Rudra squeezed the weird, quirky looking stress ball. It was a fat man. The man's ass expanded further through his tight pants when Rudra squeezed it. Rudra suppressed his giggles. His brother was surely going to hate it. So Rudra very obviously picked it in three different colours and went to the counter. With a charming smile, he told them, "Pack them please."
"Okay..." the girl nodded and got to work.
Rudra idly looked around the small gift shop. It felt weird to be there and buying gifts for Shivaay. But after he had heard about the panic attack Shivaay had last night, he really wanted to buy him funny things to keep his stress down. He was not sure if they would help or not but it was worth the try. Maybe he needed to buy more stuff. He decided to walk around the shop a little. Looking at various things, he walked towards the door a little. When he was checking out the hanging dreamcatchers, his gaze fell on a tall man roaming in the market. Rudra's heart skipped a beat. Just when he was about to raise an alarm, the tall man turned around the bend.
Hands shaking, Rudra called Bhavya. She picked up swiftly.
"Opposite Junta House, near Fidalgo. I think I saw Veer."
"What?" Bhavya gasped. "Okay copy. I am alerting my men. Try to follow him around."
"Yes. Stay on call..." Rudra mindlessly threw money on the counter, shoved the gift pack in his bag and set out after the man.
***********************************
"I saw Swetlana in my dream last night..." whispered Shivaay.
"Nightmare..." Pinky softly corrected him.
"Yeah. Nightmare..." he sighed drowsily. "She was in a downtrodden facility. Like...something strange. Like...a burned building."
Om waited for him to complete what he was saying. His words had not changed. "She was there with Anika. I was there too. They both accused me of killing innocent people."
A headache was blooming behind Om's eyes. She was sure that Anika's head was already pounding. Ever since he had woken up, Shivaay couldn't shut up saying that Swetlana had accused him of setting something on fire. Om didn't know how and why was Shivaay thinking about Swetlana. Maybe, Shivaay's hallucinations were really getting out of hand. But then again, if he thought of it objectively, setting something on fire reminded him of Kalyani Mills.
They anyway had an inkling that Swetlana had a strong link with Kalyani Mills. So he couldn't rule out Shivaay's dream as a mere hallucination either. Maybe Shivaay knew something more than them to begin with and now that information was unknowingly coming out as hallucinations.
"Shivaay..." Om tried to put the topic off. "It was just a nightmare. Now, why don't you do some exercises with me? Or let me give you a good leg massage. What say?"
"No..." Shivaay refused. His temper flared and he began to slur on his words. "Bloody listain to me! She saidth taath I killed Anika's fatherh!"
Anika exhaled noisily and helplessly looked at Pinky. As it was, it was a touchy topic for her. Seeing Shivaay repeat it again and again in his delirious state was not helping it one bit. Pinky silently assured her with her eyes.
"Okay fine," she said. "I believe you. But will you listen to me now? I have some news for you. Priyanka had called. She thinks that she might be expecting."
Both Om and Anika knew that Pinky was lying to divert Shivaay's attention. But Shivaay bought the lie. He gasped in shock. "What?"
"Yes!" Pinky grinned. "Come let's try calling her."
Then she purposely dialled Priyanka's old number to keep Shivaay engaged whilst she motioned Anika and Om to leave the room.
***********************************
"Did she say anything?" Om eyed the half-dead woman with unhidden disgust.
"She confessed that she and Veer wanted to destroy Shivaay and the Oberois. Because her father died in the Kalyani Mills fire..." said Bhavya.
"Lies. Bhavya went through all the old papers in the case. Even the officers from that time said that her father started the fire. Not our family..." Rudra told Om.
"Well," Om shrugged. "Small mercies. But even the officers could have been manipulated. Tej Singh Oberoi has that much power."
Bhavya sat on the chair. "Maybe he did. But then that still brings us to the same question and man. Veer."
"We almost had caught him today O!" Rudra angrily punched the wall. "He slipped away. He was in the market. I am thinking, he came to meet that chemist again. Which also means that he wanted to buy that poison again."
"We will find him soon. Don't get angry..." said Bhavya.
"I think we should also try to find Roop Bua. She will be the key to this mystery I feel..." suggested Rudra.
"Talking about mystery," Om laughed dryly. He picked up a piece of the sandwich and said, "Shivaay's hallucinations man. He was now telling me that he met Mom a few days ago."
"Mom?" Rudra raised his brows. "How? Last checked, she was in Mumbai and then Bhabhi wouldn't let her in the Hospital either."
"That's what. The meds have really messed up his head. He also said that Anika's father had nothing to do with that fire. I don't understand who is he talking about? Who is Anika's father? We don't even know that. What is his connection with the fire? I really have no idea..." ranted Om. "He randomly wakes up and says that Anika will leave him."
Rudra looked tired. He sat down on the ground beside Bhavya's chair. "I am worried about Bhaiya. Maybe we should have listened to Mom and shifted him to Mumbai's Hospital."
"Rudra, for the last time, we are not taking any help from that woman..." Om growled.
"It's useless to talk to you. Galat time pe you bring your ego him. Just like Bhaiya. If he wasn't hallucinating in that hospital bed, he would have sat with you and played this shit ego game..." Rudra grumbled.
"Shut up!" Om rebuked him. "I am capable enough to look after my brother. I don't need to beg in front of my mother."
"Beg?" Rudra laughed. "Are you serious? Have you lost it? I mean I haven't forgiven what she did to Bhaiya and Bhabhi and there will never be any forgiveness for that. But she is our mother for god's sake. One mistake does not negate the thousand good things she did. And by that measure, you shouldn't even talk with Pinky Ma. Neither Shivaay. Nor Bhabhi. Nor me. We all have done grave mistakes. Haven't we?"
"Neither of those mistakes landed a member of the family in a near death situation Rudra!" Om argued.
"Yaar, that wasn't her intention. Do you think thought of all this when she sent Shivaay Bhaiya away?" Rudra was frustrated. Then he abruptly turned towards Bhavya. "Bhavya, please explain this to him. He is beyond my capacity."
But Bhavya's eyes remained on the paperweight. Both Om and Rudra stopped bickering when they saw her contemplating something intensely. Rudra put a hand over a shoulder and she moved. "Huh? What?"
"What happened? What are you thinking?" asked Rudra. "Where are you lost?"
In a small voice, Bhavya thought of loud, "What if Shivaay Bhaiya is not hallucinating and actually telling the truth? What if Mom had actually paid him a visit? What if Anika Bhabhi's father actually had a connection with Kalyani Mills and died in the fire? What if she became an orphan because of that? What if Bhaiya knows this already? What if he has been hiding this from all of us because he fears that Anika Bhabhi might misunderstand this family, accuse us of killing her father and leave him? And now, under the effect of those drugs, Bhaiya is just speaking the truth but in a haphazard manner?"
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Happy Weekend!
