When their car reached the bungalow, there was a mini pandemonium going on. The baby was crying at a top pitch, and everyone was running hither and tither, trying to pacify the baby or trying to find the cause of it.
Meghana and Shikha were looking scared and clueless. Murli and Shilpa were waiting for someone to tell them what to do.
Kaajal Maasi had gone back to the Haveli along with Veer's friends to get everyone's clothes and essentials.
The moment Chandni got off the car, she rushed to Meghu and took the baby in her arms.
"Looks like he is hungry. Babbu.. look at Maasi .. Are you hungry Beta?? Hmm? Please don't cry..." Chandni kissed him on the forehead.
Advay along with Nani and Niru Mama entered the room just then.
"Murli did you pick up any food for the baby when you brought him from the Orphanage?" She asked Murli straightaway.
"Nahi Bhabhi." Murli admitted, as his gaze turned sheepishly towards Advay.
Chandni looked furiously at Advay as his smiling face turned grim.
"Now don't you go blaming me for this too. I asked Murli to bring his bag or whatever there is with the baby, but looks like he forgot." Advay fumed.
Chandni looked away from him and thought of alternatives.
"Murli is there a ripe banana or some soft fruit in the house?" She was rocking the baby softly in her arms and the baby's cries quietened a bit.
"Haan Bhabhi I think there are some ripe bananas. There's some Sooji Halwa I made in the morning. I kept some leftovers for Bhayya."
"Get the ripe banana and mash it thoroughly. We can feed him that first. Halwa... yes we can feed him that too provided there's no Badam in it. He is allergic to Badam. But he needs his formula milk first. That lady at the orphanage told me what brand he drinks."
Advay came forward and took the baby from her arms.
"What are you doing ?" Chandni panicked.
But she need not have worried. The baby instantly took to Advay, touched his face with his sticky fingers, and started drooling all over him.
Advay kissed the baby softly, and started rocking him in his arms.
Murli bought the mashed banana by then and Chandni began to feed him little by little.
Meghana was looking gratefully at Advay and Chandni as godsend, and Shikha's eyes widened like saucers as if she was looking at a miracle.
"Advay I mean Jijaji, I can understand Jiji to be the mothering type, but how come you are so good with babies? What's your secret?" She asked eagerly.
Chandni too was looking curiously at Advay. He was looking so adorable holding the baby that she felt a deep tug in her heart. Would there be any time in future when he would be .... She stopped her thoughts right away, knowing know futile they were. He had made his intentions clear. He doesn't love her; he was just fulfilling his obligations to look after her, considering how the circumstances have changed.
"Shikha Beti, my second daughter Leela has a grandson... Aadi. He is 5 years old now, but when he was a baby, Advay used to feed him and look after him along with all of us. He is well experienced." Nani informed everyone with a happy smile. True, he always looked after Miku and Shikha too when they were young, Chandni recalled fondly.
Advay looked intensely at Chandni, who purposely moved her gaze away from him to concentrate on the baby, even though the deep blush in her cheeks gave her feelings away.
Nani and Niru Mama settled down in the living room, now that the atmosphere in the home had become peaceful again. Baby had stopped crying but was still whimpering. Chandni fed him a little bit of Halwa too. Baby seemed to love it which encouraged her to feed all of it.
"I am doing such a great job holding the baby. Don't I deserve a bit of that Halwa?" Advay asked Chandni innocently, and everyone laughed.
"Murli get an extra-large serving of Halwa to your Advay Bhayya." Chandni bit her lip and controlled her laugh, as Advay looked at her disappointedly. The Baby was looking sleepy, now that it has been fed.
Advay gave the baby back gently to Meghna who thanked him profusely.
"Didi, come with me and I will show you to your rooms, and you can put the baby to sleep too." Shilpa led Meghana and Shikha inside.
"Chandni let's go" Advay grabbed her hand and tried to lead her out.
"Where... Where are you taking me St... Stop!!" Chandni stammered as her heart thudded loudly.
"Don't make a scene. We will go to the medical store and get everything baby requires. Since you seem to know what is best for him, it is better you come along. None of us ate anything at the reception too. So Murli, why don't you go get some pizzas for everyone." Advay asked, still holding Chandni's hand.
"I will go and get the pizzas." Veer volunteered and Murli looked relieved.
"Advay no need for either of you to go anywhere so late in the night now. Didn't you hear what that ACP said? The Press will be all over our bungalow too, and would be looking out for both of you to take pictures etc. No need for all that drama.
