The Mehra’s, Kohli’s, Khanna’s and Alia were all sitting in the combined living room of the MK mansion. Everyone’s face lit up on seeing Abhi. Riya and Prachi run and hug their father, tears of ecstasy escaping their eyes. Abhi feels a strange connection with the two girls who he just met but he quickly moves out of their grip and asks, “who are you?”
Everyone looks at Abhi, wide-eyed. All of them thinking, why Abhi doesn’t remember Prachi and Riya. He helped Prachi all the time, like a father would do even when he was clueless about their true relationship. He pampered Riya to a great extent and had loved her more than anything or anyone, during her childhood years. They would’ve never imagined that Abhi would forget his daughters, the two people whom he had loved the most with the exclusion of Pragya of course.
Prachi manages to recover from her shock first and she ask, her voice wavering… “don’t..don’t.. you remember us?”
Abhi looks at Prachi perplexed and says, “look, I think you must have me confused with someone else, I’ve never seen you in the 25 years I’ve lived.”
Everyone gets shocked to learn that Abhi thinks his age is only 25 years. They glance towards each other and then see Pragya coming in. Prachi and Riya run towards Pragya.
“Mom, Dad’s playing a prank with us right? He hasn’t forgotten us has he?” Riya asks, her throat feeling sore.
Before Pragya can reply Abhi asks, “Fuggy, why is she calling you mom?”
“Wo… you remember my look alike, she’s her daughter?” Pragya replies while keeping Riya as barrier between her and Abhi.
“Okay, meet me in our room and bring Dadi along with you.” Abhi says and walks off to his room.
Everyone looks towards Pragya and Pragya knows that she’s going to be attacked with questions soon, so she starts talking before anyone has the chance to ask her anything.
“Look, Prachi, Riya, I know your wondering why your dad can’t remember you and thinks he’s 25 years old. I think the rest of you are wondering the same thing. When your dad woke up after his accident, he started asking me about Dadi… his Dadi… who isn’t…who isn’t ..in this world…..any..anymore. The doctors had told me that he lost memory for the past 27 years, so he doesn’t remember any of you. He doesn’t even remember Kiara. The doctors advised us not to try and make him remember things as it could lead to him having a panic attack as the accident was traumatizing. So we can’t tell him that you are his daughters and that he’s actually 52 years old. The Kohli’s will be here cause they’re Purab’s friends and only cause of that. Prachi you’ll live here cause you are the daughter-in-law of the Kohli’s and only for that reason. Riya and Shahana will live here as they are writers who are writing a biography on the the famous Rockstar Abhishek Prem Mehra, both of you were appointed by Purab. Aryan will live here as he’s Ranbir’s best friend and his parents are on a business trip so they left him here to be taken care of and that’s the only reason he’s here. Am I clear? ” Pragya says sternly.
Everyone nods, secretly wishing they could reveal their true relations.
“Also since we don’t want to raise any suspicions Prachi’s Muh Dikhayi will happen tonight, we couldn’t do it yesterday for obvious reasons so the reception will happen today itself. I want no objections.” Pragya adds.
“Maa… Papa…. how can I?” Prachi says half of her sentence, trying her best to stop her tears.
Despite Prachi’s incomplete sentence everyone present there, even Alia, could understand what Prachi was trying to say, for they all loved their parents, or someone like their parents more than any word could explain.
Pragya hugs Prachi tightly, silently crying herself. “Prachi, beta, I know you want your dad to witness your Muh Dikhayi as your dad but we can’t delay it, if someone, who isn’t your dad’s well-wisher, comes to know about this then imagine what would happen, your dad would be in extreme peril. This is why we must act like we would if everything were normal. Think about the bright side to this – at least your dad is here to witness this, imagine if your dad and I still hadn’t reunited, even then he wouldn’t be with you na, would he?”
Pragya thinks of Tanu and the messages she’s been receiving from her.
“You’re right Maa, we’ll do the Muh Dikhayi today itself.” Prachi replies, stifling her tears.
