Ishqana Dil

Part 52

A/N: Sorry for the lateness! My brother had hijacked my laptop to complete his homework so I got stalled for a while. And the chapter may have come out weird too?

"And when I was at Rama's yesterday? To leave the luggage? I talked to him... You were right, Amaya... He was stalking Rachitaji. I had to ask him so many questions to understand that he was... he really thought he was not doing anything wrong... Amaya... How could I be so wrong with my friends? I thought I knew them but... they all turned out..." Not knowing what to say, she simply rubbed his arm gently. He sighed heavily. "How could I not see? It was all right in front of me and I chose to ignore it. Especially with Uma..."

He looked at her, alarm in his eyes. "You had warned me about that too..." he said, but it looked like he was talking to himself. "You had told me... one day she would kill someone and..." Frowning, he shut his eyes. "I am so sorry, Amaya... I should have been stricter with her from the beginning. Her anger kept getting out of hand and I knew but I kept covering her mistakes..." His hand closed around hers tight. "I was going to lose you and all by my own fault..."

She furrowed her brow. "Kya? What do you mean, Mantu?"

He opened his eyes to fix her for a moment before he spoke. "You may have done whatever you could to stop me from knowing that, Amaya, but I know. You should stop pretending too. I know Uma tried to... to kill you..."

"What?" Her eyes widened. What was he even talking about? "Uma... when did she do that? Mantu-"

"Humne Rano, Atom aur Manohar Bhaiyya ki saari baatein sun li thi, Amaya! Humein pata hai ke uss raat Uma ne-"

She shook her head firmly. "Nahin, Mantu! There must have been a misunderstanding, that's not what happened. Rama's relatives had sent me to the ghat to get water for some ritual from the river and Uma was there to... c-commit suicide... I saw her and I... I tried to save her, Mantu. She got angry and started arguing with me but she did not try to kill me, okay? She just slipped and she was falling in the river... Maine usse bachaane ki koshish ki but... I fell too and... well, I managed to save both of us. That's what happened. Trust me. I asked the boys and Uma to stay quiet about the wedding was dealt with because you already had so much to deal with... Mantu, she did not try to kill me!"

He sighed and looked away. "Ab kya farak padta hai, Amaya? She has already broken my trust..."

***

"Rachi Di? Sab theek toh hai, na?"

A shiver ran down her spine as her elder sister turned to her blankly. It had been more than a week since the wedding now but Rachita's behaviour had changed. She had moved to their mother's room and Amaya had found her too silent since the past few days. She spent most of the time in the room, sitting on the bed, her eyes far away as if she were deep in thought...

"Hmm." That was the only response Amaya. Rachita looked out of the window again, with a slight frown on her face.

Amaya bit her lip. "Achha... I'm going to see Mantu... You... Are you going to the coaching centre?"

Rachita glanced at her and nodded. "Haan, thodi hi der mein."

As her sister looked away again, still impassive, Amaya supressed a sigh and started leaving. Rachi Di's behaviour was so odd and she didn't even want to talk. She and Jazz had tried, they still were, but there was nothing from their sister's side... What could have happened? She was still trying to figure something out when she reached Mantu's doorstep and automatically took the keys out of her pocket. Amaya looked down at her hands with surprise and smiled.