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S - matlab?

C - I don't know she said her patient was serious and left , it's the third time now . She's really getting on my nerves these days and I should not utter a word about it. Cool !

Shivaay couldn't think straight after that  while charu just kept ranting about her sister disappearing every now and then when she was supposed to be the right hand here .

' excuse me , can you please hold this , just 2 minutes '

Charu looked at shivaay after when the hairdresser asked him for help , he stood there, idle  , lost in his own thoughts . Then she herself pulled his arm and made him grip her hair and that's when he came back .

C - even you can't figure it out right ,she's just too juvenile sometimes.

Shivaay didn't reply  anything to that and soon Praniti hurried inside .

Pr- charu,  did you see his jhootas? This boy is really such a disaster.

Charu chuckled watching her complain like that .

C - aunty, check in that box. Yes the black one inside the cupboard.

Pr- ohh thank you so much charu , got it .

She planted a light kiss on Charu's temple and was ready to leave with the box ,but, shivaay stopped her .

S- one second aunty , I don't know if I can ask you this . But I need a favour

Praniti looked at shivaay and then at Charu quizzically for the latter shrugged her shoulders and passed the same look on him .

He looked reluctant but couldn't hold himself from asking her  this.

'  Blood cancer , he's been taking treatment for almost , yeah , almost a year since we diagnosed it . His condition is really serious, we insisted him not to travel now , but he didn't listen.'

Annika had tears filled in her eyes,  ready to pour down any second  by the time he could complete. She gulped deep and did the same again and again until she gained some strength to speak .

A- why didn't you ...tell me ? As a Doctor shouldn't ...I be knowing about , my...patient ?

The Dean removed his specs to wipe his tears and wore them back again.

' he made me promise not to reveal this to you '

A- why !

This just came out  in air without any volume to build the sound,  as she hardly was in a condition to speak avoiding the lump in her throat . She sat down with a thud holding her head .

Her eyes kept wandering everywhere in tension and soon there was a thunder stroke hitting her head when she witnessed something.

Dh- is everything ok ?

Dhruv asked watching his wife entering the room with a worried face .

Pr- annika has left for work again, let me find Adi and ask him to call her. I'm sure she'll pick up , I don't know what this girl

Dhruv immediately held her elbow to stop her from saying anything.

Dh - leave him be , he's got many other things to handle today . Let her come whenever she wants , don't disturb him for all this .

Pr - no Dhruv you don't understand , Adi wouldn't feel ok if he knows Annika's not here .

Dh - then make sure he doesn't come to know,  oh please Prani , only I know how hard I'm trying to pull these functions well in hand . Thanks to her , atleast she's obeying me . Now you don't create any problems here .

As soon as he completed he knew he has spilt something in haste ,praniti kept watching him suspiciously. Dhruv noticed this and sighed huge .

Dh - yes , I asked her to not attend the functions.

Praniti was shocked by his confession , she slowly traversed her eyes back towards the door . Dhruv frowned at her reaction and followed her sight just to be startled soon on seeing Shivaay and Charu there .

Charu looked perplexed while shivaay kept his  sharp gaze affixed on the old man and nowhere else.  Dhruv immediately glared at praniti angrily who in turn looked even more frustrated by him.

Pr - really Dhruv...!

S- I wasn't sure but I somewhere felt it could be you .

Ofcourse , he knew how much excited she was for this wedding . Adi and Charu are her best people and why would she even miss their special days for whatsoever reasons again and again . First , she was injured so he didn't mind to even think of it but the next and next when it kept repeating , shivaay couldn't help but find something wrong in it . Even when everyone pestered her and tried to convince annika , Dhruv alone remained back footed . He didn't even ask about her once , rather looked calm and composed when everyone else worried for her absence. Shivaay didn't take this seriously as he knew that Dhruv has got some disputes with annika and maybe that's why he's like that . But time to time when it happened again and again, he wanted to suspect someone and Dhruv fell right into the trap. He deliberately asked Praniti to speak with Dhruv about annika and it worked .

They got to hear the truth .

C - why uncle ...what did she do?

Her eyes remained wet throughout.

Dh - are you asking me this charu , seriously? Don't you remember the engagement day ?

C - uncle that is   ....aren't we past that ?

Charu shook her head and shrinked her eyes to show him how disappointed she actually is . She had shouted and fought with her sister without knowing  what condition she was certainly  in . Charu felt guilty .

Dh - her presence can bring us trouble . And things might really become a problem when people start talking.

She pressed her lips together and kept shaking her head as these words entered her ears .

C - my medical condition,  isn't that what you're talking about ?

Pr- charu

C- no aunty ,please. It's ok .

Dh - charu you know this , I have accepted you with all my heart . It's just that , my family , people around me are not very much convinced. They know it , your sister , her drama the other day , her lies , how she

S- ok that's enough uncle .

Shivaay spoke out these words in hurry when he couldn't stand the tone he used while speaking about annika . He turned towards an already guilty charu who was actually all teared up now .

S- see ? Once again she let herself down for your sake, and what you did , blamed her . Charu you know what's the problem here , we ...we four ...maintaining friendship,  love or any relation has never been easy among the four of us. We always want to blame someone and defend the other everytime.  It brings us pain because we all our equally important for one another. And on the other side  everyone just  wants to blindly rely on annika for something or the other.  I'm not going to let that happen again , her happiness is more important to me . And uncle , don't you ever talk about her like that. I am bringing annika back here , do whatever you want .

Announcing this ,shivaay straightly walked out of the room while charu looked at his retreating figure with complete regret on her face . Dhruv bent down and watched here and there,Praniti neared charu to console her .

