Chapter 24: Chapter 24

"Everyone thinks that a new place or a new identity will jump-start a new life."

"Sat Sri Akaal Ji. Ki haal hai? Mai todda Naye padosi aa (Hello Ji. How are you? I'm your new neighbour)," a tall man with a maroon turban and a little overgrown beard and moustache around his handsome face with spectacles on his eyes, greeted Ayushi who was now living in Ananya's house with one of Ananya's caretaker as Ananya was currently on her honeymoon trip to France with Keshav. She looked at him from head to toe, he was so tall, like all the Sikhs that she had encountered here in Chamba. But don't know why she felt a sudden connection to this man like she had met him before who was now standing in front of her and even she didn't know why.

He gestured towards the adjacent house which was vacant for so long. Ayushi sighed in relief when she saw that the adjacent house was being filled now, workers were carrying many boxes from the truck to the house. So, now there would be at least some people living beside her, as when Ananya was here, they two were the only one who used to live alone on this street as the other two houses adjacent to their house were vacant from so long, no one lived there but now finally some people came. Phew!

"Sat Sri Akaal," Ayushi greeted the man in front of her while joining her hands with a little worry clouding her features. She was always a little sceptical around strangers, but from her past experiences with men, she wanted nothing but to maintain a safe distance from them.

"I'm Veer Singh Brar. And you?" The man introduced himself politely, he was always smiling and he was looking so good while smiling. Ayushi thought inside her mind.

"I'm Ayushi, please come in," Ayushi ushered him inside and walked slowly while keeping her hand securely around her bulged out tummy.

"Please have a seat," she asked him with a smile and he sat there on the sofa with a soft thud.

"So, you came here with your family?".

"No no, my family is residing in Bh...Bhatinda. I came here alone as I was transferred from there. I work in a bank, and you?" he stuttered a little in the middle but later spoke out confidently.

"Oh! Nice to know. I work as a teacher," Ayushi replied with a smile, she remembered that in an hour her classes would start and her adorable and studious students would eventually rush in.

"What would you like to have?" Ayushi asked him while standing up from her seat, she forgot that she needed to serve him at least a glass of water. How irresponsible of her! She scolded herself.

"Oh no no! Please sit. I'm good. In this state, you should rest more. Seriously. You're in which month?" Veer held Ayushi's hand and they both felt an electric spark where their hands touched each other. He made her sit down and sat at a distance.

Ayushi was still in shock of what she felt when he touched her. But not thinking much about it, she answered him in a polite tone. She had started to feel something for him. But she knew this time that whenever she had listened to her heart, it had always left her into shreds. All the three men that she had spent some of her time with, all were jerks. She couldn't take any more pain and suffering in her life.

"You live here alone?" Veer asked her in a worried tone because for a pregnant woman, it is not safe to live alone.

"No, no. One of my friends lives here too but currently, she is married and so has gone to her honeymoon but a caretaker is there to live with me. She has gone to the nearby market to buy some necessities, and must be coming anytime soon," Ayushi replied while folding the clothes which were placed on the settee. She didn't like things to be scattered like this. She was a neat freak.

Veer just smiled at the work she was doing and relaxed more on the sofa, he didn't want to go away from here.

"So, where is your husband?" he asked that one question that Ayushi always faced whenever someone new met her for the first time. The cloth from her hand fell.

"I'm a divorcee," she replied in a weak tone, tears started flowing from her eyes remembering that night when Dhruv, her ex-husband had thrown her out like some garbage.

"Oh! I'm sorry to ask like that," Veer spoke out in a sad tone, looking sadly at the beautiful woman who deserved anything but divorce. Her tears were piercing his heart too. He didn't like seeing her cry like this. He lifted the cloth that had fallen and gave it back to her.

"No, it's okay. I'm all fine now, away from that toxic relationship. I am happier now," she smiled at him brightly wiping her tears off and Veer just looked at her in a daze. How easily she said all this!

He smiled back at her and stood up from the sofa.

"I think I should go now, I need to even set all the articles properly, I mean I need to give instructions to them, right? Will meet you again, take care," he immediately rushed out of the house and even Ayushi looked at his back when he went away so suddenly, she wondered what happened to him.

"Bye," she bid him bye and got engaged in folding those clothes again.

But there, on the other hand, Veer also known as Dhruv was busy wiping his wet eyes after taking out his spectacles, after what he heard from his wife. He knew that she now hated him, she will never forgive him for what he did to her and she'll never come back in his life again.

