Mishti ran down the steps, her gown getting in her way, the only thing constantly going through her mind was Abir. Abir's smiling face was the adrenaline pumping through her veins.
"BHAAG MISHTI!" Was what she heard. She could faintly register that it was kunal. She was glad that he was somewhere on the first floor. Which meant that masi and Kunal were out of harms way. She prayed to her Kanhaji, that wherever Abir was, he shouldn't enter the house. Not right now, not when she had a mad man racing her with a gun!
She then heard the shot go off. And saw Abir enter the house. She then felt the skin of her left arm burning and she could hear the blood pumping in her ears.
"MISHTIIIII!" She heard Abir scream followed by two other voices of kunal and masi. She was on the last step when the shot went off and her knees immediately buckled. Abir who was near the entrance sprinted towards Mishti.
"Mishti! Mishti! Mishti!" He chanted holding and supporting her upper body.
"Aah! Ab Mazza aayega. Abir accha hua tu bhi yahin aa gaya. Tu ab apni aankhon se dekh iss ladki ka ant. Dekh, Mehul Kapadia se panga lene ka anjaam! Dekh abir dekh!" Laughed Mehul Kapadia. Abir had absolutely zoned him out, concentrating only on Mishti.
Kunal sprinted down the stairs and grabbed Mehul by the arms, and punched him square on the face.
That's when Mehul saw Parul also leaning down next to Mishti. Mehul smirked with a bloodied face and aimed at Parul masi. Kunal saw what he was doing and screamed, "MAAA!!" Parul masi looked up but was a little late as the bullet had already hit her right arm.
Kunal immediately ran to Parul masi and supported her upper body in his lap and caressed her face and said, "Ma! Ma!" Parul masi touched his cheek with a faint smile on her face and then passed out. Kunal lost it.
Abir was still trying to get Mishti to keep her eyes open. He could feel her body go limp in his arms. "Mishti, Mish..Mishti..tum meri angry chorni ho na. C'mon keep your eyes open for me, baby. Please, baby!" He tried. The wound on the back of her head because of crashing with the windows was also wearing her out along with the blood loss.
"M..m..me..mera..ph..phone.." whispered Mishti.
The light in Abir's head went off. But he couldn't leave her. Mehul was laughing and was about to leave, when Kuhu and Nishant entered.
"Nish..Nishant..don't let him run away! Kuhu, kuhu, come here, ma..ma needs a doctor! Mishti needs a doctor! Call the ambulance!" Screamed kunal. Nishant caged Mehul and kept hitting him. Kuhu called the ambulance and immediately kneeled beside Mishti. "Abir bro, aap jaaiye. Mein Mishti ke saath hoon!" She said, understanding Abir's need of getting to Mehul.
Abir caressed Mishti's head and placed a kiss and said, "I'll be back, love. I'll be back. Kuhu please dhyaan rakhna!" He explained. He walked to where Nishant was still hitting Mehul and said, "inse mein deal karunga Nishant. Tum please jaakar Mishti ka phone dhundho! Jaldi!" He instructed. Nishant nodded and ran up the stairs.
Abir punched Mehul hard enough to break his nose, held him by the collar and said, "maine kahan tha. Mishti par haath uthane ke baare mein sochna bhi mat. Uss din Mishti ne mujhe rok diya tha, lekin aaj nahi!" He said and started hitting Mehul with an animalistic instinct. Kunal got up and got behind Abir and said, "bhai! Bhai! The cops will be here any minute. Calm down bhai. Mishti needs you. Please bhai!" Kunal explained.
Nishant got down and ran down the stairs. He was checking Mishti's phone, trying to look for what Mishti meant. And suddenly came across a video!
"Dushman ka dushman dost hota hai!" It was a recording of mehul's voice. Admitting to the fact that it was afterall Meenakshi Rajvansh behind all this. Mehul's face paled as he realised what the recording meant.
"Abir! Abir! Mishti ne evidence record kar liya hai! Ab iss insaan ko koi nahi bacha sakta! Tum Mishti ke paas jaao. Isse toh mein dekh lunga!" Said Nishant. Abir nodded and ran towards Mishti. She was fading in and out of consciousness.
"A..a..abirrr..rr" she moaned out in pain.
"Haan, Haan, Mishti, mein yahi hoon. I'm so proud of you Mishti. Tumne nahi hi give up kiya aur nahi hi tum dari. Tum sach mein meri strong angry violent chorni ho. Lekin ab, bas thodi der aur. Just please keep your eyes open for me.please Mishti!" Abir tried. Seeing the love of his life, his wife, his best friend bleeding with a bullet wound, felt like a bullet wound in his heart. Why was he late? Why couldn't he save her? Why couldn't he just protect her for once!?
"Abir bro, ambulance aa gayi hai. Chaliye hum mishti ko le jaate hai.." tried kuhu. Kunal had already taken masi with him. "Haan Abir, tum jao. I'll wait here for the cops. And then I'll meet y'all at the hospital. Kuhu just update me please!" Nishant told Abir.
Abir nodded his head and bent down to pick Mishti up, bridal style when a scream broke out of her. The scream was haunting enough to halt Abir Nishant and Kuhu.
