If all Chauhan men were stubborn, these Chauhan women were no less.
Their need for perfection would one day make Shreya run for the hills, but until the day didn't arrive, she had to nod and follow whatever was expected of her.
"...the caterer has been contacted and we have pushed the appointment to a later date, Ma'am." Dhwani's assistant looked sleep-deprived, hungry, and exhausted to the level of collapsing but the poor soul kept her lips shut for any complaints, hands scribbling on the notepad, and her head nodding.
It could fall off her neck anytime now.
"Poor soul." Shreya pitied her.
24 hours back, what she was once putting together was now being dismantled. She and Dhwani had put so much effort into waving this event together but now, the chances of it taking place in another week were bleak.
"What about the mails, Shreya?" Rashi Chauhan's obsidian eyes were razor sharp as they demanded her to answer as expected.
"All sent, Mom." She quipped glancing at the AI tool loading at 97% as it auto-sent 500 emails to their guests. Business partners, investors, board of directors, politicians, movie stars, and rival businessmen were invited to the birthday party of Anirudh Chauhan, a cover for the announcement of the next Chairman of Chauhan incorporations. While it was crystal clear to the business world who held the reigns of this multi-national conglomerate, a formal event was a necessity for these rich moguls.
Shreya would have been so happy to hear the same from an email. But, you often don't get what you wished for.
100% - Task completed.
She breathed a sigh of relief and glanced around the gala hall in the global center, it was getting torn off the decorations like a new bride shedding her accessories.
Luckily, no transitional makeup was included here, which brought out the reality and traumatized any groom.
"Dhwani took so much effort in pulling this off." Rashi Chauhan recollected with a pensive smile, the mask of indifference shed and Shreya saw a glimmer of worry in the composed façade this enigmatic woman maintained for the world.
She crossed the distance between them.
"She did and she will do this all again." Shreya placed her head against her shoulder from behind, smiling for her soon to be mother-in-law. "This was her proud day. She took extra efforts to plan the smallest detail for her husband."
"It was supposed to be a special day for my children." Did she hear her voice cracking?
"Mom" Shreya walked and faced her, holding her palms and squeezing them in comfort. "She is doing well. Rakshit informed us, remember? She is out of danger and will be awake in a few hours. Luckily, her concussions aren't sticky. Don't worry, she is a fighter. Did you hear how she saved all the kids? She is no less than a superwoman."
"She is." Rashi smiled blinking her worry back "My Anirudh got his match in her. While he stands firm, she is a shield who could protect all."
How does she wish to record this statement and send this to Dhwani? Shreya pursed her lips in awe.
Rashi Chauhan was praising her eldest daughter-in-law with so much admiration. It was a history in the making.
Shreya hummed with a popping grin, "You know, Anirudh bhaiya is stuck to his wife like a glue. He refused to leave her side until she came back home. I didn't know he could take the cake for being the most adamant Chauhan brother."
Rashi snickered at the comment. "He is my first born. So, ideally, he is used to boss his way around."
"I thought Rakshit was a brat." Shreya slipped but her eyes widened almost immediately as Rashi Chauhan raised a daring brow. "I...I didn't mean a 'brat' brat. I was saying he was, you know, very..."
"Oh my, poor child." Rashi laughed at her comical expressions and Shreya pouted feeling embarrassed. "He is a brat. But he and Vidyut always got inspired and tricked by Anirudh's actions. He was the prankster in the house. Harsh and Papa always had his back spoiling him. He used to plan and get Rakshit to do his dirty work. So, when we used to get complaints from his victims, it was always Rakshit who got the blame and no one would know the mastermind was Anirudh. He may look calm but he has an ocean's worth of things hidden inside him. He was the biggest mischief maker in the house until Rakshit filled up his empty space. My Rakshit is the youngest so takes his fair share of dramatics but it was always who got him into trouble. Vidyut was the calmness between these two hurricanes. He never took part into Anirudh's plots and would silently stand behind me and witness his brothers get scolded. My sweet son, he would come to me and tell me how situations influenced them to target someone or why they reacted how they did. He always tried to get them two out of punishments, never explicitly outing his brothers."
Shreya smiled at the childhood stories as Rashi had this faraway look in her eyes as if living her kid's childhood again.