"I'm so sorry Ayushi, hell my sin is so big that no matter how much sorry I say to you, how much forgiveness I ask from you, you cannot make yourself ready to forgive me. I did the grave sin, and I'm dying every day, Ayushi, that why I did all those things with you! Why I trusted Chandani! Why I always neglected you like a plague! Why I didn't trust you when I saw that morphed video! I'm so sorry," unknowingly he had walked into the dense forests of Chamba, his agony, his repentance, his regret, everything was just making him die from inside.

But the howl of a wild dog from afar got his attention and then he looked at his surroundings. He found himself in the densest part of the forest.

"Damn," he cursed loudly and retraced his footsteps back to the house that he saw on the slightly wet soil as it had rained a little in the morning.

"I'm going to win your trust Ayushi. This time, I'll not disappoint you, it's my promise," he went inside his house after glancing at Ayushi's house for a few seconds.

He remembered what happened that night which drastically changed his monotonous and painful life.

****

Kaise mujhe tum mil gayi, kismat pe aaye naa yakeen

Utar aayi jheel mein, jaise chaand utarta hai

Dhruv was astounded as well as amazed when he saw Ayushi whom he was trying to find for so long, whom his heart wanted to see for so long, whom his soul wanted to meet for so long. He felt that his purpose for life was completed when he saw her.

He couldn't believe his eyes so he pinched himself and even rubbed his eyes, but even after that, he saw Ayushi who was smiling so brightly, dressed in a beautiful orange coloured lehenga, her skin looking as radiant as ever, like a full moon night she was gleaming; her baby bump was so big that even Dhruv had to count that was she in her eighth month or what! But even his calculations told him that she was just five months pregnant and not eight.

But then he saw Chandani's father talking with her. He wanted nothing but to strangle him to death. He moved away from that place and got near his PA who was busy talking with his wife on video calls outside the wedding venue. He commanded him to somehow distract that old man from his wife as he needed to make some urgent calls. His PA looked at Dhruv in shock, not believing that finally his boss's wife had been found out. He rushed inside the wedding venue and saw Ayushi. Even he too was scared to go near her, as Dhruv had strictly ordered him not to show his face to her.

The PA eventually called one of his female friends whom he saw by chance at the wedding and asked her to sit beside Ayushi for some time as she was not known to all persons here. His friend obliged and without any questions, gave the company to Ayushi without telling her anything about Raghav. Chandani's father eventually went away after he saw Ayushi engaged in talking with a new girl. Dhruv sighed in relief when his PA informed him about it. Finally, that Bastard of a man went away from his wife.

He got near to where his car was parked and called his private investigators to search about Ayushi and Ananya's whereabouts whose name he had got from the wedding invitation he had gotten earlier, that where they live, and from when. He wanted to know everything about them. And after one hour or so, he finally got the information that he wanted so badly.

As Chamba was not a very big town, so it was very easy to find someone here. And he found everything about them in a very short time. And fortunately, he found a vacant house adjacent just to the house where Ayushi lived. That night only he had gotten to that place to check the locality where he was going to live for the upcoming months as even his grand hotel was to be built which was to happen in none other than the charismatic Chamba, the paradise of Earth.

This time everything was in his favour, and he just wanted one more favour. The favour of Ayushi to come back in his life again and make his life complete, his family complete with her and their babies.

But what made him more ecstatic was the news of his wife carrying twins inside her womb. He was dancing in happiness, joy, and thrill when he heard that. All these things happened that night. He bought the house as the owner was ready to sell this house at the high price that Dhruv was ready to pay to him. Legal procedures took nearly three days for the house to be named under Dhruv's name and after three days, finally, he had arrived at that house. Dhruv wanted nothing but to somehow be with Ayushi and a mind-blowing plan struck his mind.

He changed his looks like a Sikh. Wearing a turban on his head, little overgrown moustache and beard adorning his chiselled jaw and a silver and a little wide bangle on his wrist, making him look like a true Sikh. And to be more sure, he wore spectacles around his eyes, giving no chance to Ayushi to identify him as her husband Dhruv. The overgrown beard had automatically changed his voice a lot and with manual efforts too, Dhruv had changed his voice. And about his tall height, it was a very natural thing among Sikhs to be tall, as Ayushi had encountered many tall Sikhs, in her stay here in Chamba so she really couldn't identify him that it was her husband Dhruv.