Alia refrains from lashing out at Pragya, if Abhi heard her or found out about her rude behaviour later on then he would definitely kick her out of the house without a second thought, believing he made a mistake allowing her back. Abhi would like usual fail to understand her thoughts and just again think that Alia was letting her personal issues get in the way of treating Pragya like her sister in law. Her beloved Bhai, would yet again fail to notice that Pragya was doing something that proved she didn’t care for him but instead cared for his money. Pragya was planning to make her Bhai’s daughter’s Muh Dikhayi happen without her Bhai being able to witness it properly. Alia obviously knew that Pragya was doing this so that her daughter could have this grand Muh Dikhayi without Pragya having to pay a single penny. This was outrageous. Alia knew that she needed to cook up a plan to get rid of Pragya once and for all but for the time being she decided to remain quiet and let Pragya enjoy the last precious moments of her life.
“Prachi, your mother is correct as usual. Don’t be sad, do you think Bhai would want that?” Alia gives the sweetest fake smile she manage and wipes off Prachi’s tears while making fake tears appear in her own eyes. Alia hugs Prachi leaving her astonished but soon she reciprocates.
“You’re right, Alia ji, I shouldn’t be upset. Papa wouldn’t be happy about that.” Prachi replies, still unsure about what to call Alia.
“Call me Bua, sweetheart,” Alia smiles, leaving everyone shocked though it makes Riya feel ecstatic as Prachi would finally be able to see why Riya loves Alia so much.
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Priyanka is shown walking on a pathway a person looks at Priyanka in shock and instantly dials 100.
Soon Priyanka is surrounded by police and they ask, “Didn’t you commit suicide? How are you alive?”
Priyanka said, professing sadness, “I did commit suicide, however I was saved by these village people. They made me realise my mistake, by committing suicide I was letting the wrong people win. I decided to stay there for a little while and now I’m back and am going to fight to get justice.”
“Very well, I will inform Abhishek Mehra of the same. He should be elated to see you. Also, we will make sure that Rishi gets punished. Someone informed us that he had taken a quick trip to a village and we made sure that he wouldn’t go abroad by informing all airports to not allow him to board the plane.” The inspector informed Priyanka.
“Thank you so much inspector, I appreciate your help.” Priyanka gave the inspector a sly wink, the inspector smirked and left along with the other policemen.
“Hello, have you done your part of the plan? ” Priyanka asks someone on her phone. After a second a wide smirk appears on her face and she think, get ready, Rishi. Your about to become mine and that Shahana can’t do anything about it.
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All I can see is pitch black, I can’t hear a single sound. I feel my surroundings and manage to figure out I’m surrounded by some trees and plants. That only panics me more. Even in the open space, I feel suffocated. The wind breezes and instead making me feel at ease, I feel more frightened, more tensed. I finally hear something, footsteps. It gives me the slightest sense of relief to know I’m not alone in this strange forest but then I don’t know what comes over me and I start running away from the person.
I see the person’s face and think it’d be better to be in the forest alone rather then with that person! I take a short stop to catch my breath and am about to start running again but then I see another face. I stop and look at the two people in horror. The first person smirks at me and is about to kill the other person….
“No!” Kiara wakes up and breathes heavily.
“Calm down Mihika, it was just a dream.” Tanu says.
“Yeah, it was just a dream.” Kiara fakes a smile and doesn’t even need to try to convince her ‘mother’ that she was alright as Tanu left her to have her own beauty sleep, where she won’t get disturbed by nightmares.
Kiara thinks, that dream… was it a nightmare or true? It’s probably just a nightmare, I’m just disturbed by what happened to superman. Everyone dear to me is safe and will remain safe, as long as I continue to secretly protect them. Bhagwan ji, please help me reunite with my family! As long as Tanu and Nikhil are secretly spying on me, I can’t meet Prachi, my other sister, Mom or Superman! I need to do something, something that’ll help me expose my fake parents and keep my real family safe. But what? Maybe I could….. no, that would be too risky! But it’s the only way. I have to do it. I’m sorry, Mom. I know you taught me better but I have to do this. I hope you’ll be able to forgive me.
Kiara gets some clothes and goes towards her shower.
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A man is in his room pacing around nervously thinking about to confess his feelings to the one he loves. Should I tell her about? Will she refuse? I hope she doesn’t. What if she loves someone else? Ugh!! Why can’t I just tell her that I love her? Come on Akhil, you can do this… all you need to tell her is that you love her but she’s refused so many people already!! How do I know she won’t refuse me?? Hmm… who should I talk to about this, maybe, maybe I could talk to Aryan, he’s been with her since childhood and his her cousin brother, well, even I know her since childhood but that doesn’t help!
