To be or not to be-completed(epilogue) - Page 11

Originally posted by: themasked

Part twenty nine

Ekam froze as she felt the cold steel touch her skin.Her heart stilled and she broke into a cold sweat, fear seizing her.Her arm hurt where he had gripped it tightly.She winced in pain as he started dragging her back into the house.Mummy looked scared and furious in contrary to the atmosphere of calm she usually exuded.Kiara di looked murderous and was clearly thinking of ways to rescue her but she knew every was futile.She would die in this abandoned mansion tonight.But she wouldn't have any regrets if it meant saving her family.

He led her to the roof over the pool,which was made of glass;one wrong step and they'd plummet to their deaths.Her mother and had followed them and she was terrified for their safety.

"Don't you dare think of escaping,"he hissed into her ear. "If I have to go, I'll bring you down with me.You are mine now.I will let you go if your mother comes to me willingly along with Veer."

At that point Ekam realised something horrifying.The man knew her mother would gladly sacrifice herself for them.The only reason he hadn't told her of his condition was that he wanted to you with Ekam's feelings and see if her desire for survival outranked the love she held for her family.She wouldn't bend,she told herself.Yashraj Baweja had to be brought down and if it meant killing herself so be it.She would willingly sacrifice herself if it meant her parents and paaji could live peacefully,if it meant her di could finally be free of the binds that shackled her to this mess of a family.

"Sorry mummy,"she whispered.Her mother saw her lips move 'her eyes widened in fear and she leapt forward to stop her even as Ekam grabbed hold of the knife and twisted it around,flailing ,kicking and screaming.She managed to drive the knife into his neck,narrowly missing his jugular.He screamed and clawed at her face,the marks drawing blood.Someone pushed her away into di's arms ;it was her mummy.

"Mummy!"she screamed as Yashraj tackled her mother. Both of them fell and crashed through the glass ,falling over fifty metres into the pool below.She and di gathered over the broken edge and peered into the void below.The pristine blue of the pool was now marred by scarlet streaks.Ekam started screaming as the colour morphed into a darker shade of maroon. Di dragged her off the roof and both of them ran towards the pool frantically.

"Mami!Mami!"yelled Kiara ,ready to jump into the water.

There was chaos behind them and they turned to find Jaspal,Inder,Veer and Angad bearing down on them.

"Papa!"Ekam cried and ran into her father's arms,sobbing inconsolably.Veer paaji was by her side in a second.

"Ekam, where's mummy?"he asked her calmly,his eyes glinting dangerously.

She refused to look at him,burying her head in her father's coat, clinging to him.

"Jaspal...."said her uncle faintly,pointing a shaking finger towards the pool.

Her paaji turned pale in horror and ran towards the edge.There were still bits of glass floating on the surface.

"Angad,Paaji,I need you to take the girls home as soon as possible.And please get a doctor to check them as well."her father said in a collected manner,gently unclasping Ekam's hold on him.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"Di thundered.

Angad paaji sighed and tried,

"Kiara,Ekam, you're not supposed to be here.In fact if Ekam had not been so bull headed and listened to Sahiba....."

"Will you just stop it?"shouted Veer paaji."Can you stop making every problem Sahiba's fault?Yes,I get that you didn't want to marry her but is it too much to ask for basic human decency?And remember this,had it not been for Sahiba,Ekam would've suffered."

"But why didn't she confide in me from the beginning?"

"Because you would have taken Yashraj uncle's side?"

Whispered Ekam

"Yashraj?"Paaji looked livid.

"Seems Ekam told Parjaai everything except the identity of her attacker."said Paaji grimly.

Di looked at her hurt.Ekam hung her head in shame.

SPLASH!!!!

Her papa had dived into the water.For ten long seconds,the surface of the water was still before he resurfaced,holding mummy in his arms.He was badly cut up and needed Di and paaji to pull him out.

"Angad,as heinous as Yashraj is,he is Jasleen's husband and this could reflect badly on us.Perhaps we should try pulling him out as well."muttered her uncle.

Angad paaji nodded and called an ambulance.They arrived in ten minutes.Ekam tearfully watched her parents being loaded on to stretchers while her paaji refused to let go of her and Kiara.

"I'm sorry you both.I wish I had been a better brother.I nearly lost all the women I love today."

Di simply hugged him.

"Let's go home."

