Fates

Part 28- The Diwali Series- Soul Mates

Abhi and Pragya were deeply lost in each other's eyes.

"Fuggi, are you really here?" Abhi said in a whisper, unable to believe his eyes.

"Wha- what are you doing here?" Pragya said shakingly, she too was unable to believe that Abhi was in front of her.

Before Abhi could reply though, the storeroom door shut with a loud thud, scaring Pragya. She leaped into Abhi's arms on instinct, hugging him, her head on his chest, with her eyes closed.

Abhi was shocked by Pragya's actions but slowly hugged her back, wrapping his arms around her waist, putting one hand on the back of her head, and putting his chin on the top of her head. Both Abhi and Pragya felt an enormous amount of relief being in each other's arms. They had reunited with their soul mate.

Pragya however quickly came back to her senses and got out of Abhi's embrace. Not meeting Abhi's eyes Pragya speed walked towards the door, only to find it jammed when she tried turning the knob to get out. She informed Abhi of this.

"The door is jammed, it's not opening." Pragya said distressed.

"What do you mean it's not opening? That's not possible. More to the side so I can open it, you're probably not using enough force." Abhi said coming to stand next to Pragya and trying to open the door, only to find it jammed.

"I told you didn't I? The door is jammed." Pragya said smiling at Abhi's struggle.

"Hehehe." Abhi mocked laughed, seeing Pragya smile at his predicament.

"Don't be so happy that you were right. We are still locked in here." Abhi informed Pragya and with that Pragya's smile fell.

"How are we going to get out of here then?" Pragya asked worriedly.

"Push the door harder." Pragya said motivating Abhi.

"I am trying to, but that aside, tell me what you're doing here. How did you come here?" Abhi asked confused as to why Pragya was at his house when the last time she had told Abhi that she would never come back here. Did she even know it was his house? Had she come for the Diwali event that most people came for every year? If so, who had invited her?

"Oh hello, I can ask you the same thing. What are you doing here?" Pragya asked Abhi to distract him because she didn't want Abhi to know that she had come here with her daughter. After all, Pragya feared that Abhi would take Prachi away from her too. Pragya thought that Abhi was probably a friend of Mr. Mehra because she knew that Riya's father was a rich man.

"Hahaha." Abhi laughed unbelievably.

"Are you really asking me what I'm doing in my-" Abhi said about to tell Pragya that this was his house.

"Cockroach! Cockroach!" Pragya yelled out, interrupting Abhi mid-sentence, scrambling to get away. Abhi followed Pragya's line of sight, only to see a cockroach crawling behind him. Abhi too let out a terrified scream.

Both Abhi and Pragya scrambled to get away from the cockroach. Both of them ended up on top of a table, shaking the table with their weight, and having to steady each other. In trying to keep each other from falling off the table, both Abhi and Pragya got lost in each other eyes. But as they were leaning towards one another, unconsciously, their combined weight shook the table once again.

So they sat on opposite ends of the table to keep balance, having nothing to do but wait for the cockroach to leave and for someone to come open the door.

******
Once Alia and Purab reached the party downstairs, they spotted Aryan talking with Priyanka.

"See I told you that Aryan listens to you." Purab told Alia, who had told him why Aryan was hiding.

"Yes, I agree, you were right." Alia said praising Purab.

"I always am." Purab said pridefully. But instead of calling Purab out, Alia was searching for someone else in the crowd.

"Do you see Abhi bhai anywhere?" Alia asked Purab.

"No, I don't." Purab said also looking for Abhi.

"That's weird, I haven't seen Abhi bhai this whole evening, I'm going to see where he might be." Alia told Purab.

"No don't leave me alone, I don't know how to talk to these people." Purab said not letting Alia leave.

"You'll be fine, just say a few hellos, and make sure Aryan stays where he is, I'll be back with Abhi bhai." Alia said walking away in search of her brother.

******
"How is she now? Our daughter how is she now?" Pragya asked after a long silence because even if both Abhi and Pragya had a lot to say to each other, they didn't know where to start.

"Princess is okay now, her injuries have healed, and the cast on her wrist just came off today." Abhi informed Pragya

"Princess? Is that her nickname?" Pragya asked smiling at the new detail that she learned about her daughter.

"Yeah, but only I get to call her that." Abhi said possessively. Pragya remained silent after that, Abhi also didn't know what else to say. Even though he wanted to ask Pragya about his other daughter, he didn't think he deserved to know after all that he had done.

"Pari. I call my daughter pari as a nickname." Pragya told Abhi after a moment of silence, causing Abhi to look at her. Abhi smiled at that little detail about his daughter.

"But only I get to call her that." Pragya said repeating Abhi's words back to him, Abhi let out a small laugh at that.

"Princess has your eyesight." Abhi informed Pragya, which made Pragya look at him questioningly.

"She had to wear eyeglasses at the age of 10." Abhi elaborated, Pragya felt tears prick her eyes as she got to know about the similarities between her and her daughter.

"But she doesn't wear them anymore, she prefers to wear contact lenses because they're harder to lose. You wouldn't believe how many times she lost her glasses, she's such a forgetful idiot." Abhi said fondly, thinking back to when Riya was little.

"Hey! Don't insult my daughter. Anyone can lose their glasses. I too lost my glasses so many times when I was little." Pragya said coming to Riya's defense, as mothers do.

"Pari as your taste in music." Pragya told Abhi who looked at her to elaborate.

"All she ever listens to is rock music. No matter how hard I try to get her to listen to other genres of music." Pragya said, Abhi smiled proudly at that detail, his daughter was just like him.

"I have tried so many times, but it never works. I swear she is sometimes too stubborn for her own good." Pragya said smiling fondly, thinking back to all the failed attempts to get Prachi to listen to something else other than rock music.

"Hey Now Fuggi, you don't insult my daughter. Rock music is the best music, you don't get to make fun of the things me and my daughter like." Abhi said coming to Prachi's defense as fathers do.

Both Abhi and Pragya smiled at each other thinking about their daughters. But their smiles fell as their thoughts wandered off toward Kiara, her death, and their separation. Tears made their way slowly down Abhi and Pragya's faces. They both knew what the other was thinking and turned away from one another, unable to face each other.

Both Abhi and Pragya remained silent after that, lost in deep thought, the light atmosphere becoming heavy again. Both of them thinking about what could've been.

******
Please vote and comment if you liked this part!💕

Silent Readers please do vote!💕

Keep reading and stay healthy!❤

A.M.🙃