Akhil, the man, picks up his phone and quickly scrolls through his contacts and clicks on the contact named Aryan. The bell rings a couple of times however, Aryan does not answer.
‘Bro, if whatever your calling me for is super important then call me again and I’ll answer… If it isn’t super important then don’t call me and just message me’.
Akhil was now confused, sure his proposal would be super important to him but was it important enough to call Aryan and disturb the important thing he was currently doing?
‘Bro, the thing is…. please don’t kill me for this but I think I’m in love with your cousin sister.’
Akhil’s phone starts ringing and he picks up, glad that Aryan decided to call him.
“Akhil, which one of my cousin sister’s are you in love with?” Aryan asks, sounding extremely tensed.
“Riya of course!! Everyone in the college knows that Prachi is married to Ranbir and everyone has also found out, over these past two days how overprotective Ranbir is of Prachi and that he won’t ever leave her side, especially if there’s another boy in sight. Also, we all know how Prachi won’t let a single girl, other than Mishti, Riya and Shahana come within 10 feet radius of Ranbir, ” Akhil replies.
Aryan sighs in relief and says, “Akhil, I won’t kill you for loving Riya but if you had said Prachi’s name then I definitely wouldn’t hesitate in killing you, well, Ranbir wouldn’t. Also, you’re a good person Akhil and I know you’ll keep her happy. So, why’d you confess your love for Riya to me but not her.”
“I’m nervous! Could you perhaps find out if she loves anyone else? If she does, I’ll leave her alone and never tell her about my feelings,” Akhil replies.
Aryan recalls Prachi and Riya’s devastated faces after they found out about Abhi’s memory loss. Aryan thinks, Riya’s been friends with Kabir since childhood, maybe she has feelings for him. Also, I’m sure a proposal might manage to cheer her up… I mean Prachi has Ranbir and Shahana, who can both cheer her up but Riya, Riya has only my mother who is probably too busy thinking about.. wait, no Aryan don’t think about your mother, you need to focus on keeping your sisters happy.
“Sure, Akhil but if she does love you promise you’ll propose her as soon as possible,” Aryan replies, wanting to cheer up his sister quickly.
“Aryan, even if you didn’t ask me to, I would do this! I love Riya and want to be with her,” Akhil replies.
“Okay bye, then. I’ll go and find out about Riya’s feelings.” Aryan disconnects the call before Akhil could reply.
Akhil starts pacing around his room, worried about Riya’s feelings.
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Aryan makes his way to Riya’s room.
“Hi Riya, what are you doing?” Aryan asks, trying to start a conversation.
“Nothing, Aryan. I don’t feel like do anything right now! My dad, the one who’s pampered me and given me all the love he could possibly doesn’t remember me or Prachi Di!” Riya swallows her tears up, trying to remain strong, at least in front of her cousin brother
“You know, Abhi ch-mamo is really nice but it’s not his fault he’s suffered a memory loss,” Aryan replies.
“Aryan, you know we’ve never been close like other cousins. We’ve never had that bond and that’s why I appreciate that you’re trying help me cope,” Riya replies with a grateful smile.
“Riya, I agree we’ve never really had a bond. So, how about we have spend time together and start forming that bond. Prachi can join us too. It can be our cousins’ time,” Aryan suggests, thinking of a way to distract both his sisters.
“You’re right and it can work as a great distraction for both Prachi and me. Let’s go and get Prachi,” Riya replies.
Both Aryan and Riya walk off to go and get Prachi so they can spend some quality bonding time together.
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Prachi is in her room, trying to remain strong. Her mother was already shattered, recalling the first person who ever truly loved in her in her in-laws. Her sister was probably experiencing more pain than she could ever imagine, the person who loved her most since childhood had completely forgotten about her. She couldn’t be weak, for her sister, for her mother. She couldn’t let her tears get the better of her but only she knew how much it hurt, that her father, the one whom she only recently reunited with had already forgotten her. Sure, she knew he wasn’t at fault but it still hurt.
Ranbir on the other hand was also devastated that his chief had forgotten him and all his daughters. He glanced Prachi and saw her trying to control her tears. His heart ached seeing her in this condition but he knew that crying would help in this situation; bottling up your emotions is never the right thing to do.
