Part:7

Angad lay on bed in his private room and was thinking of Kripa. He was so excited to see Kripa so closely after a long wait of 10 years. He was still feeling Kripa's body fragrance with him. Her voice was still ringing in his ears. He touched all the places where Kripa touched him. His heart was singing melodious songs for Kripa. He took Kripa's picture in his hand and thinking how can she be so careless of relationships. Misthy blamed her brought-up but being a woman how can she forget her closeness with a guy? He remembered the night they got close to each other. A glimpse of sorrow and happiness together covered his face. He didn't sleep the whole night in Kripa's thoughts.

The alarm in his cell brought him out from thoughts. It was morning 6 and Angad's eyes were burning with lack of sleep. He went for jogging and immersed into daily routine.

****************

Kripa was also not getting sleep as remembered the time she spent with Angad in Misthy's house. She could still felt his presence. His voice was still ringing in her ears. He reminded her "Prince". She went back to her school days. The flashes of her and "Prince" came in front of her.

"Angad kitna milthe hai "Prince" se? His body language, his singing, ressembles "Prince" so much. Kya Angad "Prince" ho saktha hai? If so, Misthy might have introduced him as "Prince". No he can't be. If he's "Prince" wouldn't he come close to me and tell me about him? Yes, obviously he does. Aur hum dono kitna kareeb hogaye they uss raath? Uski yaad tho dilatha hoga." Kripa consoled herself that Angad wouldn't be her "Prince" and lately fell asleep.   

*****

Kripa broke her sleep early morning when a call from her mother came asking Kripa to visit Kanpur for her business associates' daughter's wedding. Kripa got annoyed and refused to do it. Naina insisted her to attend the wedding and disconnected the call. Kripa was upset for Naina's orders in that early morning and got irritated for every small thing. She went out to change her mood and roamed untargeted.

"Hi Kripa!' Kripa turned on familiar voice.

It's Angad. "Hey Angad!"Reciprocated Kripa. "What are you doing here?"

 
"I just came with a friend to buy something, what about you?" Angad asked her.

"Just like that I didn't know what to do", confused Kripa.

Kripa praised his singing and told that she could proudly tell her neighbors that she knew him very well. Angad laughed at her and also praised Kripa's talent.

Angad took Kripa to his rehearsals. Kripa enjoyed his rehearsals and gave suggestions wherever she felt like. Angad encouraged her suggestions. Now Angad liked everything Kripa did since he was missing her so much.

Angad took Kripa to a restaurant in lunch break. Kripa ordered her favorite Chinese and Angad his dietary food. They talked a lot on various subjects and Angad offered her to join concerts thinking to postpone Kripa's stay and if possible to stop her return to US.

"I'''be happy to join You, Angad! But I can't stay here for long time. I've to get back to work after vacation", Kripa explained her concern.

 
Angad was disappointed and asked why she couldn't stay in India.

"Angad! Mere yahan koyi nahin hai. I've settled there", Kripa explained.

 
"koyi nahin hai yahan? What do you mean? Hum sub kaun hai? Kyon wahan koyi boyfriend hai kya"? Angad wanted to know if Kripa has one.

Kripa laughed loudly and told she didn't like any such relationships. Angad was happy to know that Kripa was still single. Angad's wondering how she didn't recognize him. Kripa became silent for sometime and changed the topic. Kripa and Angad spent the whole day in the rehearsals and got back home late evening. Angad decided to meet Kripa more frequently, if possible everyday, to remind Kripa about their past. Angad promised Kripa to join them for Goa trip.

****

Sunday early morning Aaliyah, Anita, Prithvi, Siddarth, Misthy, Harshini, Karan along with their families headed in a mini bus to Goa. On the way they picked Kripa, Angad and Diya. Angad introduced Diya to Kripa and Kripa to Diya. Kripa had many doubts about Diya's mother but waited for an opportunity to ask Misthy.

On the way everyone stopped for refreshments. Kripa took the opportunity and asked Misthy about Diya's mother. Misthy answered that she lived separately. They reached Goa by evening and stayed in a guest house that was arranged by Prithvi. Everyone got fresh and went to visit places around.

"I like your daughter's name" Kripa praised Angad for his daughter's name. "I used to think of giving that name to my daughter" continued Kripa.

Angad was surprised "Tum shaadi bhi nahin karna chaahti thi phir bachey kahan se aaya?" Angad wanted to know some more about Kripa.

Kripa smiled and says, "main kab batayi thi ki main shadi nahin karoongi?" Cross questioned.

