Unreachable Destiny- The Curse Of Your Love

Chapter-23: A walk down memory lane.

"Mom, I am fine," Ranav assures his mother for the millionth time. Akshara had called Ranav immediately after receiving the notification from the hospital regarding his stay there. She couldn't help her concern despite his multiple attempts at assuring her.

"You said you were fine when you were 6 years old but it turned out, you had a hole in your heart." Akshara always worried about Ranav's heart problem and was always cautious of any symptoms because she regrets how oblivious she was to his respiration problem when he was 6 years old.

"Mom, I was a child back then. I didn't know better. I thought I could handle things on my own, but now, I am capable of handling things by myself, and I know the importance of a proper medical consultation regarding my health. I will not hide anything from you if it's serious, Mama."

"Even if it's not serious, you should inform me. I got a call from the hospital because I am your legal guardian and if they hadn't, would you have told me about the incident." It was when Ranav turned 18 that he got to change his legal guardian and he got his mother registered as his legal guardian.

"I definitely would've." Ranav had to help the Rajvansh's settle in yesterday and Maya had restricted him from doing any physical work while also forcing him to rest. He barely had any time to contact his mother. Moreover, he was too confused to be able to have any energy to have this conversation so he planned to tell her when everything calmed down.

"I shouldn't have trusted Abhimanyu to take good care of you. You should've stayed here in Kasauli with us."

"Mom, I couldn't possibly stay with you. My agency is in Mumbai and my studio is in Udaipur. You know how bad the wifi lines are in Kasauli, I would never be able to complete my work there."

"I understand it's hard for you to complete your work and communicate with the agency, but it worries me that you are always travelling places and rarely ever stick around one place for long."

"Mom, travelling helps with my inspiration." Ranav has never stayed in a place for a long time. He never considered any city or place home apart from their small house in Kasauli. He grew up in that house as Abhir Sharma for the better half of his life and enjoyed being the pampered little kid of his parents until his life took a turn and he was no longer the kid he was supposed to be. It was more than just finding out about his biological father. It was about the constant fights for custody and the relentless attempts at claiming Ranav as their own. His paternal family left him no choice when he would've loved to stay with them anyway but with no intent of leaving his home in Kasauli behind. He had another family and he was okay with it until he found his father, Abhinav Sharma, lying on a hospital bed. Sometimes things get so out of hand that you barely keep track of them. 18 years have passed since the incident and every year, he had to watch his father lying in that bed unconscious and unaware of his grown-up son. "Anyway, forget about it. How is Papa?"

"He couldn't be any better. Just lying there throughout the day while being taken care of. He seems to have no problem making me feel lonely. he has no care of his wife if he's able to sleep so well for so long." Ranav can look past his mother's sarcasm just as clearly as he can tell the pain behind her words. Their story never began before it was held on pause. When his mother held on to his father's hand as his vitals declined and the doctors worked on his pulse, Abhir aka Ranav stood outside those doors awaiting his father's return, but the doctor came out of the room with a solemn face informing the family that the patient has gone into a coma and it is hard to determine how long it might take him to wake up. From that day on, his mother took it upon herself to rebuild their happy family in every possible way back in Kasauli. No one questioned her request to take Ranav and Abhinav back to Kasauli as no one could assure her of a better life in Udaipur. The last thing he got from the Birla family as he left Udaipur was his name, Ranav. The funny thing is the Birla's never realized that the name they gave him was a combination of Akshara and Abhinav. If they knew, they would probably never name him that. After that, he lived his life in batters. The official custody remained with Birla's yet he ended up studying in Kasauli till the 10th until later when his Dadi, Manjari, made up her mind about giving him a better education. By then he felt detached from everything and didn't mind some time away from the constant reminder of his father's unconscious form. He studied Mass communications and took on his mother's skills in music to become a composer. With time, his fame grew and the world came to know him as Aara Sharma as he remained an anonymous composer.

"I miss him." That was the only thing he could ever say about his father.

"Me too." The silence as they both end up in their own memories until Akshara breaks the silence. "Ranav."

"Hmmm."

"If you ever fall in love, learn to love like Abhinav. In your generation, you may find a million love stories that show physical compatibility and chemistry, but there are some types of love that are not physical but just peaceful where you are emotionally compatible."

"Mom, have you ever doubted your marriage with Papa? I mean, you married out of convenience due to the circumstances, right?"

"I have, but those doubts were nothing in front of the support I got in return from your father. He showed me the path to places I never knew existed and if there was ever a question of who got the short end of this deal, it was not me. Listen carefully, Ranav. Me and Abhinav are not compromised, we are complete." Ranav smiled to himself. He wonders if his mother knows how happy it makes him to hear her talk about her brief memories of his father. He doesn't know if Akshara and Abhinav were made for each other, but he believes that they made themselves for each other. They changed each other for the better.

***

Abhimanyu packs his bags to leave for the camp the next day since he can't just stay back with the kids. He gets down the stairs after breakfast pulling his suitcase along. Ranav gets up from the dining table and rushes to help with the bags and Maya, who was sitting a seat away from Ranav, nudges Akshay to go and help Abhimanyu because Ranav just got discharged. As Akshay goes forward to help, Ranav immediately resists.

"I am fine. I can lift the bag."

"Yes, you can, but you won't," Maya replies as she gets up from the table as well.

"Come on, Maya madam. I can do this much 'ji'" Ranav's father, Abhinav, had always addressed everyone respectfully by the word 'ji' but Ranav only uses it with people he cares about as he perceives the word as something intimate. Even though he usually uses it to tease or in a light-hearted way, he never uses it on someone he's not affectionate with. Whenever he needs to address someone respectfully, he would use 'aap' instead. The fact that he used it on Maya just baffles him. Weirdly enough, he is getting close to Maya way quicker than he usually allows himself to. His mind is still plagued with unanswered questions but to his relief, he had started searching for forests in India and old burnt houses. He started going through all the fire accidents that happened in the last 30 years, but he has yet to find what he is searching for. He wonders if searching for accidents will even help but something at the back of his mind tells him that what he saw in his dream is a real event. Ranav doesn't believe in coincidences and he knows that meeting Maya is not one either.