Ranbir embraces Prachi in a hug, to provide her some comfort. Prachi looks at Ranbir gratefully.
“Thank you, Ranbir,” Prachi whispers.
“For what?” Ranbir asks.
“For understanding me so well; most people would probably tell me to not cry. Also, you’ve stood by me through thick and thin. I know you’ll always be there for me and I know you’ll never break my trust,” Prachi looks at Ranbir and smiles out of gratitude.
Ranbir too smiles slightly but then on hearing Prachi’s words about trust he recalls the bet. He knows he has to reveal it to her at some point; he doesn’t want to keep any secrets from her. However, he was unsure whether or not this was the right time to do so. Prachi was already broken and he didn’t want her to hurt her more at this time.
Prachi managed to notice Ranbir’s worry.
“What happened Ranbir? You seem worried about something,” Prachi asks, tensed that maybe she had something wrong.
Ranbir decides it’s the right time; Prachi would feel more hurt if she learnt about it from someone else.
“Prachi, I love you,” Ranbir says.
“I already know that,” Prachi replies with a soft smile.
“But I need to confess something else today and before you say anything please hear me out completely,” Ranbir replies, tensed.
Prachi looks at Ranbir, perplexed.
“Before I realised my love for you, I thought I loved someone else. I proposed to that someone, Riya and she put a condition in front of me. She told me if I wanted her to accept my proposal, I would have to break someone’s heart, your heart. I accepted without thinking much about it. I thought you wouldn’t feel hurt, you hated me and I hated you. Well, at least we thought that was the case. Slowly I began realising my love for you and I fully realised right before our marriage. I’m sorry about the bet Prachi but I truly do love you,” Ranbir says, looking at Prachi with hope and worry.
Prachi, who was shocked about the deal at first soon understood that Ranbir was not lying. He truly did love her.
“Have you told Riya yet?”
“No, I was planning to reveal it to her after we got free from the goons but then we got married and the past few days have been packed; our post marriage rituals, you having nightmares, being surrounded by bodyguards and chief’s accident,” Ranbir says.
“You should tell her soon.”
“No need, I already know everything and I am glad that my beloved Di and Jiju have no secrets between them anymore,” says Riya, who was listening to their conversation from when Ranbir mentioned the bet. She was also accompanied by Aryan who was furious at first but calmed down after Ranbir finished explaining.
“Riya, Aryan, what brings you guys here?” asks Prachi.
“Actually Prachi we were planning to spend some quality bonding time together. Just you, Riya and me,” Aryan explains.
“Oh okay! I’ll meet guys downstairs, after I go and get ready,” Prachi replies.
Aryan and Riya leave, waiting for Prachi to come downstairs.
Prachi is about go and get ready when Ranbir stops her by holding her hand. Prachi turns around to look at Ranbir.
“Prachi, do you forgive me?” Ranbir asks, tears brimming his eyes.
Prachi smiles and says, “yes I do, Baklu.”
“Thank you so much Prachi! I promise I’ll never break your trust or hurt you,” Ranbir smiles gratefully.
“I know you won’t.”
“Also before you go, I’m going to make sure that one of the bodyguards are with you. Chief and Pragya Maa wanted us to be surrounded by bodyguards and there’s no way I’m letting you anywhere without me or a bodyguard. Especially after what what happened to chief,” Ranbir says, in a tone that brook no arguments.
Prachi sighs and replies, “Riya’s bodyguard will be with us.”
Prachi gets ready and leaves.
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Two men are shown sneaking around the Mehra-Kohli Mansion, their faces were covered by masks. One man signs the other one to remain quiet and go around the other way. The other man looks at him confused. The other man whispers, a little too loudly for the man’s liking, “Bhai, what are you trying to say?”
The mumbles his instructions however the other man is unable to understand a single word. “Bhai, could you please repeat that?”
Exasperated, the man says, in a fairly loud voice, “go around the other way and make sure no-one else is here, got that?”
“Bhai, keep quiet. Someone could hear you!” The other man rebukes.
“Oh just shut up Bittu,” the man snaps.
“You just need to make it outside of Riya’s room and make sure no can hear my offer for her. I need her help to get my Prachi and I also need to figure out why she betrayed me.” Sanju and Bittu go opposite ways as they both agreed it would be safer that way and if one of them did get caught they could rely on the other for help.
