The Bond of..? (Chapter 26)

Heyy guyss!!
I am late again, I know 🙁 and I am sorry but I have so much to do, it is hard to find time to update but I am trying my best.
Link to the previous update: Chapter 25
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She gasped for breath as she strolled through the room, staring widely at the diary before her. Sana recorded all the dates of the transactions on her phone before heading to her house. She was hundred and one percent sure that her dad’s diary would have something about the transactions or at least something about the relationship between both the families.

‘What’s the point?’ A voice in her brain chided. ‘He is going to leave you in a month either way.’

She cringed vividly at the direction of her thoughts as a throbbing pain built in her heart, burning her chest like it was on fire, “Gosh! Aarav what are you doing to me?”

She was talking to noone in particular and even knew that she would get no response but it would have been better if someone would just sort the mess in her life. She shrugged of her feelings and took a sharp breath in, quietly opening the diary.

25th January 2000
Life couldn’t be better, with a daughter and a wife, two angels that god descended for me, are having the best time in our mini vacation. I wish with all my heart that days could just pass on like this- going on morning jogs, swimming in the beaches, eating random things for lunch, strolling in the casino, spending time with my little one and finally relaxing at night. No pressure or judgment from any force and I can clearly take any decision without pondering over it a thousand times. Sadly, this wouldn’t last for more than two days. After that, it would be back to the tension that would completely submerge me, limiting any quality time with my family.

Sana gasped for breath as she ran a finger down the wet page. She hadn’t realized that she was crying, until now when she realized that the page was drenched with her salty tears. She missed her parents, she missed them so damn much. The minute they left her life, she messed it up. Now she was amongst such a mess that she didn’t know how to pull herself out. If they were here, they would guide her. They would help her. They would stand by her side.

She gently turned the page around and wrapped her head around the words.

29th January 2000
Just three days back from the vacation and I could already see my next year ahead of me. It was going to be filled with loads of loads of business meetings and signing deals. I am even being able to take my daughter to painting by the hillside. What kind of father am I? Sonia kept asking me to relax and calm down but I can’t. Although I am the owner of the biggest business in the world, I have more problems to deal with than a common man. I regret my choices everyday but now that I am in the fire, I cannot turn back.

Sana could see the regret in his words. The diary entries were short but held more meaning than a whole book. She remember seeing her dad extremely remorseful around these years but she didn’t understand why. And she still couldn’t. What did he mean that he was in the fire and he couldn’t turn back? Those were exactly her words to Aarav a few months ago.
She skimmed through the next few diary entries where the regret of her dad was practically killing him but she had no idea why was he so regretful. She didn’t remember anything bad happening to the business or the family at that point of the year. Then why was her dad so upset? At the end of the fourth diary entry, her knees buckled down and she crumpled onto the floor, taking the diary with her. The tears were pricking down her skin vigorously as her pain increases tremendously.

She couldn’t do this anymore. She just couldn’t. She could feel her heart tug her with sadness as she read the diary. Maasi said that it was important and will eventually suppress her pain but all she could feel was sorrow that she felt when she heard their death news. She pulled out her phone from the strap of her skirt and unlocked it.

She scrolled through the photos to see the date of the first transaction: 15th February 2000.

She dashed to the month of February to see entries of fourth, seventh, eighth and fourteenth. An excitement washed through her as she read through the Valentine’s day entry.

14th February 2000
This was the day I was waiting for since the starting of this year. I could finally spend some quality time with my wife. My love. My angel. My savior. My only pillar of support. I had an entire date planned out for his day, even though we are quite old to do all these cheesy stuff, I couldn’t help it. We never got the time to do all these while it was our age due to my constant goal to improve the company. Now that the company can stand on it’s feet for a good lifetime, I can plan all sorts of cheesy things for her. I still remember the day when she held my hand as I mourned over my father’s death. It was the time when my brother was too young and I was still in university. She lead me through the times without giving up and managed all the other pressures in life. She convinced her parents to give us time, she managed my brother’s wedding, she managed all the social pressure, all the family pressure while I dedicated my life solely to business. Even today, she has to complaints over my late working hours, my short temper burst outs or me not going giving time to our daughter. Sometimes, we fail to see the gem standing in front of us while we continue to fly high towards victory in search for it. By the time I achieved my victory, it was too late for me to give her all the small pleasure is life. But not anymore, I am going give her the opportunity to enjoy everything in life. Every single thing any person wishes to fulfill in life.

