Strangers!! (kkb) – Part 28

Pragya woke up the next morning at the crack of dawn and gazed lovingly at her handsome husband who was still fast asleep. In sleep he looked innocent and childlike despite the few grey hairs on his temples. Abhi proudly called them the silver strands of wisdom and teased her that she does not have any grey hairs yet because she hasn’t developed any wisdom. Barring these few grey strands, his unlined youngish looking face belied his forty-five years of age. She trained her gaze on his full well-shaped lips which must have kissed her at least a million times by now, she thought shyly. Her eyes then moved up and rested on the moustache that lined his beautifully sculpted upper lip. To her surprise she noticed a couple of grey hairs there and gently ran her fingers on them. Her touch awoke him and before she could remove her hand, Abhi caught her by the wrist and seeing her bemused expression he raised his eyebrow quizzically.

“Your moush has started to grey!” she teased.
“So what? My desire for you is still evergreen!” he retorted and pulled her against his chest. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and pressed her against him, making her aware of his growing arousal.

“Abhishek! We have a teenage daughter in the house who is turning sixteen today. We cannot be fooling around like teenagers ourselves, that too in broad daylight!” she admonished him. Wriggling out of his hold, she rushed to the bathroom and banged the door shut.
Abhi turned on his stomach and smilingly took the photo frame on the side table. It was a picture of his wife. He traced her lips with his finger tips and kissed it.

Back in the bathroom, Pragya brushed her teeth and later got into the tub for a bath. As she soaped herself she was lost in thought. Today was the day they were to tell ISha the truth about her birth. Pragya was very nervous about how she will react. Her thoughts flew back to that fateful day when she realised there was no escaping her past.

Pragya’s flashback

A month back Pragya had overheard Abhi speaking to someone over the phone.

“OK. I’ll arrange for the money but please do not take any hasty steps, Nikhil. I don’t want my two precious girls hurt by your vindictiveness.”
Pragya’s eyes widened in surprise. How does Abhi know Nikhil? And why was he paying him money? It suddenly struck her that Nikhil was blackmailing him. There was only one thing that he could blackmail him about and that was her past. She confronted Abhi who, at first, was reluctant to reveal the truth but finally admitted that Nikhil had called him up the previous week demanding a huge sum of money to keep his mouth shut about Isha’s paternity.

It seems that Nikhil had seen a picture of their family in the newspapers which covered a business party they had attended together. As Abhi was a successful businessman he easily traced him and came to Pune. He befriended someone in Abhi’s office and found out that Pragya had married Abhi within a month of absconding from her home town. He also came to know that they had a sixteen-year old daughter. On a hunch he tracked Isha’s school records to check her date of birth. As he suspected, she seemed to have been born prematurely. His suspicions were confirmed when his source mentioned that Abhi met Pragya in London where they were studying in the same college. As he knew for a fact that Pragya was very much in India at the time, he put two and two together and realised that Pragya was already pregnant with ISha and Abhi seemed to be aware of the truth, going by the story he floated about their meeting in London. He couldn’t understand how a man can readily accept a ‘fallen’ woman like Pragya and also lie for her. He came to know then that Pragya and Isha were Abhi’s greatest weaknesses. His criminal mind then hit upon the idea of blackmailing Abhi for money by threatening to reveal the truth to Isha. He claimed to have photographs and letters to prove Pragya’s relationship with Neev which he planned to show Isha. As he expected Abhi seemed anxious to keep things under wraps.

Hearing what Abhi said about Nikhil, Pragya’s eyes filled up with tears. She knew how much Abhi detested being taken advantage of but the guy was willing to give in to her brother’s demands for her sake. She cannot let him do that. He has already done enough for her. She told him that Nikhil was an insatiable snake and the blackmailing would not stop if he paid up. He would forever hold their secret over their heads and keep demanding for more and more money. She hated to see Abhi cave in to that scoundrel’s blackmailing. She said that it would be better if she herself comes clean with her daughter.

Deep down Abhi too wanted to tell Isha about her real father when she was old enough to understand, for he felt she had the right to know about her antecedents. He did not fear that she would love him any less if she knew the truth because he was very secure in her love. But telling her the truth about her father would also mean admitting the truth about her mother. He was not sure how Isha would take that. He also knew how much it would hurt Pragya if she fell in the eyes of her daughter. As they say, ‘Why mend something which ain’t broken?’ so he thought it was best to keep quiet about the whole issue. But hearing Pragya’s apprehensions about Nikhil, he was not sure silence would help. It may in fact make it worse if she hears the truth from Nikhil or someone else. There was no knowing how many people Nikhil has already confided in. They still did not know what became of Pragya’s step-mother who seemed untraceable. What if she too knows about the truth and starts threatening next.

Abhi hesitated, wondering what to do but Pragya insisted in telling the truth for all their peace of mind. Abhi assured her that both of them will tell the truth to Isha
on her sixteenth birthday which was to be celebrated shortly. He wanted to invite Neev over although he did not let him know that they were planning to reveal the truth to his daughter. She agreed although she was apprehensive about the whole thing. He kept assuring her that he will make sure everything went well and his daughter comes out of this as a stronger individual.

