CHAPTER 33
Avishka is feeding Aashi very lovingly, and Aashi is also smiling and eating very well. Over the past two days, Avishka has unnecessarily avoided meeting Prakram, but she is eager to see him because she is deeply concerned about Padma and Vishnu. If Prakram has to meet Aashi, he calls her outside the room, due to which both of them are not face-to-face. There is a knock on the door, due to which Aashi quickly jumps up and runs out of the room.
"Papa…"
Prakram also quickly picks her up in his arms, tosses her in the air once, catches her back, lovingly kisses both her cheeks, and starts looking at her smiling face, which looks extremely happy. She is laughing when he catches her back.
"What were you doing?"
"Mumma was feeding me.”
Prakram tickles her lightly by inserting his index finger in her stomach and tells her.
"Is this stomach full?"
"I am extremely full; Mumma has been fed for a long time; I am being fed, but the food isn't ending. Fruits came first, then bread and vegetables, and then copious amounts of kheer; the menu was endless. And you know what? I am fat now."
Prakram laughs lightly after listening to her and then makes her sit, opens his shirt, and tells her.
"Today Papa has a lot of time; today Papa will take Ashi shopping."
"Mumma is coming."
Prakram was taking out one of his T-shirts, due to which his hands stopped for a few moments while taking it out fully. He is not in a position to say much, but controlling himself, he says to Aashi.
"Okay, tell your mom to get ready."
"Yeeeee….”
Aashi starts running out of the room, but then Avishka comes there, who still has her veil on her eyes. After listening to her footsteps, Prakram turned. Seeing her, he stopped whatever he was doing.
"Sir, I need to talk to Maa and Baba."
Prakram looks at Avishka for a moment, then smiles at Aashi and tells her.
"Aashi Papa needs to talk to Mom about something; you go to Armaan Uncle for a while."
Aashi immediately runs outside, where Armaan is; Prakram comes and stands in front of Avishka. Avishka, who has started getting a little nervous due to his presence, starts moving backwards after feeling him standing near her, but Prakram tells her instantly while checking her veil, which is totally not acceptable for his liking.
"Remove this veil from your face."
"Sir…"
"First do what I said, then we'll talk about other things later."
Avishka has no way out, so she pushes her veil back; her eyes are completely downcast; the wedding chain is still hanging around her neck; but the vermillion that was filled in her hair partition two days ago is on her forehead. She appears to have made numerous attempts to clean it, yet it remains unclean; her face displays no signs of makeup, including kohl, lip tint, or lip gloss. Prakram alerted her.
"I don't want to see your face covered in a veil again. Keep this in mind; we are husband and wife, if you forget. Remove this little piece of cloth that you have kept on your head. We are going shopping sometime, and Aashi is also very happy about this thing.”
He turns and starts leaving when Avishka looks up and sees that he is shirtless, due to which she immediately lowers her gaze while clutching her suit tightly and immediately tells him.
"Sir…. I want to talk to Maa and Baba."
Prakram does not turn toward her at all, but he answers her immediately.
"You will soon be speaking with them; they might even meet you, but for now, it would be more beneficial if you refrain from discussing this matter. Secondly, you are no longer Aashi's nanny who can call me sir. The world will soon discover our relationship, so it would be beneficial if you made improvements to your habits. We are husband and wife."
Avishka lowers her eyes and starts going away from there because his hard voice clearly indicates he is not going to tell her about Vishnu and Padma easily, but suddenly her dupatta gets pulled and comes off her head, due to which she turns and looks at Prakram, who was looking at her. Both are looking toward each other. Avishka immediately starts looking down, but Prakram says.
"You should always look into the eyes of fear; the fear that is standing in front of you automatically diminishes.”
Avishka doesn't understand anything, but she doesn't want to stand in front of him at all, so she immediately comes from there. When Prakram notices her departure, he moves to stand near the window.
AFTER SHE FAINTED AT HER WEDDING
“Mumma….”
Aashi runs to Avishka and starts crying; Prakram immediately consoles her.
"Aashi mumma is ill; you ought not to do this; if you begin sobbing in this manner, your health will deteriorate as well; how will you care for mumma?"
Aashi immediately wipes tears from her eyes after hearing her father's words. Prakram lifts Avishka into his arms, brings her to the room, and makes her lie down there. Her whole body is burning with fever, due to which he immediately tells Armaan.
"Call the doctor here immediately; she's still experiencing a fever, and also instruct him to bring a competent nurse with him, as we also require a nurse in this situation."
