"Sank— Mr. Deshmukh, sorry." Raghav said quickly, glancing at Pallavi. Luckily the plate of food didn't spill, and it seemed most people around hadn't noticed, or if they had noticed went back to talking with their own friends and family.
"Sharda Ji, hello, aap kaise hain?" Raghav said, trying to fill the awkward silence seeing that Sanki Buddha hadn't said anything.
Sharda nodded, and put on a slight smile towards Raghav and then Pallavi.
Pallavi's eyes started to fill with tears, but she controlled herself, "Aai, aap kaise hain?" She purposefully didn't look at Baba, she didn't want a scene today, today was for her, Amma, and Raghav, not for anything else.
Sharda started to speak, "Pall—"
But Vijay interrupted her, "Sharda, humhe jaana chahiye."
Raghav clenched his jaw, "Mr. Deshmukh, today is an important festival, for both Sharda Ji and for Pallavi, and for all the women here. Aaj sirf pati ke liye khaas nahin hai, par rishton ke liye khaas hai. At least today, please don't create any scene. Pallavi has the full right to talk to her mother."
Pallavi closed her eyes, she knew Raghav was fighting for her, that he had said everything right now very respectfully, but Baba was not about to listen to reason, and now she thought neither would Aai.
"Pallavi," Sharda said, walking towards her daughter for the first time in a long time, "Tum kaise ho beta? Did you keep a fast today? Sab kuch teek chala na? Have you eaten yet?"
Pallavi opened her eyes, and saw her Aai in front of her, she smiled, her eyes full of tears now, "Aai, main bilkul teek hun, ek minute. Raghav, aao yahaan. Aai, hum dono ko aashirwaad dijiye, please?"
Raghav walked next to Pallavi and both of them bent down and touched Sharda's feet.
Sharda's eyes filled with tears, seeing her daughter, so happy in her new life, celebrating her first Vat Savitri, "Tum dono hamesha ke liye khush raho. Hamesha."
When Pallavi stood up, Aai hugged her tightly.
"Ho gayi aap dono maa-beti ki?" Vijay asked, annoyed.
Sharda broke away from the hug, "Aapko koi problem? Kahaan jaana hai aapko? I can't even talk with my daughter for two minutes?"
Vijay shot back, "Daughter? Which daughter are you talking about? We have two sons, Sharda. I lost a son already, and luckily we didn't keep yeh manhoos ladki in our house for so long that we'd also have to lose our other son."
"Baba!" Nikhil hadn't heard the start of the conversation, but he had heard this last line, "What the hell are you saying? You...you of all people are blaming Mandaar's death, my Dada's death, on my sister? Aapko kuch sharam—"
Vijay put up his hand, "I am not ashamed to tell the truth, Nikhil, and don't make the same mistake you do over and over again of trusting outsiders instead of your own family."
Raghav stepped forward to interrupt Vijay, he knew this Sanki Buddha would ruin this day for Pallavi if he kept talking.
"Mr. Vijay Deshmukh," but it wasn't Raghav who interrupted this time, it was Pallavi, "I thought maybe after a few days you would have calmed down, but no. You are still acting stubborn. You still think your anger is the most justified, you don't give a damn about Nikhil's feelings, nor Aai's, I already figured out you didn't care at all about mine—"
Vijay started towards Pallavi, his anger only growing.
Pallavi stopped him from saying anything with one glare, "Enough. Aaj, mere liye important hai. If I wanted my mother's blessings today, I've done nothing wrong in asking for them, neither has Raghav. Ab hum dono aapko aur pareshaan nahin karenge."
Pallavi was about to take Raghav's hand and pull him out of there, she was starving and she didn't want to deal with Baba right now. She had her Aai on her side, that was enough for today, she could live a lifetime of happiness with that one hug from Aai.
Vijay wasn't done however, and now Sulochana and Kaka and the rest of the Deshmukhs had walked in on the conversation too. There were a few other people staring at the scene, among them Ashwini. Ashwini couldn't figure out why Vijay Ji's face wasn't happy upon seeing his daughter. Any time she had seen Pallavi and him together before in the saree shop, they were always happy together, working hard but laughing as well. She wanted to ask him, to try to see if she could resolve the problem, but upon seeing the anger on Pallavi's face, she held back, and whispered to as many friends as possible to ensure there wasn't over attention paid to them.
"Go go, Pallavi, we don't need you. After all, we've found out you weren't the perfect daughter you acted like. All you know how to be is selfish, I feel sorry for your mother-in-law. Vahini, mere baat suniye, aap aur dada, bachgayein—"
Sharda put up a hand, "Sulochana, I don't want to hear a word out of your mouth. Samazla."
Milind pulled Sulochana away and whispered at her to shut up.
"Milind, why are you telling Sulochana to stop talking, she's not lying." Vijay asked coldly, "Iss ladki ko sirf dard dena aatha hai, aur kuch nahin. And now she has decided to live with a man who is so poisonous, even his parents are probably ashamed to have given birth to him."
Raghav couldn't take anymore, he let go of Pallavi's hand and whipped around, grabbing Vijay's collar, "Vijay Deshmukh, I told you, didn't I, that today. Just for today, I didn't want your stupid natak. But you couldn't manage that—"
"Raghav, let him go," Pallavi tried to pull his arms off Baba, "Please. Raghav—"
But Raghav didn't budge, "Pallavi, chup. Today, no one is stopping me, ardhamaindha Vijay Deshmukh, mujhe dushman bana kar tum ne bahut bada galti kar diya. Aaj ke baad, meri patni ke baare mein kuch bhi bhole na, main tumhe zameen ke neeche keech dunga."
Vijay started, "Tum—"
"Raghav, chodo, please." Pallavi begged, but her voice was quieter, everything was spinning. She should have just let Ragahv feed her. She needed food. As she fainted, that was the last thing she remembered.
"Pallu!" Sharda yelled, and started towards her to catch her.
Raghav immediately let go of Vijay and turned around, Pallavi was on the ground. In less than a second Raghav was next to her, his hands under her head, "Pallavi, utho. Pallavi!"
Pallavi didn't open her eyes.
"Raghav, main paani lekar aathi hun, Nikhil call the doctor." Aai started.
"No need, I'm going to the hospital now, let me just call Farhad." Raghav took out his phone and started dialing, still trying desperately to wake Pallavi up.
"Raghav, what happened to Pallavi?!" Amma ran over. Amma and Keerthi came running over, they had noticed the fight from afar, but didn't want to join in, because it was clear that Pallavi had handled it all, but then got up as soon as Raghav had taken Vijay's collar.
"Bata nahin, Amma. Farhad is getting the car, hum abhi jaa rahe hain. Hospital. Yeh na, aapka galti hai, Amma. I told Pallavi not to do this fast nonsense, but no she didn't listen to me, and I told you to stop her, but no. Yeh Saree ka Dukaan na, meri baat kahaan sunti hai."
Vijay was in shock, he walked closer to Pallavi as Raghav started to pick her up in his arms. Raghav noticed however, "No. You will not step closer to my wife. Never again."
Raghav stood up and took Pallavi in his arms, making his way quickly to the car, with Keerthi and Amma following him.