Dhruv had tried this look firstly in front of his PA but even he too couldn't recognize him, so that was a green signal to his plan, and eventually he met Ayushi using these props. He didn't want to upset her, to make her feel agonized again, that was the reason why he changed his looks to a completely new look. He wanted to take care of her, to be near her but not as Dhruv but as Veer, who would eventually propose to her later.

And about his family back in Bhopal, even they knew that Dhruv was busy in the hotel that was to be built in Chamba so didn't ask him any questions about his sudden idea for living in Chamba, also they were too angry on him to ask him anything. Dhiraj was still trying to search Ayushi but every time bad luck was greeting him. But what he didn't know was that even his private investigators had got to know where their master's daughter was, but Dhruv had compelled them to stay quiet. He first wanted to win Ayushi's trust and then her love, only he'd take her with him to Bhopal.

His only plan was to make Ayushi trust him, although as Veer he wanted to gain her trust, he wanted to make her fall in love with him. He wanted to give her all the love, care, affection that he couldn't give her as Dhruv. He was regretful but he was determined too. He wanted to give her all the happiness that she deserved, all the joys that she had missed.

****

"Ananya, I love her. I don't care whether it's my child or someone else, but I love her, and I promise, I'll always keep her safe and I'll give my name to her babies. I'll give them all the happiness of this world, but please believe me," Veer was trying to make Ananya understand how he felt towards Ayushi but Ananya was stubborn.

She didn't want Ayushi to be hurt again by another man in her life although she too wanted Ayushi to move on in her life with a good man. She had known Veer from the past three months now and yes now Ayushi was eight months pregnant. From how much she had known Veer, he was a good man, a very religious and a helpful person too. And she liked how he used to take care of Ayushi and her sudden cravings for different foods at even midnight like a lovely husband does for his wife.

"But even if you know about her past Veer, she'll never agree for this relationship. She had three failed relationships and each one of those bastards was worse than before. I don't think she'll ever say yes for this," Ananya trusted Veer but she knew her best friend very well, she won't allow any man to enter her life again.

"Then let me be the way I am. Let me just take care of her, let me just pamper her without any words shared. Let our love be unsaid but please don't shift her back to your house. Let her live here. I'll take care of her if that's your concern," he spoke out solemnly.

When Ananya along with Keshav returned from their honeymoon, she used to live with Ayushi and not in her in-laws' house and this continued for about three months.

Even Keshav used to live there for taking care of Ayushi but recently Ananya's mother-in-law had been so much angry on her that she was compelled to leave her house and go to her in-law's house, and that's why she wanted to take Ayushi too with her in her in-law's house but neither Ayushi was ready nor Veer. Ayushi thought that it'd be too awkward and bad to live in your own best friend's in-laws house. And about Veer, well he wanted to keep Ayushi in front of him, never wanting to let her go away from his eyes.

"If my in-laws have not been that much angry and rude to my parents, I'd have lived here with Ayushi. But alas, they want me to live in their house. This society and its rules. Even Keshav isn't with me now," Ananya sighed out in frustration, looking at the innocent face of Ayushi who was sleeping so calmly on her bed in the afternoon.

"Trust me Ananya. I can take care of her well. I love her and I love her babies more. I'll be there with her, trust me," Veer nearly begged Ananya to let him take care of Ayushi.

"Okay, Veerji. (It also means big brother in Punjabi) I'm giving my Ayushi's hands in yours but you dare to even cause harm to her, then get ready to be killed by me," Ananya warned him using her fake serious tone, and eventually hugged him. She had always seen him as her big brother. He was a gentleman and she loved how he used to treat her best friend.

Every time Ayushi would ask for something, Veer would eventually leave his work whatever he might be doing, and would go to the market to get the thing his love had asked him to bring. And no doubt he was enjoying all this because it was giving him the happiness of a true husband that he was to Ayushi.

He would take care of Ayushi after evening as in the morning he used to be in his office. In the morning, Ananya used to be there with Ayushi, taking good care of her. As she was preparing for some competitive exams, she had eventually left her job. She'd take care of Ayushi too as well as her studies too.

Ayushi had been grateful to God for giving her best friends like Ananya, Keshav, and Veer. They were the best of friends anyone would get. They had supported her, tolerated her tantrums, loved her, pampered her, and whatnot. She couldn't ask for more.

But what they didn't know was today only in the ultrasound scan, Ayushi found out that she was not carrying twins but triplets! She was shocked would be an understatement.

~**•**~

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