Chapter 38 - MAR Part-II

Priyanka looked up at ShivOmRu who were still holding her in a hug.

She was confused.

Why were they hugging her with all the tears and smiles ?

Priyanka looked at her mom and saw her adoring the moment fondly.

That's weird.

Priyanka's eyes then averted to Janvi's and their eyes met.

Priyanka raised and dropped her eyebrows, asking Janvi what's happening with her eyes.

"Prinku, yeh tumhare bhai hai. Shivaay, Omkara aur Rudra." ("These are your brothers. Shivaay, Omkara and Rudra.") Janvi smiled through tears.

"Sacchi ?" ("Seriously ?") Priyanka yelled with wide eyes and pulled apart. "Matlab wahi bhai jo bachpan mein kho gaye the ?" ("You mean the same ones who had got separated from us ?")

Janvi nodded.

Priyanka froze on her spot for a moment. She didn't know how to express her happiness.

She looked at Shivaay who was already smiling at her through teary eyes.

Priyanka fell in his arms again and pulled OmRu in too.

They shared another emotional hug before separating.

"Yay ! Mere bhai mujhe mil gaye ! Yay ! Yay ! Aj mein bahot khush hu." ("Yay ! I got my brothers back ! Yay ! Yay ! I'm very happy today !") Priyanka cheered, dancing around like a kid on Christmas, making others fondly adore her.

Priyanka came to ShivOmRu again with a bit serious face. "Ab aap tino mujhe promise karo ki aap mujhe chhod ke kabhi nahi jaaoge." ("Now you 3 promise me that you won't leave me alone again.")

"We promise." ShivOmRu smiled.

Priyanka's eyes lit up again.

"Toh kya ab hum sath rahenge ? Hum yaha rahenge ya fir humare ghar ?" ("So now we'll stay together ? We'll live here or in our house ?") Priyanka asked excitedly.

Priyanka was anything but a 16 year old teenager. She acted more like a toddler. She was innocent and immature and immensely cute just like a kid.

"Haan." ("Yes.") Shivaay replied. "Hum sath rahenge, yahi isi ghar mein." ("We'll live together, here in this house.")

Om's head snapped at Shivaay but he didn't say anything.

Priyanka was beaming with happiness.

Om managed to put the anger and disappointment out of his voice and smiled for the sake of his sister.

"Bhavya, kya tum please Priyanka ko ghar dikhaogi ?" ("Bhavya, will you please show Priyanka around ?") Om asked as he ruffled Priyanka's hair fondly.

Bhavya nodded and took Priyanka away from the elders.

"Bhai aap inhe yaha rehne de rahe ho ?" ("Bhai, you're allowing them to stay here with us, how could you ?") Om enraged but kept his voice low cause he didn't want to disrespect Shivaay.

"Om, humari ek chhoti behen hai, kya tum uske sath rehna nahi chahte ?" ("Om, we've a baby sister, don't you wanna stay with her ?") Shivaay asked calmly with a small smile as he still stared at the direction in which Bhavya had taken Priyanka.

"Haan bhai, lekin yeh log..." ("Yes, of course, bhai, but these people...") Om pointed at the elder Oberoi's. "...mein inke sath nahi reh sakta." ("...I cannot share my house with them.") He announced.

"Oh stop it !"

Everyone's head snapped at the source of the voice.

"Just stop it." Tej boomed. "Itni der se dekh raha hu, tum humari beizzati pe beizzati kiye jaa rahe ho, kya yahi tumhare sanskar hai ?" ("I'm watching you ever since I've arrived, all you're doing is insult us, is that how you were raised ? Brought up with the teachings of insulting your elders ?")

"Beizzati, Mr Oberoi ?" ("Insult, you say, Mr Oberoi ?") Om scoffed bitterly. "Beizzati unki ki jaati hai jinki koi izzat ho. Aur sanskaro ki baat toh aap naa hi kare toh behter hai...kyuki humare maa-baap ne humpe koi sanskar kiye hi nahi hai, kyu ki woh darpoko ki tarah police aur duniya se bhagane mein busy the." ("Ones who have any respect can be insulted. And you better don't talk about my upbringing...cause my mom dad didn't raise me, they didn't teach me any values, cause they were too busy in running away from the world and the police, like a coward.")

"Omkara !" Tej snapped.

"Chillaiye mat Mr Oberoi." ("Don't shout, Mr Oberoi.") Om matched his tone.

"Aap...Aap hume...chhod ke...kyu gaye ?" ("Why...why did...you leave...leave us ?") Rudy's feeble voice interrupted Om and Tej's heated argument.

Everyone looked at Rudy and saw his messed up state. He had tears rolling down his eyes and he was sobbing miserably.

