LOVE, LIFE, SECRETS: Answers lie within – CHAPTER 30

CHAPTER 30: We’ll protect him

(A week after Ishu and Om met Dushyant – Day of Riddhima and Daksh’s arrival)

Om was walking through the corridor of Oberoi Mansion, lost in his thoughts…. He was still thinking about Ishana and the moment he had to let go of her hand…. Why did it feel so empty inside him when she walked away from him…. Why did he feel to hold onto her forever…. Why did fire ignite within him when Daksh stared at her…. Why was he feeling all sorts of emotions ever since he had met Ishana…. His thoughts shifted to all the time he had spent with her…. Her smile…. Her laughter…. Her seriousness when she discussed work…. Her frustration when she couldn’t find a clue…. Her anger…. Her suspicions when she thought Om was stalking her…. Her assumptions…. Everything about her was crystal clear in his memory…. Maybe being an artist his observation about everything and everyone around him were sharp and accurate…. His thoughts shifted to the afternoon and he was reminded about Riddhima’s arrival…. Suddenly thinking about Ishana felt wrong…. He was in a relationship with Riddhima for years now and still he was thinking about someone else…. How he had forgotten about his relationship in the past two weeks since the time Ishana had arrived in his life…. No…. He should not think about Ishana…. He should not let his mind and heart wander into that unknown territory….

His chain of thoughts broke as he bumped into Priyanka…. Priyanka looked at her brother and she could clearly understand that he was lost somewhere that he did not see her…. Something was disturbing him; she could read it on his face….

Priyanka: Bhaiya, you look worried and where were you lost?

Omkara: Nowhere Prinku, just thinking about my exhibition.

Priyanka: Bhaiya, do you really think that I would buy this lie?

Omkara: Prinku….

Priyanka: Bhaiya, I am your younger sister but I know you well and seeing your face, I can understand that this is definitely not about work but something else. I won’t force you to share it with me but don’t think too much, everything will get well.

Omkara: I don’t know if things will get well or not. This is too complicated.

Priyanka: Nothing is complicated Bhaiya, it is we humans who makes things complicated. We overthink about simple matters and make them worse.

Om looked at his sister surprised…. Was this the same Prinku who would run away with his colours and make him run behind her in the entire mansion…. Was she the same Prinku who would insist him to make new paintings for her room every now and then…. Was this the Prinku whom Shivaay and he had looked after all her childhood…. He could definitely see that his once little Prinku had now grown into a mature young lady…. She was no longer the girl who needed her brothers to solve all her problems…. She was no longer the girl who would run to him for advices on each and every matter…. She had now grown old enough that she could help her brothers with her opinions and views….

Omkara: When did my baby sister become so mature?

Priyanka: Life teaches you a lot, hai na Bhaiya.

Omkara: Sure it does and I am happy to see my sister grow like this.

Prinku and Om’s conversation was disturbed by Rudra who was walking towards his room…. He was talking to someone on phone and did not notice Om and Priyanka…. The last words of his conversation reached Om and Priyanka and they looked at each other shocked….

“Don’t worry Soumya, my family will never know that Tia was already married to Dushyant”….

Om was shocked to know that even Rudra and Soumya knew the truth…. Priyanka was shocked knowing that Tia was already married to someone else….

*****

Rudra reached his room and disconnected the call after talking to Soumya for a few minutes…. It had been a hectic day for him…. First he had to finish his assignments and submit them at the college…. Then he helped Soumya and Gauri with one of their event’s preparations…. They had also invested some time in researching about the case but couldn’t get any lead…. He took off his jacket and threw it on the couch and hit the bed…. Never had Rudra thought that anything other than his workout could make him so exhausted…. He closed his eyes to relax for a few minutes before he took a shower…. There was a knock on the door and he opened his eyes to see his brother and sister standing there…. Looking at them Rudra understood that something had happened…. He got up from the bed…. They both walked in…. Priyanka did not know how to start the conversation…. She looked at Om and signed him to talk…. Om took a breath before talking, he knew Priyanka was going to get a huge shock…. Rudra looked at them not knowing what was happening….

Rudra: O, Prinku, what has happened? Why are you both looking at each other like this?

Omkara: Rudra, I’ll come straight to the point, how do you know that Tia and Dushyant were already married?

Rudra: O….

Priyanka: Rudra Bhaiya, we already heard some of your conversation outside so please tell us the whole thing.

Omkara: Rudra, I know everything already because Dushyant has told me, but how did you get to know? Who told you and who else does know this?

Priyanka: Bhaiya, you knew it already?

Omkara: Yes Prinku, I got to know from Dushyant few days back.