"Sure sir…”
Prakram starts seeing Avishka's face very clearly, which has become very pale; it seems as if she has been very ill for many days. He knows that she is going through a mental trauma due to forced marriage, but here he does not want to think too much because he has seen his daughter in the situation and the new situation that is standing in front of him now. It is better to marry Avishka than a girl who will cause trouble in his life.
At present, things seem to be very complicated for Prakram, due to which, on the one hand, he is having a lot of trouble with everything, and on the other hand, he does not even want to think about anything. He is sitting there quietly when suddenly Avishka starts getting very scared, taking deep breaths, and crying unconsciously, which gets his attention.
"Rajeev stop… Please stop... Please stop..."
When she calls out like this, Prakram comes and sits near her, trying to listen to her more attentively. She whispers regularly, with heavy breathing. He starts splashing water on her face so that if she is having a terrible dream, she wakes up from it.
"Avishka, get up."
"It hurts... Please no..."
She has not woken up from unconsciousness at all, but her breathing has started going up and down a lot, as if she is having a lot of trouble breathing. Prakram glances at her and immediately begins to remove her jewelry, sensing that it must be causing her discomfort, a move that also makes her feel more at ease. He swiftly removed her jewelry, causing her heavy stola to drop from her chest. The large neck design of her blouse drew his attention to her bosom. He glanced at her face, which was filled with fear, before returning his gaze to her bosom.
There is a deep mark on the spot, and he doesn't want to do anything, due to which whenever Avishka comes to know about it, it will be embarrassing for her. However, upon noticing the mark, he finds himself unable to resist and proceeds to gently remove the blouse from the area. This mark is very scary and deep. Someone attempted to create a complete R with a knife, yet the line beneath it lacked precision, resembling a P rather than an R.
Prakram immediately looks towards Avishka due to the type of mark it bears; he has a good idea of how deep the knife must have penetrated to accomplish all this.
"Who the hell does this? Your ex-husband..."
Avishka suddenly held his wrist tightly, and Prakram looked at her as her breathing slightly calmed down while calling out for her father.
“Papa…”
He looked at her more attentively. After which, her breathing became completely calm, and she fell asleep again peacefully. Her body was getting very hot, and Prakram's eyes were on the mark made on her chest. While at one moment he is getting very angry, at the next moment, seeing the face of this girl, he has started feeling pity for her. He hears the sound of footsteps, so he immediately frees his hand and adjusts Avishka's clothes. After doing this, he stands straight, a little bit away from her. Armaan and the doctor arrive. Aashi is with Armaan, who is deeply saddened by the situation. He tells the doctor as soon as he sees him.
“There is a problem with taking medicine; it would be better if you could cure her fever as soon as possible through injection, and the nurse has been called here so that she can change her clothes. It was crucial for the marriage to take place today, but her health has worsened, so now she needs rest. Let the nurse stay here tonight so that she can take care of her."
As soon as he says what he says, he immediately takes Aashi and leaves. The scar is flashing before his eyes again and again. Aashi quickly asked.
"Papa, what happened to Mumma? Why is she not smiling at Aashi?"
"Don't worry; she loves Aashi so much. Soon, she will smile. Come on, go and draw a beautiful painting for Grandma. When we go back, we will give her a gift."
He doesn't fully know what has happened to Avishka because Avishka herself can't say anything with her own mouth. It is very difficult to reach any conclusion, but in the next moment, he says this with a very strict expression on his face.
"Often what is seen is not at all what we see; it requires knowing everything and digging deep for it. Neither do I want to dig deep nor do I want to know anything about you. It would be better if we let it continue as it is."
PRESENT
Prakram tried his best not to come in front of her in any way for 2 days or to see her face, due to which he would have no sympathy towards her again, but despite doing all this, he felt that mark again and again. It is troubling him more, and at the same time, whenever he looks at her because of Aashi, he only starts sympathizing with her.
While Prakram does not want to show her much sympathy, he is also sensitive towards her, due to which he is neither giving her similar problems nor talking about any such matter that can trouble her. This sudden change in himself has troubled him as well, due to which he is feeling very distressed and is fighting a strange battle with himself.
"DAMN… I don't want to be that old Prakram who felt pain in the pain of others; he had dug too many graves for himself by that idiot who wanted to swallow him by creating a ditch. Okay, she is my wife in front of the world, and I have some responsibility towards her, but nothing more than that. After all, she is a woman who cheats you with her innocence.”
He has battled with himself numerous times, initially resisting the idea of bringing anyone into his life. However, life unexpectedly pushed him to make a decision, leading him to forcefully include someone into his life, despite his heart's inclination towards her and his mind's resistance.