Shivaay quickly rushed by his side and hugged him. He rubbed Rudy's back soothingly while muttering a few good words in his ear.

After a while, Rudy calmed down but still stayed in Shivaay's arms.

Shivaay made Rudy sit on the couch and made him sip on water before turning to others.

"Baith ke baat karte hai." ("We shall talk this out calmly.") Shivaay said to everyone and watched in silence as the elder Oberoi's sat on the couches around the living room.

AnRi stood in one corner without saying anything. They both felt out of place, even though no one would've said anything to them if they would've talked in between the matter but they knew their boundaries and hence decided to just stay silent.

"Hum jaante hai ki humari wajah se tumpar annyay hua hai." ("We know that you had to face many things cause of us and it's not fair.") Shakti started. "Lekin humari baat sunlo ek bar please." ("But please hear us out once.")

ShivOmRu stayed quiet and avoided eye contact with the elder Oberoi's.

"16 saal pehle, news aayi ki Oberoi Industries ke main storage house mein ammunitions paaye gaye aur Oberoi's ka naam terrorists aur underworld se joda gaya." ("16 years ago, news leaked that there are illegally stored ammunitions in Oberoi Industries main storehouse and people started linking us Oberoi's with underworld.") Janvi started, from the very start. "Jaise hi news bahar aayi, police, log, anti-terrorist unit, NGOs, patriots, sab humare picche pad gaye and at the same time woh bure log bhi, jinke woh ammunitions the." ("As soon as the news leaked, police, civilians, anti-terrorist unit, NGOs, patriots, everyone started chasing us and at the same time some bad people of that don, who's ammunitions were found in our storehouse, too started chasing us.")

"Uss din mein aur Tej tum tino ko lekar London jaane wale the taki yeh sab shanti se handle ho aur tum tino ko koi nuksan naa pohnchaye...lekin uss din kuch armed logo ne humara rasta roka aur tumhe bachane ke liye mujhe tum tino ko uss orphanage ke bahar chhodna pada." ("That day I and Tej were going to fly to London with you kids so that you wouldn't have to face any of it...but some armed people stopped us and to save you I had to leave you outside that orphanage.") Janvi said and wiped the tears which had escaped. It was still difficult for her to recall that unfortunate night.

"Mein dusre din aayi thi tumhe lene lekin waha se mujhe pata chala ki Gopal kaka tum logo ko unke ghar leke gaye hai. Mein Gopal kaka ke ghar hi aa rahi thi ki kuch gunde mere picche pad gaye isiliye meine kaka ko letter diya aur tum logo se mile bina hi chali gayi kyu ki agar unn logo ko tumhara pata milta toh naa jane woh tumhare sath kya karte." ("I had came to collect you the next day but I got to know that you 3 were at Gopal kaka's home so I was coming there when the goons started following me again so I had to pass on a letter to Kaka instead of seeing you all in person cause if I would've came to see you then those bad people would've came after you.") Janvi continued, with cracking in her voice.

"Uske kuch din baad hum maa ko Australia mein tumhari naani ke pass chhod ke India aa gaye." ("After a few days of that incident, we dropped mom to your maternal Grandma's house in Australia and came here in India.") Shakti continued. "Aur hume pata chala ki yeh bahot badi saazish hai, lekin jab tak hum situation ko control mein laate bahot der ho chuki thi. Humari property, industries, bank accounts sab seal ho chuke the, humpe anti-national aur na jaane aur kya kya tags lag chuke the." ("And we got to know how serious and deep of a conspiracy this is against us, but before we could do anything the situation had went out of control. Our property, industries, bank accounts and everything else was sealed and we were given various tags like terrorists, anti-nationals.")

"Humara jeena mushkil ho gaya tha." ("Our life was ruined.") Pinky cried. "Ek taraf government aur police picche padi thi toh dusri taraf uss don ke log. Hum sirf chupte fir rahe the." ("On one end police and government was our tail and on the other, that underworld don was chasing us. We were hiding from everyone.")

"Humne faisla kiya ki hum tum tino ko kaka ke pass chhod ke Assam, mere bhai ke ghar jaayenge." ("We decided to keep you with Kaka and we left to my brother's home in Assam.") Janvi said. "Kyuki uss waqt kaka ke ghar se safe jaga nahi thi tumhare liye." ("Cause at that time, no place was as safe as kaka's home for you all.")

