Unreachable Destiny- The Curse Of Your Love

Chapter-12: The Lost Souls of Defied Destiny.

As Maya looks at Ranav with thoughts swarming her mind, she wonders why the last time she met him felt so unreal while she finds herself way too calm now. While her heart doesn't speed up, Ranav's about to hit the roof. He had never been in a relationship with a woman before, but that doesn't mean he never met a woman or had been close to one. Then why is he so nervous before a woman he barely knows?

"Do you feel the pain still?" Their eyes clash and he looks away almost instantly.

"Yep." He looks back at her and his heart slows down.

"But the painkillers should work by now." Maya had given him a painkiller because even though the cut wasn't so deep, he still bled a lot meaning his outer layer of muscle was cut and it will hurt a lot.

"I think it's kicking in." Parul brings over a tray of glasses with mango juice and places it on the table and as soon as she does, Aditya grabs a glass, getting comfortable on the couch in the living room.

"Aditya, I need to talk to you later, so don't you dare avoid me. I will find you and it won't end well." She says in English. "And you should get some rest, Mister."

"Mister?" Ranav raises an eyebrow at her attitude. He wonders why she talks in English, like some foreigner. He immediately assumes her to be some obnoxious woman who puts herself above others.

"Oh! Don't worry, she's not being rude. She is from London and is not that fluent in Hindi. Sometimes she starts to talk in English without realizing it. Don't mind it." Kuhu explains as she comes out of the kitchen to settle beside Ranav. Ranav nods his head, finally understanding why her Hindi always seemed so different, but he has to agree that she is pretty good at Hindi despite living abroad. Maya gives a side eye to Kuhu. The tension between them is quite visible and Aditya coughs, interrupting their stare down.

"I am sorry, I didn't get your name. May I know your name?" Maya asked in Hindi. They had met twice so it's only fair to know him.

"My name is Ranav. And yours is Maya, right?"

"Yep. And you are?" Ranav is confused at first at why she is asking about him again when he already introduced himself but then he gets it that she is asking about why he is here and how he's related to this house.

"I am Akshara Shar- Goenka's son and Naira Singhania's grandson, who is Rajsri Mehswari's granddaughter. I came here to deliver the dishes Varsha Dadi made for you guys." It finally clicks for Maya who he is, which means he is Abhimanyu Birla's son. 

"Oh okay. Nice to meet you." The atmosphere gets awkward as they sit in silence and Aditya being himself can't stand the tension.

"Maya! You know what Akshay told me?" Maya's attention shifts as soon as she hears Akshay's name. "He said he is going to the market tomorrow for shopping and wants us to tag along. He's afraid he'll get lost."

"And we won't? You are bad with directions and I have barely explored the place since I came here. We should ask Amish Bayya to come too if we plan on not getting lost."

"But he can't come. He has a meeting tomorrow morning. I just remembered as you mentioned to him, don't tell him about the accident that happened with the Veena. He is too protective of you and will make a big deal out of it. We already scolded the poor guy pretty badly. If Bayya gets to know about it, he will fire the guy."

"Don't worry, I don't plan on telling Bayya." Maya can feel how delicately her elder brother treats and she finds it cute but he's way too protective of her and that is not always a good thing. He literally warned the entire staff on the camp to not mess with her and asked the director to take care of her. On the first week of camp, he packed 5 suitcases of essentials for her and her clothes were just one suitcase out of them. The rest were filled with camping tools, mosquito repellents, creams and whatnot. He literally fit what a person could never anticipate even when travelling the world in 5 suitcases. She had to assure him and reassure him again that she wouldn't need all that stuff and that she could take care of herself before he let her go but only after making sure she took at least one extra backpack with her suitcase. The thought of having to carry those huge bundles makes her dread going anywhere on a vacation with her brother.

"Tell me what?" Amish enters the living room, as he unbuttons and rolls up his shirt sleeves. Maya and Aditya share a knowing look.

"Maya just agreed to the birthday party." As soon as Aditya says that, Maya whips her head in his direction, glaring at him with an intensity no one can match. Aditya smiles sweetly in return nodding his head in Amish's direction warning her that if she doesn't play along, he will have to tell Amish about what happened.

"No, I didn't," Maya says, boldly. She might as well tell the truth if she has to endure such torture. In any case, she would not let herself be blackmailed into celebrating what should be an important day for her with someone she can't stand. Ranav stays silent, listening to the bickering between the younger siblings of Rajvansh's house. He finds their conversation very endearing despite the fact that they are in disagreement because he could wish for something like this as he is a single child. After Ranav found out that the man he called Papa all his life was not actually his biological father, Ranav tried his best to adapt to both his families.

At the time, his name was Abhir Sharma and he was proud as Abhir Sharma. Akshara who had previously been married to Abhimanyu Birla, a top heart surgeon in the country, got pregnant with twins. After a tragic incident of her goodwill that resulted in the death of the adopted son of the Birla family, Niel, and her babies, the Birla family blamed it all on Ranav's mother. Abhimanyu Birla in his anger, divorced his wife, Akshara, who left Udaipur in despair. 

She later met Abhinav Sharma, who is a taxi driver, and found out that she was still pregnant with one of her twins. Akshara desperately reached out for her ex-husband to deliver the good news but her once in-laws showed no mercy on her. She was unable to convey the news and ended up in Abhinav's house who promised to take care of her and provide her with a home until the baby was born. Abhinav Sharma not only showed her kindness but he went above and beyond to provide the love and care that Akshara needed. 

On the day Ranav was born, there was a huge storm that didn't allow for a safe delivery, but Abhinav took it upon himself to protect both the mother and the baby and carried them to the hospital. He held Ranav in his arms for 72 hours to give him the care that Akshara, in her weak condition, could not provide after the delivery. Akshara then got married to Abhinav Sharma to provide a healthy family for Ranav but all of those efforts were ruined when he found out about his real father, Doctor Abhimanyu Birla. 

After a war for Ranav's custody, they finally thought that Ranav's happiness was more important and decided to hand his custody to Abhinav and Akshara but everything changed as Abhinav fell off of a cliff and Abhimanyu was suspected of doing so. Abhinav went into a coma for years and finally recovered when Ranav was 12 years old. It was long concluded that Abhimanyu had no intention of hurting Abhinav but Ranav's mother couldn't take this drama anymore and decided that life in Kasauli is the best way to leave behind everything. Since then, Abhir Sharma became Ranav Birla on paper but Ranav Sharma by heart. He was juggled between Udaipur and Kasauli for years but there was an invisible boundary he held against the Birla family.

"Stop fighting with your sister, Aditya." Amish's voice pulls Ranav out of his thoughts. Maya's gaze catches him and something flickers in her eyes that he couldn't identify. Amish follows Maya's gaze. "And who is this? Won't you introduce your guest to your brother?"

Maya shakes her head. "He is not my guest, Bayya. He is Ranav, Varsha Dadi's relative. He is here to deliver the dishes she made for us."

"Oh, okay. Is he staying for lunch?" Maya looks at Ranav and he shakes his head.

"I am afraid I can't stay any longer. I have some work that I need to get back to. You guys should eat. It's almost lunchtime. Bye." Ranav stands up and makes his way to the front door, but before he walks out of sight, he turns around and as if she could feel his eyes on her Maya looks back. This time there was nothing but indifference in her eyes as she looked at him. She wonders why she felt like that the first time they met though. Ranav on the other cannot deny that she has his attention more than she should. As they held each other's gaze, unknowing of their history, the wheels of fate worked to bring out their lost selves and find their destiny.