Chapter 1

Neha

@SurrealFantasy

Hey guys. 

A few things to note before we proceed - 

1. I'm sorry for the delay in updates. I came down with Covid a few days ago and have been resting before I have to go back to the hospital. 

2. I don't watch the show religiously and the forum is very cold towards the leads in general. The first page is filled with topics in BOLD CAPS simply deriding the Ml and FL, and that does not invoke any inspiration to be honest.

3. This chapter may be a little slow with barely enough of the main characters, but it is needed to set the tone for the future.

P.S. Not proofread.

C H A P T E R 1

Keerti smiled as her niece and nephew both slept with their heads on her lap. So peaceful. So innocent. Her mind flashed with images of Naira and Karthik. So much like their parents.

She didn’t know what had happened at her maternal home. Naksh had received a call from someone and he had rushed out of their house, telling her to tidy up their rooms, as he was bringing their children home. Knowing her husband to not create a fuss without reason, she had refrained from asking any questions. He would tell her once they were home.

But when she had opened the door to Singhania house, she was surprised to see all three of them in various degrees of despair. Noticing the tear tracks on Akshu’s face, she had embraced the little girl. As Akshu broke down in her arms, she looked over at the men beside her. Naksh slightly shook his head and ushered both of them inside. 

Although she had cleaned both their rooms, somehow they had both ended up in her bedroom, both crying, clutching onto her pallu and each other. Naksh had all but disappeared.

As she ran her fingers through their hair, she wondered what the God she prayed so much to, was punishing these poor kids for. Although she didn’t know the exact cause of their sorrow, it hurt her to see their children in such a state. 

A tear ran down her cheek, but before it could land on Akshu, a hand caught the wayward drop.

Naksh.

He sat in front of her, calmly brushing away her tear, and leaned in to kiss her forehead.

“What happened? Why did you bring them back from Goenka house? Why are they both crying? Did something happen to somebody? Should I call Mom?” Keerti started whispering the litany of questions she had.

“Shh.. Shh. Keerti, please calm down. Please.” He pleaded. He looked down at both of them sleeping and brushed his hand on their foreheads.

“There was some trouble with Aarohi’s wedding. The groom cancelled after the engagement. And I don’t know the full story. Krish had called Kairav for some details about his course, and heard a lot of yelling at Akshu in the background. He called me and I left for your house.”

“Why were they yelling at Akshu?”

“Not they. She. She was yelling at Akshu. The same “You killed my mother” rant. I…..I wanted to break something, Keerti. My poor baby. She….she was so alone in that crowd. Not a single mouth to defend her.” He looked down at his niece and then closed his eyes regretfully.

Keerti was anything but surprised hearing her husband’s words. She knew about his feelings towards her family. Shaking off her own feelings of sadness, she smiled encouragingly at him.

“We’ll make it alright, Naksh. They’ll be fine.”

*******

Two hours later, they all sat at the dining table. Behind Naksh, photographs of his grandparents, his parents, his aunt and his sister hung in a row, with fresh garlands around them. He did not have a lot of family left, but he would be damned if he let something happen to the ones he had left.

Keerti and Krish kept up idle chatter around the table with Kairav occasionally chiming in. But his eyes were focussed on his niece. Barely eating anything, simply moving around her food on the plate.

“Akshu.”

Startled, she looked up. “Eat, beta.”

She nodded but went back to staring at her plate and Naksh sighed. Breaking off a piece of roti from his own plate, he forwarded it towards her. She seemed surprised again and hesitantly ate it. Smiling, he did the same thing again, and she looked at him with a few unshed tears this time, before accepting it.

“You never feed me, Papa.” Krish complained without any bite.

“Because you feed yourself almost as much as it takes to feed a small country.”

Kairav snorted at that, while Akshara forwarded a spoon of rice in Krish’s direction.

Krish ate it with gusto and poked Kairav in his ribs. “Don’t laugh. You eat more than me. Don’t forget that I used to pay your junk food bills.”

Kairav and Krish both bit their tongues, as Keerti’s sharp voice shouted, “Junk food? You children have junk food while I sit here making all your favourite dishes and sending it to your college. And pay your mess bills!”

Kairav quietly sent Naksh Mama and Keerti Bua an apologetic smile before giving Keerti a bite of his food. She rolled her eyes but as her eyes met her husband’s, they both smiled at the view in front of them.

Akshara was smiling.

  ********

Akshara didn’t know what was happening. She didn’t know where exactly things had fallen apart. Was it when she met him for the first time? Or when he refused Aaru’s hand? Or when he broke off the relation for the second time?

She mentally scoffed. It had fallen apart years ago, she chided herself. The fateful night her step-mother had died.

She had been so accustomed to Aarohi’s accusations that nothing really shook her anymore. But one touch from her Mama, and she had fallen apart. Maybe it was the warmth, or the fact that she knew that a part of her Mumma lived within her Mama. And her Keerti Bua. Her lap had been one of the first places she had fallen apart years ago, and her nurturing presence had been witness to all her previous heartache and failures.

Why then, did she hide her tears from them this time around? She had no idea.

She looked around her room. Rather, her Nana and Nani’s room. Her namesake. Akshara had changed almost nothing in the room. The same photographs hung on the wall. Both sets of great grandparents, photos of Akshara and Naitik’s wedding and life together, Naksh Mama and Mumma’s childhood photos. Nanu had stopped living after Nani’s death - there were no pictures of Keerti Bua or her father. 