She held the frame with both her hands to not let it down as her hands were shivering as hell . It was a certificate framed in , annika ran her fingers slowly over the school's name thinking it might change if she does that. Slowly her mind grew conscious to recollect the details and somehow connect the dots .

A few weeks back , during a therapy session she remembered him speaking about his first love at school. Even she herself was taken aback by the way he described those days and the girl in particular. He seemed so into her .

And after seeing this frame , her mind started troubling her with worst guesses .

By then Arjun woke up , on not finding anyone there in his room he caught a grip of himself and made his way to the living room.

Ar - uncle ...

He uttered the word slowly on finding the Dean standing by the corner . But soon his pupils grew dense and wide after seeing annika there , holding that frame in her hands. Arjun hurried as much as he could and snatched it from her in no time .

She who didn't expect this to happen suddenly, jolted back and kept looking at her empty hands straight.

Arjun immediately straightened himself and pretended to be normal.

Ar - hey Dr , I didn't know about this surprise visit . When did you come ?

His reactions changed  as soon as he noticed her red puffy eyes when she slowly brought her gaze upto him .

Ar- an annika what happened, why are you crying!

She saw his hands stop just an inch away from reaching both her cheeks . His petrified eyes mentioned his concern, there was a low faint smile on her face .

A good mind reader,  she is , but at this certain moment she could only feel worst of having such a talent which made her miserable right now .

A- it's me isn't it ?

He felt restless inside after seeing her reactions and slowly took his hands back . He then signalled his uncle to leave them alone which he obeyed , reluctantly though .

A- you took a break from chemo  and came here to meet me , your first love , is that right?

She whispered these words in a low tone and arjun could literally hear his heartbeat clearly. His eyes had those thin layers of tears formed up , he gulped looking away without meeting her eyes  .

S- but she mentioned that she's got to see her patient who was serious . I couldn't reach her mobile too .

' I'm not sure , sorry...one second , I heard  from the dean about the patient Arjun being unwell. Maybe she's at his home '

S- arjun ?

Shivaay was frustrated much enough after hearing the nurse say that name .

' yeah , he's Dr.Annika's patient .'

S- can you give me his address .

' uhh...'

S- please , I insist , annika is needed right now .

' hmm , ok ...come with me. I'll get his file . '

Ar- as you know already , I was madly in love . For four consecutive years I knew nothing beyond that girl , unfortunately I couldn't get in the same class as her's . Still  , watching her from afar was life  for me . I was just a small boy then , I didn't have the courage to tell her . Then suddenly everything changed when my father told we had to shift to states for his work . There was never a day I stopped thinking about her . I studied , graduated , got a job and  I was finally out on my own to come back here . I was so ready to confess my love and lead my dream life with her . But fate had other plans I guess,  I was diagnosed with cancer a year ago . Hmm...my parents were devastated , I went through the treatment for their sake but I knew it before that nothing could save me. I was angry,  agitated ...I even tried suicide once and went into depression.  Because, I hardly even confessed to the girl I love and god was already here to stop writing my life tale . Injustice ,ain't it ? But I couldn't accept that defeat , no , I wanted to come here. Confess my love to you so that I atleast don't hate myself till the end for being a coward  all my life .

He heard her loud cries and stopped . Annika facepalmed herself and cried hysterically. Whatever it was but she didn't expect such a thing to happen , it's about life and death . This is so cruel and she just couldn't bring herself to stay calm after knowing all this . She didn't know what she should be feeling right now , her chest region hurt like anything .

Arjun couldn't stand her tears , he sat down and neared close by her . He was about to touch her shoulder but hesitated a few many times by moving his hand front and back. But he couldn't stop anymore when her condition  worsened even more and she was finding it hard to breathe normally . He pulled her hands off her face and started wiping her tears .

Ar- annika , annika please don't cry ...I...I can't..., look , I'm actually very happy right now you don't have to worry .  You remember , even you were surprised by my answers on the mood tests you used to give me . All that is because of you , because when you are with me I feel so good .Days spent with you are all enough for me , I could ask for no more .I just wanted to be with you for a few more days and express my heart before leaving .

She sniffed many times and wiped her face which was covered with wetness by now.

A- I'm ...sorry ,I didn't know

Her dry throat made it impossible for her to speak , she struggled .

Ar -this is why I didn't tell you anything .Please annika, how would you know ? This coward never had the guts to appear before you anytime.

She remained still , with her gaze fixed at the floor . Her tears were continuous though . Arjun hated himself for doing this to her , she's the most cheerful being he has ever seen and now he being the reason for her condition just made him feel worst of himself.  He didn't know what to even say to her now .

Arjun would've thought a hundred times in his mind before leaping out and pulling her to him. Holding her up close , he hugged her tight and kissed her forehead to breathe out his worries and mend up his suffering heart . Annika hardly realized all this as she was in no state to feel or even notice anything . She remained a stone all the while .

Ar - I love you so much annika ...!

He confessed and crushed her in a tight hug . After all these years he was finally feeling peace only at this moment. He just didn't want to care about anything anymore. World in his arms is what like he felt, a contented smile appeared on his face automatically just to deviate back soon after witnessing something .

His sharp blade like eyes screamed terror on noticing the sight infront , those fists couldn't get any more tighter for his nails started piercing the palms already . Jaw lines remained transparent as he had his teeth gritted hard as iron .

Shivaay is here .

It will come when your heart is ready to carry it 💘

Precap

Promo

Adi and Charu's marriage.

Annika stays at her home , shivaay leaves to Goa .

How was it?

Honest reviews please.

We're nearing the finale of HDMQ soon , so I'd be happy if all of you share your views . This is one big of a book for me,  so write down if I'm doing good or even if you feel like I've been dragging it,  it's ok , just be frank.

Try reading my new book , Stay Repelling. 

Plss vote and comment if you like my story 😊