"You said you don't like boyfriends" Angad remembered their conversation.
"Ooh, wo baath lekar tum yeh keh raha hai?" laughed remembering the same conversation at restaurant. "Main shadi karoongi but don't like to maintain any boyfriends" confirmed Kripa.
Diya came running to them and asked if they could join her to play at beach.

Kripa agreed and ran behind Diya commenting "bahut pyari bachi hai tumhara".

Angad smiled in his mind "hamara bachi, Kripa".

After dinner everyone gathered in the beach behind the guest house and relaxed under bright moonlight. Kids started singing Rhymes and played. Karan and Sneha asked the kids to sing some movie songs. Diya, Bheem, Bani sang 'lakdi ki kaati from maasoom' and impressed everyone. Angad sang two songs and dedicated one song to Kripa on occasion of her trip to India. Kripa felt little embarrassed and others praised the song.

Misthy noticed that Angad was trying to impress Kripa. Angad reciprocated back showing his forefinger to her as warning. Now Angad requested Kripa to sing. Kripa sang a song from her school performance and remembered those scenes. Prithvi, Siddarth and Angad joined her. Everyone was surprised and whispered secretly that how she had not remembered Angad. Everyone started talking about their childhood memories.

They remembered how they used to nickname each other. Anita used to be called 'Anittah'coz of her arrogant behaviour. But Raj supported her as she was no more like that. Anita looked lovingly at Raj. Aaliyah as 'Lady Hitler' Shabbir pretended scared of her. Her kids made fun of shabbir. Siddarth as 'chotu' since he was shortest in the group. Siddarth blushed. Siddarth teased Kripa "budhu" as Misthy named her so. Kripa's innocence made her say 'budhu", Misthy explained. Everyone agreed with Misthy. Kids started laughing on Kripa. Bani came running and sat in Kripa's lap "Kripa aunty! Bheem calls me 'budhu' so don't worry we both are same to same". Kripa laughed for her smartness. Bheem and Aaliyah's kids also came running and surrounded Kripa. Diya sat in Angad's lap and silently watched all the kids enjoying with Kripa. Kripa noticed and called her. Diya hesitantly looked at Angad for his permission. She came and sat besides her. Kripa took her into her hands. Angad looked at Diya and Kripa with all his love filled heart.

Bani said "Diya didi tho princess hai Angad uncle ka"

"Really?" exclaimed Kripa. Diya nodded her face with shy. Kripa laughed  "tho tumhara papa "Prince" hoga". Diya nodded her head as confirmed," Yes he is. Pardadi calls him so" Diya revealed Angad's secret. Everyone laughed loudly.

"Mere school main bhi ek "Prince" rehte they "Kripa remembered her "Prince". Everyone looked at Angad and surprised Kripa still remembered him with that name instead of original name.

 
Misthy exclaimed, "Kripa! U remembered him?" kripa nodded her head with embarrassment.

"Really", everyone yelled.

Kripa bit her tongue realizing her mistake but nodded her head. Angad was shocked and stared at Kripa. Everyone shocked and silently watched Angad and Kripa. Kripa didn't know how to escape from everyone's complaining looks and walked away into the sea shore.

Angad followed her.

 
Everyone started blaming Misthy for not letting Angad know about Kripa and vice versa. Misthy defended herself that she could not contact Angad.

"But you can tell Kripa about Angad. kripa was confused. she vaguely remembered him. "Anita blamed.

"Atleast you could have introduced Angad as our old Prince," Harshini suggested.

"Listen to me. I know Angad is still waiting for Kripa and I wanted them to be together too. And I waited for sometime if Kripa asks about him. But she didn't mention about him even once. And Angad was busy with his rehearsals. And on the concert day I brought both of them closely to meet each other. And you all know what had happened," Misthy defended herself.

"Yuh! How do we expect Kripa remembers him when she disappeared for 10 years without any contact to none of us", supported Siddarth and Prithvi.
Everyone left Angad and Kripa and went back into the guesthouse to put kids to sleep.

Angad asked while walking in the sand along with kripa,"yeh Prince Kaun hai?"

Kripa looked at him and immediately turned her face. Angad noticed her eyes wet.

 
Angad felt bad and silently followed her for a distance.

Angad pressed her shoulder warmly,"mujhe tumhara dosth samjho, Kripa! Tell me if I can help you bathao wo kaun hai tumhare aankhon mein aasu lane wala?"

Kripa hesitated a moment and replied, "my boyfriend".

