Chapter 9:
Dressed in black jeans, a fitted hot pink tank top, and purple
converses, Rhea looked comfortably casual as she emerged from the airport
terminal. Rachna caught sight of Rhea immediately and waved to catch her
attention.
"Rhea! Over here!"
Hearing her name, Rhea walked towards Rachna. Recognizing her
immediately, Rhea gave Rachna a huge smile and a hug.
"Oh my gosh! Rachna! How are you? It's such a pleasant
surprise seeing you here."
"Chaya was a bit busy so she asked me to pick you guys up.
How was the flight?"
"Not bad actually. But I can't wait to get home though...I
just need a hot shower!"
Both the girls smiled and began to make their way to the
parking lot. Suddenly Rhea stopped and turned around to look at the handsome
young man behind her.
"Oh gosh! How could I forget? Rachna, meet Karan, my boyfriend.
Karan, this is Rachna, Chaya's best friend."
Rachna saw his eyes before she heard his name. He had the
same intense chocolate brown eyes as his brother. She recognized him from a
picture that Kabir had shown her. He smiled brightly at her and stuck his hand
out for a quick friendly handshake.
"Hi Rachna! Pleasure to meet you."
"Uhh...uhm...hi." Rachna responded, dazed at the sight of
the person standing in front of her.
As the three of them made their way to the car, Rhea
chattered on cheerfully, unaware of the storm of thoughts whirling through
Rachna's mind. After loading the bags into the car, the three of them took their
seats with Rachna driving, Rhea sitting up front, and Karan arranging himself comfortably
in the back seat.
"So Rachna, how's everything with you? I heard about your
parents' accident. I'm so sorry about your loss." Rhea supportingly squeezed
Rachna's hand.
Rachna nodded. "Hmmm...it's been tough Rhea." She glanced
back through the rearview mirror to observe Karan's reaction to the
conversation, but she surprisingly found him looking out the window, pensively
staring out at the Mumbai skyline. Rachna focused her eyes on the road again,
trying to push back the tears that were threatening to overflow from her eyes.
The person who had taken away the two most important people in her life was happily
viewing the Mumbai skyline, completely ignorant of the havoc he had wreaked in
her life.
"Rachna it feels so good to be back in India! It's been so
long since I last visited... I remember how much fun I had with you and Chaya
the last time I was here."
Rachna half-heartedly smiled listening to Rhea, but she
could not divert her mind from the person sitting in the back seat of her car. Rhea,
meanwhile, also turned her attention to that very person.
"So Karan? How does it feel to be back in India after so
long? Has Mumbai changed much in the past four years?"
"Ah yes my love. It had changed a lot but it still feels
like home."
Rachna was disgusted to hear him lie so blatantly. "So you've
been living in London for the past four years hunh?"
Karan smiled as he responded. "Yeah Rachna. I've been living
in London for my studies. It's been a tough four years away from home but it
was my dream to attend Oxford University. So I guess you could say that I've also
been happily living my dream."
"And your family? They live in London as well?" Rachna
questioned further, wanting to see how much he would lie.
"No no. My mum still lives here in Mumbai, in the house that
I grew up in actually. And my brother...well the last I heard, he had just
moved from Benaras to Delhi a few months back. I haven't been in touch with him
too much lately...I've been busy with school and I guess he's pretty busy with his work."
The conversation went dull after this, as Rhea excitedly
began to sing along to songs on the radio while Karan watched his girlfriend
with an amused expression. Meanwhile, Rachna tried hard to make sense of the
situation in her mind.
They arrived at Chaya's house in a short while and after exchanging
the usual round of excited greetings, Rhea and Karan were shown to their respective
guest rooms while Rachna helped Chaya pick out her outfit and jewelry for the sangeet.
"So Rachna, this will
be perfect for tomorrow. Don't you agree?"
Glancing briefly at the items that Chaya had laid out on her
bed, Rachna nodded. "Yeah Chaya, it'll be good."
Noticing that her friend was engrossed in her own thoughts,
Chaya prodded Rachna to share her problems. "Are you okay Rachna? You seem to
be a bit lost."
"Uhhh...yeah. I...I'm fine. I'm just tired I guess. Listen,
I should get going now. You get some rest tonight and I'll see you tomorrow at
the sangeet." Rachna gave her friend a quick hug and exited the room.
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Arriving back home, Rachna looked for Sneha and found her
sitting with a cup of coffee in the living room. Taking a seat on the couch,
Rachna cleared her throat to catch Sneha's attention.
"Sneha mausi. I need to talk to you."
Sneha looked towards Rachna, nodding briefly. "I know
Rachna. I know that you are expecting answers from me about this whole divorce
thing but I'm really sorry beta. I couldn't meet with the lawyer...he seems to
be conveniently avoiding us right now."
Rachna sighed. "It not about that mausi ji. It's...I..I have
to ask you something really important."
"Yeah, sure. What is it?"
"Can you tell me the name of the person that is responsible
for mummy and papa's accident?"
"Rachna? Why are you asking me this right now? You already
know it's Karan Tripathi."
Rachna shook her head. "It just doesn't make sense. How can
this be?"
"What? What's going on Rachna?"
"I just picked Chaya's cousin Rhea up from the airport. Rhea
and her boyfriend are here for Chaya's wedding. Well Rhea's boyfriend is Karan.
Karan Tripathi. And he claims that he has been living in London for the past
four years. So, something just doesn't add up?"
"But how is that possible Rachna? Karan has been here for
the past 11 months doing the community service that was in the contract for the
out-of-court settlement. And I have been overseeing everything myself."
"How can this be mausi ji? There's something majorly wrong
here. I just don't understand..."
The ringing of the doorbell interrupted the conversation.
Sneha answered the door to find a man standing on the doorstep.
"Yes? How can I help you?"
"Uh..voh..I uh...I'm looking for Rachna. Is she here?"
"And you are?"
"Kabir."
Sneha's eyes opened wide with shock. "Kabir? Kabir Tripathi?"
Kabir nodded at Sneha, surprised that she had recognized his
name. "Yes."
Sneha allowed Kabir to come inside and led him into the
living room.
---------------------------
"She's in that room. You can go speak to her.
I'll just come after some time."
Kabir entered the living room and walked towards Rachna, who
was standing by the window with her back to the door. Feeling a familiar hand
on her shoulder, Rachna turned around and her eyes opened wide with shock.
"Ka...K...Kabir?!"
Unsure of whether it was the shock of seeing him standing in
front of her or the sheer exhaustion from all of the activities that had occurred
earlier that day, Rachna could sense her vision getting blurry, her surroundings
becoming dimmer and dimmer. She clasped tightly onto his arms for support as she felt
light-headed and dizzy. He quickly guided her into a seat and handed her a
glass of water that was on the table.
Concerned, Kabir cupped Rachna's face and pushed her hair
back, off of her face.
"Rachna...Rachna are you okay? Talk to me, are you okay?"
Regaining her composure, Rachna closed her eyes and breathed
deeply for a few moments. "Yeah...I'm fine. But you...here...I mean...how?"
He placed his finger on her lips to quiet her. "Shhh.
Enough. I'm going to ask the questions today and I expect that you will give me the
answers." He said it with love and care in his voice, but she didn't miss the firmness
and authority of the demand.
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Yes, many of you correctly predicted that Karan Tripathi would be Rhea's boyfriend. You all know me too well! 😆
So, thoughts on this latest update?
❤️ Nivi
Edited by nividances - 9 years ago
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