Part 31 (PRESENT TIME)
Priya awoke with a jolt, “Pihu” she screamed into the darkness and opened her eyes only to be
greeted by emptiness, the bittertruth theme of her existence. She sat up in bed
and gasped for air, her lungs were extra greedy, refusing to be satisfied with
her intake. Breathing heavily she yanked the duvet off her body, which was
completely drenched in sweat. She grabbed her phone from the nightable and
clicked it on to check the time. Her vision blurred as tears blocked her sight
and fell upon her phone that read proudly, “2:42am”… Wiping her tears she stared into the darkness immune to any fear
associated with it, she whispered, “Happy Birthday Pihu”… It was almost as if her phone was waiting for her to finish her
sentence before it buzzed politely interrupting her train of thought. The
number of missed calls and messages that she had received from Angel alarmed
her. She thought, “He must be missing her
too.” Browsing through her messages, she opened each one that he had
sent her…
Angel: [first message] “Hey! Why aren’t you answering any of my phone calls? I am going to call again,
please answer…” [Second message] “Still no answer!! C’mon Priya. I know it’s late but I really need you right now.” [Third message] Are you mad at me Priya? Why have you been
dodging my calls? I tried calling many times yesterday and I won’t stop until you talk to me.” [Fourth message] “Okay, so you’re not going to answer?
That’s okay… I will just keep trying…Good luck trying to catch any sleep tonight dear.” [Fifth message] Fine, don’t answer my phonecalls
but atleast text me about how your day was? [Sixth message] I missed you a lot…Waise I miss you everyday but today I miss you so much… Priya why are you ignoring me? Acha I am sorry for whatever it is
that I have done to piss you off. Now please receive my call… Today is her birthday Priya… I need to talk to you; I
have to clear the guilt from my conscience. Please answer; I need you to
comfort me… We both need each other
please confide your sorrows to me… [Seventh and last
message] “DAMMIT PRIYA!! I have had
enough… I have been trying to communicate with you because I am
desperately craving your prescence but you are behaving so stubbornly. I want
to know what is troubling you, why you have not been eating properly ever since
you left with Rajat and why you are ignoring my calls? Don’t I have the right to know the answers to these questions instead
of being pushed away like I am nothing more than a stranger? Fine, you don’t want to talk than I will just act like a stranger that you take
me as and not call or message you anymore. Good night!”
The anger in which he wrote his “last” message was as false as his claim to not call again. His name
vandalized her call logs intermittently for the rest of the night. Heaving a
sigh of uncertainty she collected her scattered emotions and selected, “create new message” on her phone. Before her
thumbs could attack the keypad to reassure him with the fake belief that she
was absolutly fine, the phone buzzed in her grip. It was a message from him… She quickly opened it trying desperately to conceal the intense
joy that was overfilling in her heart at the sight of his message, which read, “P.S. I forgot to tell you something… Although it goes without
saying, I must say it regardless so that you are constantly reminded of your
importance in my life… I LOVE YOU PRIYA!!!
<3 more than you can ever imagine… more than I can ever
express… and more than you can
ever feel… but nonetheless I love
you so so much!!” His words were divine;
each letter kissed her heart passionately creating an impactful spark that
roamed freely thorough her soul pushing it closer to the joy that the current
situation had forbade her to indulge in… Her thumbs pounded the
keypad viciously as she couldn’t help but reply…
Priya: “I love you too Ram… oops I mean Angelji…”
Angel: (she received almost
instantly after she sent her message) Thank god Priya… I can’t tell you how happy I am
to finally hear back from you… Waise Priya you can call
me whatever you want because any way that you choose to address me would always
sound sweet when it passes your beautiful lips. I have just registered this
phone number under the alias Angel so that no one can trace our conversation, but
I am always YOUR Ram…
Priya: (blushing): haan janti hoon… do you want me to call you or will you call?
Ram: NO! I don’t want you to call me and
I don’t want to call you either…
Priya: kyun?
Ram: Kyun ki my darling ab sirf phone call se nahi chalenga… I want to not only hear your voice but also see my beautiful wife… Come on videochat … please for oldtimes sake… woh kya hain na mera sabse important file is lost and I want to
look for it…
Priya: Acha so your file is here in Rajat’s house?
Ram: Exactly!! Woh kya hain na, Rajat is taking care of this file until
I take care of other pending business… C’mon Priya… get up, go grab the
laptop and sign in to videochat… Trust me it’ll be well worth your while. I have a surprise for you! ;)
Priya: Fine Baba! Ek Second!!
Ram waited impatiently online for Priya, who was taking her sweet
time… He texted, “Ek second is over
darling.” Waiting another five
minutes he texted, “Yaar Priya. What the hell
are you grabbing your laptop or building one from scratch? Hurry up, I can’t wait any longer.” The SMS alert tone acted
like her alarm, with each message she tried to move faster. Finally she signed
on and immediately saw his chest heave up and down slowly as he sighed,
thoroughly relieved to see the love of his life after so long. Prior to this
encounter they had kept in touch with each other through phone calls but this
was magical. Ram took charge initiating the conversation:
Ram: You look amazing… I missed you so much…
Priya: I missed you too… Waise you’re looking……
Ram: Haan boliye… I am looking???
