Dream and Destiny:The Saga of Love, Faith and Betrayal. *Editing*

Chapter Thirty Two

Along with the sun, sanyukta rose and got ready for her day, in fact to say she hadn't slept last night at all. The anxiety and the curiousity to know about vardhan had kept her wide awake. How ever around 8 in the morning randhir woke up and got ready for his day, after which they both left for vardhan's house without intimating him.

Vardhan's house was nothing like what sanyukta had expected it to be. It was a small 2BHK flat in an old building that was nearly dilapidated. Sanding infront of the apartment, sanyukta had had her jaw dropped open. She turned to randhir who was staring at her, smiling.

"Are you sure? This is it?" she asked in whisper.

"Come" randhir grabbed her hand and walked into the building.

"But randhir, he's such a business tycoon and he lives in such tattered building? No way! You must be mistaken!" Sanyukta kept on babbling as they were climbing the steps up. There was no lift for that building.

"Shhh!!!!" randhir made her calm down as they reached a flat and randhir knocked the door.

Silence.

Randhir knocked once again.

This time Mr. Vardhan he himself opened the door and was shocked to see sanyukta along with randhir at his door step.

"Hi papa!" sanyukta said invoulentarily and randhir's jaw fell open whilst there was a broad smile on vardhan's face. Even sanyukta was shocked to hear the word "papa" from her mouth. Randhir was still gaping at sanyukta while vardhan invited them in.

"Come...come in" he gave them way.

"Stop doing that okay!" sanyukta punched randhir in his ribs lightly that in a reflex randhir averted his gaze from her and grinned at vardhan. Vardhan smiled back as they walked in.

The flat was small, gloomy yet neatly done, sanyukta sat in one of the wooden chairs that were in the hall, busily scanning the surroundings. Randhir sat beside her. Whilst vardhan disappeared behind the walls in to kitchen. There were lot of photographs and certificates neatly done in frames hanged to the wall, sanyukta walked up to the wall and began to check the photographs. Randhir followed her yet again.

There were photographs of vardhan, from his childhood to adolescence and then the pictures of his marriage and then there were few pictures in which he and his wife were holding a little girl of five years age. There were also pictures of that five year old girl from her birth to some of around ten years of age. And then there were no pictures of her. Sanyukta twitched her lips gazing at the photographs when randhir suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled towards him.

"Randhir!!!!" she nearly bellowed as she lost her balance and fell on him. But randhir was in no stage to listen to her. He silently pointed towards a photograph that was hanging to the wall.

"Kyaaaa?????" sanyukta seemed pissed off with his behaviour and turned casually to see the picture. Once she did, she could do nothing but gaping at the wall. For the wall had her pictures hung on it.

"You knew him before?" randhir prodded sanyukta who was busily checking her pictures. The ones from her building inaugurations, from her birthday parties. It's been 5 years of Delhi for sanyukta. In those five years she almost put up a couple of scores of buildings and celebrated five birthdays of her life there. Strange that the wall in vardhan's house had almost all of those memories which even sanyukta didn't preserve.

"Tell me! You knew him before?" randhir prodded her again to which she mindlessly nodded a no. meanwhile vardhan walked into the living room with a tray in his hand and other hand holding his crutches. The next minute, in the spur of the moment, randhir turned around and punched hard in his face.