Arylie- A family is born part 3

Imlie- The warrior

Imlie applied a bunch of long bandages on her bleeding wounds . she texted Aryan and Cj to find out if they had any luck in finding location of Shalini but got no reply. Imlie rushed to the bathroom and started the shower at full speed. She locked the door of the bathroom and finally opened the door To an anxious, Aditya.

Ad-imlie Chini kaha hai? Woh thik hain na?

I-Hanh babu Saheb woh bilkul thik hain! Bass Thodi SI naraz hai aapse

Ad-Let me talk to her. I need to apologize to her too. I scared her with that gun shot my poor child just this morning, She was so happy. I always want to see her like that only.

I- abhi nahi Babu Saheb! Abhi baat aur Bigad jayegi! Hum Chini ko janat hain usse Thoda vakt lagega. if you go to talk to her now, you will only make things worse.

Ad-but I need to make this right ! Imlie please understand!

I-I do understand Babu Sahib, but do you realize she is a young and capricious girl she is scared and understandably angry right now! She is taking a shower to cool herself down and has promised me that she will come and talk to you in sometime. Now, please let's go. We have a lot of arrangements to do for the wedding. I am sure the wedding in the evening will definitely cheer her up.

Ad-OK as you say. You are her mother and I know you understand her very well. I hope I will have the same relationship with her someday.

Imlie and Aditya headed out to the living room. Imlie realized that she was bleeding through her bandages, she felt slight pain but the amount of blood alarmed her more. Imlie had held her hand to the stitches, but no matter the pressure she applied the blood had still gushed between her fingers and oozed under her hand. It was spreading through the sequins of her reddish brown saree and made it damp, the bright red blood quickly darkening, taking on a brownish hue.

Aditya barely looked at her. He was ashamed of his behavior earlier, and started talking by looking off somewhere in distance.

Ad-aaj mein tumhara aur Chini ka gunhegaar Hun! I don't know what my daughter must be thinking of me!

I- Babu Saheb humka boliye, aapko yeh shak hua kaisan?

Ad-imlie woh Ek video aaya tha! As you said it must be fake or something, there was an audio message too but that file was lost, you see Chini and I were playing in the room when my phone accidentally deleted the message. anyway, I'm glad that my message note got deleted it must have some other fake nonsense too, it would have just made me more paranoid.

I- Kya aap mujhe woh video dikha sakat hai?

Aditya handed over his phone to Imlie without even looking at her. Imlie quickly scrolled down his messages and found the video. She started to play the video, and it finally struck her. She understood who had taken Shalini and could guess why! She was sure of her location! Absolutely sure of it! after all she had been here herself before, and that too with ABP, this was the place where she realized that she had fallen in love with Aryan.

I- Aapke phone lijiye, aur please aap guilty mat feel kijiye Iss sabma aapki koi galti nahi hai
Aditya turned around and tried to hug her, but she maintained a distance, and begin speaking in the somber voice. Imlie was worried that Aditya would see her bleeding and suspect of her not being imlie again and her family those away in the outhouse were still not safe enough!

I- dekhiye Babu Saheb humka bhi Thoda vakt lagega! after all, you had a gun pointed at my head, and my poor Chini! Her scared face keeps flashing in front of my eyes!

Ad-I know! Imlie, I have made a huge mistake but please tell me how I can fix this?

I- don't worry Babu Sahib ! All of this will pass soon! Just like Chini, I too need some time alone! if you don't mind, can I go to my room and be alone for sometime?

Ad- yes of course imlie whatever you need! I have to call the panditji anyway, he was saying something about a different auspicious muhurat a couple of hours earlier from the current planned time.

I-but ma and Arpita Didi said..

Ad- I know I Know imlie but they are all in the temple, we are going to be our own family now, we need to take some decisions of her own too! correct?

I-hanh aap Sahi bolat hai Babu Saheb! Hum abhi jaate hai

Ad-yes Imlie Tum rest karo and please call me if you need anything.

Imlie began walking slowly towards her room, taking one step at a time. she began to feel weak. She started to walk around by holding the wall and furniture. She finally reached her room and collapsed in her bed, she removed her phone and realized that it had very little battery, not enough to make a call. She decided to record a voice note for Aryan and send it to him so he could locate Shalini before it was too late.

Imlie's voice trembled as she began recording the note-
"ABP please suno humka pata hai Shalini kaha hogi! Ukka woh Purandas Kay gunde Wohi.... Wohi godown mein le gaye hai haha humka bhi Leke gaye the! Humka lagat.......,,lagat hai woh Shalini ko hum samhaj Raha hai aur woh tosse, Aditya aur humse ukka jail...,., Jail bhijwane vaste badla Lena chahhta hain! Tum aur CJ milke please...., please hum....humri behen....behen Ko bacha lo, ussne Apne Zindagi mein bass dukh dekhe hai, ukka bhi khushiyon pe hak hai ABP! Aur Tum chinta mat karna, Gharke sabhi log safe hain, aur hum Yaha se aahhhhh...Yaha se jaaa nahi sakat hai kyuki ukka paas gun hai aur humme lagat.....lagat hai Aditya babu Pagal ho gaye hai! Aur Hanh Chini ke adoption papers hum sign Karke uu rose plant mein chupa diye hain Jo last mother's........mother's day ko ladkiyon ke Saath Saath...... Saath plant kiye rahe.....ho sake toh apni Jungli ko maaf kardena... I love my ABP, ABP nahi humre Dhruv tare!"

Imlie hit sent on the voicemail and tried placing a call to her doctor, when that didn't work, she tried calling Sundar but her phone abruptly died, the phone eventually slipped out of her hand and broke as it hit the cold floor.

Imlie sat there trying to stop the flow of the blood, in those moments,Time itself had become irrelevant; the seconds could have been hours, or hours mere seconds. In that suspended moment she was the eye of her own storm; but for that moment of perfect calm and mental clarity, she prayed to Sita maiyya for help. To Imlie, Sita maiyya was an embodiment of love, a good role model, a woman of integrity and courage. To follow her and worship her was an honour, to speak of love is a duty, for whom we love we protect, even if it is their legacy we defend. And she had given it all she had to defend her one true love in this world- Her Family! She imagined she was in Devi ma's lap and Sita maiyya looked at her lovingly and caressed her head.

Imlie felt no fear because she knew in life or in death she would always have her Sita maiyya by her side, she would always be in her maiyya's sweet embrace. Even in those dire moments, imlie counted her blessings, To see your blessings is to snap the chains that once bound and step forwards, a superhero to yourself and others! And Imlie was a warrior, a superwoman that day!