Vodka on the rocks

Part - 3 | Homecoming

Home is where your heart is

Therefore, home is not a place

It is but a person...

****

Pallavi laughed uninhibitedly for what seemed like the first time after seven years. Amrutha slapped her forehead seeing her son's antics which seemed to set off her sister into squealing laughs within breathless seconds.

"He is so cute yaar..."

Pallavi said cuddling the infant close while Amrutha sat down beside Nikhil who had been filming the entire episode. You would be able to hear the chatter coming from the kitchen if you heard closely enough as the familiar aromas of Pallavi's favourite Maharashtrian cuisine pervaded the air of a home suddenly filled with exuberance it had seldom seen in the past decade.

The Deshmukh Nivas seemed to have lost most of it's warmth as both Pallavi and Amrutha had stepped out of its confines, to find their own wings. Sharda mostly lived in a limbo, going about her day to day routine like a machine as her relation with her husband deteriorated as moments passed. Milind had cut off from them almost completely and Sharda couldn't blame him. Vijay Deshmukh had become intolerable to reason with, live with...

Then all that happened with Pallavi had triggered him to solidify his immense hatred against Raghav even as secretly Sharda couldn't seem to the digest the fact which was bared even after so many years. Still, in some corner of her heart she refused to believe that Raghav could have cheated on Pallavi, intoxicated or not..

"Where is Farhad, Ammu?"

Pallavi asked and Amrutha rolled her eyes.

"Working. What do you think? This man could work like a bloody robot! No need for rest or food or sleep... nhi, woh sab toh hum tuchh manushyo keliye hain.."

Pallavi laughed.

"Did you even tell him that I am here..?"

She asked and in the naughty twinkle in her eyes, she understood. She was frankly a bit nervous how Farhad would react seeing her after such a long time. Somewhere deep in her heart, she had always believed that however much Farhad loved and supported her, he had always been his Anna's man. Maybe her decision to leave Raghav might have hurt Farhad somewhere whether he admitted it or not. He was the only person who probably knew Raghav Rao inside out, without any filters or so. He was the only one, her ex husband had fully bared himself to without any secrets.

Thinking about the man in question brought that same feeling of a violent twist in her pumping organ as usual. But only this time there was a bewildering apprehension mixed in as well. When Pallavi had decided to come back to Hyderabad she knew she had a chance of accidently meeting with her former husband. She knew she still harboured an unhealthy dose of weakness where he was concerned. At first she had tried very hard to wipe him off completely from her system but after a long disappointing and painful struggle she had made peace with the situation.

She couldn't remain apathic towards that man.. come what may.

So if she couldn't love him, she may as well hate him.

But her recent brush with Esha yesterday night triggered a new feeling adding to the already complicated emotions she had trapped beneath her chest.

Confusion.

Her wrath on him had increased maybe a hundred folds after knowing the apparent truth from his ex lover. She couldn't decipher what motive he had which forced him to keep the truth hidden from her and more than most, what had happened with him all those hours Esha had been taken away by Sunil.