|| Carefree For The Moment. ||

|| Part Fourteen - Abeer Learns The Truth. ||

"Baba!?" He said worriedly, his eyes widening in sheer fear at the thought that something had happened to him. "What's wrong with Baba!?" He asked as if he were a child all over again.

Her heart sank.

How could she tell him? How could she be the one to wake him up from the beautiful dream he had been living, on a half-truth? Because that's what it was. A half-truth, because whatever she knew, was based on her intuition. & although her intuition usually told her when something was wrong, she wasn't ready to be the one who would spoil the only surprise she had given him. Could she do it?

& what would happen to them? Would he believe her if she told him? Would he really take in what she was saying. She saw how defensive he would get of his father, in just this short amount of time. He had said he trusted no one else in the world except his father... & her.

All of a sudden she felt breathless. He had trusted her. Although she had tried convincing herself that hiding this from him was what she needed to do, she felt horrible.

But too much was at stake. She had the nightmare ever since she overheard what Mehul & Meenakshi spoke about at the office & when she found out that Mehul had been in Rajkot all those times that something had happened in the Rajvansh family. The nightmare was him finding out that she had lied to him. His eyes staring at her in disbelief as he admonished her, not for hiding such a big truth from him. But even having the audacity to accuse his father like that. To make such an accusation against his father.

& then he walked away from her. Leaving her standing there as she screamed his name.
As she screamed for him to stop. Screaming for him to not leave her.

But he didn't.

& then she'd wake up in a cold sweat. Realising it was just a dream, & catching her breath as the thought consumed her, her sleep leaving her.

"Mishti!?" A jolt caused her to return to reality. She looked up to see him watching her, his eyes dark with worry, after what felt like minutes. "What happened to Baba!? Mishti! Speak!"
"Nothing!" She placed her hand on his cheek, desperate to reassure him. "Nothing happened to Baba! He's okay!"
"But-"
"I promise. He's fine" She assured him.
"Are you sure?" He asked quietly & she nodded vigorously. She said & he closed his eyes, sighing in relief., as if a burden had been released from his shoulders.

He opened his eyes at once. "Then what were you saying?" He asked her in confusion.
"Abeer... I-" She paused. She didn't know how to word it. She had to tell him. But how?

She took a deep breath then took both of his cheeks in her hands, causing him to look straight at her. "Abeer" she began. "You remember when my papa came on the day of the Gordhana?" She began & Abeer listened to her intently as she continued. "When I found out that not only was he a horrible papa, he was also a murderer"
"What are you trying to say Mishti?" He asked her, not understanding what one had to do with the other.
"What I mean is..." She sighed. "I've found something out about your Baba. But I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't think you'd believe me, especially when I had those nightmares, & then when you had the accident, it scared me even more, then-" She rambled on & on, looking away from him.
"Nightmares?" He asked her in confusion. "Mishti, what-" He said then noticed the fear in her eyes. It was his turn to take her cheeks to make her meet his gaze.
"Mishti" He said softly. "What is it? Tell me clearly"
"Your Baba's been hiding something from you"
"Wh-" he asked her taking his hands away from her face, not understanding exactly what was going on. She ran her hand over her face & sighed, before continuing. "What are you talking about?"
"The other day, I went to go & speak to your mom about us. To ask for her blessings. But-" She paused.
"But?" He persisted
"But your baba was there." She said, finally. "You called him up & asked him where he was, & he told you he was at the hospital. You remember?" She asked & he recalled that day.

"Baba, aap ghar pe nahin the toh main worried tha."
"Nahin, nahin. I'm okay. Main theek hoon beta"
"Aapki tabeeyat kaisi hai?"
"Doctor ke paas aaya hoon. Ek baar yeh duaai dede toh bas aaram hi aaram hai"
"Jee. Main aapka ghar pe wait karraha hoon"

"I remember" Was all he said, as if someone had undone a valve & air was being squeezed out of him. Slowly.. "So... baba was at Maa's office?" He asked & she nodded.
"Yes, Abeer! He was there!" She cried. "That's when I stayed & found out-"
"But, why would he-" He trailed off, not listening to her as his thoughts were consuming his mind. "Mishti, why would Baba lie to me that he was at the hospital?"
"That's what I don't know!" She sighed.. "But do you remember when he said he was going to meet a friend. & we met him at the Raavan dehan?"
"Yeah, he said he was looking for Maa's necklace."
"Exactly! If he went to look for your mom's necklace, why would he say he was going to meet a friend!?" She asked him desperately.
"What did you find out?" He asked her & she looked at him in confusion. "You said you stayed behind & found something out. What was it?" He said & he closed her eyes. "Mishti" He persisted. "Tell me"
"I went onto your mom's laptop..."
"What!?" He asked her in shock, causing her to look down, for shame. "But why Mishti?"
"I overheard someone say that all the flight details could be found on there, so I had a hunch to check your baba's flight schedule when he arrived in Rajkot"
"But what would that be doing on maa's laptop??" He asked her. "How would she have access to his flight details??"
"I don't know all that, Abeer. I just know what I saw for myself"
"Which was?" He almost didn't want to ask. He didn't want to know any of this. But he couldn't help himself. If it was going through her mind. It had to mean something. There had to be something he wasn't seeing. Or something she wasn't seeing. There had to be something that she was just not understanding.

His baba wouldn't do that to him. He wouldn't lie like that. "He's been in Rajkot before" Mishti said, snapping him out of his thoughts, dumb-founding him.
"What? He whispered & she nodded.
"Not once, not twice. But every single time something has happened in your family. Kunal & my gordhana was finalised. The day Kuhu & Kunal's marriage was fixed. The day that Kuhu & Kunal got married. He was there. Every time he was there."
"Ho-" He paused. "Mishti... if he was there, why didn't he come & meet me?" He asked in a child-like manner.

Her eyes began to well up as she took his cheeks again. "I don't know Abeer. But-" He took her hands away from his face, sitting back on the bed as he stared into space.
"Baba came to Rajkot & didn't meet me..." He repeated, not quite understanding anything that was going on at the moment.
"Abeer!" Mishti cried, taking his hand & he turned his head to look at the tears in her eyes.

This was what had been eating her up over the last few days. This is what had been consuming her to such an extent that he sensed there was something bothering her but he just couldn't put his finger on what it was. & he didn't want to push her to tell him, in case she pushed him away. But he wished that he had. Deep down he wished that he had forced her to come clean with him. To tell him what was bothering her. To press her. But he didn't. He couldn't. He was afraid of losing her. Bit by bit he was losing everyone in his life. & now...

"Abeer, I swear, I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd be hurt but I know I was wrong to hide it from you. I just didn't know how to tell you-"
"Mishti" She watched him take his away from hers, his voice wavering. "I need to be alone for a little while."
"Abeer, please" She said desperately. Worried that her fears were coming true. He wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumb.
"Just a little while, please?" He assured her, but his eyes had cut her deep. She knew he was hurt that she had lied to him. She had seen it in his eyes.

But there was nothing she could do to fix it right at that moment. So she got up, slowly."Ab-"
"Go, Mishti" he told her firmly & she slowly made her way out of the room, turning once more before she left the door to see he was staring into space, clearly going through everything that she had just unloaded on to him. She closed the door behind him & left him. Sighing as he ran his hands over his face. Trying to piece together the jigsaw pieces of the puzzle she had given him to make sense of it all.