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Riya had come back to her room to go and get the gifts she had bought for her sister over the years. She had yearned for elder twin to back with her ever since the day she found out about her. Of course for a couple of minutes she had thought that her mother abandoned her to be with her elder twin but then she realised they were both only babies, her mother probably took her with her because she was forced to. Otherwise why would she care for only one baby? Her mother was selfish, according to her aunt and she would believe her aunt even in a life or death situation. Since then, every year, Riya would go out the shops and buy two extra gifts of her own choice; one for herself and the other one for the twin she had never met. She always bought things that could never be small or grown out of. For some reason, she wanted her twin to be the opposite of her; it would be more fun having arguments then.
Riya went in and looked at one of her previous diary entries. She read over it; it was the first time Alia told her that her mother had abandoned her for a better, more lavish life.
It read:
Dear Diary,
Today Buji told me the worst thing ever. My mother abandoned me for money! Out of all the possible things she could abandon me for, it had to be money. I can’t help but wonder why she took my twin along with her but not me?
Apparently, I wasn’t good enough. I’ll never forgive her for leaving me behind. Despite being surrounded by everyone who pampers me and loves me more than anything, no one can understand me like a mother would. I envy even Aryan. Even though his mother gives me more attention than him, at least has one near him. My mother didn’t even think once before leaving me, my father and separating me from my sister. I hate her for everything she’s done to me and will never accept her. I don’t even want to see her face again.
I sometimes wish that I was an orphan at least that way I wouldn’t have a mother that probably hates my guts.
Until another day,
Riya.
Tears brimmed Riya’s eyes as she reads over the letter. She couldn’t have been more further from the truth. She was ecstatic to have a mother like Pragya. Her mother was amazing and she knew she wouldn’t be able to bear her father forgetting her, if it weren’t for her mother. Her mother was undoubtedly, the polar opposite of Riya had thought. As soon as she found out the truth, her anger and hatred had vanished and was replaced with excitement. She had always wanted a mother like Prachi’s and she got one.
Riya was bought out her thoughts by a deafening bang. She looked around her room and rage arouse through her on seeing the man in front of her. The man smiled, tentatively, only causing Riya’s anger to rise.
“How dare you enter my room Sanju?!” Riya shrieks.
“Riya, please calm down! I have a proposal for you,” Sanju replies, anxiously looking at the door.
Riya notices Sanju’s worry and says, “Sanju, unfortunately, my room is soundproof. No one heard my scream or you entering my room for those reasons but I will make sure they do.”
Riya walks towards her rooms door and slightly opens it, “Aditya! I have an unwanted visitor, please kick him out of my house and make sure he never comes back again.”
Aditya rushes in, hoping to impress Riya but he mouth falls agape when he sees Sanju standing in front of him. Riya looks at Aditya perplexed.
“Do you already know him Aditya?” Riya questions.
“Ah, yes. Our parents know each other and so we know each other too!” Aditya makes up a story.
“Look, I don’t care whether or not you know this criminal you need to kick him out of the house or else I’ll fire you.” Riya sternly says.
“Riya, wait! I know you love Ranbir and I you know that I love Prachi. Don’t you think it would be better if we separated them? We would both get the one we love. I know Prachi’s your sister but I promise I’ll keep her happy!” Sanju hastily says, in a desperate attempt to convince Riya.
Riya thinks about Sanju’s words. “Fine but if I find out you are making my sister cry, I won’t hesitate in murdering you.”
Sanju starts explaining a plan to Riya.
“Okay, we’ll execute it now. Prachi, Aryan and I are getting together to spend some time together. Also Aditya, don’t you dare tell this to anyone, I’ll pay you $10K for this,” Riya glares at Aditya.
“No need for money, I won’t do anything,” Aditya raises his hands in the air. Except for making sure this Ranbir doesn’t cause problem in our love life, Riya and I think your sister will be very helpful in making that happen.
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(4000+ words) Phew! This is the longest update I’ve ever written, that too after a really long time.
Hope you guys enjoyed it! Apologies for the delay.
So, what’s actually going on in Riya’s mind? (This should be fairly predictable, I think)
Why isn’t Aryan willing to think about his mother?
Precap – Romance of all couples, Some bonding time and a surprise!
I’m planning on ending this story after 4 parts.
Please leave your honest reviews!
Until Next Time
~ Riya Sharma