Becoming Sweethearts [✓]

Part Fifteen

“Gauri!” Arvind Sharma gasped in horror as he saw his daughter getting out of the car that Omkara was driving. She had a couple of bandages wrapped around her palms, and around her knee. He remembered looking at her leaving the house in a pretty dark-blue dress. The Gauri that stood in front of him was in a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, that didn’t even belong to her. Her hair was messily tied up, quite in contrast to wavy-open hair that she’d styled while she left. What was even worse was she looked like she had got into a fistfight. Her bruised lip was now slightly purple, and the cut at the corner of her mouth had turned maroon. “What happened to her?” he looked at Omkara as he asked. Omkara nodded him in acknowledgment, as he helped Gauri to walk, saying, “Uncle, let’s talk inside.” Arvind, noticing that Gauri was limping, quickly held her by her side, and along with Omkara, he helped her walk inside.

Gauri was in for a shock when she entered her home and saw Ajinkya’s parents sitting in the living room, along with her mother and Paddy Maasi. “Gauri?” Shalini almost shrieked when she saw her daughter injured. “What happened to her?” she asked Arvind in panic, who looked as clueless as she did. “You had gone with Ajju, right?” Padmini stood up, keeping a keen eye on Omkara. She was never really fond of him, since Gauri and he stuck to each other all the time as if glued together. She always felt Omkara was the one behind Gauri’s refusal of every proposal that had come for her.

Gauri looked at Omkara with a hint of tears in her eyes at the mention of Ajinkya’s name. He looked at her and nodded, first making her sit down. “Can someone tell me what happened?” Shalini asked, and Rithika Agnihotri added with worry, “Your phone was not reachable; Ajju is also not picking the phone! Where is he? He’s fine, right?”

“He’s where he’s supposed to be. In the police station!” Omkara said with an expression of disgust. All five elders had an expression of shock plastered on their faces when they heard him say that. “What? Why have the police taken him? He doesn’t even drink and drive! How can the police take him without informing us!” Radheshyam Agnihotri said angrily and pulled out his phone, “Let me talk to the inspector and sort this out. Himmat kaise hui mere bachche ho haath bhi lagaane ki?” Gauri trembled, and Omkara sat next to her, with his arms around her, making everyone present there, except Arvind, to frown at him.

“Aapke laadle bachche ne kaand hi aisa kiya hai ke police ko usko uthake leke jana pada!” Rudra’s angry voice echoed from the doorway. Shivaay and Rudra walked into the house, creating all the more confusion on everyone’s faces. “Uthaake nahi, Rudy… ghaseetke le gaye uss laadle bachche ko!” Shivaay added in a vengeful tone. Arvind looked at Omkara, and standing in front of him, he asked in tears, as if he had anticipated his worst fear, “Kya kiya usne? Gauri ki yeh haalat kisne kiya?”

“Ajinkya Agnihotri ne, Papa!” Gauri said in an anguished roar. Looking up at her Papa, she cried, as she said, “Usne mere saath zabardasti kiya, Papa! He tried to rape me!” Shalini sat numbly on the couch with a soft thud, staring at Gauri in utter horror. Padmini’s hands flew to her mouth. “What nonsense are you talking? Mera beta aisa kar hi nahi sakta! Usko phasaya jaa raha hai,” Rithika Agnihotri almost shouted, while Radheshyam looked on in shock. “Nonsense nahi hai. It’s the truth.” Omkara said furiously as he held Gauri’s hand in his to show his support for her. Before Ajinkya’s parents could say anything in their son’s defense, Shivaay turned around and said to someone standing outside, “Can you come in, please?”

Everyone, including Gauri looked at the doorway. Omkara was surprised to see Suhani walk into the room. “Suhani?” he whispered her name, making Gauri realize who she was. She looked at Omkara with confusion in her eyes, and he silently nodded, confirming that she was the one whom he’d seen outside the pub when he’d met Ajinkya for the first time. As everyone looked on, confused at the woman walking into the hallway, Omkara stood up. “This is Suhani, whom Ajinkya seemed to be threatening outside a pub the night Gauri introduced me to him”