Fanaa- Until The End❤

.19.

Chapter-19
Confirming things.

"Are you sure?" She asked again.
"Di, I'm hundred percent sure. He was speaking about him having a crush on me to Dheeraj. I don't know how to respond. Aditya is a good friend of mine but I don't want to spoil it by taking any further step." Akshaya finally sighed.

Anjali looked at her wearily. When Anjali had gone out with Aarna to find her brother, she had told that there was something to talk about. After the pooja, the guests had retired to their respective houses. Akshaya, finally found the perfect time and cornered her sister. After ranting out the problem, she looked at her expectantly.

"So, you don't like him?" Anjali asked.
"No but-"
"So you do like him." She teased.
"Di! It's not that I don't. But, I don't want a relationship right now." Akshaya groaned.
"Why? Aren't you ready?" Anjali asked apalled. Her sister wasn't the one who backed down on relationships.

"I'm scared of commitments." She finally said after a brief pause. Anjali was totally taken aback.
"Are you kidding Akki?" Anjali questioned.
"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Akshaya snapped. She expected her sister to understand and help her. But her reluctance and interrogating behaviour irked her.

"Akshaya, why? Commitments are what that will carry on your life." She said.
"What if it turns out to be like Maa and Papa? What if it turns out to be like you and Rahul bhaiyya! What if I get destroyed by that relationship that had to strengthen me?" Akshaya said standing up. Instant regret swarmed her heart.

Anjali sat shook. The needed reality check tensed her. Her father, whom she was still angry on, had left the house even after her tantrums. She had cried and held on to him until her mother had locked her up in a room. She knew something bad would happen because of her gut feeling. To add the irritation, Rahul hadn't even showed up to play with her that day. And after a day, the police came to home with his dead body.

As events began to flash infront of her eyes, she swallowed the lump formed in her throat.

"Maybe, you will have problems like me and Rahul. But, you'll learn to deal with it, together. As for Maa and Papa, death is inevitable Akshaya. You couldn't have stopped Papa. Eventually, you'll end up where you need to be, doing what you should be doing, and the one who you're meant to be with. So stop being a coward and face it." She held her hand.

"I'm sorry." Akshaya said immediately and hugged her.
"I'm asking you again Di. Will you ever be able to forget what happened?" She asked.

A deep silence followed the question.

----------------------

The next morning

"Maa, how many more days do we have to continue medication?" Anjali asked Ranjani after her regular checkup about her mother.
"Just a week more beta. And then, she must have a sitting and then we can prescribe her lesser dosage." She smiled wrapping up the BP machine.

"Okay." Anjali said and just stood to leave the room.
"Anju? Beta is something bothering you?" Ranjani's question pained her. She had been hiding whatever happened that day from her. Not only her dear Ranjani Maa but everyone in the family.

"Maa, answer me honestly. Are you hiding something from me?" The question left Ranjani still for a second. All the possibilities of her knowing about Rahul's disease ran inside her head.
"Tell me Maa. What happened that day that caused Maa to have a heart attack?" She croaked.