Chapter 2

AnushkhaA

@AnushkhaA

Chapter 2

Sharda had never seen her daughter in such a state. Her Pallavi, who was the embodiment of calm and sense, always prepared to face any problem head on, always in supreme control of every situation had fallen apart like a pack of cards. 

She saw the paramedics stream inside the house and run towards the centre where Pallavi had been sitting with her comatose husband in her arms crying her poor broken heart out. She shivered remembering how seconds before she was so sure Raghav had died when Pallavi had let out that soul writhing scream. For a scary moment Sharda had feared she will keel over like her husband and die. 

She realised that maybe she had forgotten that however perfect her daughter portrays herself to be, she is after all human. And every human being has a breaking point. 

And her family had crossed every single limit made every single time. Maybe it was time for her Pallu to break. To break into millions of tiny bits so that she could built herself up again from scratch. 

And poor Raghav. That poor poor child. Over the brief time she had met Raghav Rao she had devised his true self easily from those innumerable layers of defences he had made around him. She understood the Don persona was just an extreme of his personality but inside Raghav was just like Pallavi. Immensely insecure about his loved ones and fiercely protective of them. She had realised how much he craved any form of love or affection that day itself when he had changed the batteries of their wall clock. 

She remembered how once when she had gone to visit Pallavi in Rao Mansion, his eyes had misted when she had mildly scolded him out of habit more than anything else when he had been hurrying to work without eating breakfast. The way he had immediately sat down like a little scolded schoolboy and started eating managing to mutter a little but heartfelt sorry. She remembered how her mother's heart had gone out to him when he had once blurted out Aai instead of Aunty and had immediately apologized for it as if expecting a harsh reprimand for daring to address her as his mother. 

She remembered how happy he would always be whenever she would give even a little insignificant job for him to do. She remembered catching him giving longing and wistful glances at her family many times when he thought no one was looking.

But more than anything she remembered how furious he was when Vijay stopped him from meeting with Pallavi. How sad, heartbroken he was when they reached the award function but long after the event was over. How disappointed yet resigned he had looked at his apologetic wife accepting her apologies in silence with a weird pain in his eyes and a sad smile on his handsome face. 

Sharda felt sick seeing him bleed out in Pallavi's arms, lying so still like a corpse. A man who couldn't stay still for a second looked like a limbless dead weight of unbearable stillness that second. Only because he wanted to save them... his wife's Aai baba.

Yes she had no delusions why Raghav had jumped in front of them.

 It was for Pallavi. 

It was always for Pallavi. 

Then she heard Vijay and Milind trying to hold back Mandaar physically from doing any more harm than he already has. She was about to go and give that idiot a piece of her mind when she heard Pallavi's piercing scream.

"NO! I won't give him! Where are you taking him? Where.. Raghav! Raghav! Please! Let me go! Leave him alone! Leave me! Aai dekho naa! Kya kar rahe hain ye! Aai... please someone.."

"Pallu! Pallu beta jaane dein! They are taking him to the hospital beta.. woh blood bht beh raha hain.. please. Operation karna padega... Pallu.."

Sharda ran and held Pallavi back who was struggling like a mad woman. She was flaying her limbs about, completely out of control as Sharda struggled to hold her. Amruta had joined her at one point of time as the Paramedics took Raghav away as quickly as they can. Sharda thought she saw Nikhil going with them.

"Aai! Aai! Chodiye! Jaane dijiye! Mere Raghav ko leke kahaan jaa rahe hain.. plz!"

"Pallu shaant ho jaa bachcha! Kahi nhi le jaa rahe tere Raghav ko.. hospital.."

"Pallavi di please shaant ho jaiye. Jiju will be completely alright. I send Nikhil with him. Calm down. Relax.. we will follow them soon. Plz... I've called Farhaad.."

Suddenly they felt Pallavi go limp in their hold. It felt like all the fight had suddenly left her in one massive whoosh. She slipped as her knees collapsed again sending both Sharda and herself in a heap on the ground. Sharda hugged her to her bosom patting her head and back soothingly.

"Pallu! Pallu... beta. Plz.. himmat rakh na. Kuch nhi hoga.. Bappa tere saath kuch bura nhi karenge.. Amruta plz tell someone to get a car out. Where is that Farhaad when you need him?"

Amruta was about to respond when suddenly Mandaar screamed.

