U̶N̶C̶O̶N̶D̶I̶T̶I̶O̶N̶A̶̶L

◀ AGAIN ▶

                    ______❣______

It had been a while and neither matchmaking nor the Singhania's came as the subject of talks in Sharma house. Bani was sure that as she proclaimed, things would have settled by now and henceforth she didn't have to fret about it. All this time she was fully set to know about the school photograph she had, to begin with, she started searching for the school whereabouts then contacting the school authorities through various platforms, and despite all these attempts, she would find herself back to square one, as no one would know who she is. It felt as if she's moving in circles.

●◍●◍●

Life is hard when you cannot trust others, but harder when you cannot trust your own mind. Slipping into sleep slumber(which in itself is a task for her) each time with a fear that the next moment she wakes up, she would be 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘬...𝘷𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵 ...𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺, devoid of the leftover traces of memory she had, is beyond scary.

◗ 　◗ 　◗ 　

Aisha Singhania, beloved wife of Balwant had lost her life due to a chronic illness when Veeranshu was just 7, which was later followed by the death of Pawan who was Balwant's younger brother and his wife Ruchika in a plane crash. All these subsequent events left Balwant devastated. He somehow managed to muster up some courage as he knew, he had to look after Daksh and Ponky, along with his kids as they were now left with no one besides him. After much probing, he decided to hide it from the kids as they were too young to bear another loss.

• ° • ° •

Taking the advantage of his vulnerability, the rivals of the Singhania's planned an attack on him to make the most of the situation. In the combat which he sustained some injuries, only because of 'Advait', a trusted confidant who took the shot that was aimed at him. Balwant was shaken to witness him, sacrifice his life for him.
Once he was done with recovering, all up to reach out to Advait's family, as he knew them personally, considering the close bond their family shared, as Advait was a shifter cheel himself. After days of searching, he found 'Swati'(Advait's wife) with her kid living in abandonment drowned in the grief of widowhood.
• ◎ • ◎ •

Bearing in mind the pitfalls and consequences they could be subjected to suffer if left alone, he brought them to Singhania mansion, after spending hours convincing her. After all that Advait had done for him, the bare minimum he could do is to ensure his family has a safe and secured future. Being familiar with each other, the kids got along really well, and they began to look after them together. Later, they mutually decided to apply for court marriage just for namesake so that neither they nor the kids get exposed to face any sort of questioning.
Balwant never cared to explain his decision, Veeranshu never bothered to understand which led to the strife between the two.

◗ 　◖◗ 　◖

As Veeranshu took his time to let all the happenings sink in, only to realise what he considered as a bane is a boon in disguise. Not only it would get him what he strived, for years but also would earn him a great drill for his dad to mess with him. He was now all primed up to be the part of the game his dad had pulled him into, to show him how it's actually played.

●○●○●○

Bani was pacing back and forth in her room discussing the ongoing project that would soon be wrapped, with the teammates, on a phone call. Along with the 'Chief' giving them insights on the new venture their firm was up for, emphasizing the fact that their role in it will be based on their performance in the ongoing project. Bani had skipped her dinner to briefing her project. To her, work was something that had kept her sane and was very passionate about. As she was done with the call, turning to see Mrs Sharma(Pallavi) standing at the doorway. Bani stood rooted, tapped her feet on the floor to check if this is for real or a mind bluff. The fact that she could not even recall the last time she came into her room, as she never had, always maintaining a perpetual aloofness from her. As the things got registered in her mind, Bani started clearing up her messy bed which was full of scattered pages and flies with a half flung laptop, mentally cursing herself for being soo careless that now she had to see all this. Pallavi came in and sat on the edge of the bed, in engulfed silence, her gaze shifting from one thing to another present in the room. Even Bani didn't utter a word fearing it would mess with her frame of mind. She couldn't stop being nostalgic, 'it would be a lie to say she never craved for this, she always did, as a kid she would make desperate attempts to fit in her zone, only to realise in her teens how wrong it was on soo many levels, after all, that she had done for her, she just cannot ask for more, the least she could do is not to intrude her space. Mr Sharma always insisted her on calling him 'Papa' which she did, but in a lash out when Pallavi rebuked that she doesn't like being associated with her in any form, it always has been 'Mrs. Sharma' since then, that's how she addresses her. Breaking the silence, Mrs Sharma spoke,
"𝘛𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢'𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘝𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸".
Hearing this, Bani was thunderstruck. Pallavi resumed "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵....𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥". Pinching the bridge of her nose, she asked "𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘪 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦"
Of course, she knew, after the great revelation Meera Di made on her wedding day while leaving' Bani reasoned.
'𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 ,𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵'.𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦"
.Bani couldn't help brooding over it, 'So, she thinks that her purpose of life is to marry a stranger', refraining her urge to express her disagreement, only to let Mrs Sharma pour her frustration out..
"𝘐𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 '𝘗𝘢𝘱𝘢'...𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘶𝘴...𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦", saying this she barged out of the room, leaving Bani alone with her thoughts. Though she had expected a reaction from her considering her inclination towards the Singhania's from the day they met but not to be this intense. Thinking of the motive behind her visit, the one she had always longed for, was only to push her miles away, made her more gloomy.

° • ° • °

Lost in her thoughts she made her way towards her balcony... to meditate, a pattern she would follow to get a sound sleep, which was a distant dream. But, right now to calm her mind, which was engulfed in a surge of emotions. Once she got a hold of herself, she made her mind. She needed ANSWERS. She has to know the reason..that despite being soo vocal, which part of it couldn't get through his thick skull to pull up such an act of insanity. Getting all geared up to meet him yet... AGAIN.

          

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