Chandni beta, please make a list of all the things you can think of, that the baby needs. We can call the medical store and get it delivered, can't we? Or Murli can go and get some urgent supplies now and we can buy the rest of them tomorrow." Nani's clarified thoughts and plans put everyone at ease, and Chandni for once was so glad that she had an elderly and motherly figure to look up to, and take guidance from.
"Haan Bhabhi, I will get the formula milk from the medical store, it is in the same block as pizza shop anyway." Veer offered. Advay left Chandni's hand reluctantly and Chandni gave the Milk powder formula name and other details to Veer.
"Okay. Thanks a lot Veer for this. Please use my card." Advay handed over his credit card and Veer went to get the essentials.
Just then Kaajal Maasi along with Veer's friends arrived with suitcases full of clothes and essentials. Everyone helped to carry the cases to their respective rooms.
"Chandni beta why don't you go and freshen up, change into something simple, so we can all eat comfortably when the food arrives."
Chandni entered the bedroom hesitantly, but she was relieved to find it empty. She quickly picked up a light blue cotton saree and blouse and rushed to the wash room to freshen up. It was a relief to get out of the heavy reception Lehenga and the jewellery at last and change into her favourite saree. But when she came out, she found Advay in his pyjamas working seriously on his laptop at the desk. She stopped awkwardly, holding the heavy lehenga in her hands.
Advay was observing her from the corner of his eyes.
"You can hang it up the in the wardrobe." He pointed to her. When she finished doing that, he thought it was best to ease the tension around them and suggested hopefully.
"Why don't you write down a list of what all we require for the baby, so there is no confusion later. Use this notepad here on the desk." Advay pulled out another chair next to him, and Chandni was glad to be doing something at last, and began to prepare a list.
As she looked at the complete list, she tried to calculate how much all this would cost. And she knew this was just the beginning. How could they afford to do all this in the long run? And Meghu had no idea on how to look after the baby. She could be very emotional too, and was prone to make rash decisions. What if this became too much for her later? Helplessness and anguish rose inside her at the situation they are in, and she couldn't but blame the man sitting next to her who was responsible for all this.
Advay stole glances at her while working on the laptop. What happened again? She looked suddenly so desolate, and was avoiding looking at him. Was this about the baby? How could he get through to her? His frustration and temper, which were dormant all along, erupted again.
He turned sideways to face her.
"OK. Out with it. Don't keep all those feelings bottled up inside you. You still don't believe me when I say that, the purpose of bringing the baby from the orphanage was not to insult any of you sisters." Advay tried to keep his voice steady as the anguish took over his anger. Why couldn't Chandni believe what he did was for everyone's best, when the rest of the family believed him.
Chandni shivered hearing the anger in his voice. She slowly looked at him and was surprised to see anguish in the face instead of anger.
She slowly gathered courage to answer him.
"I...I understand why you brought the baby. I never thought Maa..." Her Maa's horrible words were still ringing in her ears, and she bit her lip to control the sob that escaped her, as tears rolled down her cheeks again.
"Chandni please don't cry." Advay bent over to her, but Chandni shrank away from him. He closed his eyes briefly, controlling his frustration and waited for her answer.
Chandni slowly wiped her tears away and spoke haltingly.
"It's not that. Whatever your reasons are, right now the baby is with Meghana, and sooner or later everyone will know it is her baby. Have you thought of how everyone will treat her being an unmarried mother? Do you think me and Niru Mama didn't know what we were doing, when we hid the baby away from her?" She demanded, her voice still trembling.
"Chandni how long were you planning to keep this fact hidden away from her?" Advay asked sternly. Chandni had no answer to give him, which made him even more furious.
"You are more ruthless and stone hearted than I thought. Don't you know what a sin it is to keep a baby away from its mother's love? How can you make such a major decision about Meghana's life without even consulting her? Who gave you that authority?" Advay spat at her.
"You have just turned the life upside down of an entire family in your pursuit of revenge. For you to question others actions and authority doesn't sound right." Chandni finally found her voice, and replied back firmly.
Advay was about to reply but Chandni stopped him with folded hands.
"Please...Please let me complete. I don't want to argue with you. I am tired... tired of arguing with everyone, tired of the whole thing. All my life, people have made decisions for me; I just went along with whatever they told me. First my Baba, and then Dev...He used to bully me all along." Advay didn't stop her, even though he realised she was speaking about him in third person. He could see that she was desperate to vent her feelings.