"Pallavi! Pallavi dekho sab theek ho jaega ab. Woh badtameez Raghav Rao hamari zindagi se chala gaya hoga abtak. Ab hum shaanti se jee sakte hain. Main aur tum.. jaise humein jeena tha. Tum kyun ro rahi ho Pallavi... Main hun na.. Baba chodiye mujhe!!!"

He was still struggling against Vijay and Milind. Sharda felt a hot white rage course through her veins at her wayward offspring. She would feel the shame of spawning such a worthless son later, right now she would..

But suddenly Pallavi stood up shocking Sharda and the rest into inaction. She had stopped sobbing lone ago but the dirty tracks left by her tears were visible like a mark of some former brutality on her person. A reminder of this haunting event. 

Pallavi turned around and she was sure everyone must have recoiled at horror. Her beautiful face looked carved out of ice and her warm eyes had extinguished like a flickering flame in the dying wind. Her hair was dishevelled and blood streaked. Her sari was completely ruined from the blood stains yet her frame looked like someone had erected it with the help of pins and needles. 

"You are dead Mandaar Deshmukh. I will kill you."

Those two sentences might seem innocent enough spoken in not a decibel of volume higher than her usual softness but lacked all of her warmth. It sent everyone's spines freezing as if set in ice. 

It was damnation spewing in her voice. 

The beginning of their end. 

And then in a move which shocked the living daylights out of Mandaar, Pallavi descended on him like a warrior Goddess. She was throwing punches and kicks at him like she had decided to beat him into a pulp. Sharda didn't know what to do. She had frozen. She mildly realized her husband and Milind trying to hold her back.

"Pallavi! Pagal ho gyi ho kya? Pallavi chodo! Chodo.. mar jaega! Kya kar rahi hon.. galti se hua woh.. he didn't wish it to happen. He is not in the correct mind. Chodo!"

Pallavi stopped and pushed back Vijay Deshmukh with all her might. Anger marring her pretty features so viciously that he was taken aback more by her expression than her move. In that moment half deranged with fury and snarling like a wounded beast Pallavi Raghav Rao was truly looking her husband.

"Galti se? Mistake? Not in his mind!!!? You must really be blind and dumb all together Mr. Vijay Deshmukh if you have not yet put two and two together. He is not mad! Neither has he lost his memory! This was all a ploy! A ploy to separate me from her husband! It was a trap all along. Woh toh main hi thi.. pagal! Bewakoof! Ek number ki dumb senseless auraat jo itna time lag gaya ye nikaal ne mein."

"Pallavi tum.."

"Shut up!"

Pallavi roared stilling everyone into absolute silence. Finally the fire inside her had exploded. 

"Paani sar se kab ka upar chala gaya tha but main hi insaaniyat aur aap logo keliye mere gratitude ki sahare ye sab kiye jaa rahi thi jabki mera farz aur pyaar kabhi alag tha hi nhi.. woh toh ek hi hain...khair! Pagal hain Raghav!"

She caught her head, running her hands through her hair not caring if she is leaving bloody trails in her scalp chuckling suddenly even as tears rolled down her eyes again marking fresh tracks on her cheeks. 

"Pagal hain mera pati! Koi aur hota naa toh kab ka chod ke chala jaata. Par Raghav.. nhi. He was always ready at my beck and call, even after all of you repeatedly insulted him. I myself knowingly and unknowingly humiliated him, hurt him... still. Phir bhi.. phir bhi aata tha! Arre aap.. aap ne hi usse egotist, arrogant bola tha na Mr. Dekhmukh? Aap bataiye.. Hyderabad ka sabse khatarnaak insaan.. a multi millionaire business tycoon who could very well shoot your worthless son in the middle of a street and yet get away with it unscathed, why would he not just do it? Why wouldn't he? "

She turned towards Vijay who didn't know where to look. He had long past lost his nerve to look at her in the eye. He had no answer to that. Mandaar was too shocked to even get up from where he was sprawled on the floor. The rest of them were gawking at her like they have seen a ghost.

Pallavi shook her head. 

"Main batati hun.. kyunki woh meri izzat karta hain! Kyunki woh bechara mujhse pyaar kar baitha hain. Main toh bht dinge haak rahi thi ki uske saamne ki pyaar logo ko sudhaar deta hain.. unki zindagi sawaar deta hain par Raghav ke pyaar ne toh usse barbaad hi kar diya."

Suddenly she remembered she had to go the hospital, to her husband who must be fighting a battle for his life. She whirled around so fast that Sharda thought she might snap her neck at that speed.

