Drishti was now sitting on her bed, leaning against the headboard, with a soft smile on her face, lost in thought, Rakshit having left a short while ago after his Maasi had called him saying something about packing for the Mumbai trip tomorrow.
When suddenly the ringing of her phone brought her back to reality, she picked up her phone from the bed stand, chuckling with an amused smile as she saw the caller ID, picking up the call.
"Not only do the Munchkins have telepathy, but it also seems that you guys do too." Drishti said with a chuckle.
"Munchkins?" Both Abhi and Pragya asked over the phone, with amused smiles.
"Mr. Mehra is that you?" Pragya asked confused.
"Ms. Anuradha?" Abhi asked just as confused.
"See this is what I was talking about, yesterday both of you texted me at the same time to ask me how my first day went and today you guys called me at the same time." Drishti said with an amused chuckle.
"Oh really?" Both Abhi and Pragya asked surprised, at the same time, causing Drishti to laugh harder, as they chuckled.
"Okay, since you're already here Mr. Mehra, how is Priyanka doing? Did she go to bed yet?" Pragya asked caringly.
"She's fine now. But she didn't go to sleep yet. She's taking a shower, I'm waiting in her room for her to come out." Abhi informed as he impatiently and worriedly looked at the closed bathroom door at the side of Priyanka's bedroom, while sitting on her bed, she had somehow convinced him to let her out of his sight to shower.
"So it's safe to say that you won't be sending Priyanka to college tomorrow, am I right?" Pragya asked teasingly with a chuckle, causing Abhi to make a face but with a soft smile, because she was right after all, he actually wasn't going to send Priyanka to college tomorrow.
"What happened to Priyanka? Is she okay?" Drishti asked confused, genuinely concerned, even though her only interaction with Priyanka hadn't been a pleasant one.
"She's okay. But what about you? How was your second day at work?" Abhi asked curiously with a soft smile.
"Is this going to be a ritual now? Both of you are going to call me every day to ask me how my day went?" Drishti asked with a chuckle, but with teary eyes because no one had ever cared enough to ask her such things.
"Yes, of course, we'll even have a 100-day party when the time comes." Pragya said jokingly to lighten the mood, because both she and Abhi could tell that something was wrong, even only with the slightest shift in Drishti's tone.
"But what about the party you already had without us Ms. Anuradha?" Abhi asked jokingly.
"Which party was that?" Pragya asked genuinely confused.
"The party that you had today because all the kids were at your house." Abhi said jokingly.
"Hawh. Auntie that's very wrong. How can you not invite me to that?" Drishti asked in mock hurt.
"Don't worry Drishti beta you're not alone, she also didn't invite me." Abhi said in mock hurt too.
"It wasn't a party. Mr. Mehra you be quiet, let Drishti tell us how her day went." Pragya said with a soft smile, shaking her head fondly at how Abhi and Drishti had teamed up against her.
"Oh you know just the same thing... oh but I am going to Mumbai for the first time tomorrow!" Drishti said excitedly as she remembered what tomorrow was.
"Really? That's great! What for?" Both Abhi and Pragya asked at the same time smiling sheepishly as Drishti laughed out loud at their telepathy.
"For a business trip." Drishti informed.
"And did you finish packing yet?" Abhi asked curiously.
"No... I haven't even started yet." Drishti said with a sheepish smile.
"What do you mean you haven't started yet? You're always supposed to pack one day in advance, so that way you can double-check if you're missing anything." Pragya said wisely.
"And when you do pack, pack both winter and summer clothes because you can never trust Mumbai's weather." Abhi said half-seriously and half-jokingly.
"And don't forget to take your toothbrush and things like that with you." Pragya reminded.
"And keep your phone on you at all times, you never know when you might need it." Abhi instructed.
"And no talking to strangers, you don't know how that person is." Pragya instructed protectively.
"Yes absolutely no talking to strangers, Mumbai is filled with shady people, trust no one." Abhi said protectively in support of Pragya.
"Oh my God I thought that I was going to Mumbai, but apparently I'm going into a war zone." Drishti said faking shock as she laughed out loud at how extreme Abhi and Pragya were being, while they smiled sheepishly realizing how protective they were being.
"Okay, we might have been exaggerating a tad bit." Abhi said in his defense.
"Just a tad bit?" Drishti asked teasingly.
"Okay maybe a little more but-" Pragya began to say in her defense.
"Oh no, no, no, don't start again, I do actually need to start packing now." Drishti said with a chuckle as she cut Pragya off.
"Okay do that, but with our tips in mind." Abhi reminded.
"Oh yes of course." Drishti said with an amused chuckle.
"Goodnight now." Drishti said with a soft smile as she was about to cut the call.
"Goodnight." Both Abhi and Pragya said at the same time, rolling their eyes fondly, as they heard Drishti let out another chuckle before all of them cut the call.
