The time of our lives : A Rikara SS

Bitter truths and Revelations

The bird had flown the coop, or as Gauri would say, 'Chiraiyaa apne ghonsle se udh gayi.'

Omkara fell backwards, till he was stopped by the door. She was gone. They were late. 

He had left Bareilly, because Gauri told him to do so. Because she broke off their relationship. And he bowed his head to her wishes. He didn't think Gauri wanted to marry Ajay, that guy was a creep. 

But he had lost the position in Gauri's life, where he could stop her from doing so, or indeed give any opinion on the matter. Gauri had every right to reject him, refuse him forgiveness, and she did that. He had to respect her will.

Until Shivaay, urged him to try one more time. He couldn't give up that easily. He was an Oberoi for god sakes, and they don't accept defeat so easily.

And so they flew back to Bareilly. To try his luck one more time. Or to make Gauri see reason, if she tried to send them away again.

"I'm sorry, Omkaraji. I didn't think you would come back to save Gauri. This is all my fault" said Richa.

"Your fault?" said Shivaay sharply. 

"Gauri agreed to marry to Ajay because of me. Ajay has a lot of influence over his parents, and threatened to break off my and Mukesh's engagement if Gauri didn't agree to marry him. So, she accepted his proposal for my sake; it was essential that I marry Mukesh" sobbed Richa. "But she never intended to marry him. She had thought it all along to run away the moment Mukesh and I took the pheras. And that's what she did. She knew the kind of man Ajay was, so she made an excuse to delay her wedding to tomorrow, and in the meantime, she escaped."

Richa and Mukesh had been called to Gauri's house, rather her rented house, when Ajay discovered that Gauri was nowhere to be found. Omkara and his brothers had happened upon Ajay just as the latter discovered that his intended bride was missing. Ajay, suspecting Omkara of foul play, made furious moves towards him, but he had the worst of it. His friends, not eager to fight any of the Oberois, called Mukesh to come and collect his brother.

"Gauri beta tried to call you, but you didn't pick up" piped up Gauri's mother.

Damn! He had kept his phone on silent, while he moped about losing his wife. 

"Maaji, Gauri escaped without you?" asked Shivaay.

"It would have been difficult for her to run away with me. But she is going to contact me soon, and rescue me as well, in case Ajay tries to act dirty" said Gauri's mother, with a heavy sense of deja vu. When will her daughter be free of such evil men? 

"There is no need for that. Maaji, please come with us. You don't have to worry about Ajay, we will protect you" said Omkara gently.

"I know you will, Damaadji, but how will Gauri contact me? When she was in Bareilly, she used to talk to me through Richa, but...." she was cut off by Richa.

"Mausiji, don't worry. Gauri will call me, and I'll call Omkaraji. Then she'll know that you are safe, and she can return to Mumbai. I'm sure she'll call me as soon as she has reached a safe place, away from Bareilly" said Richa. 

Shivaay and Rudra were surprised by Richa's confidence in her friend's getaway, but Omkara remembering his first visit to Bareilly, nodded without thinking. 

But their could be any hurdles in her path, he thought.

"I'm starting a search for her anyways, alerting the local police, and everything" said Shivaay. "In the meantime, if we are to understand Richa, Gauri would contact her and come for her mother. So, the best course for us would be to go back to Mumbai, with Gauri's mother, and wait."