Entangled Lives

Chapter I

                                                           IT'S BEEN A MONTH

It's been a month since Abhishek Prem Mehra has been proven innocent from the fake Rape charges that Tanu Mehta, his ex-lover, had inflicted upon him. Because she had been thrown out of the house years ago because of her misdeeds against his wife, Pragya Abhishek Prem Mehra and his family. And to exact revenge from him and his family for her time to time humiliation in society, she had accused him of rape. The humiliations were, to be true, her own harvest that she used to saw to defame Pragya. And now, once and for all, her last attempt to get Abhishek as her husband, in favour of withdrawing the Rape case, had burned down to dust as Pragya along with the twin daughters, Prachi and Rhea, had once again pulled the curtains from her plan and had reclaimed their esteem by proving the case to be falsely framed. In the end Tanu Mehta had been arrested and sentenced to jail for enough time period that now she won't have time to take any other revenge even after completing her punishment.

It's been a month since both Abhi and Pragya had been living with their family. Even the Kohlis had joined them in their farmhouse after the fire incident in the Mehra mantion due to some kind of short circuit. Purab Khanna, Abhi's childhood best friend and husband and father of Aaliya and Aaryan Khanna, had also returned from his international business tour that usually covers most of his time during the entire year. Aaliya had finally accepted Pragya as her sister in law, after many-many years of planning and plotting to separate Abhigya. She had even apologized from everyone as she was the one to bring back Tanu in their lives after twenty years. And Pragya, being the kindhearted woman that she is, had accepted Aaliya with open arms.

Oh! What joy it is to be with your better half who you truly love with all of your heart, and your complete family after long twenty years. Abhi and Pragya wee even more delighted to see that their two daughters, who grew up separately and had initially hated each other, are now finally getting along and were happy in their respective lives. Or so they thought. As they were blissfully unaware of the ugly, evil side of their innocent looking younger daughter Rhea Mehra who had not only tried to ruin her elder twin Prachi's life but had finally stooped so low to bargain their parents' happiness in exchange of Prachi's first and true love figure Ranbir Kohli, her mere obsession.

It's been a month after the case, since Prachi had been breaking down and recollecting herself in the solitude of her room. Hiding her miserable condition from everyone, with the only exception of Shahana. Numerous times had Shahana pleaded her to break the deal and reveal the truth in front of everyone. Shahana had even herself decided to tell the truth for the sake of her sister's happiness, her resolve only to be crumbled when she remembered that she was tied by the promise she had made to Prachi i.e. to not to disclose anything about this deal in front of anyone without her consent.

The biggest thing that has been bothering Shahana was that how her Maasi, Prachi's mother, Pragya has not seen Prachi's pain, sorrow and miserable condition. Pragya, who used to know Prachi's heart's condition even before she herself knew what her heart desire, was now unable to read the hurt in her eyes, even when it was clearly there, eating her whole. But then again, she would have seen it if she had looked closely enough in her eyes. It was something that she had noticed the few times she had visited the Mehras. That Rhea was cunningly stealing all the attention and love from Prachi. Whenever she (Prachi) would try to speak or give her input in any family matter, Rhea would cut her off and redirected everything to herself again. At first she was surprised to see how no one would notice this but the knowing look on Ranbir and Aryan's face told that at least she was not the only one to understand this.

It took all she had to stop herself from pointing this out to everyone. But what could she do when Rhea was more supported by three of the people who despised Prachi. The three being their aunt Aaliya and Ranbir's mother Pallavi Kohli and his Dida. The former was understandable, but what had happened to Pallavi aunty and Dida's behavior towards Prachi was yet another riddle in Shahana's mind. Those two used to treat Prachi as their own daughter. Although she didn't knew the real reason but she was damn sure that whatever poison they now had in their mind was put there by the She Devil herself.