Hai Tujhe Bhi Izazat

Chapter 28: During the holidays

When we are away from our family, in another city we miss them terribly. Homemade food, our parents, our siblings, everything about them. And when we are at our home, we miss our friends, our freedom, our privacy. This is the case with everyone. And all the soon-to-be doctors were going through the same.

Aaradhya was very happy that she was back but she missed her friends terribly. She was regularly in contact with Tanu and Teena through calls but not with the boys. She just replied to their messages a few times. She was afraid that if someone caught her it would be a big drama.

She was making tea when Tanu called. She put the phone on speaker and continued her work.

"Abhi was asking about you," Tanu said after talking about some random topics.

Aaradhya quickly grabbed the phone switched off the speaker mode and continued talking. But unknown to her someone heard Tanu and saw the panicked expression of Aaradhya after that. Anjali, her mother. She knows her daughter. She would never do anything that would affect the family's pride. She trusts her. But she has to talk about this boy. They all are young. It's common to get distracted at this age. But her daughter cannot afford this distraction.

If her father, Aditya, comes to know anything about it, he will stop her studies and make her sit at home. Her mother has witnessed this happening with her sister-in-law, Rekha. She wanted to marry someone from her class and Aditya got to know about this from god knows where. Rekha was locked in a room for days before she was married to a rich and reputed family. She completed her studies after the marriage. She is happy in her life, now. Or she pretends to be. But Anjali would never let this happen to her daughter. Never. She will stop Aaradhya before she does anything to destroy her life.

"Thank you," Anjali said as Aaradhya kept a cup of tea in front of her.

"Aaradhya, will you answer me something honestly," she asked after some time.

"Yes, Ma. What happened?" Aaradhya answered. Though she looked calm, her face was turning pale. Does her mother know something about her and Abhi? She never asked such questions to her. What was wrong?

"Who is this Abhi?" Anjali asked. Her daughter's face turned pale. Her fear was right.

"Ab... Abhi? He... He is just a cl... classmate," she answered stammering.

"Only a classmate? Not more than that, right?" Anjali asked.

"Ye. Yes. Why are you asking about him, suddenly?" Aaradhya asked.

"Look Aaradhya, I trust you. I trust you more than anyone. But you know the principles of this family. Your father loves you a lot. He can die for you but he can kill you too, if it's a matter of pride of the family. You are the most sensible among all the other children of this house. Don't do anything that will affect you and your siblings." her mother said gently.

"I'll keep that in mind," Aaradhya said not meeting her eyes.

"I know you will. We trust you, Aaradhya. Just don't break it, ever, " her mother said.

Aaradhya nodded, collected the cups and went to the kitchen to keep them in the sink. After that, she went to the terrace and that's when she allowed her tears to fall. She cried and cried till she felt no more tears coming.

What was she doing? How did she let her emotions overcome her this much? Living in Varanasi away from the family may have changed her in many ways but her family was still the same. What was she even thinking? She needed to talk to someone. So, she dialled the number of the person who always had the solutions to all her problems from her childhood, Siya, her best friend.

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"So what's so special about this girl? She looks very normal to me," Pritam asked after Abhi showed her Aaradhya's pictures and told her everything about her.