'Sorry.'
'Bhaisab, the lady who just left, do you know where she lives?' Tej anxiously asked the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper shook his head. Tej was a little disappointed.
'Umm does she come here often?'
The shopkeeper nodded his head.
'Any specific time? Or day? Or date?'
'No sir. Sometime she comes, sometime she doesn't come.' The shopkeeper said.
There was a sign of her. But what didn't make sense to him was that if she was well and good, why didn't she come to him? Why didn't she meet him or anyone in the family? Maybe the woman wasn't Toasty. Maybe it wasn't Toasty's voice that he had heard. Maybe it was his imagination. Even the slight possibility of that frightened him to death.
He looked at the locket in his hands, opened it and saw his picture in it. His instinct told him that it was Toasty. He kept the locket safely in his pockets. He took out a picture of Toasty from his wallet and looked at her. He closed his eyes and was reminded of all his moments with her. The first time he saw her at college, the first time they met, their love confession, their first date, their engagement, their wedding and all those days and nights that he had spent with her.
'We have more memories to make Mrs. Tanya Tej Prakash Chaturvedi.' He could feel himself smile.
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'Pitaji, Pashu Bhaiya, Ved Bhaiya, Pracheen, Gyan, Malti Bhabhi, Nitika, come here!' He screamed happily.
Everyone came running out of their respective rooms. They all were tensed as to what happened now.
'Kya hua?' Everyone asked together. They weren't able to understand why Tej was all of a sudden sounding so happy.
Tej smiled and removed the locket from his pocket and showed it.
No one understood the significance of the locket except Pitaji. He looked shockingly at the locket. He took the locket from Tej's hands and stared at it. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
'What is this Bhaiya?' Gyan asked.
'This...This is the chain that Pitaji had given Toasty.' He excitedly took the locket from Pitaji's hands and opened it and showed everyone the picture of him inside.
'Look, look. My picture is there.' He said happily.
'This...Where?...How?' Pitaji questioned, not able to understand.
'Woh Pitaji, I had gone to Samaya Nagar. When I was there, I heard someone speak across from the road. Pitaji, I know it is Toasty. It was her voice but I couldn't see her. The umbrella which she was carrying was hiding her face. I ran to see her but unfortunately a truck came in between and I got stuck. There was no way to move and by the time the truck left, she had also left. I looked around but all that I found was this locket on the ground.'
Whatever Tej said seemed absurd to them. It took some time for the Chaturvedi's for the reality to sink in.
'Does this mean that Toasty Bhabhi is alive?' Gyan asked innocently.
Tej smiled and nodded his head. Gyan ran towards Tej and hugged him tightly. Slowly, Pracheen, Ved Bhaiya and Pashu Bhaiya came and hugged Tej.
'Let's not get ourselves false hopes but what if the locket came from someone to whom Toasty had given it to before dying or probably Toasty sold it before dying?' Shobha spoke.
'If she had sold the locket then why would my picture still be there? Also, I know Toasty. She would never sell this or give it to anyone.' Tej spoke confidently.
Everyone nodded their head in agreement as they were aware of Toasty's character.
'But how do we find her? We don't even know where she lives.' Nitika asked.
'But we know that she lives somewhere. We will find her no matter what.' Tej replied.
'Wait a second, won't Toasty come back to get this locket? She will definitely come back to that place to get it na.' Pashu Bhaiya said.
'Arre haan. Fine then, first thing in the morning I will go there, to that shop.' Tej said.
'What 'I'? Fool, say 'We'.' Pitaji said.
'Kya?'
'All of us are going together to get back our Toasty.' Ved Bhaiya said.
'What are we still waiting for? Let's make the plan.' Pracheen said.
The whole family sat down and sketched out the entire plan. They divided themselves into groups so that they can search in all directions at Samaya Nagar. They decided to let Daddaji and Malti Bhabhi to stay back as someone is needed to take care of the child. They did a final run through of their plan before going to sleep. Tej was about to enter his room when he heard Daddaji call him.
'At least now will you talk to me?' Daddaji asked him pleadingly. Tej entered his room without giving any reply.
Daddaji wondered if Tej would ever forgive him. He was reminded of that day, it was the first time in his life that he had seen Tej being so angry.
'You knew Toasty was suffering from Brain Tumor and you didn't tell anyone? You didn't tell me also? How could you Daddaji? How could you?' Tej screamed in anger.
'I promised Toasty that I wouldn't tell anyone.' Daddaji said sadly.
'Promise? The woman who you treated like your own daughter was about to die and you were more worried about a promise? I'm sorry to say but I didn't expect this from a wise man like you, Daddaji.'
'Tej, I'm very very sorry.' Daddaji was almost in tears.
'If you would have told us abou it, we would have probably saved my wife's life. No. No. I'm never going to forgive you for this. I swear on my Toasty that I will never speak to you again in my life.'
'TEJ! Please don't give me such a huge punishment in the last stage of my life. Please.' Daddaji had completely broken down.
Ever since that day, Tej never spoke to Daddaji.
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'Dimple, I won't be able to drop you tomorrow. I have to go back to that market first thing in the morning as my locket fell there.'
'How long will you live like this Toasty?' Sudha asked abruptly.
'Mumma, There was a time when I didn't know whether I could live or not. I'm happy with whatever I have today.' Toasty smiled.
'Don't you love him?'
'Is this even a question?'
'Then what are you sitting and doing here?'
'Please don't start again. We have been through this.' Toasty got up and left the dinning table in anger.
'Sudha Lalit Kumar Sharma ji, what are you doing?' Lalit spoke.
'Kya hai? You are not even bothered about your daughter's life?'
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Like always, the Chaturvedi's were late in reaching Samaya Nagar. Everyone rushed to their planned places. Tej was supposed to be at the shop where he had found the locket.
As he reached the shop, he saw a woman in a saree making a right turn at the end of the lane.
'Toasty!' He screamed.
She immediately stopped on hearing the voice.
'Tej?'
She turned around and both of them looked at each other with complete shock.
Precap: If it was Toasty, where was she all these days? If she had Brain Tumor, how is she still alive? Why didn't she come to meet Tej or anyone in the family?
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