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One week later

Brar mansion was in shambles.The police had pulled out Yashraj's body from the pool and raised his property.While Kiara wasn't privy to the details,she knew it had done irreparable damage to the Brar brand.To her shock,her mother still grieved for her husband despite his crimes and Garry had eloped with Seerat, again,leaving her to deal with the fallout as usual.She surprisingly didn't feel angry.She was glad that he had finally found his happiness away from this mess which wasn't even theirs to clean up.The most heartbreaking development had been bebe's death.The doctors had finally declared her brain dead and her daarji,in one final act of mercy had agreed to take her off the ventilator,finally setting her free.

Daarji no longer talked and joked around,either barricading himself in his room amongst Bebe's memories or sitting by mami's side in the hospital.She wasn't very surprised.After all,he did love mami the most ,only after bebe,in the truest sense, unconditionally and unselfishly.Jaspal mamu had devoted himself to looking after Ekam,Veer and shockingly her and Sahiba,trusting his father for the first time to look after his love while he tried to hold everything together.Angad had meanwhile taken over as the head of the household but was in Kiara's opinion,the most miserable.

And he deserved it,she thought savagely.Sure,daarji had conditioned him to become a misogynist and classist prick,but it didn't excuse the fact that he was a fully grown man with a working brain of his own.Sahiba had finally agreed to divorce him and pursue her dream of becoming an artist provided Kiara agreed to study with her.If things went well,the two of them could join the autumn semester in one of Vienna's most prestigious art colleges.

Till then,all of them needed extensive therapy to overcome everything they'd been put through.But for the first time,she didn't feel lonely at all.She'd pull through this time,and perhaps her art would flourish as well.

I'm glad nothing happened to gurleen, my heart dropped 😩

Thank goodness Sahiba divorced Angad and she and kiara can now pursue their dreams 😄

What a whirlwind of a chapter 😊

PS: Is this the last chapter???

The Chapter was captivating.

And sahiba finally decided to divorce angad ❤️🥹

I feel for Daarji. I miss bebe 🥺

It seems like it might be the final chapter, which saddens me.

Please continue your story , if possible make a part 2 .... 😁🥹

But seriously your stories truly captivate me..

This is the final chapter. There will hower be an epilogue and that will conclude this story.

Epilogue

Five years later........

"Hello paaji"Ekam chimed and hugged her brother."Glad you could make it."

Veer smiled back endearingly,ruffling her hair.The truth of his parentage coupled with the news of their parents' divorce had broken him.It had taken extensive counselling and and his music to get him back on track.Ekam herself was much better.While the nightmares refused to stop,she found herself coping better with the PTSD.She no longer obsessively looked over her shoulder every single day and she no longer stalked her mother in fear of her safety.

"It's not everyday that you get to see your mummy presenting her thesis on an international stage."he said,nodding towards a giant banner.

"The international conclave of Astronomers,Vienna"

There were even pictures of all the speakers and her paaji proudly pointed towards their mother's.

"Come on paaji.The conference is about to start.We need to get to our seats quickly.Di and Sahiba will be waiting for us."

When they got in,they were surprised to see an addition to their party.

"I thought you said,you wouldn't be coming ."remarked Ekam with a mischievous smile.

Akaal Singh Brar nervously shifted in his seat.

"I was bored."

Paaji rolled his eyes and plopped down in his seat.Soon Kiara and Sahiba joined them and there were plenty of laughter and giggles.Amidst the chaos,Ekam noticed her daarji fixated on a single person right at the front of the auditorium where the delegates had gathered.

"Daarji, it's alright.Mummy will be perfectly alright."

"I thought she was perfectly safe with us in Brar mansion.Look at what happened to her,you,Kiara and my Jabjyot.I cannot let it repeat itself."

"Daarji, whatever happened is not in your control.Wgat matters is that you believed us and comforted us upon knowing the truth .You didn't ostracize any of us."

The aftermath of the Yashraj incident had affected daarji as well.Unable to live in Brar mansion without bebe he had moved to Bangalore to be with mummy who had gotten a job at ISRO post her divorce.Ekam too had followed them while her Papa had elected to move to Vienna with Veer paaji to be near Kiara and Sahiba.While the separation was painful at first,it had helped her family immensely.Mummy had finally been relieved of her triggers in Brar mansion and put her past to rest while Veer paaji learned to deal with his anger and guilt without taking it out on mummy.

