Abhirohi ff: Love & Friendship

24

❖Chapter 24❖

When Goenka's came back home they were in for a surprise.

"Bhua! Vansh Bhaiya!" Akshara halted her steps in the foyer and ran towards them. She hugged Gayathri first and then Vansh. "Why didn't you call us." She complained.

"I wanted to surprise you all. Though I promised not to come to India after Samrat ditched me, Vatsal brought me here." Gayathri said.

Akshara glanced at Vatsal. He raised his hands. "I'm surprised as well."

She nodded. They all sat down. Akshara sat down before she breastfed Ranav and put him in bed. They all chatted and caught up on things. A little while later, the rest of the Sharmas also joined them.

Two days later

Birla mansion was filled with people, checking the backyard to see if anything was missing and everything was arranged as best as possible.

At around six o'clock the guests started flooding in. Anandvardhan, Mahima, Hadhvardhan, and Manjari were attending them. Parth, Shefali, Abhimanyu, Aarohi, and Roohi were with Nishtha attending to her needs and helping her. The groom's side would come any time now.

The groom's family arrived. The Birla youngsters came downstairs to welcome them. Mahima did Iravan's arti and put the tilak between his brows. She then fed him a barfi and welcomed him in. Iravan stepped inside. He and the people from his side enter the backyard and take their seats.

They wait for the right time when the sangeet performances are supposed to start. When it's seven, Nishtha is brought to the backyard and the sangeet ceremony starts.

Aarohi and Shefali along with their kids were tonight's DJs.

"Hello everyone!" Roohi starts.

"We welcome you all to Nishtha Bua and Iravan Fufa Ji's Sangeet Party," Shivansh adds holding the mic. He forwards it to his mother.

Shefali held it and said, "If you haven't gotten something to eat. Grab it quickly and be seated for the performances. We'll wait for five minutes."

Some of the guests got up and walked towards the food stalls. Filling up their plates, they take a seat back.

A few minutes later, turning back the mic Aarohi said, "For the sangeet today, we are doing a competition between the groom's side and the bride's sides. The first performance is from the groom's sister."

Pari stood up and walked to the centre, standing on the pavement, where the hosts were standing. The kid and elder hosts take their seats and the DJ starts playing "Radha".

She started her dance, grooving to the beat, and performing elegantly. When her performance ends, she takes a seat, Shefali and Aarohi come to the middle of the hall to continue hosting.

Shefali said, "That was a beautiful performance by the groom's sister. Now the next performance is from the bride's side. Her brother and his wife—aka me—will perform." Heaps of chuckles fill the air. "Along with my devar and Bhabhi."

Shefali handed the microphone to Mahima who wished her good luck before she walked back to the stage where her husband, Brother-in-law and Sister-in-law were standing. She cues the DJ to begin the music when they take their position.

The music starts and they begin their dance. They move as practiced, Abhimanyu's hands holding Aarohi's waist. He twirls her and grooves his body, the little touches adding their charm. Both couples dance with precision and elegance. By the end, their cheeks were flushed from the dance and the heat.

Everyone clapped and the boys went back to their seats Aarohi the mic from Mahima said, "The next performance is of the groom's parents. Everyone clap and the groom's parents come to the centre, please." A heap of claps echo in the sky, scaring the birds slightly. The next performance starts.

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"Poppy I want water," Roohi whispers while Iravan's parents are performing. Abhimanyu nods and gets up to button his suit jacket. He walks to the buffet table and grabs a water bottle. He turns to leave but his feet halt.

"Akshara, do you need something," he asks.

She shook her head and said no. "I want to talk to you. It's really important."

"Okay. Tell me. C'mon."

"Not here someplace that's quieter," she said. He nodded. Before they walked into the living room Abhimanyu handed the water bottle to Roohi and asked his mother to look after Roohi. They both sit down on the couch and he crosses his arms.

"Well. It's about our twins." She starts saying. Abhimanyu's features change. Before he said something, Akshara spoke. "Please listen to me. We both thought our twins died. But, by God's grace. One of the twins survived."

"What! Why didn't you tell me? You could've called me!" He bellowed.

"I did. But your mister Abhimnayu Birla didn't answer any of my calls." Akshara wiped the tear that rained down her cheek.

"Then why did you tell me now." He asks softly, the anger was still there in his eyes.

"Because I couldn't keep you in the dark." She does not look him in the eye.

"Okay. Where is our child? Is it a boy or a girl?" He asked calming down. They had guests over. He can't ruin everything for Nishtha because of his anger.

"Boy." She stutters, scared that Abhir might be taken away from her. She builds courage. "It's Abhir. He might biologically be your son but his father by heart is my Abhinav," She jabs.

"Can I meet him after the party is over?" He asks.

She nodded and stood up. "I've got to go. People will start questioning why we are sitting in private and I don't want rumours to spread." She walked out and spread a fake smile as she sat beside her mother-in-law who was making funny faces to entertain Ranav. The toddler had ear muffs on to protect his ear from the blaring music.

While, Abhimanyu remained on the couch, thinking about his child. His child calls someone else his father. And something pinched his heart when he remembered the twin that passed away. Tears rolled down and he sobbed hysterically at the pain he was receiving. One child he has grieved for is alive but why did the other one die?

(A/N: Blame the makers Abhimanyu. I don't know 🤷🏻‍♀️)

He padded to the downstairs washroom and washed his face. After drying his face, he went back to the backyard. Manjari asked him if he was okay as he took a seat beside her, assuming he was sad because Nishtha was leaving. He gesture's he's okay and watches his maternal cousin's performance.

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word count: 1048