The Abyss-Ishqbaaz FF by Aashi
Chapter-6
It was the first day of Rudra as the gym instructor in his college. Baby Ru had grown up to become Rudra Singh Oberoi. True, he still has the contact number of hundreds of girls, true he still flirts with them but his heart had been stolen; stolen by Soumya, the chubby, studious girl, HIS love angel………his wife whom he had got accidentally married to. Rudra sighed, closed his eyes for a minute, and then got in pretending to be the happy go lucky guy. The day at gym was rather tiring as there were many new joiners, a lot of new girls who tried hard to flirt with him. As his session got over, Rudra moved towards the door. Suddenly he stopped & doubled back; almost racing went to the right corner & stared with amazement at the girl working out all by herself. Only one word escaped his mouth “Sumo……”
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It was quite late that evening. Shivaay silently drove out near Anika’s house. The house seemed unusually quite unlike the other evenings he stopped by. He had made a habit to do that since the time she had stopped coming at his house. Shivaay knew too well why she did that; he himself was the reason. Surprisingly she hadn’t hurled any abuse or anything, not even water, at him after she had disclosed the truth of Tia just before the marriage day. A day too late, Shivaay too got to know Daksh’s truth; he had already accused Anika for sleeping around with men for money. He had stumbled across Daadi asking him why Anika had returned the loan papers. Learning the amount lent, or was lent, he ran to Soumya who told him about the whole incident. Cursing himself, he had went to Anika’s house to clear the misunderstanding only to be confronted by an emotionless seeming Anika, who heard quietly to whatever he had to say then without giving a bit of reaction she walked him to the door & shut it behind him. Since that day Anika rarely visited Oberoi Mansion & totally ignored Shivaay. On the day Daadi was hospitalized, she had come to see her. He took her after much persuasion but that too yielded no result at all. She ignored him totally or talked to him very professionally & chillingly calling him ‘Mr. Oberoi’ only when it was too necessary. When he had tried to say something about the day, she had replied coldly “Mr. Oberoi, I have a lot of work. Please excuse me”.
Since that day, he had been finding a way & valid reason to meet her. Every night he visits her house to catch her glimpse; it worked like a drug to him, a reason of happiness & his existence as Anika’s Billuji. His reverie was broken by the sound of keys’ jiggling. As he watched, Anika opened her door & walked in. Shivaay noticed the changes she had undergone in these few months- she looked pale, thin & weak as if the life had been sucked out of her. She looked exhausted to extremities. Shivaay felt his breath stop as he noticed her wet cheeks; He kept on staring at the door she had disappeared into before sighing & driving off, his guilt eating him, inside and out. He had wanted to apologize to her but he knew that he wasn’t going to be forgiven anytime soon. “Eight months were too less for forgiving, I guess”, Shivaay said to himself silently, “but I don’t blame her. It was I who acted like a dumb moron to her, ALWAYS”.
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Warm tears continued to flow from her eyes even though she tried fighting them hard, yet again. A sense of complete failure hit her & she sank down on her knees, her body racked with tremors. Six month back, she had left, unable to face the truth; the so-called mistake she had committed but it hadn’t yielded any result. Her studies suffered due to all the turmoil in her brain & at last she took a brave decision to move back again but to avoid the Oberois at any cost knowing the fact that Rudra, her husband didn’t consider the marriage as a relation even between them. She closed her eyes & leaned against the study table in her small hostel room & memories of ‘their’ moments came gushing back to her & then came the face of her mother, kind & worried, her brother Samar, whom she had lost some two years back, smiling & encouraging. She can’t lose, not when she’s so near her destination. Taking her brother’s picture out of a drawer, she caressed it, saying, “I won’t lose Bhaiyu!! I’m your brave Somu, naa….” & wiped her tears as she got up to make herself more presentable for the evening snack-time.
Om was feeling strange. He felt his brothers hiding their problems from him. He was sure that Shivaay could handle his problems on his own and would share his worries whenever he thought correct but he had not expected the same from Rudra. Over a period of time he noticed certain changes in his baby brother the same as in case of Shivaay. Rudra had suddenly started concentrating on his studies. In the last six-seven months, around the time Anika had left, he had started drastically changed into a more serious person. He changed into a more serious person who seemed to have goals to achieve, tasks to complete & to compete with life. He had started hanging less with them, cracking lesser dumb jokes & talked less. A couple of times Om had tried asking him but he had cracked a joke or other before diverting the topic, smoothly & intelligently. Om hadn’t persuaded feeling he would share his problems on his own but it was yet to happen. Painting the beautiful, fully sculpted idol of a dancing girl who held the pose with grace & poise, her face serene & calm as she stared ahead with piercing eyes, Om couldn’t help but to wonder his life & the lives of his brothers with a question stuck in his head “Will it ever be so calm & serene, just so wonderful; our life?”
After dinner, it was her habit to read stories to herself but since the children came to her life she had to narrate the stories to them while putting them to sleep. It had become a daily ritual for her & she loved and cherished the moment. One can never get tired to look at their children’s face as they listened intently to them until their eyes drooped and sleep overcome them, sweeping them blissfully in a land of dreams. A mother can’t ever get enough of watching her children sleep on her lap-, seeing the children sleeping peacefully makes her realize what she had gained; she knows even when there is no reason to go on she will fight and win to see her children sleep again, peaceful & content. Gauri silently withdrew from her children’s bed, covered them & crept out. She went out and sat on the door step of her new adobe. Brushing a hand through her pretty, brown, waist- length hair, she stared at the starlit night sky. It was a thing she often did, after a hectic day. It relaxed her and calmed down her inner turmoil. She watched the stars for long, occasionally glancing at the moon and the clouds that glided across the night sky. Breathing a sigh & whispering a silent prayer to them, she got up & went inside.
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Hi everyone, it’s me Aashi, again. I’m really sorry for not updating for such a long time. Hope this chapter is up to your expectation. I’ll try updating as soon as I can but can’t promise when, as my college is starting next week & I’m really excited for it. Along with excitement, a good deal of my time will go in the classes, so, I might be irregular. Please leave your views, if you can.
Thank you everyone for reading.
By Aashi.
Link to previous chapters: https://www.tellyupdates.com/user/13322/?profiletab=posts