"Hum mere bhai ke ghar 3 saal tak ruke. Gratefully, don aur police dono ko humare baare mein pata nahi tha. Wahi pe Priyanka ka janam hua. Sab kuch thik ho raha hai aisa lag hi raha tha ki ek din...achanak..." ("We lived with my brother in his house for 3 years. Gratefully, neither don nor police got to know about our whereabouts. In the same house, Priyanka was born. It felt like everything is going to be fine but then.... suddenly...") Janvi sobbed unable to continue further. Pinky consoled her. "... achanak...mere bhai ko don ke logo ne ghar mein ghuss ke goli maar di aur hume kidnap kar liya." ("... suddenly...one day some goons of that don barged into my brother's house and shot his dead and they kidnapped all of us.")

"Hum 6 mahine tak unki kaid mein rahe, tadapte, sehte. Lekin ek din hum waha se bhagne mein safal hue aur tab se hum log sirf bhag hi rahe hai." ("We lived in their possession for 6 months. But one day we broke out of their place and ever since then we're on a hideout. They're still after us.") Pinky completed.

"16 saal se hum log bhaag rahe hai ! Hum saza bhugat rahe hai unn gunahon ki jo humne kabhi kiye hi nahi." ("We're running and hiding since 16 years ! We're paying for something we never did.") Shakti exclaimed. "Yakeen maano humara, baccho, humara uss don se koi lena dena nahi hai, hume nahi pata ki woh ammunitions humare storage house kaise aaye." ("Believe us kids, we've no ties with that don, we don't know how those ammunitions were found in our storehouse.")

Shivaay glanced at his elders Janvi was grieving while Pinky was consoling her, Shakti was trying his best not to break down in front of everyone while Tej...just looked away with a straight face, even his eyes were emotionless.

"Agar aap begunah hai toh aap bhagte kyu rahe ? Aap lade kyu nahi ? Apni sacchayi duniya ke saamne lane ki koshish kyu nahi ki ?" ("If you were innocent then why did you run away ? Why didn't you fight back ? Why didn't you try to prove your innocence ?") Om asked, he refused to believe the story cause he didn't trust them, at all.

"Kyuki agar hum sab ke saamne aate toh woh log hume maar dete." ("People would've killed us if we would've came before them.") Tej snarled. He had spoke for the first time in this topic. "Uss waqt hum zinda rehne ke liye sirf chhup sakte the." ("At that time, hiding was the only thing which could've save our lives.")

Om scoffed.

"Bhai, agar aapko inn logo pr bharosa hai toh aap jo chahe woh kar sakte hai lekin mujhse koi bhi ummeed mat rakhna." ("Bhai, if you trust them you can keep them here but don't expect anything from me.") Om said calmly. "Mere liye meri family sirf aap, Ru, Gauri, Annika di, Bhavya aur Priyanka hai." ("For me you, Ru, Gauri, Annika di, Bhavya and Priyanka are my only family.")

With that said, Om stormed off to his room cause he just couldn't hold himself together.

Gauri followed Om cause she knew Om needed someone to support him emotionally.

Rudra too stood up and left without a word, leaving Shivaay alone with the elder Oberoi's.

"Shivaay..." Janvi said softly. "...tum toh humpe bharosa karte ho na ? Tum hume maaf karoge na ? Hum jhoot nahi bol rahe." ("...you trust us don't you ? You'll forgive us right ? We ain't lying.")

Shivaay stood up, he still avoided eye contact, and with a straight face he said. "Aap yaha reh sakte hai." ("You all can live here.")

Shivaay was about to leave when Pinky's voice made him stop.

"Mujhe pata tha ki tum hume samjhoge aur..." ("I knew that you'll understand us and..") Pinky was cut off by Shivaay.

"Mein apko ghar mein rehne de raha hu isaka yeh matlab nahi hai ki meine apko maaf kar diya." ("I'm letting you stay here does not mean I've forgot everything and forgiven you.") Shivaay said emotionlessly and made an eye contact with each one of them. "Mein itni der chup tha kyu ki mein nahi chahta tha ki OmRu ke saamne meri wajah se koi tamasha ho." ("I was silent all this while cause I didn't wish to create any scene before OmRu.")

Pinky and Janvi's eyes filled with tears again.

"Hum ek parivaar the na ? One family ?" ("We were a family, weren't we ? One family ?") Shivaay asked with teary eyes and a hint of anger in his voice. "Toh fir aapne hume akela kyu chhoda ? Jo bhi problem thi woh hum saath mein sehte, ek...ek family ki tarah lekin aapne hum tino ko apki family se alag kar diya. Tod di humari family !" ("Then why did you leave us ? Whatever the problem was, no matter how big it was, we could've faced it together, like a... family but no ! You separated us. You broke our family apart.")

Shivaay's words were like daggers to elder Oberoi's heart. He was hurt himself and he couldn't help but say what he had bottled up in his heart over years.