"You know, after three sons, Harsh still wanted a girl but I never gave in to his charms. I was content having my boys and being the only woman who they cherished for so long."
"Guess why they are all Mumma's boys," Shreya commented good-naturedly earning another smile from Rashi. "Anyone can say they were raised well. The way they treat us is proof enough."
"I never knew I would see my boys starting their families so early. Giving me daughters, I never knew having would be a blessing." Rashi cupped Shreya's face and took a leisure sweep. "They sure did choose the best life partners for themselves. Lucky brats."
Shreya snickered. "Don't know about them, but I sure got lucky not getting a vamp mother-in-law. But, it would have just been a little more interesting if you were one."
Rashi gaped.
"Rakshit has been rubbing off on me." She flushed giggling. "I have come to love dramas these days."
Her soon-to-be mother-in-law rolled her eyes with an unconcealed grin. "There was a time I believed he would opt to act his career."
"You too?"
Rashi hummed chuckling. "The whole family did."
"What is making you two ladies laugh so much?"
They turned to witness Rakshit leaning against the pillar watching them with a mused frown. He looked fresh yet the eyebags were clear as daylight. He had spent the night with Anirudh in the hospital while his parents had returned once the doctor confirmed Dhwani was out of danger.
While he held the fort supporting his brother, Shreya was seen taking over the cancellation of the event.
"Think of the devil..."
"...and, the devil is here."
Rashi completed her whisper and shared a knowing smile with her.
"What were you talking about?" He asked placing a kiss on his mother's head and hugging her from behind.
"Don't cling to me, Rakshit. You are no child." Rashi faked a glare.
Rakshit pouted but never detangled from his source of strength. His eyes met Shreya's. "Were you convincing my mom to adopt you?"
"No!" She snorted. "Rather it was the other way around."
"Yes," Rashi continued. "She was telling me the benefits of disowning you. And, I am nearly convinced. I was thinking of contacting my lawyer before you interrupted us."
"Mom." Rakshit gasped scandalized.
This wasn't the Rashi she had known, the woman who stood tall like an untouchable empress now shared played along with her.
"You women are heartless," Rakshit whined.
"Am I?" Rashi dared him "If yes, leave me. Why are you still clung to me like a koala?"
"Before it was a chipmunk and now koala, why do you people keep comparing me to animals?"
"You may have missed a frog in the list." Shreya giggled at his face while Rashi laughed at her son's misery.
"I will make you pay for this, Shreya soon-to-be Rakshit Chauhan." His mismatched grey eyes took hold of hers, refusing to let her look elsewhere as he crossed the distance between them. "I have a long list of retributions and I will be punishing you for each one of them."
This man and his beautiful, so much beautiful, eyes had the power to bring any woman to her knees and she was the only one he would go on his knees for.
Just how lucky she could be.
Shreya would have swooned and jumped in this man's arms if they didn't have an audience.
"I'm not afraid of you, Mr. soon-to-be Shreya Thapar." She played along and that lopsided grin on his face with admiration in his eyes always, always, made her heart forget beating.
"You shouldn't." He blushed and looked away at her declaration of him.
"Are you blushing?" She cooed silently, checking Rashi who was now listening to Dhwani's assistant.
He bit his cheeks and cooled his flaming cheeks. "No. You are imagining things."
"Once a liar, always a liar." She sang and teased him.
Turning she watched the decorations carried to the places they were to be stored or shipped away. The place now looked barren yet the modern architecture stood out, the glasses letting the sunrays play a peek-a-boo.
She smiled as a hand wrapped around her shoulder and her head placed in the crook on her neck. She tilted her head to give him a little more space. Her fingers moved to his hair and she heard him sigh.
"Tired?" She whispered in his ears and he hummed against her. "Let's go home. I will drive and you can sleep in."
"Bhabhi is still not up." He whispered gently in her ears.
Shreya smiled at his words. She knew what she meant to him and to what extent. She had seen Rakshit weep like a child for her, devastated when he had hurt her. The man who couldn't stand her hurt had witnessed her battered today. If not more than Anirudh, Rakshit was equally beaten by the fire and her lack of whereabouts.