Sana’s eyes glistened with tears as she grinned at the entry. It was so sweet, not to mention extremely cheesy but she didn’t care. She could the love her dad held her for her mom and how perfect their relationship was. Growing up, she admired their relationship, no bantering, no arguing. While one was patient, the other was short tempered. While one was strong, the other was vulnerable. While one was outgoing, the other was reserved. They completed each other perfectly.

That was the relationship she craved for and still does. She wanted someone to complete her and not push her. She shivered slightly as her mind recalled Aarav’s words. ‘Especially after knowing that this is going to last only for less than one month.’

She hurriedly turned over the next page to find the answer to her questions but her eyes bulges out of her sockets as she stared at the page. It read 16th March 2000.

What the heck? She looked to the side to see pieces of papers sticking out. It had been ripped. The entire time with all the transactions had been clearly ripped open. She didn’t even know what to do anymore.
She sat there staring blankly at the diary entry which read that everything was finally cleared.

What was cleared? Was there something in the first place? The more she investigated, the more questions formed in her head.

She rushed out of the room and quickly raced to her Maasi who was most probably fussing over some prank Saanvi pulled.

“Masssi,” she yelled as she dragged her name, making it seem like she was yelling ‘Messi’ instead.

“Wow, I didn’t know you had the ‘Messi’ fever too,” Saanvi mocked gently as Sana glared at her, seeing her predictions come true as she saw Massi pissed off at Saanvi.

“Did anyone take dad’s diary before?” Sana asked Maasi as she sat on the kitchen island as usual. Sana had this bad habit to sit on kitchen islands, she did that when she was a child, when she was an adult and was going to continue when she had children.

“Not that I know of. It was kept in the room ever since their death,” she told her with a sad look on her face and Sana stood up to give her a hug.

“I am missing a few pages from the diary. Actually a whole month of entries,” Sana blurted out bluntly, keeping in the info about all the transactions.

“Really? That’s so weird. Why don’t you ask your chachu? He is on a trip right now but he is going to be back in a week,” her massi suggested politely as she stroked her hair affectionately.

“Sure,”Sana replied back with a grin as she gave her another grin.

“Now, all of you out of my kitchen. You can come back when the lunch is ready,” she shooed them from the kitchen while Saanvi made gagging noises.

“I swear, these holidays are so damn boring,” Saanvi whined irritated as she lumped into the couch in the main living room.

“You are the only one who would say that after having so many things around the house to do. Where are all the other?” Sana enquired, confused that the house was so quiet today.

“Everybody is at office doing I don’t even know what,” Saanvi snorted frustrated.

“You okay bro?” Sana gently asked Sanay who was hiding himself in the corner of the room, turning his back towards the girls.

“Yeah, you look like the man who is a minute away from death,” Saanvi mocked in a worried tone.

“If I were the man away from death, my last word would be ‘finally’,” Sanay mumbled under his breath, barely audible for both the girls to hear.

“Are you okay? You never say anything like that before,” Sana asked with confusion as she scooted closer to his side.

“I don’t even know what is going on anymore,” he mumbled irritated with a hint of exasperation

“Wanna talk about it?” Sana pushed his buttons further as she stood up to stand right infront of him.

“That’s it. I am out of here,” Saanvi exclaimed as she dashed out of the room. The girl hated emotional which made Sana wonder what will happen when she would face any emotional turmoil in her life.

“So, what’s up?”

“I can’t do business in university,” he groaned with displeasure radiating in his actions and ran a hand through his disheveled hair.

“Same issue again? What do you want to do?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know,” he quietly said and for the first time Sana could clearly see the inner battle he was fighting in his pitch dark eyes.

