|| Carefree For The Moment. ||

|| Part Twenty - One. ||

"Lalita, beta?" Pandit Ji called & the lady turned her head towards him, smiling softly.
"I'm coming Pandit Ji" She nodded respectfully & Abeer froze. That voice. It rang in his ears.

She excused herself before making her way over towards the three of them. "Yes, Pandit Ji?"
"I want you to meet these children" He said turning to both Abeer & Mishti, who folded their hands in greeting.
"Jai Shri Krishna" Abeer said
"Radhe Krishna" Mishti added & Lalita nodded in reply, folding her hands the same, smiling softly.
"They want to know some information... About Mehul Kapadia" Pandit Ji added softly & Lalita's eyes burned with rage.
"How do you know him? Where is he? Do you know?" she rambled in a panic, looking from Abeer to Mishti.
"Aunty-" Mishti began, taken aback.
"Beta, beta!" Pandit Ji tried to calm Lalita down as she was getting worked up.
"Pandit Ji, my Paro" She said desperately."I know" He assured her. "Maybe they know where she is"
"Paro?" Abeer asked, confused. "Who is-"
"Paro! My sister," She explained. "Actually I call her Paro for short. I always have since we were children. But-" she sighed, pausing to take a breath. "Her name's Parul. My sister! My Paro!" She cried & both Abeer & Mishti froze for a second, both their eyes widening before they turned to one another.

Abeer opened his mouth to speak; "Parul Maasi" He whispered.
"One second Aunty. Abeer, your phone" She said & Abeer took his phone out from his pocket before handing it to her. She went through the gallery & showed a recent photograph of Abeer & Mishti with Parul.
"Paro!" She cried in shock. "That's my Paro! Where is she!? Where is my Paro! Take me to her, please!" she said taking Mishti's hands in hers.
"Yes, Aunty. We-" She began then shook her head, taking the photograph of Mehul out of her bag quickly to show Lalita. "Aunty, tell me. Do you know this man? Do you recognise him?"
"Yes! That's my Paro's husband!" She said looking up at the two of them.

"What!?" Mishti couldn't quite believe her ears. But just as she was trying to take this new shocking piece of information, she noticed something from the corner of her eye & saw Abeer stagger backwardly slightly, the colour draining from his face. "Abeer!" She exclaimed, her hand to his back, trying to steady him."Pandit Ji, water!" Mishti exclaimed to the confused Pandit. "He needs water!"
"Yes, yes! I'll go & get some!" He said & tried to walk as quickly as his legs could take him, calling out to a child as he rushed off.
"Abeer, sit here" Mishti said sitting Abeer down, her hand remaining on his shoulder. "Abeer, just relax. Let me find out-"
"Where's my Paro! Tell me!" Lalita pleaded. "Please!"
"Aunty, please! One second!" Mishti replied, her voice a little sterner than she had intended.
Right now her priority was Abeer. She couldn't let her focus divert from him.
"Mishti-" He said softly & Mishti looked down to see the shock on his face. He couldn't quite comprehend what Lalita had just told them. She sat down beside him & took his hand.
"I know. Here" She said seeing a little boy running over with a bottle of water. "Where's Pandit Ji?" She asked him, taking the bottle from him & opening it. The boy shrugged.
"He said he would come in a minute" He said before running off as Mishti handed the bottle to Abeer, looking around to where Pandit Ji had gone. She couldn't see him anywhere.

She turned to see Abeer wasn't drinking the water. He sighed, trying to take this influx of information in slowly. "Abeer please, just drink a little bit." She pleaded as Lalita stood there, sobbing to herself, muttering Parul's name. Abeer took a small sip of the water & handed it back to her so she closed the lid. Putting it down beside her. "Aunty-" She began, just as her phone began to ring, causing her to sigh. "One second" She said handing Abeer his phone back as she saw the caller ID on her phone.

"Hello? Badi Maa?" She sighed.
"Mishti, sorry Beta. I didn't mean to disturb you. I just wanted to ask if the two of you will be back in time for dinner. That's all"
"I-" She paused, her thoughts distracting her. "Badi Maa, I'm not sure, I'll call you a little later & tell you, okay?"
"Mishti" She said softly, the concern evident in her voice. "What's the matter? You sound disturbed"
"Badi Maa, I promise I'll call you in a little bit. I just need to-" She paused. "I'll call you back, okay?"
"Okay, God protect you." She said & with that Mishti ended the call.
"Abeer. I'll come right back." She told him & he nodded slowly. "Aunty, come with me" She said leading the way for Lalita to walk off. Mishti stepped to one side, facing Abeer to make sure he was still in her view.

"Aunty. Are you sure this man is your sister's husband!?"
"I'm positive! I won't forget his face for as long as I live!"
"But, aunty-"
"God knows what he's done to my sister & my nephew!" She cried. "God knows how they both are."
"Neph-" Mishti paused, confused. "Wha-"
"Yes! My nephew! My sister was 7 months pregnant when she left Rajgarh to go after that Mehul"
"What!?"
"He went somewhere for a job & never looked back. I don't know what my sister did to deserve a husband like that!"

"Aunty, hold on" Mishti felt as if her head was spinning. She glanced over at Abeer but he hadn't heard any of this. He was too busy engaged in conversation with Pandit Ji, who had returned & had his hand on Abeer's shoulder. Or, more like Pandit Ji was talking to him & he was just there, listening silently as a thousand thoughts clearly were clearly going through his mind.

"Your sister was pregnant when she left-" Mishti spoke slowly, in order to process what she was hearing.
"Yes! 7 months pregnant!" She repeated then smiled through her tears. "She even talked about what name she'd keep for the child the day she found out. I told her that it was far too soon to decide on a name but she said she had already thought about it since the two of them got married!" She said wistfully, recalling her sister. "She said she just knew she'd have a little boy. One with milky skin-"
"But Aunty" Mishti interrupted. "When she left... didn't you, or anyone else try to stop her?"
"I couldn't!" She exclaimed sadly. "I wish I did. I wish I never let her go after that awful, awful man. But I had just gotten married so I couldn't stop her. I didn't know she had gone until after she left! She didn't even tell Bappu! She lied & told him that man called her to him so they could live together."

Mishti took a deep breath, closing her eyes. Trying to put the pieces of the jigsaw together, one by one. None of this was making any sense to her. & if it wasn't make any sense to her. How was she going to help it make sense to Abeer. "Aunty, I-"
"I hope my Paro & Kunal are okay!"
"Kun-" Mishti opened her mouth to exclaim then realised Abeer was right in front of her. "Kunal!?" She managed to exclaim quietly & Lalita nodded, in confusion.
"Yes! That's her son's name. Kunal. Why?"
"Are you sure about all this aunty?"
"Yes!" She sighed, starting to get frustrated. "Of course I'm sure! Why wouldn't I be sure!?"

Mishti glanced over at Abeer who smiled politely as Pandit Ji shared some kind of anecdote with him, smiling. He looked up & Mishti's eyes, noticing the look of worry on her face as his eyebrows burrowed, gesturing to ask her what was up.

How was she going to explain that not only was Parul married to Mehul...
They had also had a son;

Kunal.