"She is fine." She pushed his head gently and cupped his cheeks. "Do you want to go see her once before we go to my place so you can rest?"
A nod from him and she was ready to chaperon him anywhere he wanted.
Hand-in-hand, they exited the global center and drove inside the hospital building from the back entrance as the front was crowded by media houses who got the whiff of the fire and the escape of kids that took place the night before.
The rumors about the lack of management and irresponsibility of Dhwani had started surrounding them. Although the official statement on the fire incident was released, the social security agencies started making calls to Chauhan corporation demanding a detailed report. Their argument on children's safety and improper living conditions of the building that led to the short circuit had been nothing if not valid.
The guards stationed near the entrance checked their identity before the meta gates were opened.
"None but family is allowed from this entrance," Rakshit informed as she nodded wordlessly and parked at the designated spots. "There is so much left in the dark from the night back. More so when the autopsy reports will come to us. There were three dead bodies, Shreya."
"Wasn't fire the cause of their death?"
"There are no witnesses." Rakshit shook his head. "No proper explanation but that they were murders. Cold-blooded murder. Whoever it was had left the bodies to burn. There is missing paperwork which we made the case so much stronger than we would like to admit."
She knew this much. Her resources were active and already bringing her bits and pieces of puzzles that she couldn't wait to rearrange.
There were mistakes, but there was so much more.
The only grace, for which the children were not taken under the other NGO regulation board and an external inquiry was not called, was because it was Dhwani, who had saved the kids uncaring about her life. Everyone knew she was hospitalized after being injured in the process of saving the residents of the orphanage.
However, her heroism may not save her from the blood hounds ready to tear apart the social image Chauhans carried.
It would be a war, one that Shreya planned to fight beside Dhwani. She was already formulating plans to tackle the media houses and shut up with fact-checkers and lawsuits with quantifiable proofs that could shut them up, fuck them up.
She was waiting for Dhwani to wake up. And, once she does, there would be no way out for the culprits.
"Let go in." Shreya reminded Rakshit who sat lost in his own thinking spree.
They stepped out and started walking towards the sliding gates when a shout for Rakshit halted them.
"Sir, here!"
It was Dishant who stood fighting the guards to enter. Rakshit bit his lower lip thinking, she knew that look.
"Wait for me inside." He murmured and ushered her inside.
Rakshit walked towards an aggravated Dishant who stood behind the metal bars acting like a man peaking at his world through the jail cells. He didn't ask the guards to open the door but said something that had Dishant look at him with shock and betrayal. He sneered at the ground and stomped to Anirudh's black sedan that he often drove.
Handing over a black folder, Dishant nodded like a scolded kid to whatever Rakshit said and walked back.
Shreya hid behind the wall and stood tapping her foot as Rakshit made his way back to her.
Their eyes met and he rolled his eyes as if he knew her antics.
"What?" She cribbed being at the receiving end of his sigh.
"Don't act. Curiosity killed the cat, remember?" His raise of brow had her grin in embarrassment.
"So?" She shrugged unbothered. "I wasn't watching someone else but you."
"Spying is the more fitted word." He dragged her to the elevator and stabbed the button.
"Now that you know. At least tell me what happened. Why did you not let him in?"
"I don't trust him." He confided.
"Why?"
The elevator doors parted and Rakshit shot her smile that would falter within a second that he was going to see Dhwani again. "I don't know."
She squeezed his hand and let him draw any amount of strength he required.
"Room number 509" He informed her while they passed other wards, stopping infront of the room number.
He knocked once and slowly opened the door, afraid he would disturb his best friend.
Dhwani had acted, lived, and stayed his best friend for close to 3 years now and Shreya had no qualms about sabotaging them. She had first-hand witnessed the woman she was. How much of a woman she was!
"She isn't here."
They turned towards the voice, a nurse stood behind carrying what they could guess were medicines.
"Is she up?" He was hopeful but dreaded the question.
She wondered why.
She nodded. "Some minutes back."
"My brother. Was he there with her?" Rakshit's eyes widened as if he saw a dead-man walking.
"Her husband?" The nurse frowned.
"Oh, I think he was on a call and..."
"Rakshit."