“Coming from an all rounder like you, that sounds extremely weird,” she mocked to lighten the atmosphere but ended up making it even more tense.

“That’s the whole point! I am good at everything and I like everything, how can I choose one thing now?”

“Good point. Have you tried narrowing down your list then? Like the top 3? Or 5?”

“I want to take sports but which one? Or I want to become a doctor too, but which kind?”

“Well..what is your most favourite kind of sport or which doctor do you think will get you what you want?”

“I like soccer out of all,” he finally blurt out with a long, heavy sigh.

“There we go and it’s not like we are late. We can get you admission in the best university,” Sana suggested gently as she ruffled his hair.

“I don’t know yet,” he muttered as she could see the conflict of confusion running through him.

“Take whatever you want for the first year and then you can decide. It’s not like any of us took the first two years seriously, so relax.”

“Thanks,” he said with genuine greatness as Sana pulled him for a quick hug.

“Pleasure is-” she started to say when she was cut off by a loud squeal which was most probably heard by every single neighbour.

“Sana!” Saanvi shrieked with excitement while Sanay groaned at her beaming face.

“I am sure I know my name, Saanvi,” Sana sarcastically stated as Saanvi pushed a phone screen to her face, blinding Sana by the bright screen.

“Look at this,” she gestured to the screen while Sana pulled back her hand for a better look.

Everything froze in her body when she peeked at the screen, her breath hitched in her throat while the warm fuzzy feeling came back out of nowhere. The screen displayed the website of the Ross industry. On the top of the screen where there was normally the message of the CEO/Owner, it said:

‘I made a mistake, it was completely unintentional, I’m extremely sorry.’

“Do you know who this is for?” Saanvi questioned confused while a slight shiver of pleasure went through Sana’s body.

Sana without doubt knew that it was her. He changed his entire page, his entire website for her. He didn’t hesitate to publicly advertise his sorry for her.

“N-no,” she breathed out reluctantly as her eyes snapped to the icons that added facebook, twitter and other social networking links.

She grabbed the phone once again, sucking a deep breath, as she pressed twitter which lead to over a thousand comments and retweets asking who this person is. In facebook, there were messages flooding, one after the other, asking who this mystery person is. Seems like the new gossip in town was about Aarav saying sorry to her.

“Well, whoever it is for, should be extremely happy!” Sanay exuberantly said, glancing at the comments in instagram, etc.

“Yeah,” Sana agreed without hesitation as a small smile tugged her lips. The arrogant jerk couldn’t even apologize to her face.

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Sana grumpily stormed inside the Ross mansion, gently taking off her shades. She didn’t want to be here, at all. She wasn’t really ready to accept Aarav’s public apology and neither did she want to leave her cousins. After lunch, she spent the time chatting away with Saanvi as she played video games with Sanay to cheer the poor kid up. The boy had been facing major problems and she knew he would not share it with anyone other than her.

“Oh my God!” she hissed with happiness as she saw popcorn bags placed on the counter of the kitchen.

She rushed towards the sides when she saw letters of the word ‘Sorry’ written on the bags which made her scoff with patronizing anger, “Really? Can this guy get anymore cliche?”

“I was hoping for ‘I accept your apology’,” she heard a deep husky voice in her ears, sending triumphant shivers down her spine.

She saw him smirk at the effect he had on her which made her snort,“Why can’t you throw your ego aside for a minute and tell it to my face?”

“I don’t say sorry,” he deadpanned with a shrug, letting his arms snake through her waist.

“Never?” she asked him amused as she turned around in his arms.

It seemed that he just arrived from work as he was still in his formal shirt, the first few buttons unbuttoned, his face completely exhausted and his hair in a handsome mess, “Nope and in this case I didn’t even do anything,”

“Of course, you didn’t do anything except hurt me,” she sarcastically claimed as she burst open a packet of popcorn.

“I was just reminding you the facts,” he gravelly said with a shrug as he watched Sana eat away the popcorn.