"Mish..mish..Mishti Kya hua? I'm sorry baby.." Abir said. Mishti, too weak just faintly pointed around her mid section and passed out. Abir's fear intensified. He ran out towards the ambulance with mishti in his arms.
"Abir bro, aap jaiye. I'll stay back with Nanchak. He needs me. Sab thik hoga. Don't worry! Yeh mishti na #TooStrong hai." She tried. Abir just nodded and sat in the ambulance with mishti. He lay her down and the doctors got to work. They applied pressure to her wound to stop the bleeding.
"Mr Rajvansh? You should've stopped the bleeding. Bohot khoon beh chuka hai!" Said the doctor.
Abir just looked down and held Mishti's hand tighter. Asking his Partner to take care of his wife and his masi.
In the other ambulance,
Kunal was clutching Parul's hand and crying his heart out, "ma, please ma. Aap mujhe chod kar nahi jaa sakti. Itne saalon baad mujhe meri real ma mili hai, and I'm sorry for not being a better son. For not being the son you deserve. Lekin, ma, ma mein ab sab karunga. Aap ke saath time spend karunga. Aap ka dhyaan rakhunga. Lekin for that, aapko mere saath rehna hoga!" He cried.
At the Rajvansh house,
Mehul had finally almost passed out from receiving beatings from Abir, kunal and Nishant, when the cops arrived.
"Sir, thank god aap aa gaye. Iss insaan ne, meri best friend, meri behen ki mother in law, ka murder karne ki koshish ki hai! He shot them sir! Aur haan, humare paas proof hai ki inn sab ke peeche Mrs Meenakshi Rajvansh ka haath hai. We don't where she is. Mein kab se unka location trace karne ki try kar raha hoon but I can't trace her." Said Nishant.
The inspector said, "don't worry Sir, hum sab sambhal lenge." And instructed the officers to take Mehul into custody.
"Sir, please look for Mr Naman Aggarwal too. This is #ATeamwork!" Said Kuhu. The officers nodded and left with Mehul in handcuffs.
The minute, they left, Kuhu dropped down to her knees. Nishant kneeled down as well and put his arm around her.
"Kung fu, ab weak hone ka time nahi hai. It's time to be strong. Kunal is going to need your support, your Abir bro needs you Kuhu. Tumhe is family ki strength banna hai!" Said Nishant.
"Nanchak! Kunal..usko mein sambhal lungi..but aap jante hai na..despite our differences I don't want anything to happen to Mishti...and abir bro, oh god, #ToughLife. I don't know how to support him. He's been my rock Nanchak, #BestBro and Hamesha unke saath hi aisa sab hota hai..I just want us to be happy Nanchak." She cried. Nishant kissed the crown of her head and said, "Kuhu, I know Tu kya feel kar rahi hai, but just go and give him a giant hug and always be honest with him. Give Mishti a proper and genuine chance, leave aside your insecurities for abir and that'll be enough. Trust me. Ab chal, uth. Get up. Let's go to the hospital. We need to be there for our family. And raste mein, call the rest of the family and call them to the hospital!"
Kuhu nodded and both of them proceeded towards the hospital.
At the hospital,
"Mr Rajvansh, aap bohot lucky hai. The bullet passed through her right arm and didn't hit any important vein. Blood loss hua hai, lekin nothing major. Nothing a lot of love and care won't repair." The doctor informed about Parul masi.
Kunal breathed a sigh of relief.
"Aur doctor, what about my sister in law? How is she?" Asked kunal.
"I'll have to update you about that in sometime. We need to conduct a few X rays to be sure." Said the doctor.
Kunal, was freaking out underneath but decided to keep a composed face for his bhai.
Just then kuhu entered the room and immediately pulled kunal in for a hug. Kunal rested his head on her shoulder. Drawing strength from Kuhu.
"Sab thik Ho jayega Kunal. Hum dono milker Ma aur Mishti dono ka dhyaan rakhenge. #Together."
Kunal pulled away and said, "thank you Kuhu. Tum please yahan Ma ke saath raho. Mein bhai ke saath hoon!" He said and left in search of Abir.
He went outside and found Abir pacing the hallway. "Bhai, please sit down. Mishti is absolutely okay. Please bhai!" Kunal requested.
"Nanko, I couldn't be there for her. I couldn't protect her, yet again. How many times will she be in danger because of us and our families?! I'm so done with Big Ben. This is a new low Nanko." Abir says. Before kunal could say something the doctor comes.
"Mr Rajvansh, the bullet skimmed past her arm so there is no damage as such and she seems to have hit her head against something so she has suffered a mild concussion. As for her mid section, your wife must have hit herself pretty hard on the back, because of which her ribs are bruised and there's a hairline crack on one of them. For the next few weeks, breathing, talking, moving, and eating will hurt a lot. So needless to say, you need to make sure your wife is in bed rest till our next appointment which is scheduled for 3 weeks from now. But don't worry, she's going to be okay. The blood loss has made her a little weak, but nothing permanent. You can go inside if you wish too. Just take immense care of your wife." The doctor instructed.
Abir and Kunal both breathed a sigh of relief. She would be okay.
