Nurture And Love (BOOK #3) ✔

Chapter 56

Chapter 56

When Rehaan woke up at dawn, he could not find Aarohi on the bed. He remembered how calmly he had led her to the bed the night before, and he himself shifted over to the couch to sleep peacefully and innocently.
He had kept his promise this time, he wondered solemnly before rolling out of the couch. He realised that Aarohi had sneaked out of the house while he was in sleep so that she did not have to encounter him time and again.

A lone note struck his eyes affixed somewhere on the surface of the headrest of the bed, and he immediately recognised the handwriting to be of Aarohi's. He had to ultimately read whatever he never wished for, that is Aarohi's departure from the bungalow to live in peace somewhere away from him.

Having been thrown into another challenge of his life, he would have to prepare himself to face it. He was much unaware of everything that was going on at Omkareshwar and he decided to give a call to Prachi. After multiple rings when she failed to answer, he dialled Sanchi's number and waited for her reply.

"Rihu, I don't thi-nk you've got the privilege to do what-ever you consider to be suitable for you. As far as I remem;ber you'd exited from Omkar-eshwar a week ago, but how is that everyone is accu-sing you for the flight of Aarohi fr-om her own wedding." Sanchi fumed angrily. "How can you be invol-ved in all these?"

"Aarohi fled!" Rehaan imitated whimsically. "I am sorry to hear that."

"I have asked you a thi-ng. Try to ans-wer that."

"Mom, how can I be involved when I have been residing here in Indore since the previous week?"

"I knew it." Sanchi heaved a sigh. "So now clear the other rum-our. Why is every-one saying that you are related to Aarohi roman-tically? Is there any-thing which we aren't aware of or you ou-ght to tell us?"

There was a pindrop silence on the part of Rehaan. He contemplated framing another reply as he was least in the habit of telling lies. With a voice so tenderly feeble, he wanted to avoid his mother's queries as he answered, "I am really not aware of it."

When Sanchi disconnected the call, Rehaan sighed inwardly. He moved out of the bungalow in less than ten minutes with a commitment to meet someone personally. He reached the place on time and found the guy already waiting for him at the cafeteria. "Ishaan?"

Ishaan welcomed him warmly and sat opposite to Rehaan at a table in one corner of the restaurant. "So there you are! Rehaan, why are you late? I think we have a deal and you are equally required to abide by the rules which we had decided sometimes ago."

"I will pay the penalty as also decided." Rehaan continued in his usually hoarse voice whenever he was with Ishaan. "Mom called me while I was on my way to meet you and set up an enquiry with me. I couldn't tell her the truth but. . . this was the reason why I refrained from joining Aarohi."

"You are scared of getting blamed, am I right?" Ishaan raised an eyebrow. "I have promised you that nobody will blame you after you are gone from Omkareshwar. It's only out of a parent's concern that aunt Sanchi asked you about it. Manu grandpa revealed whatever he knew about Aarohi and you to the rest of the family. But everything is sorted out now. Nobody is going to put you up in the witness box for this. You must believe me for once."

"I have come so far only by trusting you." Rehaan nodded in amusement. "Now what I should do next, considering the piled up anger your cousin still holds against me."

"Aaru is mad at you because you didn't even try to prevent the marriage from taking place." Ishaan told him anticipatorily. "If you have broken her heart, you should be the only one to fix it."