But as Drishti began to get up from her bed, the ringing of her phone stopped her again, this time Drishti burst out laughing as she saw who was calling her, picking up the call as she was still dying from laughter.
"Di?" Both Prachi and Riya asked confused over the phone as they only heard Drishti laughing.
"Oh not again." Both Prachi and Riya said at the same time again, making faces, only causing Drishti's laughter to get louder.
******
"Rakshit, should I put the blue or red shirt in the suitcase?" Arpita asked holding up two different colored shirts in each hand, as she was helping Rakshit pack, an open suitcase laying on his bed, half full.
But Rakshit didn't seem to hear her, because he was too busy looking at the now clean handkerchief in his hand with a soft smile, thinking back to how Drishti had cleaned his face with it.
"Rakshit?" Arpita asked as she put the shirts down on the bed and laid a hand on his shoulder to break him out of a trance.
"Huh, what?" Rakshit asked confused as he turned around to face Arpita.
"I know." Arpita said with a sigh as she cupped his face in both hands. "I know you're worried about spending time alone with Alia and Purab, I really want to go with you- but you know my reasons, don't worry it'll all be okay." Arpita reassured lovingly.
"I'm not worried about that Maasi. The only thing that might worry me is if they realize who I am, and that will never happen." Rakshit said determinedly.
'Because they don't even care about me, never tried to look for me, forgot about me.' Rakshit thought to himself with an inaudible bitter painful chuckle, wiping away a lone tear that fell from his eye, before going to pack with Arpita.
But little did he know that his parents thought about him every single day, were still looking for him, waiting for the day that their son would return to them, and what no one knew was that day wasn't far away.
******
"I like you, Prachi, do you like me?" Ranbir asked himself, as he was laying on his bed in his dimly lit room.
"No eww that sounds as if I'm saying 'Prachi like me, or I will make you like me' it's way too forceful." Ranbir said making a face at the idea, as he had been practicing ways to tell Prachi about his feelings while hugging a throw pillow close to him.
"Prachi, I like you, please like me too." Ranbir tried instantly making a face at how that sounded.
"Now it just seems like you're begging her to like you, don't sound so desperate." Ranbir said to himself shaking his head at the idea.
"Prachi I-." Ranbir began to say again, no one knowing how many times he had told Prachi that he liked her in various different ways, not even Ranbir himself.
******
As Prachi came out of the bathroom and sat down on her bed, she got a sudden case of hiccups.
"Oh seems like someone's missing you." Pragya said teasingly, as she entered the room, carrying a tray with two glasses of milk on top of it as always.
"Do you have any idea who could be missing you? Or are you the one missing someone else?" Shahana asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow.
'Ran-.' One side of Prachi's mind automatically began to say, about to say how she missed Ranbir.
"No!" Prachi yelled out loud, smashing that thought as soon as it came, surprising both Pragya and Shahana.
"No? What do mean no?" Shahana asked confused.
"I mean... no... I don't want to drink the milk." Prachi excused awkwardly.
"Why do you even try at this point? You know you're never going to get out of drinking milk." Pragya said shaking her head fondly as she handed both of them a glass of milk.
Prachi slowly drank the milk without any protest, relieved that no one asked her any more questions, and seemed to believe her excuse. But what she did not see were the knowing smiles that both Pragya and Shahana were giving her.
******
"Chucks enough my hair is as dry as can be, I'm not a little kid who would catch a cold so quickly." Priyanka said in a whiney voice, as Abhi was sitting behind her on her bed, blow-drying her hair for what felt like ages after she had come out of the bathroom.
"Wait... it's almost done... there done." Abhi said as he finally turned off the blow dryer, running a hand through her hair to tame it down, while Priyanka just breathed a sigh of relief.
"Okay now come on lay down and sleep." Abhi said as he covered Priyanka with a blanket she reluctantly lay down when Abhi gave her the look.
"Abhi, Dr. Joshi is here." Meera said as she entered Priyanka's bedroom, Purab and Alia entering behind her with the said doctor next to them.
"Wow, you guys seriously called a doctor?" Priyanka asked unbelievably.
"Yes, we did." Meera said sternly, causing Priyanka to look down, and then in front of her to make a face at Aryan and Riya who had just casually strolled inside her room, standing in the corner, watching her with amused smiles and 'I told you so' looks...
"Her blood pressure is average, and her temperature is normal, she's absolutely fine." Dr. Joshi informed as he finished his checkup.
"Yes thank you for driving all the way here in the middle of the night, to tell them what I've been telling them this entire time." Priyanka said sarcastically, making a face at everyone, looking at her sheepishly.
"You know aside from the very obvious exhaustion and the injuries on her hands, she's absolutely fine." Dr. Joshi said trying to make a point, while Priyanka turned her head to semi-glare at him for not letting her have even a small victory.
"See we're just being cautious." Alia said in her defense.