The duo spun to face a disheveled Anirudh who looked exhausted. His shirt was ruffled, hair tousled all over, and purple eye bags below his eyes.
"I told you to rest." He chided him cluelessly, if he took in the panic on Rakshit's face he didn't pay enough mind to it. Shreya could understand why.
"Where were you and where is she?" He snapped taking a dangerous step toward Anirudh.
As if a lightening electrocuted him, Anirudh rushed towards the said forbidden room and threw the door open to find the bed empty, the IV strip yanked out and leaking. "W...where is she?"
The nurse who looked confident once shuffled on her feet.
"Where is my wife?"
Shreya flinched at the thunderous rumble.
"We...umm, She asked about the child so we...we informed her about the baby and she demanded to be taken to her baby."
"What the..."
Nurse shuddered. "Other...nurse took her to the eleventh floor, to the doctor."
"What baby?" She faced him but Rakshit looked paled, as Anirudh dashed the elevator. Shreya touched Rakshit's arm to shake him out. "Rakshit, what is she talking about? Who has a baby? Bhabhi?"
"Come with me." He made a similar mad-dash towards the elevator but not leaving her behind. His fingers clutched her as he dragged her for the second time while she gaped at the sudden change in his mood. This was the same man who looked tired an hour back but now was fueled with something she couldn't point out.
"Can you tell me something?" She kept nudging him while they rushed towards the elevator and nowhere seemed ready to help them.
"I am taking the stairs" Anirudh's words reached them after he was out of their sight.
Shreya was naturally curious, the faster the information, the faster she would feast on it. She watched him punching the button and feared that it would be damaged before they would reach the 11th floor.
"Shreya?" Rakshit somehow remembered her presence in the rampage these brothers aimed to make. "We are taking the stairs."
Before she could process, she was dragged. Again.
Curiosity did kill the cat.
â â â â
"...Di...di, we...need to go out...please, wake up."
"No! Please...I'm with a child...I want to bring it to this world...let me go...don't kill me...NO!"
"How...why are you here? At this time of the night...oh my god, you are badly injured..."
"Please...help us...hospital."
"Nurse...Doctor...they are bleeding...someone help me."
"There is a stab wound...we need to induce her...to sleep...give her anesthesia..."
"The high blood pressure...acting the derivative...blood loss. We tried giving her medicines but... she wouldn't take... Please come around and...you will be able to see..."
"Hey, it's me...I am here, nothing will come to you...I am here."
"We...we need to take her..."
"...Careful with her... She shouldn't feel any pain."
"...The CT scan say...we need to...increase the dose...call doctor..."
"I need...meet her...I am her...husband."
"Open your eyes, Petal...It's been a while I have seen them..."
"How is she...doctor?"
"She can be up...anytime."
"...my daughter...are you sure...there are no other complications..."
"A baby girl...open your eyes...Dhwani."
"The woman...said...a man...stabbed her..."
There were so many voices, a plethora of different tones in her head that created an anomaly of nightmare. There were so many of them at one time that she had to clutch something to gain a restrain. The words were never clear in her mind while she could keep trying to get hold of them.
Hold something to stop this free fall. She could hear, but not listen.
She felt her eyes, but could not see.
Not touch. Not feel. Worst, not speak.
She had so much to speak.
A groan escaped past her as her fingers moved, thousands of needles pricking her skin. She could feel pin pricks all over her head.
"Ma'am...hear me?" A voice made her conscious enough. A little push and she could get hold of something.
Someone.
Anyone.
"Ani..." Anirudh. She may have imagined taking his name or might have called him to help her again. She tried again. "W...water."
"Here, can...you open your eyes?" A gentle voice motivated her and she grunted in pain, unable to think if ever the protesting noise from the back of her throat made up to the woman's ears.
"Yes, dear child. Open your eyes."
Dhwani blinked at the command, the blinding light making her wince at once.
No, not phosphenes. She felt as if someone was flashing the sun right in her face.
"I know you are in pain but do it for your family. I know you can do it."
The voice was so soft yet it never lulled her to sleep, it was like an alarm telling her to rise.
"You shouldn't...have come here."
"No, please"
"I didn't want...whatever you do...a child will die today."
"Di...di...please...No!"
