Episode 30
What is wrong with you?!
Abhi asked himself, as he sat on a bench just outside the front entrance. It was just a song…… Yeah, he thought, but it felt so real.
Her facial expressions…the way she looked at him… Abhi’s phone rang at that moment, interrupting his thoughts. “Who’s calling at this hour?” He wondered.
Abhi looked at his phone, not recognizing the caller id.
He only hoped it wasn’t some crazy fan who had gotten his number.
He swiped his phone and answered the call. “Hello?”
“Mr. Abhishek Mehra?” the voice at the other end asked.
“Yeah?” Abhi replied in a questioning tone.
“Sorry to disturb you this late, but I was wondering if you know where I can find Miss Tanushree Mehta?” “Who is this?” Abhi asked.
“This is Dev Hirani .” he replied.
The movie producer? Abhi thought. Why was he searching for Tanu? “May I know the reason you’re looking for her?”Abhi asked. “Normally I wouldn’t divulge this information, but seeing as I’m desperate…” he said, as Abhi waited patiently for his reply. “The lead actress of my movie opted out at the last minute. I called Tanushree to see if she would be able to fill in and she readily accepted. She showed up the next day, shot one quick scene…and then she got a phone call, which made her really happy, and then she just upped and left. I never saw her again after that. I tried calling her many times, but I know she was cutting off my calls.” “When did she accept your offer?” Abhi asked, getting a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. “I called her on Sunday.” he answered. The day of their wedding…Abhi thought, shocked.
Now it was all starting to make sense… “Look, I have no idea where she is…” Abhi said quickly. “But I’ll let you know as soon as I get any information” and then he cut the call. Fuggi lied to him…
Pragya saw Abhi coming towards her, his facial expression indicating that he was not in a happy mood. “Let’s go” he said, as soon as he reached her.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her upstairs with him.
“Wait.” she said, but Abhi wasn’t listening to her. Abhi pulled her inside their room and locked the door behind them, still holding Pragya’s hand in his. He walked her over to the sofa and then forced her to sit down.
“What are you doing?” she asked, confused by his behaviour.
“I’m going to ask you a question…” he said, tersely, “And I want you to answer me truthfully.” “Okay…” Pragya said, not sure where this was headed. “Why did you marry me?” he asked.
“You brought me up here to ask that?” Pragya said. “We’ve been over this a million and one times already, Abhi! Why are you bringing this up again?”
“Just answer the question.” he said
“I don’t like having to answer the same question over and over again..” she stated.
“Don’t you mean, you don’t like lying over and over again?” he corrected.
“What do you mean by that?” Pragya asked, but Abhi didn’t reply.
“Look, if you’re not gonna say anything, then I’m leaving.” she said, getting up from the sofa. “Not so fast, Fuggi.” Abhi said, grabbing her arm before she could move past him. “You’re not going anywhere till you answer my question.” “I’ve already given you the reason.” she said. “Don’t give me that crap about not wanting to leave your family….cuz we both know that’s a lie!” Abhi said. Pragya looked at him in shock.
“I want the truth this time.” he said.
What would she say now? Pragya thought nervously.
Abhi looked at her.
He could tell her mind was racing, thinking about what to say next.
Probably trying to come up with another excuse, he thought. But before she had the chance, Abhi hit her with another question… “Did Tanu run away from our wedding?” he asked. Pragya’s expression changed and he saw her eyes instantly widen.
“Well…?” he prompted.
She turned her gaze away, looking everywhere but at him.
“Look at me” he said, holding her chin between his thumb and index finger. “Did Tanu run away from our wedding?” he repeated. Abhi looked at her intently, waiting for her reply. When she didn’t answer, he grabbed her upper arms. “Answer me, dammit!” he shouted, making her jump. “Did Tanu run away from the wedding…’Yes” or ‘No’?!” “Y-Y-es…” she said, nodding her head. Abhi held her face in both his hands and looked directly into her eyes.
“Tanu ran away from our wedding…. and that’s why you married me…” he said softly, answering the question for her. Pragya opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. “You did this for me, right?” he asked, guessing that Fuggi had done it to save his reputation. To save him…and their family from humiliation.
Pragya nodded silently.
Once the news got out that ‘Abhi the Rockstar’ had been ditched by his bride on their wedding day, who knows what turn his career would have taken…
Thank Goodness there were no media present that day, as Abhi had insisted on having a small wedding. They had planned to marry quietly and then they would’ve broken the news to the media afterwards. “You lied to me, Fuggi.” he said, maintaining his soft tone. “All those times I questioned you…you kept lying to me over and over again…” “Abhi…” she said, her voice barely a whisper.
“You didn’t think I deserved to know the truth?” he asked.
Pragya lowered her gaze. He dropped his hands from her face and turned away from her. “So, how did you know Tanu disappeared? You were supposed to be in Canada…” Abhi said, still not understanding the full picture. “I never left…” she admitted.
“What?” he asked, turning back to face her. “I missed my flight…” she said.
“Well, why didn’t you come home then?”
“I couldn’t” she said. “It was so hard leaving the first time…” “So where you for those two days?” Abhi wanted to know. “Did you stay at a hotel?” “No” she replied.
“So, where the heck were you then?” he asked.
“It was just a matter of four days before I got another flight out. Purab didn’t want me staying at a hotel, so he insisted I stay at his house while he would be here for the weekend.” Pragya explained. She stayed at Purab’s house? Why didn’t he tell me? Abhi wondered. This story was getting more complicated by the second, he thought.