Priya: You are looking… (she swallowed and than
bit her lower lip before she said) absolutely the same. Ekdum Golu…
Ram: Priya yaar, this is not fair… I gave you such a nice
compliment and you… (he pouted with his arms
folded across his chest as he looked away from the camera) Chaliye, I don’t want to talk to you anymore…
Priya: Arey, Ram it is a compliment… I love Golu because
there is more of you to love…
Ram: (looked at her excitedly) Saachi??
Priya: (shyly looking down) Haan saachi! Okay Ram tell me what’s the surprise?
Ram: Gosh you are so impatient Priya… Wait a little bit longer… In the meantime, tell me how is Apeksha and Rajat?
Priya: They are good… Apeksha is still a
little mad because she doesn’t know that everything
that happened that day was all a plan. But in her anger there is love… She has immense love and respect for you, Kaash meri sister bhi
mujshe pyaar karti. But instead she only wanted to hurt me… And if she hurt me that’s fine but she wanted to
kidnap Pihu to tear us apart…
Ram: Haan I know Apeksha loves me a lot and I love her too. I regret
that I could not do the kanyadaan for her, Priya you know that that was always
my dream… Kahin na Kahin Ayesha’s selfishness is my fault. I should have never supported her
financially. Unintentionally, I stripped her of the independence that could
have taught her to be disciplined and also a good mother. She never had to
struggle to achieve her dreams so she took everything for granted. That day
when I heard her talking about her evil intentions on the phone I knew that her
desire had become so toxic that she is willing to sacrifice anything and anyone
to accomplish her goal; she plotted her own son’s kidnapping so that I
could get mad at you and kick you out of my life. If it weren’t for Soumaya I would have thrown her out of the mansion that very
same night. But she was right, if I had done that it would have been like
whacking a beehive she would have just become more enraged and dangerous… I had to keep her close and watch her every move; that was the
only way that I could defeat her, mamaji and Sid. So I traced her phonecalls,
each and every single one that she made to mamaji. It wasn’t a difficult task since I am the account holder of all the
cellphones registered in the Kapoor Mansion.
The week that I found out about Apeksha and Rajat was the same week that
I overheard Ayesha talking about excuting the master plan. After digging
further into this plan I realized that it revolved around kidnapping Pihu so
that she could not be the inheritor of my wealth. I just played along with her
plan and stole a page from her book…
Priya: it breaks my heart that my baby has to go through so much just
because she is our daughter. When you took me into the room with mummyji I
couldn’t believe my ears but my hands were tied. I knew Ayesha had
changed but I never knew that she would be so blinded by her love for Sid that
she would use her own son as a means to her selfish end. Kush was nothing more
than a blank cheque and it was time for her to cash him in but before she did
that she had to eliminate Pihu and than subsequently me. Thank god Ram, the way that you investigated
calmly into their evil plans and protected your family from any harm speaks
volume to who you are as a father and I am proud that you are my husband…
Ram: This is all thanks to you… (she looks at him
confused) You are ACP Pradyuman na so I also learnt a few tricks from you…
Priya: Very funny… (They both share a
laugh)
Ram: No but seriously Priya… I am blessed to have you
in my life… You equipped me with my
greatest weapon and that is to not just glance at the surface of a situation
before arriving to a conclusion. I am so so so sorry for saying those harsh
words to you…
Priya: It’s okay Ram… your hateful words might have hurt you more just saying it to me
than it did for me to hear it from you… Besides we had to make
Ayesha believe that our relationship had shattered indefinitely. We had to make
the effects of Pihu’s kidnapping on our
relationship look real so that she does not suspect that you had Pihu moved to
a safe location in Dhaijaan’s care. Dhaijaan should
be enjoying the happiness of being served by her daughter-in-law and despite
her ailment she still volunteered to live in an undisclosed location with Pihu.
Baas I just want all of this too be over soon, so that we can come home and be
a family again. So that Apeksha knows your intentions and you can bless her
marriage. Did you know that she is in her 8th month of pregnancy?
Pretty soon you will be a Mama Ram!!
Ram: Yeah she is two weeks into her eighth month… I have anxiously counting down the days, it is about time that we
see our share of happiness for good this time… Do you really think that
she will forgive me? Especially since I kept all this away from her?
Priya: No I don’t think so… I know for sure she will forgive not only you but all of us… it is better that she keeps away from all this tension so that it
doesn’t have a negative impact of her child. Now enough of all this!!
Tell me one thing, where exactly are you? This does not look like our room…
Ram: that’s because it’s not our room. I’m in a hotel room... in
Delhi…
Priya: KYA??? What are doing there?
Ram: ummm woh, Suhagraat ka tyaari…
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