The shriek was so fresh, so hurting that it did the job. Her eyes flew open and she faced the blinding lights. They were nowhere like the fire but they did hurt her more.
She was burning, but it wasn't the fire.
It was pain but not from a wound. It was a betrayal.
Taking a rasping breath, Dhwani blinked heaving as a sheen layer of moisture coated, tears leaking past her eyelids as her brain registered the day.
The night was over, but the demons still hovered over her.
"No, dear. Don't cry."
She turned towards the warm voice, soothing what she didn't know was broken inside Dhwani. A hand gently wiped her tears as more followed.
"Hey, you are safe. Your family found you. You and that little soul are safe."
Her bed was inclined and two arms wrapped around her, comforting her as a plastic straw was placed on her lips.
"Drink some water, dear."
She greedily took sips to wash the rough sand sitting like a block in her throat. She sucked into the last drop and the nurse refilled the small paper cup for her, patting her hair as she made her drink water to her heart's content.
"Now, Now. Do you want to tell me if anything hurts?" The middle-aged lady caressed her forehead which now felt tight and wrapped.
Everything hurt, but more than these external injuries, it was her mind screamed in pain.
How long has she been out? Was she even able to her little kids? Did anyone come to save them?
Did anyone even try to?
"My...kid...they...are they...my...kid..." She could only wish that the nurse was able to understand her.
"The child is fine." She smiled brightly "The little girl is doing much better. Premature but a warrior. Unfortunately, the doctors couldn't save the mother, but the baby is safe."
"Mo...mother?" Manna?
The water turned into bile and threatened to jump out of her.
The beeping from the machines resonated louder than any of the mumbling Dhwani could manage.
"You can calm down. She is okay."
"Where...is she?"
She smiled with empathy.
"She has fragile lungs which is a reason for concern but don't worry. The doctors are keeping her monitored in the NICU. She is incubated. Healthy."
"I need to...see her." Dhwani knew she was audible but the nurse's panicked eyes made it crystal.
"No, no." She shook her head. "You are still recovering. You cannot."
Manna was dead and her child was somewhere alone.
"Will you protect my child?"
"I will. Always."
It was a promise she had made to her the day she took her in. She was supposed to protect both of them. A sudden rush shot to her and she was ready to lunge out of the bed.
"What are you doing?" The nurse shrieked in surprise.
"Take...me there. I want to see her. Now." Snatching the IV, Dhwani dared the nurse to deny her request.
Soon the nurse bobbed her head and ran out of the room as if her uniform was on fire. Another one brought in a wheelchair and rolled Dhwani towards the elevator and up.
She didn't care about the nearly empty corridors if not for some staff. The nurse stopped infront of a mirror wall that was blocked from the other side, thick curtains hiding whatever lay behind them.
"Why did we stop?" Dhwani gritted to not break, she had willed the words with everything in her. "I need to see the baby. Take me to her."
"Mrs. Chauhan" The nurse gulped gesturing towards the curtains. "The child is behind them. I will get the doctors and then you can see her."
She didn't answer or watch her leave. It was the wall that had her sole attention. Her heart squeezed painfully as her fingers touched the mirror.
A sob was muffled in her throat. Manna's baby was behind this.
The curtain parted and the room filled with all sorts of machinery took the most of the space. What made her almost fall off her seat was a tiny body trapped inside a glass box. Dhwani gasped for breath as her vision turned foggy. She blinked rapidly to clear her eyes and take in a glimpse of a few hours old child. She was so red, so tiny, and so beautiful.
She exhaled loudly, touching her trapped form. The glass seemed to dissolve for her as she could feel her heart being snatched out of her chest. She had lost her mother even before she knew who she was, where and how she was born.
Did Manna even get to see her before she died? Did she hear her cry? Feel her?
And it was all because she failed to identify the people around her.
"Petal."
Dhwani was far too deep in grief that she couldn't hear the voices outside. "I failed...her. I failed."
"Dhwani, oh god."
She couldn't breathe feeling the choke on her throat. She failed them. She snatched a parent from this girl. She was an orphan and it was because Dhwani couldn't keep her promise.
An orphan.
"Look...look at me. Breath, petal. Please."
