yourself? Your physical appearance scares me."
"I don't wish to live more."
Jiyasha shushed her mother's lips. "No, you are not supposed to utter that again. Won't you think of your daughter?"
"You have never been that close to me the way you had been to Kasturi. I am happy that you are back to fulfill your promise. I can't allow you to suffer for my crime. I am here today to meet you only once and I will never meet you again. You promise me that you will cure Kasturi and rid me of all the sins. I will never return with my existence again to this house. I owe a lot to Kasturi and I don't want to become the reason of her death. Whatever I did was only in a fit of rage and believe me, I have regretted it till today."
"This rage is the only thing that had even caused me to suffer a lot. You are breaking my confidence like this. I am trying to do something so that I don't have to hurt any of you." Jiyasha cried.
The securities called for Veena and Jiyasha bid her a farewell. The next thing Jiyasha did was to visit someone in her own house. She knocked on the door and peeped inside.
There was silence in the room and a lone woman was lying flat on the bed with the cardiogram placed very adjacent to her stretcher. The middle aged woman was ailing from the past crime of her husband's second wife. Kasturi was laid on the bed and pushed into the suffering against her own wish.
"Kasturi maa..." Jiyasha muttered under her breath and Kasturi whimpered in pain.
Kasturi stammered in her speech and responded feebly. "You are back, child?"
Jiyasha was aware of Kasturi's love towards her even though Kasturi's family and Ankit never approved of it. Kriti also had a cold heart for Jiyasha but she did not hate her as much as her brother hated Jiyasha. Whatever it was, Jiyasha had grown up together with them from a very tender age and Kriti was always the closest to her before knowing the heinous truth of her birth.
"I am back and only for you. I know I'll have to repay for what my mother did. I'll treat you willingly."
"Will you give up on your own mother for me?"
"I don't know but I know I'll have to cure you," Jiyasha uttered bluntly and left the room in a tensed mood. Everything was turning very difficult for her but her thoughts were confined to one stern determination. She had to cure and operate Kasturi with her own hand no matter what she would be compelled to pay for. Everything was already destined in her life!
To be continued...
A/N: I think this story has 6-7 parts more.. Enjoy!!
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