Fates

Part 31- The Diwali Series- Truths

Pragya was leaning against the pillar in the hallway, now that she was alone she was making no attempts to wipe away her tears.

"Why do we keep meeting like this?" Pragya thought out loud as tears streamed down her face.

"No matter how hard I try to stay away from you, fate always makes us collide. Why didn't you come back? Why didn't you try to win me back? I lied, even now I wait for you to say 'Fuggi please come back, Fuggi please forgive me' but you never did and never will. And no matter how much I want to hate you for how you treated me, I can't. My heart doesn't allow me to because even now it beats only for you." Pragya said as tears fell more heavily from her eyes, giving no sign of ever stopping.

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As Shahana was wandering around the hallway, looking for Prachi, Prachi ended up bumping into her as she was existing Riya's room. Seeing Prachi and Riya together, Shahana got worried that something had happened.

"Is everything okay?" Shahana asked Prachi worried that Riya had done something to Prachi again. Riya realized why Shahana was asking such a question and lowered her head, looking at the floor in shame.

"Everything is good, Riya and I have made up." Prachi said smiling putting a hand over Riya's shoulder because she knew that Riya felt guilty.

"Where were you all this time?" Prachi asked Shahana, wondering where Shahana had wandered off to.

"Umm, I was looking for you." Shahana said not telling Prachi that she had gone to look for Aryan, at least not yet. Prachi raised an eyebrow at that knowing that Shahana wasn't telling her the whole truth but she let it go for the time being.

"Okay, well, come here I want you to meet someone." Prachi said moving to the side to reveal Drishti behind her who couldn't be seen behind Prachi and Riya.

"This is Drishti di I just met her today, she's pretty awesome." Prachi told Shahana, smiling. Drishti blushed at Prachi's compliment.

"Hello, I'm Shahana. Happy Diwali!" Shahana said extending a hand to shake Drishti's.

"Happy Diwali to you too!" Drishti said shaking Shahana's hand.

"Now, tell me why you were looking for me?" Prachi asked Shahana.

"Oh, I completely forgot, Maasi said that we're going home, and she told me to look for you." Shahana informed Prachi.

"Oh okay, I guess it is pretty late." Prachi said looking at her watch to check the time.

"Where is Mumma anyway?" Prachi said scanning the area around her.

"Auntie is coming this way." Riya said spotting Pragya. She had chosen to remain silent until now because she knew that Shahana still didn't like her for how she treated Prachi.

Pragya had collected herself slowly, going to the bathroom to wash her face, so that Prachi wouldn't find out that she had been crying. Pragya wanted to get out of there fast because she didn't know how long she could keep herself together. So she had gone to look for Prachi and Shahana herself and finally found them.

"Let's go home now, it's very late, Saritaben must be waiting for us." Pragya told Prachi and Shahana, her voice a mere whisper because she was stopping herself from crying. Everyone, there could tell that something was wrong but thought that it was better not to ask right now.

"Auntie I could drop you home if you let me." Riya offered, trying to help in any way she could.

"Auntie don't refuse, it's very late and you won't be able to find a taxi at this time." Riya said when she saw that Pragya was going to refuse.

"Okay, beta. You can drive us home if you want to." Pragya said agreeing, a bit reluctant because she didn't want to be a burden.

And with that everyone went downstairs to go outside.

******
Aryan who had zoned out while Priyanka was talking to him saw Riya with Prachi, Shahana, Prachi's mom, and a girl he didn't recognize. He left Priyanka without saying a word, and Priyanka didn't even notice that he was gone, she was too busy thinking about how to get back together with her ex-boyfriend Rishi.

Pragya, Prachi, and Shahana had already gone outside while Drishti and Riya had paused by the door to talk.

"I think I should go home too now." Drishti informed Riya.

"Oh okay, I'll drop you off too." Riya said.

"No, really it's okay. You-" Drishti began to say, but Aryan interrupted her by joining the conversation.

"What's happening here? Where are you going?" Aryan asked curiously.

"Oh, look who finally showed up." Riya said sarcastically.

"Nothing is happening I'm just dropping off auntie, Prachi, Shahana, and Drishti di at their homes." Riya said emphasizing Drishti's name to indirectly tell her that she won't be able to refuse.

"Oh, so you're dropping off Shahana." Aryan mumbled too low for Riya to hear.

"Can I come too? You know to drop them off?" Aryan asked Riya so she could hear.

"I think I'm pretty capable of dropping off 4 people by myself Ari." Riya said confused, Aryan was acting weird for some reason.

"It's not that Ri. They probably live in opposite directions, so it's better if we take separate cars to drop them off." Aryan said making up an excuse because he wanted to spend more time with Shahana.

"How do you know that they live in different directions?" Riya asked now more confused, Aryan was acting weird.

"Well let's ask them, shall we? Hi, Drishti di I'm Aryan, Riya's cousin, happy Diwali! Would you mind telling me where you live?" Aryan asked curiously with a smile.

"Happy Diwali to you too, and uh- I live in Chandi Chowk." Drishti told Aryan and even though she had just met him she could see that he was a fun person to be around.

"Hah, see I was right, Shahana lives in the opposite direction." Aryan said gloating not realizing how he had messed up by saying only Shahana's name. Now Riya just looked at him more weirdly, not understanding what was happening.

"So who do you want to drop off, Drishti di, or Auntie?" Riya asked curiously.

"Uh- Shahana, I mean Auntie because she has Shahana and Prachi with her. Your sports car only fits two people comfortably, and I know how much you love to drive it. So I'll take Auntie, Shahana, and Prachi in a boring plain white car, only for you my sister." Aryan said buttering Riya up.

"Okaayy...." Riya said raising a eyebrow, starting to understand what was going on.

And then she went outside with Drishti leaving Aryan to follow behind them.

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