"Yes, it's called being caring." Purab elaborated.
"Oh really because it feels more like suffocating." Priyanka said jokingly.
"Suffocating or not, you still have to deal with it." Meera said teasingly, causing Priyanka to make a face.
"And I didn't know that wandering ghosts could suffocate, wow I learn something new every day." Abhi said jokingly with a chuckle at Priyanka's expense.
"That's because right now she can't be a wandering ghost, right now she's just a sitting ghost." Purab said with a chuckle too.
"I'm hurt and you guys are making fun of me, you're mean." Priyanka said in a whiney voice.
"Oh wow, this entire time she was like I'm not hurt, I'm not hurt, but when she wants us to stop teasing her that's her go-to card." Alia said shaking her head fondly, causing Priyanka to pout cutely.
"Okay but tell me this, I understand how Priyanka got to Ms. Anuradha's house, but how did you get there?" Purab asked curiously to Riya and Aryan who were looking so very entertained by Priyanka's predicament, with a teasing smile for some reason.
"Duh. Because Shahana called me and told me about Priyanka. Did you forget the conversation we had earlier today or something?" Aryan asked confused, while Purab made a slight face, knowing that he had lost the opportunity to tease Aryan.
"But how did Riya get there then?" Alia asked not wanting to lose an opportunity to tease Aryan.
"Simple. Because I followed after Aryan who is now not only my brother but also my partner for a school project." Riya informed jokingly.
"You two, working on a project together?" Purab asked unbelievably.
"Well, that should be interesting." Alia said with a short chuckle as she thought about all the things that had gone wrong when Aryan and Riya worked as a team, causing Purab to chuckle too.
"Hey what's that supposed to mean? And you know what? If this does end badly Pri's the only one to blame for it because she wanted to partner with Shahana." Aryan said in a whiney voice, still not okay with what had happened. Not noticing the 'well that's surprising' looks shared between his parents, too busy in his sulking. However, Riya who was curiously watching the interactions between them, smiled brightly as she realized what they knew, but before Riya could say anything about it, Abhi spoke.
"Everyone go to your own rooms now, you're being too loud, I'm trying to get Priyanka to sleep over here." Abhi whispered as he was stroking Priyanka's hair, while being propped up on his elbow on the bed, Priyanka began to doze off slowly.
"Okay call us if you need anything." Purab said as all of them quietly exited the room going to their own rooms.
All except one- who was Riya, since instead of going to her own bedroom, she started to walk towards Alia and Purab's room with a smirk on her face as she thought that after what she had learned not even a minute ago that now was a good time to ask for what she wanted.....
******
"Abhi, I can stay here with Priyanka, you go and rest." Meera, who was still in Priyanka's bedroom, said.
"No it's okay, you've been working in the office the whole day, you need rest more than I do, I'm okay here." Abhi said as he worriedly watched Priyanka sleep.
"Okay, Goodnight then." Meera said with a soft smile, knowing that she couldn't convince Abhi to leave Priyanka right now, as she switched off the light, and closed the door behind her as she left so that Abhi wouldn't need to get up to do it.
Only when Abhi was alone with a sleeping Priyanka, being able to see her in the dim light coming from the lamp on the bed stand, did he let a few worried and guilty tears fall from his eyes.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me again." Abhi said in a mere whisper, so as not to wake Priyanka, leaning down to gently kiss her forehead.
"Chucks if you don't stop crying, I will start crying, and then good luck trying to get me to quiet down because you and I both know that I can cry on demand." Priyanka said jokingly in a sleepy voice, not quite asleep yet.
"How do I not? When you needed me, I didn't even know what had-- happened for 6 months. For 6 months, I didn't even know that my--." Abhi began to say shakingly in guilt as tears fell faster than before.
"Hey no, don't do this, Chucks, please. Of course, you couldn't have known. You were all the way on the other side of the world for Ri's heart treatments when the acc- acci- accident happened it's not your fault." Priyanka said determinedly, more awake now, as she sat up against the headboard, wiping away Abhi's tears, Abhi gently wiped away her tears too, both of them smiling small teary smiles as Priyanka wordlessly put her head on Abhi's shoulder for comfort, he holding her close.
'I'm sorry Rohan, for not being able to protect your family, I'm sorry for not being able to save you, I'm sorry for finding your Priku so late, but I found her and now I will let no harm come to her, not even a shadow of the past will touch our Priyanka's present or future, I promise.' Abhi thought to himself determinedly as tears streamed down his face, breaking out of his thoughts as he felt Priyanka go limp against him, only to see her completely knocked out on his shoulder, leaning down to lay a gentle kiss on the top of her head with a soft smile.
******
Huh seems like there's a back story that we don't know about with Priyanka too.🤔🤔
What's Abhi talking about? And what does he mean by when he says he was late in finding Priyanka?🤔🤔
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Keep reading and stay healthy!❤
A.M.🙃