BORN TO RULE

[Hin] Chapter 35: Everything's Falling Apart

Hey, people!
I love it when you are interact in almost every para or dialogue! Thank you very much.

One request....
Even if you are a [Hin] reader,
please vote for the [Eng] chapters as well.

~~~~*~~~~

Tia woke up to find herself lying on the ground, against the bed. She looked around and recognized it to be the room she used before her marriage. Soon the events from last night replayed on her mind. She remembered how she came running to this room after the fight with Arjun and cried till sleep took over her.

"Tej...." She uttered when she remembered how he was crying last night.

"Tej!" She came back to their room but it was empty. There was no sign of either Arjun or Tej.

Calling out for Tej, she reached the stairscase. She could see the whole family gathered in the living room except for Tej. Even Pankhuri was there, sleeping in Priya's lap.

Arjun was sitting on a sofa facing down, covering his face with his hands. Praneet, standing beside the sofa, with one hand on Arjun's shoulder, was talking to Uday. Gayatri was seated beside Arjun, looking at him. And Jai paced around, talking over the phone. Priya was sitting on another sofa with Pankhuri on her lap.

One thing was common and that was the frightened and worried looks on their faces. Tia could feel something was wrong, very very wrong.

She rushed downstairs, passing everyone she reached Arjun. She forcefully made Arjun stand on his feet and face her. His eyes were red, so was hers.

"Mera beta kaha hain?" she asked calmly.

He didn't reply. She looked around for others to answer. But none of them answered. They just gave her a sad look which confused her.

She looked back at Arjun, "Maine pucha Tej kaha hain, Arjun!" and yelled holding him by the collar.

He gulped and closed his eyes, trying to muster courage to face her. "Rani-sa..." he said but was interrupted by Jai.

"Humne Commissioner se baat karli hain. Volog puri koshish kar rahe hain Tej ko dhund...ne...ki..." Jai stopped when he saw Tia over there as well.

"Ye...ye kya keh rahe hain? Mera beta...mera Tej kaha hain?" She stammered, "Arjun, chup kyun ho tum? Batao mujhe!"

After Tia stormed out of their room, Arjun tried to pacify Tej but he kept on crying vigorously. With Tej in one arm, Arjun picked up the envelope and the photos with the other and dumped them in the dustbin. Even though he had dumped the photos, they were still fresh in his mind.

Suddenly the lights went out. He intercomed the security but no one answered, adding to his anger. He called out for someone but no one came. Maybe because it was midnight and everyone were asleep. So he decided to check himself.

Putting Tej on the bed with pillows all around him to prevent him from falling, "Papa abhi aate hain." He kissed on his forehead and left.

He looked around for someone but the whole palace was pin-drop silent, as if it was empty. He was just a few feet away from the security office, when the lights came back. So he decided to come back and deal with the security guards in the morning.

As he neared their room, he couldn't hear Tej crying anymore. Initially, he thought maybe Tej stopped crying. But when he entered the room, he didn't see Tej on the bed. He searched everywhere in the room but Tej was nowhere to be seen.