“Tell me exactly what happened.” he said, getting a little confused. “And don’t leave anything out this time.” And then Pragya told him the whole truth…
From the time Purab dropped her to the airport…till their wedding ceremony. “Omg! Everyone knew and no one bothered to tell me…not even Dadi?!” Abhi asked, feeling a little hurt. “It’s not her fault” Pragya said. “I asked her not to tell you,even though she badly wanted to. ” “So you just decided to take responsibility for everything. Why?” he asked, sounding a little pissed off. “It doesn’t matter.” she said. “Of course it matters!” he shouted. “You took the blame for something that was not your fault!” “Abhi…” Pragya tried to intervene, but he just continued…
“You let me say all those things to you…. even on our wedding night when I…” his voice trailed off and he turned away from her. “Abhi, listen to me…” she said, pulling him back to face her. “What happened then w–…” “Why did you lie to me?” he asked softly, cutting across her words. “At that moment, all I thought about was how hurt and betrayed you were going to be. I couldn’t let you go through that…I couldn’t let you hate her.” Pragya said.
“So you decided it would be better if I hated you instead?” he asked. “She is the one you love…” Pragya said sadly. “I didn’t want you be hurt.”
“You wanna know something, Fuggi?” he said, looking at her. “What?” she replied.
“When I found the truth, you know what hurt me the most?” he said. “It wasn’t realizing that Tanu left me…or that you got married to me secretly. It was the fact that you lied to me.”
“I’m sorry…” she said. ” but I really thought I was doing the best thing for you.” “Fuggi, I —” Abhi started to say, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“One second” he said to Pragya and went to see who was there.
Aliya on the other side of the door, her bright smile fading as she saw the expression on his face. “Is everything ok, Bhai? she asked, looking from her brother to Pragya.
“Yeah, everything’s good” he said. “What’s up?” “Everyone is asking for both of you, wondering where you ran off to.” she explained.
“We’ll be there in a little bit.” he said. “Just give us a minute, ok?”
“Okay, Bhai” she said and then left.
“We should go” Pragya said. “Before someone else comes to look for us…”
“We need to finish this.” he said.
“We’ll talk later” Pragya replied.
Abhi nodded and then they both headed downstairs.
When they arrived back, the party was almost over.
Most of the guests had left already.
Tomorrow being working day, they needed to head home early. Dadi was seated in the audience, with Tayaji and the other elders, looking up on stage at the young couples dancing. Raj Bhaiyya was dancing with Mitali Bhabhi, Aliya was with Neil, Purab and Akash were with two of Pragya’s friends, while Sunil was dancing with…
Omg! Abhi thought. That loudspeaker was still here?
Dadi turned at that moment and saw both of them.
“Were were you two hiding all this time?” she asked.
“Actually Dadi, we…” Abhi started to say, but Dadi interrupted.
“Never mind” she said. “You two go have fun…”
Abhi extended his hand to Pragya.
“Would you like to dance with me, Mrs. Mehra?” he asked.
Although he had called her that alot of times since they were married two days ago, this time it felt different, he thought. “You promise to behave?” she asked, remembering their dance earlier.
“Promise” Abhi said and Pragya put her hand in his.
As they made their way to the stage and joined the others, Abhi felt a strange feeling of happiness come over him. Fuggi was back!
Well actually, she hadn’t changed…she had only tried to make him think so.
He put his hand on her waist, pulled her closer to him and they moved slowly to the rhythm of the music. “Abhi?” Pragya said, hugging him closer, moving her lips to his ear.
“Yeah?” he answered.
“I’m sorry…” she apologized.
“Fuggi, you —” he started to say, but Pragya just continued… “For lying to you and for getting married to you without your consent.” she whispered in his ear. “You did what you thought was best for me.” he said “So please don’t say sorry.”
“But –” Pragya tried to argue, but Abhi interrupted her.
“We’ll talk later. For now, let’s enjoy what’s left of our wedding reception, ok?” he said, smiling down at her. Pragya nodded and they continued their dance in comfortable silence. Abhi looked at her.
He didn’t know what destiny had in store for them, but for now, she was Fuggi Mehra…his best friend…his wife….
Precap: Pragya’s first Karwa Chauth
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Hi guys! How are you all?
Finally! Abhi knows the truth…
I know most of my readers have been waiting for this since the second epi lol
And again…Sorry for being late…
Actually, this epi was supposed to be uploaded two days after the last one…but I had so many ideas on how to reveal the truth to Abhi, that I had a difficult time deciding on one.
So I ended up re-writing the epi bunch of times.
Episode is about to be updated and I still feel like I should change it again lol.
But I kept you all waiting enough as it is… so it’s gonna stay like this…hope you all liked it 🙂
Thank you:
Sandy, Sabeenia, Vigan, Maya, Sugan, Rithu, Durga, Sheerapthinisd, Abhigya, Cutie-pie Achu(Asmithaa), Aishwarya, Shriti, Maha,
M.A.D. Riya, Di, Ashika, Saranya, Ani, Rosy, Maahi, Lucky, Choti(Suhani), Priyanka, Angel(Monesha), Myna, Riya, Rosetta, Kumkum, Disha, Mukund.
And an extremely special “no thank you” to Somiya lol
You all are my inspiration and my reason to continue writing…
Silent Readers…Hi! Hope you all are good!
So guys…what did you think?