Wherever You Will Go

Part 3 - Back To You

***

If a great wave shall fall

and fall upon us all

Then I hope there's someone out there who

can bring me back to you

***

"Di, I really think he means it," Bulbul repeated for the third time, and Pragya could see that she was getting frustrated.

They had been Skyping for nearly an hour, but Pragya was no closer to being convinced of Bulbul's point.

"He came here and begged Maa's forgiveness on his knees, Di. He touched her feet and cried, and he wouldn't get up until she accepted his apology."

"Yes, you've already told me," Pragya said, feeling her patience wearing thin. "And I've told you. He was probably acting. He's great at that, trust me."

"Di, you didn't see him. He -"

"I don't need to see him to know he's up to something, Bulbul. Didn't I tell you how he point blank refused to send the divorce papers? And I haven't heard one word from him since that. So he came to the house and put on a show for Maa and Daadi. Surely he's just trying to get something."

"Yes, Di, a second chance with you! That's what he's trying to get. And you should give it to him."

"A second chance at what? We never had anything but a compromise, and that too was full of misunderstandings."

"Then think of it as a first chance! Di, he wants to have a real marriage with you. And I really think you should believe him, because he said it's all because of his Daadi."

"What do you mean, because of Daadi?"

"He told us that now he is ready to live life according to Daadi's terms, because he tried his own choice and his judgment was so wrong. He said he realizes now why Daadi picked you."

"Bulbul, I can't go back to him because of Daadi. It would just be another compromise -"

"Just give him one more chance Di. I'm sure it will work out this time."

***

Run away with my heart

Run away with my hope

Run away with my love

***

It had taken a lot of pleading and apologizing, but finally Abhi had convinced Auntyji to give him Pragya's address in Delhi. He knew he could have just called her on the phone, that she was waiting to hear back from him about the divorce, but he wanted to have this conversation in person.

He learned that there never had been a training course, but somehow Chashmish had indeed arranged a new job for herself in Delhi. He hoped she hadn't signed a binding contract or anything like that. It was going to be hard enough to convince her to come back without causing some kind of legal trouble with her new employer.

Abhi was determined to bring Pragya back home with him. It was the only thing that could make Daadi forgive him, and more than anything in his life, he needed Daadi to be happy with him again. He hated the amount of pain and disappointment he had caused her.

There was no way to erase all that, but he could still prove himself to be a good grandson. He would show Daadi that he had realized the extent of his mistakes, and that he wanted to do better from now on.

His biggest mistake had been not to trust Daadi in the first place. He'd been so focused on living his life the way he wanted to, he never seriously thought about how Daadi's wish to see him married to a sensible, sanskaari girl wasn't just pure traditionalism. Daadi had wanted him to settle down, and she'd wanted him to have a wife to take care of him, because that was what was best for him.

Abhi didn't like to admit it, but he now realized that maybe he did need taking care of. Or at least he needed someone with good judgment by his side, because he couldn't trust his own judgment anymore.

And Daadi had chosen Pragya, so Abhi was going to accept her.

He knew now that he had been wrong about her being a gold-digger, wrong about her trying to connect Purab and Bulbul, wrong about basically every single thing he'd ever thought about her. After Tanu's confession, a whole series of truths had come out, and Abhi had learned just how much  everyone had been hiding from him. He'd emerged from that earthquake of revelations completely shaken in his own confidence. The only thing he was sure of was that Daadi was the one person in the world who would never betray him.

So he was going to get her bahu back, and then he would get to know his wife for real. And he had to believe it wasn't too late to make things right.

***

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