To shut Nikhil up, Abhi promised to give him the money but had also informed the police about his extortion attempts. So the police wound him up just as he was about to take the money from Abhi’s hands and was locked up in prison. He also engaged a private detective to find out more about Nikhil’s life in the past fifteen years so as to unravel any secrets of his own which could ensure that he spent a longer time in prison.

Suddenly Pragya was brought back to the present by the loud banging at the door.

“Pragya! What are you doing in there for so long? Have you fallen asleep?” Abhi was yelling out.

Pragya hurriedly stepped out of the tub and wrapped herself in a large towel. When she opened the latch, Abhi who was leaning on the door fell on her. Before she went crashing to the floor, he held her tightly around her waist and pulled her to him. The wet drops of water on her shoulders and arms dampened his kurta. For a minute the two of them froze still, absorbed in each other.

“Come on boys wake up, wake up. Don’t you want to wish Isha di on her birthday? ” Neha’s shrill voice from the next room broke their trance. Isha ran his fingers through his hair in embarrassment and went into the bathroom to complete his morning routine while Pragya hastily changed into her clothes before going to help Ramu kaka prepare ISha her favourite breakfast and wish her darling daughter.

That evening a grand party was arranged for ISha. Baba and Bua who had returned from Mumbai by lunch time, helped in welcoming the guests. Ayesha and Varun arrived with their daughters, Ananya and Sukanya, aged twelve and seven. Ayesha had never stopped thanking Abhi for saving their marriage which was on the rocks more than 15 years ago. It was Abhi who had finally worked out a compromise between the couple. Varun was to let her start the boutique and she was to fulfil his wish of having a baby as soon as she had settled in her business. They agreed, for both of them were still very much in love with each other. Abhi then advised them that in marriage there was no place for ego. Whatever problems they faced in future they needed to communicate openly and treat each other as equals in this life partnership. Those pearls of wisdom stood them in good stead and they were a happily married couple.
With the grown-ups engaged in conversation, the children had their own fun together. Reyansh took a fancy for pretty little Sukanya or Suki as she was called. He faced some stiff competition from Sanjay though, for he too wanted to impress the little girl. Noticing the boys’ blatant attempts to win her over, Isha and Sanaya teased their brothers endlessly, prompting the boys to chase them around the house. In the meantime Abhay befriended Suki and they ended up playing together. Ananya remained aloof from all this tamasha. Being a quiet child, she was more interested in music. So she walked up to Neev who was managing the juke box and asked him to play the song of her choice. When he obliged, she sat down in a corner, closed her eyes and got immersed in it.
Soon it was time for the party to commence and Abhi called all the children back. Once the birthday song was sung and the cake cut, Isha offered the first piece to Abhi. Neev blinked back the tears in his eyes. She then offered the second piece to Pragya. When she took the third piece, Abhi prompted her to offer it to Neev. Looking at him puzzled, she nodded and took the piece to Neev’s mouth. Neev held her hand and pushed the cake into his mouth, his teary eyes silently thanking Abhi who blinked his eyes in acknowledgement. She then distributed the cake to her Dada, Bua Dadi and the rest of the guests.

The guests were served refreshments and later there were games organised by Ayesha and Neha. Buffet dinner was served after that and by the time the guests, including Ayesha’s family left, it was close to ten o’clock. Baba and Bua retired to bed. The children assembled to open the gifts that the birthday girl had got. REyansh said that he would do the honours, for Isha was his sister. He looked possessively at ISha who gave the nod. Soon the kids got engrossed in the gifts which were being unravelled by Rey. Abhi took Pragya to their room in order to discuss with her the manner in which they will break the truth to Isha. They planned to call her in after the gift unwrapping was over and slowly break it to her. Neev and Neha watched the kids for some time and suddenly Neev got emotional and abruptly got up and left with Neha following him.

Sitting with the kids, Isha’s eyes suddenly fell on a long envelope which was marked “For Isha’s eyes only.” She took the envelope curiously and ripped it open. Inside was a crisp sheet of paper, a couple of old letters and a photograph. She eyed the photograph and her eyes widened in shock to see her mother with Neev uncle. Both looked much younger, maybe in their late teens. Neev had his arm around Pragya’s shoulder and she had hers around his waist. She wondered what her mother was doing with Neev uncle for she was under the impression that he was her father’s friend and her mother came to know him through her father. She quickly skimmed through the old letters. To her horror she realised that they were old love letters written by Neev uncle to her mother. She turned and saw that her brother and Neev uncle’s kids were still engrossed in the gifts and had not noticed Isha and her letters. She hurriedly got up from there and went to her room with the envelope and its contents. She shut the door and read through the crisp letter.

So what was in the letter? And who sent it to ISha?
So sorry guys for this much late update. I know I cant tell u the reason it will take another update. Let me apologize to u all heartily. Hope u guys liked this update. We r nearing the finale. Only two more I guess. Please please, let me know ur views. U know ur comments only make me boost to write more. Hope u all don’t mind to leave a single word abt the update. So see u soon. If u want early updates pls leave ur comments and views both positive and negative looks like I am saying more. Bye all see u in the next update love u al stay blessed and sayanora……