It was sweet. It was melancholic. She had been given the freedom to add anything she wanted, but she had resisted. It seemed rather perfect. It seemed like Akshara Nani lived here. 

As a kid, she had been given the choice to choose any room she wanted, but she had wanted to know the woman she was named after, and she had chosen this room. 

It was also probably the only time she had seen Mama flustered and she had almost chosen somewhere else, before he had simply nodded and walked away.

She was gazing out the window, when her Mama and Bua appeared at the door. Akshara took a deep breath. The inevitable talk.

However she was surprised when neither of them entered the room. 

“Do you want to talk about it right now?” Mama asked.

Did she? Who knew anything anymore? She sighed. “No.”

“Okay. Sleep, beta. If you need something, just dial 1 on the intercom.” He gently replied. 

Bua gave her an encouraging smile and blew her a kiss. “We love you.”

Akshara laughed through her tears. “I love you too.” 

They closed the door and Akshara went back to her bed, looking at her Nani’s face on the wall. 

“They say you had all the answers, Nani. Tell me what should I do.”

Their next stop was Kairav’s room. And he wasn’t so lucky. 

Kairav sat on the bed, fiddling with his phone. Mumma, Papa, Sirat Mumma, Akshu, Aarohi, Mama, Bua - so many people let down. Guilt weighed him down and as he wrestled his emotions, the Singhania couple strode in.

The both took a seat next to him and asked nothing. Just stared at him, willing him to speak. 

Kairav tried to control it but like a little child, he burst into tears. 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Mama. I let Mumma down. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He kept repeating, and Keerti held his hand, planting a kiss at his temple.

“Beta, tell us what happened. We’ll fix it. Don’t cry please. It’s all fine.”

It all came out. The ceremony. Abhimanyu asking Akshara if she loved him, Akshara saying no. Her saving him from the fire. Aaru’s lies. Akshara’s lies. Abhimanyu’s stubbornness, his own helplessness. His sister lying on that hospital bed, almost dead. It tumbled out of him in broken sentences and when finally he was all wept out, with Bua patting him on his back, he looked towards his Mama.

“Akshara had an accident? Akshara had an accident and neither you, nor the family thought that we deserved to know?” Naksh’s voice was hard as he looked at his nephew. 

“Mama, we thought that….”

“I don’t give a damn about what they thought. But you? Kairav, we are your aunt and uncle. We have had a hand in bringing you up. You did not think that we deserved to know whether our daughter was going to d…”, he shuddered and stood up.

Ignoring Kairav’s tears for the first time in his life, Naksh stood up. He could see his wife placate him, taking him into his arms as she told him that everything was fine. He cleared his own tears from his cheeks and made his way to the door.

“Kairav….. Akshu. Does Akshu love this guy?” He asked. 

His nephew forlornly nodded. “I….I think so,” and Naksh left the room.

He needed to calm down. He shook his head and went back to Kairav’s room. As two sets of eyes looked expectantly towards him, he said, “I’m…..I’m disappointed, Kairav. B..But, you can never let your Mumma down.” He walked away again.

Kairav heard his Mama’s words and absorbed them into his being. Bua smiled at him. 

********

He ushered the family into his house. It was something that had interested him from a long time. Having already made donations in the names of some of his family, he’d finally chosen this particular cause for his next venture.

Naksh smiled at the Birla family - the two brothers who owned the hospital and their two sons. They seemed like a respectable bunch, but their wives were nowhere in sight. He smiled and introduced Keerti to them.

As glasses of drinks were passed around, Anand Birla began, “We’re sorry our wives could not be present here today. They had to go to a family function in Jodhpur for a few days.

Naksh nodded understandingly, and they made small talk for a few minutes before Harsh Birla interrupted.

“We’re flattered you invited us to your house, Mr. Singhania. But we’d just like to make sure that today’s lunch does not mean that you’ve changed your mind about investing in our hospital.”

“No. No. I was mighty impressed with your hospital when I visited. There was however one thing I wanted to add before we went any further.”

As the Birlas waited expectedly, Abhi let his eyes roam around the spacious living room. It had an old world charm to it which the sleek furniture and the tastefully decorated walls couldn’t hide. It reminded him of her - all the modern clothes and melodious voice hiding the soft and shy woman underneath. He scoffed internally - everything reminded her of him. Be it the radio, the tinkling laughter of the children’s wing, or just the warmth of the sunlight on his face. She was everywhere.

He wasn’t paying attention but Mr. Singhania was apparently answering, “I know the request may sound highly unusual, but the fact is that I lost my mother and my sister to accidents years ago. I was simply wondering if the A&E Wing could have my mother’s name on it?”

Anand smiled  - a simple request and one they could afford to make. Especially for the hundred and fifty crore this man was willing to invest in their hospital. His house may not scream it, but the man sitting in front of them had enough money to build his own hospital, forget investing in theirs. Heir to the Singhania fortune - once simply diamond traders, he had carefully ventured into real estate and fashion before he had amassed his father’s wealth ten times over. 

“That is all but fine, Mr. Singhania. We’d be happy to do anything to honour your mother.”

“Thank you. My mother’s name is ….”

“….Akshara.”

The words however were uttered not by Mr. Singhania, but Abhimanyu - his eyes filled with reverence and barely held back longing. 

His personal siren stood not ten feet away, her eyes confused and mimicking the emotion in his own eyes.

His Akshara was here.