Abhigya Short Stories

Lemons & Lemonade : Part Four

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Pragya stared at her father and Abhi over the dining table as they discussed about POLITICS!!!! That's right! They were talking about politics!!! Of all the things in the world - POLITICS!!! "Can you pass the water, Pragya?" Abhi asks her as he looked at her. All he got in return was a murderous look from her. "Pragya, pass the water." Ajay tells her. She quickly took the bottle and passed it to Abhi. Her father and Abhi were like house on fire, getting along like hell and she was getting burned! After Abhi had dropped the pregnancy bomb on her father, he had screamed and screamed for a long-long time. Then he had cooled down and asked her to show Abhi to the guest bedroom, pointedly saying that Abhi WILL BE sleeping in the guest room and that they would finalize the wedding date in the morning. Yes, he never bothered to ask her whether she wanted to marry Abhi, just that she was marrying Abhi. Without her father noticing she had dumped all his things in the guest room and he had slept there the previous night.

In the morning Abhi had come down in fresh clothes, and her father thankfully decided not to ask about the change in his attire. Abhi had requested to talk to her father alone, and they had gone off to his study. An hour and a half later, they had come out laughing like old friends. Abhi had the good sense to stay clear of her path and not try to talk to her. Around afternoon, he had "hugged" her father and left to Mumbai promising to bring his parents soon to finalize the wedding date.

Later, Ajay had called up Sarala and informed her about Pragya's marriage to Abhishek, leaving out that Pragya might be pregnant. Sarala who was apprehensive about Abhishek at first due to his history with Tanu was finally appeased when Ajay told her that Pragya and Abhishek loved each other. She was then happy for them, as she did feel guilty for what Tanu did to Abhishek.

After he left, he didn't call or text her, he gave her the much needed space. It's been three days, and she hadn't talked to her father after that night in the kitchen. She decided to talk to him and goes to his study. "Papa, can we talk?" Pragya hesitantly asks as she looked at him. "Come in, Pragya. You know you can talk to me." Ajay says smiling at her. Pragya goes to him and kneels down in front of him as she kept her hands on his knees. "Do you hate me?" Pragya asks worried trying to control her tears. "Because of you and Abhishek..." he says vaguely. Pragya nods her head and says in tears, "I broke your trust." "You did." Ajay agrees, "but my love for you is not so feeble that it would just go away because you made a mistake." "I am sorry, Papa." Pragya says crying. Ajay wipes her tears and says, "You both are going to be married soon, and the wrong would right itself." "I don't want to marry him." "Why because he made fun of you and your love?" Ajay asks. Pragya nods her head and says, "He broke my trust." "He broke your trust?" Ajay muses, "He didn't get you pregnant and abandon you, Pragya. If anything, he is fighting you, to be with you. That's not breaking one's trust. It is standing up to the love and trust you have on him." "After what he did I can't trust him." Pragya says looking away. "I am your father and I don't like talking about this, but I have no other option. He said he seduced you." Ajay tells her embarrassed himself. Pragya stares at Ajay in shock wondering why Abhi lied to her father like that. Finally, she realizes that she couldn't let her father think low of Abhi, and tells him, "He didn't. I don't know why he lied to you, maybe for me. But he didn't. I..." Ajay starts smiling, "I knew he had lied. He loves and respects you a lot to take advantage of your innocence like that. I just wanted you to know what he did for you." Pragya looks away wondering whether Abhi really loved her. If he did, then he wouldn't force her to marry him, he would let her make the decision regarding her life. "He told me everything, including the fact that he was living in our house for three days. Very rarely in life we find true love, rarer that love would fight the whole world for you and still rarer when life gives you a second chance with your true love. Don't give it up, Pragya." Ajay advices her, when she remained silent he goes on, "So what if he made fun of you and your love? When was that? A time that neither of you even remember. Don't forget Pragya, he was young then, you know how vicious teenage is. You might have done things that you regret now, just like that Abhishek regrets what he did and he repents for them. Now he wants to make it up to you. You don't get people like that, Pragya." "Why are you supporting him? You are my father!!" Pragya angrily reminds him. "I am your father and that is the reason I am supporting him, because he is quite simply the best thing that ever happened to you." Ajay tells her.