"I'm sorry." Shivaay said a bit more calmly. "Lekin yeh family judne mein ab der lagegi." ("But now it'll take time to put this family back together.")

♠

Omkara barged into his bedroom and pulled on his hairs in anger as tears rolled down his eyes.

Om glared at the sculptures in his room and marched towards them and started breaking them with bare hands.

A sharp edge of an incomplete sculpture pierced through his palm and he cried out.

"Ah !" He hissed as he held his hand tightly in his other.

"Om ! Om ! Yeh kya !" ("Om ! Om ! Oh dear !") Gauri came rushing through the door and when she saw Om's hand she ran to get first aid kit.

Gauri came back with a first aid box and made Om sit on the bed as she took care of his bleeding palm.

"Om shaant ho jao." ("Calm down, Om.") Gauri mumbled softly as she bandaged his palm. "Gussa karne se dard badega, problem kam nahi hogi." ("Anger will only increase your pain and suffering, it wouldn't reduce your problem.")

"Kaise shaant rahu mein ?!" ("How am I supposed to calm down ?!") Om snapped making Gauri flinch.

Om realised that he had snapped at Gauri for no reason and took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down.

"I'm sorry." He apologized softly. "Mein...mujhe aise tumpe chillana nahi chahiye tha. I'm sorry." ("I...I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm sorry.")

Gauri let out a small smile.

She placed the first aid on the bed side table and sat beside Om.

She placed a comforting hand on Om's shoulder.

"Meine kabhi tumhe itna gussa karte nahi dekha." ("I never saw you this angry.") She admitted after a while.

Om stayed silent for a while.

"Mein 6 saal ka tha aur bhai sirf 9 saal ke..." ("I was 6 years old and bhai was just 9...") Om started as tears brimmed his eyes. His voice devoid of any emotion. "...aur humare sath 2 saal ka Rudy. Hum dare hue the, fir bhi mein thoda calm tha kyu ki bhai the mere sath, lekin mein yeh soch bhi nahi sakta ki unpe kya biti hogi uss raat." ("...and Rudy was 2. We were scared, but I was still a bit calm cause bhai was with me, but I cannot even imagine how he must have felt that night.")

"Agar mein unki jagah hota toh woh sab seh nahi pata, lekin bhai date rahe. Woh raat bhar jagte rahe, aur hume sambhala." ("If I would've been in his place, I would've broken down. He was awake all night, and he took care of us.") Om smiled a bit as a tear slid down his eyes.

"Mein 8 saal ka tha jab mujhe kuchh bacche chidhate the kyuki mere maa baap nahi the, tab bhai aur baba the jinhone unn baccho ko daata." ("I was 8 when kids started teasing me for not having parents, bhai and baba used to defend me and protect me from those kids.") Om recalled.

Gauri rested her head on Om's shoulder as tears clouded her vision cause she was just able to feel the pain in his voice.

"Mein 11 saal ka tha, mere school mein parents day ka event tha, saare baccho ke parents aaye the aur mein dukhi tha kyu ki mere parents nahi the...tab kaka mere parent ki jagah aaye the." ("I was 11, my school had arranged an event on the occasion of parents day, every kid had brought their parents along except for me. I felt sad, immensely sad cause I didn't have any parents...but kaka arrived there and introduced himself as my parent.") Om smiled through tears. "Toh aj, agar itne saal baad mein unse milta hu, jinhone hume akela chhod diya marne ke liye toh woh aisa kaise maan sakte hai ki mein unhe apna lunga ?" ("Now today, after so many years if I meet them who had left us alone to die, how can they even think that I'll accept them with open arms so easily ?")

"Nahi hai woh mere maa baap !" ("They are not my parents !") Om said. "Mere liye meri maa aur mere papa, dono Shivaay bhai hai, aur ab unki jagah koi nahi le sakta." ("For me, my mom and dad, is my Shivaay bhai and now no one can replace him.") He announced.

Gauri stayed silent cause she knew saying anything won't help and somewhere she felt like Om's anger wasn't unreasonable.

Om had every right to be mad at his family.

Maybe his parents only wanted good for their kids and that's why they left them with Gopal kaka but they forgot to evaluate other problems which came with it.

---------------------

Hey bubblies !

Please ignore the mistakes...I didn't get time to rectify them as I was busy...🙏🏻

Anyway...

Do you think elder Oberoi's reason was valid ?

Oh btw, there's some glitch with Oberois, can you guess it ?

I won't reveal what's the glitch just yet, though.

Anyway...

Next update on next Thursday ❤️

Stay tuned 💕

Until the next update
Have a safe and great life 😇