"And when ... when Dev... I mean when you left, my Maa made all the decisions for me, and I just followed them without a murmur, hoping that she will be happy and love me for it. Till you came barging back into my life. So I know how it feels, when someone makes all the decisions for you. Please don't think that I took this decision without considering all that. But whatever I did, I did purely out of love for Meghu, and concern for our family. Maa and Baba would have been devastated if they knew about the baby. Of course now the whole thing is out of my hands, as far as Maa and Baba are concerned.
But still...what if that Rahul is not interested in raising a baby? Meghana is still in college and she is so emotional. How can she study and look after the baby at the same time... and right now how can we afford..." Chandni stopped, feeling ashamed to reveal her insecurities to him.
"Chandni I told you, I will look after her and all of you. Please don't worry about that." Advay said softly.
"For how long?"
She looked straight into his eyes and Advay replied sincerely "As long as it takes Chandni!! Please trust me."
"You know very well that's not the solution." She replied sharply.
"Why do you say that? First tell me this; I want to know your opinion before I put it out to everyone else. I know I forced you into this marriage for my own selfish reasons, but now I see no way out for the time being. And I can also understand how much you hate me for exposing your family to the whole world like this. But my proposal is this. Till the case against Indrani is sorted, as well as the whole temple trust is setup, why don't we continue with our marriage? But let me make it clear, I will support you and your family even if you want to end our marriage after that period." Advay didn't know why his heart ached so much while he said those words. But he wanted to make sure Chandni had all the options open for her.
Chandni looked disbelievingly at him. Is this for real? He was talking about their marriage, the most holy and sanctimonious union of all as if it was a contract or a deal. She bent her head down, as fresh pool of tears threatened to spill out of her eyes.
Advay continued, oblivious to her state.
"Trust me, I will pretend to be your husband only in front of everyone; you can have your own life back once this is all done. That's why I want you to come with me to Mumbai. All of you can stay with us in our home, or if you want, you and your sisters can stay in a separate home. Shikha and Meghana can continue their studies, even you can look for a job as Sanskrit teacher somewhere, there is high demand for such jobs because there's very few qualified people. I will look after all your needs. And you don't have to pretend or be obliged to feel as my wife, if you are in Mumbai. No one will need to know about our history. You can lead an independent life, something I am sure you would want to, considering what you just told me. If you stay here, you have to pretend to be my wife since everyone knows you. The marriage part, we will just keep it to ourselves; we don't need to tell even our family." Advay finally paused, unable to understand why she turned so icily cold.
"Chandni! Please answer me." Advay looked confusedly at her.
"I have no interest to be your pretend wife or come to Mumbai. I won't leave Allahabad, and I am happy the way I am. I don't need your support either. I had offers to join as Sanskrit teacher in the school here before, but Maa never let me work, and after the kidnapping I had no capacity either. I will try to join now, and support my sisters and the baby through my earnings. We will take Niru Mama's help and somehow manage between ourselves." She replied with gritted teeth.
"Chandni you are taking this all wrongly." Advay implored.
Just then there was a loud shout from the living room.
"PIZZAS are here everyone!!!! Come on!!" Veer's happy voice boomed.
Nani called out "Chandni, Advay come here and eat quickly before the food turns cold."
Advay and Chandni had no choice but suspend their talks and walk back to the living room.
Veer was trying to cheer everyone up with his happy banter and Shikha was helping him too. Meghana still looked subdued, while Nani and Niru Mama were happily reminiscing old times and places in Allahabad. Kaajal Maasi was looking excitedly at the different varieties of vegetarian pizzas, as she served everyone along with Shilpa. Advay and Chandni remained grim, and it didn't take long for Nani to perceive the change in their mood.
"Niranjan ji your suspicion had come true. You leave these two alone for five minutes and they start fighting and become gloomy. What happened now Advay? What did you say to Chandni that she is upset all over again?" Nani demanded.
"Nani why do you presume that I am the one who upset her?" Advay asked furiously.
"Because I know you very well and you are prone to think that everyone has the same mindset as you. You may be a brilliant businessman and scholar, but you have no clue how to talk to women." Nani chuckled and everyone laughed, making Advay even more mad.
"Chandni come here and sit next to me" Niru Mama asked affectionately, and Chandni went and sat between the two elders. Kaajal Maasi finished her pizza too, and came and sat next to Niru Mama looking concernedly at Chandni.
"Banno, Me and Maaji were just discussing this and I am assuming Advay had spoken to you too. Are you upset that Advay had asked you to come to Mumbai?" He patted her head softly.