Angad heart skipped a beat with surprise and started racing fast.. "So it means she remembered something. Thank God! Now no one can stop me to get Kripa back in my life" Angad's mind made decisions fastly with joy.

"Okay ….where is he?" tried to gather some more information.

Kripa nodded her head "I don't know. I lost contacts long back."

"How come? yeh kaise ho saktha hai? " Angad continued his questionnaire.
Kripa silently walked along the water line. Angad was happy and his heart beat rose for every word she spoken. "Kripa! You said that you don't entertain any boy friends and now you are saying you have a boyfriend. Kuch samjao na."

Kripa looked at Angad sharply and after seeing innocence in his face she continued' "I didn't have any contacts with him now"Angad felt bad to see Kripa so disappointed.

They both walked a little far and settled on an elevated area.

"Why dint you put any contacts with your friends after you left school? I mean after you left for Kanpur" Angad got a chance to clear his long pending doubt.
Kripa explained clearly, "when I were left for Kanpur coz of dad's business I thought I would keep contact from there. But I became too busy with new school, studies and new people. We were moving all places for four years and left US permanently. From then I totally lost  contacts from everyone. I tried to contact Misthy but her old number had changed long ago. When I met Josh last month, I got a chance to come here again and meet all of you"

Angad relaxed after getting his doubts cleared. He asked if he could help to find out her "prince". Kripa said he was Misthy's friend and Prithvi's family used to promote him but she couldn't gather any guts to ask about him now.

Kripa also told that she didn't remember his actual name. She also added that she was afraid if he remembered her anymore.

"Humare group mein Sab shaadi karke settle hogaye hai. Agar wo bhi…."Kripa paused hesitating to continue.

"Wo bhi shaadi karliya hoga. Yeh darr hai na tumhari? Agar wo nahin kiya tho kya karogi? Shaadi karlogi uss sey? Angad wanted to know her thoughts.
"Pata nahin bus ek baar main uss se milna chaahti hoon door se bhi sahi magar patha nahin sambhal paaongi ki nahin, uss se shaadi shuda dekh kar", Kripa showed her fears again.

Angad took Kripa's hands and pressed warmly "tumhara pyar tumhe miljayega", faith in Angad's eyes.

Kripa smiled with hopes and thanked Angad. Angad's pyar bhari aankhen locked Kripa from turning her eyes.

Angad remembered how Kripa used to melt in his arms. He wanted to take Kripa right away in his arms, cuddle her tight and tell her that he's her "Prince". He wanted to take her face into his palms, kiss all over her face and tell her how eagerly he was waited for her.

 
Kripa felt the warmth of love in his eyes. She also wanted to cuddle into his arms and cry her heart. She wondered why she had strongly feeling to go close to him. She unknowingly moved close to Angad and rested her head on his shoulder. Angad cuddled her and pressed close to him. Both were experiencing the warmth in that tight hug. Angad kissed her forehead. Kripa came into this world and realized herself in his arms. She moved away from him. Angad dint leave her hand and silently got up to walk back. Both didn't want to spoil the feel and silently started stepping towards the guest house. All of sudden Kripa screamed OH MY GOD!

"Kya hua" Angad asked "dekho hum kitne door chale aye"Kripa exclaimed.

Abb phir utna door chalna padega" showed her concern.

"Tum bhi na Kripa! dara diya", Angad teased her." Don't worry I'll lift you there if you want "watching her reaction from corner of his eyes. Angad was still holding Kripa's hand.

Kripa understood and teased him back "such" she winked her eyes "then pakdo mujhe" she started running pulling her hand away from Angad.

Angad got alarmed of her challenge and ran behind her. She reached guesthouse with panting. Angad came behind and squeezed her ear.
Everyone was waiting for them in the living room and wondered for their behaviour.. Misthy enquired with eyes and Angad gave her reply as everything was fine.

Kripa went inside her room. Harshini, Anita, Aaliyah followed her. All men and Misthy waited for Angad to say something. Angad spoke atlast, "she remembers me as "Prince"but not recognizing".

Everyone looked at Misthy and Misthy mumbled "maine kya kiya?"

Angad asked for the reason behind of their complaining looks. Siddarth explained that everyone blamed Misthy for not introducing him as prince. Angad cleared it was not Misthy's mistake but Kripa dint even mention about Prince. But he felt that it would have certainly helped Kripa to reveal about her memories of Prince.

Everyone sighed and bid goodnight..

vallanki39490.269525463