There was a time in life when all his energy and time was focussed on exacting revenge for the ultimate betrayal that he suffered at the hands of his friend sixteen years ago, or so he believed; a friend whom he doted on, had deep affection for and had placed his trust upon. The best moments of his childhood was abruptly and cruelly snatched away from him as a result of testimony given by this very same friend.
Images of his mother being torched alive and his father being stabbed to death by the mob still remained as fresh in his memory as the day it had occurred. The way he ran for his life carrying his little brother in his arms and throwing him into a blanket from a moving train still gave him nightmares after all these years.
And he held Chandini solely responsible for the series of unfortunate events that unfolded because of her lies. He was hell bent on punishing her for her cruel actions. But his first and foremost task was to get education and obtain a stable job. He studied hard, earned a PhD in Math and simultaneously went on to establish his business empire in the field of communications; a tough and near impossible task considering all the pain and trauma he underwent. But he proved to himself and people around him that he could achieve anything he set his eyes upon; all thanks to his Nani and Maasi for being his pillar of strength.
His Nani persuaded him to meet a psychiatrist regularly; to help him deal with the distressing and disturbing incidents of the past that affected every minute of his life. He agreed to meet the shrink just to appease her; because deep down he knew that no amount of psychiatric sessions would help soothe his soul; avenging his parents' cold blooded murder was the only solution to it.
He was consumed by hatred for the vashisht family, especially Chandini. Nothing and no one could stop him from plotting her downfall; the plan was to woo her into marriage and leave her after one night. Prove her and her family to be a bunch of liars and cheaters in front of the whole town if possible and shame them publicly. He achieved all of the above; only difference being the path taken to marriage.
He observed that Chandini would do anything for her mother, even sell her soul willingly to the devil if that is what her mother wished; in short her mother's puppet. She agreed to marry a person whose touch disturbed her and made her nervous. But then he figured out that it was an act put up by her; she was after the riches he offered. Truth was that she was a certified gold digger, with absolutely no self-respect. He further discovered that she had an affair and even became pregnant out of wedlock and left her day-old baby in an orphanage; proving the kidnapping and subsequent PTSD episodes to be another of her well planned acts to fool people around her; she almost had him fooled too. He realised then that not only was she a liar and a gold digger, but was a heartless mother who just abandoned her child without any remorse; and it just disgusted him.
Advay Singh Raizada had no qualms in doling out the punishment to her; and that was exactly what he did and she deserved every bit of it, for all the suffering she put him and his family through. He wouldn't be able to face himself or his parents' memory if he faltered even a little bit, and hence executed his game of revenge skilfully.
The plan to woo her made him uncomfortable, as he was ashamed of his growing physical attraction to a person he considered his enemy. Hence he used the new found information of her motherhood calculatedly to his advantage and chose to blackmail her into marrying him. He left her after one night of marriage as planned and came back to Mumbai, as the Devin him could not see the pain and humiliation she would endure as a result of his actions. He still harboured residual affection, he admitted to himself grudgingly.
But there was this constant nagging feeling he chose to ignore at that time; that he had wronged Chandini somehow. Was his Nani right? Could she really be innocent and was her version of truth something entirely different from his?
Oh how he wished he had just listened to his inner self or his Nani at least once then; a thought Dev brooded over countless times for the past two years.
He was seated on a sofa in his study, staring remorsefully at a picture of Chandini when his Nani entered. She sensed his mood immediately and realised that there was no news yet on Chandini.
She managed to find her way, sat beside him and laid a hand on his shoulder and stated, "They haven't found her yet."
Dev faced her and said, "No Nani. She was last spotted at a bus stop in Lucknow and we don't even know if this information is reliable or not. And they haven't even followed up on it yet. I am fed up of this agency wasting my precious time; I'm planning to find another one tomorrow or go to Lucknow myself to seek clarity, Nani."
"And this will be the eighth agency in the last two years, beta. Why don't you take a chance and give them some more time? What if it works in our favour?"
"I don't think I can waste any more time, Nani" he shook his head sideways, suddenly recollecting a conversation he had with his wife about time; he claimed that time was always on his side, but she countered saying that she would steal moments in between, unknowingly. And boy did she steal a big moment and disappear from his life for good.
"Don't worry, my darling. Everything will be alright. We will find her." The grand old lady gently re-assured him.
"Will it, Nani? Even if God did grant me the miracle of finding her, will things ever be fine between us?" he enquired laying his head on her lap.
"Yes, you just need to trust him and take the leap of faith; if you didn't, you will never find the answer to your question, will you?" she replied gently stroking his hair.
He closed his eyes for a few moments pondering over his Nani's wise words.
I will find my friend, my wife. Even if I time is not on my side, I have faith that there will be a miraculous moment that will come my way and I will grab and make the best use of it, he vowed to himself with renewed vigour.
Cafe lounge, Lucknow:
"Knock, knock, who is there?" enquired a familiar voice.
Chandini who was engrossed in her work looked up, shocked. When did he get back from Mumbai and how the hell did he find her here?Were the questions that sprang to her mind immediately.
TBC
