Chapter 7

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PART 4

Part 5-

The next morning Pragya woke up to her phone ringing, it was Abhi.

Pragya's heart pounded as she read the name.

Abhi? He was calling her? Why?

She picked up the phone slowly and heard his voice, with Tanu's laugh in the background.

"Hey Pragya, my old friend here has his 21^st birthday party tonight, would you like to come with us?"

"I already have a part to go to? So-"

"Oh please Pragya?" Abhi interrupted.

"Okay fine, when?

"Umm, come round mine at six"

"What about Tanu?"

"She is already here, she wanted me to go shopping with her"

Pragya didn't answer him for a few moments.

"Hey, Pragya you there?"

"Yeah, okay fine, bye" Pragya quickly cut the call before sitting down on the bed and wandered why Tanu hadn't invited to her to their day out, had she done something wrong? Was it to make a point that Abhi was her boyfriend?

She was right though. They had a private life; they may have wanted to spend time by themselves without her disturbing them.

Pragya's phone rang again, it was Tanu. Pragya picked it up.

"Hey Pragya, I have a feeling about something that I think is true, I don't know I just have this feeling, I wanna tell you about it but I just want to make sure what I say is true, I'm sorry I didn't invite you shopping with us, it's just that I want to be certain about what I tell you tonight."

"Okay Tanu, but what is it?" Pragya asked confused.

"I will tell you tonight."

They cut the call and Pragya began wondering what it was she wanted to tell her.

~

The rest of the day passed by as usual as Pragya helped Sarla around the house and completed some assignments. She then realised she needed something to wear and decided it would be best if Riya came around to get advice from.

She called her and Riya asked her to come shopping with her. They spent nearly two whole hours looking around before Riya's eyes fell on a red dress, it was clingy but of a reasonable length, the back was exposed but Pragya thought it would have to do as they had already spent so long.

~

Pragya knocked on the door of Abhi's house and he instantly came to open it. Abhi admired the sight before him, she was wearing red small heels with a red dress which clung to her petite figure that she mostly hid behind her simple long anarkali's, her lips were tinted red against her creamy skin and her glasses were gone again. Why were they so magical? She stepped from side to side gently waiting for his words. Pragya too looked at him standing looking at her, he was wearing a white suit, his hair flew gently in the breeze. There was a silence, neither spoke.

They were brought out of their trance when Tanu called him from upstairs.

"Who is it?"

"Pragya" Abhi called back and beckoned her in.

"You look very pretty" Abhi complemented her as she thanked him.

"You look good too"

He led her to his room and she watched Tanu getting ready.

"Hi Pragya, you look nice!" Tanu told her as she turned around.

She was wearing a low cut short black dress and she did look great without a doubt.

"How is it?" She asked them.

"You look nice" Abhi told her as she smiled.

"Yeah, very pretty" Pragya added.

They heard Abhi's daadi calling for them and they walked down.

"Okay, have a nice time kids, and be back before 10." Abhi took her blessings. Tanu said bye and quickly walked out of the door.

"Daadi, are you sure you will be okay alone? I could ask maa to come here if you want?" Pragya asked her with concern.

"I will be fine beta" Daadi smiled at Pragya. She was a nice, good mannered girl and she had a liking for her, maybe more than Tanu.

Abhi smiled at Pragya's concern for his Daadi whom she considered her own. They all walked out waving at Daadi who watched them drive away.

~

"Hey Purab! Happy Birthday!" Abhi gave him his gift that he had bought back from England and introduced Tanu and Pragya.

"Oh Purab? You're his friend?" Pragya asked laughing.

"Yeah, you already know him?" Abhi asked.

"Yes, he is more like a brother to me!" Pragya told him and Abhi laughed at the coincidence.

Pragya hugged him wishing him along with Tanu.

"Abhi, come you wanna meet the others?" Purab took him away as Pragya and Tanu got drinks.

"So what was it Tanu that you wanted to confirm this morning?" Pragya asked her as they sat down.

"Umm, well you know how I was never really that serious about my relationship with Abhi?"

Pragya nodded wondering where this conversation was going.

"Well, lately we have just got so close, and I wanted to know if I really did love him and after today I can say that I do, for the first time I can say that I am serious about my relation with him. I love him!"

Pragya looked at her in shock, she held on to the glass tightly, gripping as if they were her dreams which she had hoped for besides knowing the reality.

"And you know, I somewhat feel guilty that we never told him about the whole e-mail thing so after a few days, I want to tell him so that there are no lies between us?"