Her cheeks were cupped and a panting Anirudh tore her eyes from her. He held her firmly and made her breath.
"I made her...an orphan." She was rasping.
"No. You didn't." He claimed making her look at him and she saw him for the first time in a week. "Do you hear me? You saved that child. She could have died with her mother but you saved them. You saved all of them."
"Kids...are they..."
"Yes." He asserted. "They are all safe. No one was harmed. And it is because of you."
Her kids were safe. He said they were.
The hold around her windpipe seemed to loose and she inhaled greedily.
"She will...Manna?"
"She fought till the end." He wiped the tears away from her face. "She fought for her child and see, she won."
"She died."
"Yes, it was inevitable, Petal." He brushed her hair away and crawled closer to her. "She wanted her child to live. See, she is breathing and alive."
A sob shivered out of her and she felt him gathering her in his arms. How she wished she could have seen through those people earlier.
"He...killed her, Anirudh." She confessed the horror of that night and felt him stiff under her hold.
"Who are you talking about?" His hold tightened around her.
He who she never thought was the wolf under a sheep's clothing.
"I know there was someone, Petal." He parted and watched her as she shuddered at the thought of that one name. "Who was there?"
She closed her eyes and let the fire play in her head again. A tear slipped down her face.
"Give me a name."
"Dishant."
Dhwani narrated the events of the night, letting the demons out of her soul. Telling the world of the monsters she had faced as the pain, guilt, and betrayal passed her eyes and choked her voice but she kept talking. Living the night all over again and shouting to the world what had stayed in her mind for these all hours.
She could feel the voices leave her as her own announced them. The words that once throttled her were now in the open, no longer capable of ruining her soul any more than they already had.
"...I thought he was someone I could request for help. I asked Vishal to call him, that he may hate me but he wouldn't take his hate towards the kids. He would come to help them, that he would reach you when I couldn't but when...when I saw him brutally stab Ishani, I lost my fight."
Shreya squeezed her shoulder, holding her as if she could vanish in thin air. She felt the silent tears rolling down her cheeks but never Shreya let them get to her.
"Before I could think, he attacked Manna. He stabbed her and hit my head. I don't remember a lot, only that when he was going to make sure that we wouldn't get up again, there was a blast and he ran away leaving us to burn alive."
Anirudh was quiet, he heard but never let a clinch of expression take over his face. He stood across from her, jaw clenched and eyes hooded. He wasn't the man whose eyes softened when they met hers. This time, the grey eyes revolted to challenge a storm.
"That fucker!" Rakshit hissed. "I would tear his limbs apart and feed him to rats."
"Manna dragged us both out." Dhwani continued pressuring her brain to make the bits and pieces clear. It was all fuzzy, in her and around her. "The last thing I remember was being taken to an alley. Rest I have no memories."
The beeps of the machine filled her silence, there were four occupants but none making a sound.
A soft knock on the door dissolved the silence and made her lean more into Shreya's embrace. How did she want to hide from this world?
"Come in," Anirudh answered curtly.
"It is time for your medicine, Mrs. Chauhan." The nurse jutted her chin to the tray, trying to smile amongst the thick tension.
"Shreya."
Shreya folded herself out of bed in once at Anirudh's unsaid command. His eyes jutted towards the door and she was quick to drag a fuming Rakshit out of her room.
If before it was silence, this was no less than a grave.
Compact, congested, and airtight.
"Take your medicines." Another of an order then made her close her eyes shut in fear. She had never heard this icy tone in his voice that was enough to extinguish the burning sun.
With burning eyes and forgotten words, she swallowed the drug that was presented to her. An injection to her IV and she was asked to settle down. Her bed was lowered down before she could opt for it, the nurse adjusted the comforter and left her to the effects of the pain meds in her system.
She again tried to find the softness she often saw in him for her, this time disappointed in her own wishes. She closed her eyes and let the tears kill themselves before she let more of them out. Her eyes burned and her eyelashes brushed against the swollen eye bags.
"Sleep, Dhwani."
She heard him whisper to her, another set of words that held no affection but only orders.
"You will not wake up to this same world again, I will make sure of it."
Updating early then I thought I would.
Do share your views and bring in lots of votes.
I would love to hear you all about this part.