"I need to go to the hospital and here I am bi*ching about sense to senseless people! Bappa! Raghav wahaan akele... I need to go.. "

Mandaar had had enough of Raghav. If Pallavi doesn't listen to him nicely then he has other ways to making her obey. In fact he should have done that only from the first. He leaped up when her back was turned and caught her hand twisting it aside before she could strike back and Pallavi winced in pain. 

"Mandaar! Let her go! Haven't you done already enough?"

Sharda screamed in anger and fear too. This wasn't her son. This was someone else who just had his physical looks. Looks like her son had died two years ago on that road and from his ashes has risen this monster. 

"Let me go you moron!"

Pallavi gave a well placed kick to his shin disbalancing him and then whirled around and kneed him as hard as she could in the groin making him roll on the floor in pain. She saw the gun lying in the distance and picked it up pointing it at him. 

Sharda felt her blood freezing. No.. Pallavi couldn't do this. She will fall in trouble... again. She really had no idea how she felt about her changed son any longer. All she knew was her daughter is not in sound mind. And she will regret doing this later. 

"Pallu! Pallu ruk jaa! Mat maarna isse please... "

She heard Milind, Vijay and Amruta say the same while Mandaar inched back on his fours still on the ground. Pallavi suddenly felt so powerful. It has been too long that she hasn't been the mistress of her own fate. What would it feel like to just shoot this person. Just like he had shot her Raghav. Maybe she should just press the trigger. She could hear the rest beg her from the distance but she drowned their voices. 

All she could see was Raghav's bleeding form, his pained breaths. his agonized face, his hand dropping. She would press the trigger and all the problems would end and her revenge would be exacted. 

Suddenly a body came in front of her, blocking her view.

"Farhaad! Move! This instant or else I'll shoot you too"

Farhaad had seen many grisly things in his life, courtesy to his boss who would always land in one trouble or another with people too fond of violence and action rather than words. So he thought maybe he has seen it all. But he will have to reconsider his foolish notion after today. 

Seeing Pallavi bhabhi, the woman who was always an ocean of calm, whose second name was grace and elegance, who was the only one who had tamed his stormy boss with her compassionate and kind heart take such a frightening avatar made him question his own sanity. 

She was looking like a goddess. Fury falling from her red rimmed swollen eyes, puffy blotched face, blood smeared dress and that gun in her hand poised with perfect precision. The scary factor was that her hands weren't shaking at all. She seemed to be perfectly in control. 

She looked.... ruthless. Like an experienced killer.

Maybe the saying, that couples rub on each other wasn't so wrong.

"Farhaad hato warna mujhe hatana aata hain."

"Bhabi! Please.. jaane dijiye. Police ka jhamela ho jaega. Abhi Anna ko apki zaroorat hain. Ise main handle kar lunga bhabi. Plz aap hospital chaliye, main Harish ko bol dunga.."

"Hato Farhaad! Mujhe police kuch nhi kar sakti. Pata hain mujhe. But ye aadmi aaj zindaa nhi bachega. I'll end it once and for all."

"Bhabi please. I beg you. You have never done this before. You will regret this bhabi. This isn't you. Aap abhi sadmein mein ho. Please meri baat suniye. Main aapse wadaa karta hun. aaj ke baad isska chehra bhi nhi dekhna padega aapko. Plz gun dedijiye mujhe. Please.."

He inched closer seeing her stand there like a statue and snatched the gun off her hands and suddenly the police who were waiting for their cue for a dramatic entry perhaps swarmed the place to arrest Mandaar. 

Pallavi gave one last look at the people whom she had once called hers. The house which she had once called hers. She didn't recognize anyone or anything any longer. It was all queer and these people looked like strangers. 

"Ek baat kaan khol ke sun lijiye aap sab. Aaj ke baad mere ya mere pati ke aas paas bhi mandraya na kisine ne, yaa koi bhi faltu planning ya plotting karneki koshish kii toh Farhad toh kya khud Bappa bhi niche utar ke aa jae naa tabh bhi nhi bacha paegenge aap sab ko. If I even get to see your hair near us I swear to God, I will kill you. Samazla!!!?"

Pallavi didn't wait for hearing their response or hearing the litany of Mandaar's crimes being read to him or even for Farhaad to follow her. She felt her feet move towards the exit on her own and before she knew it she was sitting in the backseat of the car with Harish driving towards the hospital probably. 

She waited for the car to get up on the highway before letting her tears fall once again down her crumbling face, surprising herself that she had any more left to spare.

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TO BE CONTINUED...