Om told them about Ishana and him finding about Tia’s call records and then their talk with Dushyant….

Rudra: O, Prinku, I’ll tell you but please let us keep it between us. I don’t think Bhaiya or anyone should know about this at this point of time.

Omkara: I agree with that.

Rudra then began talking about his talk of Soumya and Gauri he had heard about in the lawn…. How he offered to help them…. How they hacked into Tia’s account and got to know about her already being married…. How they confronted Romi and she told them the entire truth….

Priyanka: I never thought that Tia Di was going through so much and that aunty was forcing her to get married to Shivaay Bhaiya.

Omkara: When Dushyant told me everything, even I was shocked that so much was going in her life. I wish she had talked once to Shivaay, things may have been different.

Rudra: Even I thought so O, but now it is too late to think about all that.

Omkara: Now that we know the truth, I don’t want this to be known to anyone in the family. Shivaay already has a lot to look after; we cannot give him one more reason to stress out.

Priyanka: Don’t worry Bhaiya; we’ll not let Shivaay Bhaiya know anything. All these years he has protected us, now we’ll protect him.

Rudra: Right Prinku.

The trio looked at each other determined and hugged each other…. After assuring each other they walked back to their respective rooms….

*****

Priyanka reached her room and sat on the couch near the window…. She was lost in thinking about Tia and Dushyant and how Mrs. Kapoor forced Tia to marry Shivaay…. Will her father also force her to marry someone for a mere business deal…. Will she also be forced to let go of her Ranveer…. Even the thought of anything like this happening shook the insides of Priyanka…. No…. She could never think of leaving Ranveer ever…. She was lost in her thoughts when something struck her mind…. Om had said that the contact Tia was talking to all these months from Rana Group of Companies belonged to Dushyant…. But Siddharth had said that it belonged to an employee who was working for Tia and against the Ranas…. Dushyant was in no state to lie about the matter…. That means Siddharth was lying…. Why would he lie…. Was he hiding something…. Was he doing this to save his family…. Does Siddharth know about Tia and Dushyant…. Many questions raised in her mind…. She had to talk to Ranveer about this…. She picked her phone to call Ranveer when she remembered that her brothers and she had decided not to let anyone know about this…. But Ranveer had to know, what if any of this was related to Tia’s murder…. Also if Soumya, Gauri and Ishana could know then why not Ranveer, Abir and Mishti…. She decided to talk to Ranveer the next day…. This could be the clue that could lead them to something….

*****

It was dark all around…. Om was walking lost in the place…. He did not know where he was gong or what lied ahead of him…. Still he was walking…. Walking to find what was in store for him…. He was tired yet continued walking…. He could see a ray of light at a farther end…. He could see some hope for himself…. He knew that if he made it to the light he would be out of this darkness forever…. He knew he had to only walk till the light…. Pushing away his tiredness he made himself strong and continued walking…. As he walked further, the light seemed to move further…. Seeing himself getting stuck he started running…. He was running and running…. Running till he was out of breathe…. He stopped to catch a breathe and looked at the light…. It was still far…. Out of his reach…. He shook his head in disappointment…. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look at the person…. He looked at her and a smile crept on his face…. She didn’t say anything and held his hand…. She started walking towards the light and he followed her without a word…. As they walked ahead the light seemed to come nearer…. He kept walking with her…. Soon they reached the light…. Om smiled seeing light around him, he was out of the darkness…. He turned to look at her but she was not there…. He looked everywhere but she was not there…. Suddenly the light seemed to go away and darkness surrounded him…. His life was filled with darkness again….

Omkara: ISHANA….

Om opened his eyes as he called out for her…. He looked around and found himself sitting on his bed…. He closed his eyes and Ishana was the only person he could think of…. He opened his eyes again…. What was he thinking…. Ishana…. No…. He couldn’t think about her…. This was all so wrong…. He couldn’t become like the man he hated the most…. Mr. Tej Singh Oberoi…. His so called father…. He couldn’t become like his father who cheated on his mother…. He wouldn’t break the heart of a woman who loved him…. He wouldn’t be disloyal like his father…. He looked into the mirror in front of him…. He made a firm decision to himself, he wouldn’t become another Tej Sing Oberoi…. He had to stop whatever was happening to him regarding Ishana…. He was committed to Riddhima and he would never leave her….

*****

Hello my dear readers, I hope you all are doing well.

So here is the next chapter, do share your views on the same.

What will Om do now, his heart is drawing him towards Ishana but his mind is reminding him of his commitments to Riddhima, whom will he listen to? What will happen when Shivaay will learn about Tia and Dushyant?

Keep reading and smiling!!!
Take care and stay safe!!!