"That - that's great, I mean it's good you're finally serious, I'm happy for both of you. Excuse me" Pragya quickly told Tanu and she could feel her voice breaking as she rushed out. She continued to walk, making sure she was away from anyone's sight and before she knew it heavy tears were freshly flowing down the sides of her cheeks, she began to sob louder as she broke down.

Why?

Why had she let her heart believe that Abhi would ever be hers? She had known, known that Abhi was her best friend's boyfriend. Why has she been so stupid thinking that she would ever even have a chance?

She was such a fool.

Pragya sat down on the bench nearby, holding her head in her hands as she continued to weep quietly, with broken dreams and a yearning heart.

She realised that she couldn't spend the rest of the night sitting there like that so she got up and began looking for a taxi but none came as stared out into the distance.

~

"Hey Tanu, have you seen Pragya?" Abhi asked her.

"Well, she was here before, but then she excused herself and walked out, I haven't seen her since."

They checked the hall, asked her friends but no one had seen her after she had walked out. Tanu looked around worried and thought where Pragya could have gone without informing her, Abhi asked her again if she had any idea of where she could possibly be but she didn't know.

Abhi walked out with her, they looked around at the nearby park but she wasn't there.

~

Pragya continued to walk along the road, she had stopped crying now, but by the time she had pulled herself together again she noticed that she was far away from the hall now. She looked around for any sign of transport but it was a quiet road. She didn't even know what time it was, her phone was dead. Why had she been so careless? Why had she over reacted so much, she should have been happy for Tanu and Abhi. She tried to shrug off the feeling that she was now lost and no one knew exactly where she was but the worry increased.

She continued to walk when she heard a car pulling up behind her, she turned around but it was none other than a group of drunk boys, hooting at her.

Pragya increased the pace of her walk but they wouldn't pass her without making rude comments about her.

She ignored them and began to run when one of them dropped down from the car and grabbed her by the wrist.

"Oh come on, we just want to have a little bit of fun" He told her, she slapped him tightly across the face and began running away, her heels were paining her so she threw them off and ran bare feet across the road.

~

Abhi had told Tanu to go and look back in the hall to see if Pragya had come back and she had left. He was continued to look on the roads when he saw a pair of heels on lying on the road. He picked them up and realised almost instantly that they belonged to Pragya. His worry increased as he ran around on the road looking for any sign of her.

~

Pragya noticed that she lad mislead the group of boys, they had been drunk but she continued running just to be safe when she bumped into a tall muscular frame. She felt the person before her turn around and it was none other than Abhi.

Without thought Pragya hugged him tightly before her tears began to flow again and she sobbed into his chest.

Abhi hugged her tight, his arms around her safely assuring her that all was okay, she was with him, he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

"Where did you go?"

"I - there - someone - " Pragya was unable to form words and Abhi realised that this was not the right time to ask her and he decided it would be best to take her home where she could rest.

They began to walk when Abhi saw that her feet were clearly hurting her and so he picked her up gently. She looked at him before looking down away from him. There was no point in hoping for anything with him now... he was her best friends love.

Abhi noticed her looking away from him, he tightened his grip on her as he continued to walk and soon saw the hall where Tanu was waiting for them.

~

"Oh my god" Tanu gasped at the sight of Pragya. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Tanu let's go home, she needs rest."

Abhi held the door of the car open for Pragya, Abhi got in the back with her and Tanu decided to drive.

~

As the arrived at Abhi's house, they realised that Abhi's daadi was already asleep and so they quietly walked to his room where Abhi sat Pragya down and got the first aid box for her feet.

When her feet were bandaged carefully Abhi asked her what had happened and why she had gone from the venue.

"I - I needed fresh air so I walked to the nearby park, and then I got lost, I'm sorry I was so careless" Pragya lied to them.

"Don't do that next time, its good nothing happened to you" Tanu hugged her tight and Abhi smiled at the two friends.

"Anyway its late we should leave" Tanu and Pragya decided.

"No, it's dark don't go out alone, let your parents come okay?"

Tanu phoned her dad who came to pick them up and they left as Abhi stared after them. He saw that Pragya's bracelet had been left there and he bent to pick it up. He placed it in his cupboard as he lay down thinking about the events of the day. Why had Pragya's eyes looked so upset as she spoke, was there anything she was hiding from them? Abhi tossed and turned before he finally fell asleep.

(next)

PART 6

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