Chandni wanted to shout at the top of her voice that Advay doesn't love her, and treats her just as an obligatory wife, but she kept her frustrations inside.
She nodded her head silently and even though Nani couldn't see her reaction, she could understand.
"Chandni Beti, please forgive my grandson. He has no Idea what he is talking about. He is desperate to go back to Mumbai, because his whole company is screaming for him and his leadership for the past few months, while he was busy here. But you don't have to move to Mumbai. I will stay here with you all till things settle down. You can make up your mind on this slowly later. Can you do that Beti?" Nani asked her softly, and Chandni felt immense relief hearing her kind words.
Nani opened her arms to embrace her, and Chandni crept on to the floor and rested her head in her loving lap, and let out the tears she was holding back till then.
"NaniJi I am so glad you have decided to stay back here with us. Chandni had always craved for motherly love, and I am sure she will get it from you. She may not think of me too much right now, but I am here to help her too." Kaajal Maasi choked and Niru Mama patted on her sister's head consolingly.
"Pagli, don't keep such silly thoughts in your head. What's gone is behind us. We are all here to support the kids and the baby. Chandni loves you too." He consoled her sister.
"Can everyone leave so that me and Niranjanji can speak privately with Chandni?" Nani requested.
Veer and his gang took leave, promising to come back next day, and the rest of the household retired to their rooms, including Advay, who went away reluctantly.
"Chandni I know that you are upset not just because of the move to Mumbai. There's something else isn't it? Please tell me Beti." Nani implored.
Chandni couldn't possibly betray Advay's words to her, asking her to keep their marriage pact secret between them, but she couldn't control the anguish in her heart either. She had been through much pain already, and she didn't know if she could handle anymore all by herself. She could at least express her fears and insecurities to them.
"Nani, after all that happened, I realised what mistakes I made by trusting people blindly. I don't want to repeat that. I want to be independent financially, and even otherwise. You know under what circumstances Advay married me. I don't want to be a burden on him as a wife, or make him feel obliged to look after all of us..."She paused, unable to continue.
"Banno, why do you think he fought so many goons and stopped your marriage with that sleaze PP? He might have married you by force, but he had to do that, to wrench you away from your Maa's clutches. Everything he did was because he cared for you. Why don't you realise that?" Niru Mama implored.
"Chandni, your Mama is right and I will say even more. I can understand what you are telling me, and I can make a shrewd guess what you are hiding from me too. Just give yourself some time Beti. My grandson is a fool when it comes to matters of heart. He doesn't know it, but he is head over heels in love with you. Trust me on this. He might say hundred things to you, but all he wants is for you to stay with him, no matter what. That's all." Nani said smilingly.
"Stay here in Allahabad, and do everything you said you wanted. Look for a job and help your sisters. But don't hurt yourself or my grandson, thinking there's no love between you two. Do everything you can to keep this bond intact. Can you promise me to do that?" Nani cupped Chandni's face, and Chandni didn't know what to say. Was there hope still? Will her Dev ever love her back? But may be she could give it a try, just as Nani suggested. She nodded her head slowly.
"Yes Nani, I promise." She replied.
"Thank you Beta. Now go to bed. It's been a very long and painful day for all of us." Nani patted her head, and Chandni walked back slowly to their bedroom.
Once Chandni was out of earshot, Niru Mama sighed deeply.
"These two are utter fools if they think they don't love each other. You could see clearly how they are desperate for each other." Niru Mama couldn't contain his exasperation.
"Yes Nirnjan ji. Right now both of them are blind to each other's feelings, because they are struggling with their own turmoils. It's our job as elders to see to it that they pass through these tough times, and prod them to get close to each other. What do you say?" Nani smiled.
"I am totally with you on this Maaji. They looked so adorable, holding Meghu's baby together just then. It is our job to see that they have at least two such babies in the next few years." Niru Mama chuckled.
^---------------------^
Hello everyone.
This chapter deals with the aftermath of the revelation. There are lot of new things, responsibilities to come to terms with and Advay for one has no clue how to deal with this new mature Chandni who sees things quite differently than him.
Both of them say the exact wrong things to start with and then end up arguing with each other. They are blind to their inner feelings and are wrongly assuming that the other person is not willing to love them back. But with Nani and Niru Mama's help who knows what happens.
What do you think of the way story is going so far?
Please let me know with your feedback and comments and please dont hesitate to share if you have any critical thing to say either. I value and respect all feedback.
Love
Sesi