Papa himself had his own share of guilt to deal with.While she and her brother regularly talked to each other and even visited their parents,her mummy and papa hadn't spoken to each other once.This was the first time they were in the same room in the five years that had lapsed.While Ekam had hope her Papa would attend the conference,her paaji had confided in her that it would be too painful for him to do so.While disappointed,she respected his feelings .

A sudden hush fell over the room and the conference started.Beside her,di squeezed her hand,a source of comfort and consolation even as she looked around for papa.She and her di had grown apart as well,owing to their busy schedules,her di as an artist and her as a writer.Hopefully things would fall back into place.As she crossed her fingers,she heard the door open quietly behind them and she spotted a familiar looking pagg.Grinning at him,she settled back into her seat while Jaspal Singh Brar dropped into the seat beside her,taking hold of her other hand.

Before long,the room broke into a quiet smattering of applause as Gurleen Kaur Brar walked on stage to present her thesis.Ekam heard a sharp intake of breath next to her as her father looked at her mother for the first time in half a decade.She smiled to herself and listened to her mother wax poetry about the stars she loved so much,her eyes only for one person in the crowd.

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

Gurleen smiled as she watched her children and nieces drag their grandfather for an ice cream, his protests drowned out by their laughter.She was finally at peace,she realised,no longer scared ,just content.She inhaled the cool night air and trudged back to her hotel room only to find the door ajar.Frowning,she stepped inside to find a familiar silhoutte standing on the balcony.Heart beating wildly,she locked the door behind her and slowly walked towards him,her eyes unblinking,scared he'd disappear like a mirage.As she reached out to touch him,he turned and her hand froze midair.

He brushed his fingers against hers and stepped closer.As he caressed her cheek,a lone tear slipped out of the corner of her eye.He froze and pulled back,as if fearing he'd hurt her.Frowning at the loss of contact,she stepped forward and hugged him.It was his turn to freeze and he hugged her back after ten long seconds,prompting her to only hold on tighter.When he finally found his voice,it was choked with tears.

"It took jumping into a pool of glass and divorcing you to make you finally hug me."

She smiled through her own tears.

"No one asked you to jump into the pool,you could've waited for the emergency services.They were only a minute away.Besides,you were the one who was insistent on the divorce."

"How could I stay put when I knew you were hurting down there?And as for the divorce,I thought you'd be happier."

"When has breaking your heart made me happy?"

"My heart broke the day I realised things could never be alright between us.And the break became irreparable when I got to know the truth.I can never forgive myself for what happened to you and the girls.And I can never forgive myself for keeping you with me as you cowered in fear."

"But how could you've known when I took such great pains to hide the truth from you?"

"Because I was your husband.You should have felt safe with me."

"But I did,atleast subconsciously.I did consent to have a child with you. Didn't I?"

"Because you were forced."

She pulled away in annoyance.

"No!It was because I was already in love with you!"

Her eyes widened at what she'd implied.He looked shell shocked at her declaration.

"Why?"

"What on earth is wrong with you?First you were sad that I didn't love you and now you're sad that I actually love you."

He shook his head as if to clear it.

"I don't understand anything."

"Look here and listen to me carefully.You are a good man,a man I was fortunate enough to be married to.In fact you're such a great man,that when I thought you were my rapist,I could still trust you.You respect me,respect my boundaries and love me and our children unconditionally.You knew Veer wasn't your son,yet you love him as if he were your own.How can I not like love you?"

He looked at her stupefied.Decidedly as annoyed as ever ,she started walking away when he pulled her back straight into his arms.

"You have no idea how long I've waited for you to hold you freely, without any fear of hurting you."

Her only response was to hold on to him tighter.They slowly sank to the ground,never letting go.

"I missed you a lot."

These five words made her cry a waterfall and he gently stroked her head even as tears streamed down his own cheek.

"Forgive me for not coming sooner."

And they stayed still beneath the moonlight and stars.

I absolutely loved your story!!

Will you be writing more?

Thank you for your beautiful reviews and feedback.This story is complete now,with the epilogue being the final update.I'm glad you enjoyed the story.

Awhhhhhjh the story was so cute 😍

I love how you Dove deep into the past of the characters and how you expressed their emotions,you had an explanation and had a background story for all the characters 👏

I hope you write more story's (Manifesting a Sahan Story)