“Un huh.”

“I meant it in another way but-” he started to explain but immediately they heard the front door bang open with loud noises lurking the atmosphere.

“How the hell did you find out where I live?” they heard a whiny tone which was definitely Arhaan’s.

“Arhaan?” Aarav grimly asked, lacing his voice with boredom as he walked towards the main door, Sana right on his heels.

“She is driving me nuts! She found out where I live and asked me out,” Arhaan whined with irritation as Sana eyed the girl who they met before while talking to Mr.Morris for the gala.

“I only asked him to come to the popcorn shop with me as I didn’t have money,”the girl politely declined as she stood there infront of them with the most sincerest and innocent smile which made Sana glare at Arhaan.

“No you did NOT!” Arhaan barked violently, clearly raged at the polite little girl.

“I am sorry to hurt your feelings but I am way younger than you, Arhey,”the girl said with a pleading look on her face which made both Sana and Aarav chuckle lightly.

“Exactly! So stay that way! And it’s Arhaan” Arhaan argued with the girl as if he was on a roll to take her out.

“I never said anything about growing up, Armaan,” the girl replied back gently while Aarav and Sana looked back and forth between the bantering.

“The name is Arhaan,” Arhaan sneered brutally, snapping a finger in her direction.

“I didn’t know asking for popcorn is a crime,” she snapped back, in a low voice while Arhaan groaned.

“You like popcorn too? You are my new best friend,” Sana stepped into the conversation as she tossed the young girl a few popcorn from her bags.

“I thought I was your best friend,” she heard Arhaan blurt out with vexation as he crossed his arms infront of him.

“Didn’t you say that Neha was your best friend or something,” Aarav snickered at her situation.

Damn, she was caught.

“I have too many to count,” she mumbled back with her mouth filled with popcorn.

“Sheesh don’t be jealous Ahaan,” the girl coolly said as she twisted her hair with her fingers.

“Arhaan, girl, it’s Arhaan,” Arhaan burst out with frustration as he ran a hand through his hair.

“Cool down and go back to your flirting,” Aarav was the one this time to grab Arhaan before he attacked the little girl.

“Yeah, Aran, don’t act like a grumpy bear all the time,” the little girl hissed as she shielded herself before Arhaan launched at her.

“IT IS ARHAAN!”

Arhaan took a deep breath in before shoving her out the door, “Why the hell is she here? Get out of my house.”

“You are very rude and certainly don’t know how to treat strangers,Arvaan,” the girl stated bluntly with a horrified face while Aarav tried to stop him.

“Get out,” Arhaan scowled at her.

“Ar-” Sana tried to calm him down but it was too late, the girl was leaving and Arhaan shouted before slamming the door.

“Out.”

“That was very entertaining,”Aarav whimsically said as Arhaan was puffing with anger.

“Only you would say that,” Arhaan muttered as he pulled out of his brother’s grip and walked towards the kitchen.

“Who’s the new girl?” Sana decided to start a conversation to cool Arhaan down by distracting him.

“Tia, I met her at the gym,” Arhaan grinned, completely diverted him.

“You are such a player,” she scoffed at him, rolling his eyes at him.

“Hey! I don’t date, I just flirt,”Arhaan defended himself as he grabbed a drink.

“That makes absolutely no sense, you don’t want to date but you keep flirting with them,”Sana asked him bewildered.

What came out of his mouth next shocked her to the core,“Yeah, I mean I don’t want to miss the gem standing in front of me while I continue to fly high towards victory searching for it.”
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More suspense! How was the update?! Who liked Aarav’s sorry and which one? What about Arhaan and the girl? Remember that girl who did the call me thing when Sana and Arhaan went to talk about the Gala.

Most of the update was emotional, like I said before, the mystery will have more limelight now. For romance, the past two updates were full of that, so give Aarav and Sana some break!

I loved the fact that many new people commented last time, it was lovely to hear from you! Keep commenting so that it boosts my support! Loads of love, I will try my best to update regularly but now that it is time for my uni to start again, it is going to be tough.