Never let me go

Escaping destiny- part 4

If an year ago someone has told Shivaay Singh Oberoi that one day he'd be travelling by bus he would have laughed his ass off. However that was not the case today. The entire younger clan of Oberoi family were travelling on a bus to Manali. For the first time in the past they were all together.

Om and Shivaay were sitting together after eternity though instead of making conversation they were lost in their deep thoughts.

Shivaay was sitting at the window seat wondering what would have hone through Anika's head before the accident? Was she still that mad at him or had her anger calmed down a bit? Was she thinking about him ..missing him? But these questions were not alien to him. He thought about her death and the circumstances surrounding it all the time.

Shivaay couldn't help but wonder where they would be if she hadn't...would they have kids? The prospect of starting a family with her had looked alluring to him ever since he had seen her taking care of Pari.

But it was all hypothetical . None of it could ever come true. Sometimes Shivaay would sit at the edge of his bed in hos big empty room and laugh at the irony of his life- the man who could buy everything, anything ...who owned a fucking chopper lost his wife in a bus accident.

Shivaay still remembered the day he and Om had to go to the police station. He remembered how bad both of them were shaking as they entered the morgue. He remembered looking at the bodies ...their face had been completely distorted but the belongings matched. Anika's bag was found and so was Gauri's phone. At first both of them had refused toa ccept that they ahd lost their better halves forever.

For three months Shivaay lived in denial...his Anika meter rold him that she was still alive . He continued hoping praying even begging to god to send her back. Every morning he'd wake up hoping that she and Gauri were going to walk through the door and apologize to them for playing this cruel joke on them.. but days turned into months with mo sign of them ever coming back.

Shivaay vividly recalled how he had refused to perform the final rites of his dead wife. Finally he had no choice and had to lit the pyre. He was about to jump on it if it weren't for Rudra who was restraining him.
Omkara had the felt the same way. Though both the brothers had gone through the same thing they couldn't talk to each other without being reminded that it was all their fault and sometimes they would pin it all on their little brother who was once the apple of their eye in order to alleviate their guilt.

Bade bhaiya Sahil is refusing to eat what i had packed for him..please make hime eat something came Bhavya's voice breaking Shivaay's chain of thoughts.

Shivaay had immedeitly eaten the food once SSO had asked him to .

The bus stopped for sometime at a dhaba. As he was getting down a sign caught his view.

Greenlake resort...Shivaay immedietly took out the clippings he always carried with himself..those of the newspaper annoucing the accident..reading it only confirmed his suspiciuon...it was on this road only that the bus had collided...

Shivaay stopped breathing for a second and looked at the beidge and the water under it wher etheyw ould have probably fallen.

Shivaay what it that? Asked Omkara looking at the clipping she was holding. Those were the first words they had exchanged since the accident.

Shivaay said nothing but handed over the clipping to hos equally broken brother. As soon as he read the paper his face distorted into one expressing pain.

Shivaay is this the same...

The very same O said Shivaay beofr emaking his way towards the bridge only to be followed by his brother. It was the first time shivaay had called Omkara in a year. Rudra couldn't help but smile..so what if he wasn't as close to both of them like earlier but atleast they both were talking to each other again..perhaps one day the three of them could once again talk normally. Rudra hi fived Sahil for convincing Shivaay. This trip was not just about business but making his brothers spend some time together. Rudra rarely showed his pain because he ahd to puta strong front for his entire family but he terribly missed his Anika bhabhi. He missed her calling Shivaay billu ji, he missed how she used to tease him, he missed it when Gauri used her face deewar pe satade dialogue but most of all he missed the times they all used to spend together. With them in the house there was nota single moment of quiet but now the eerie silence of Oberoi mansion haunted those who resisded in it. Even the servants were afraid to make noise for the fear of pissing Shivaay or Omkara off. Anything could trigger them any time of the day. The other day a staff member had by mistake dropped something on Anika's bag..her chikni..the last possession he had of her..Shivaay ahd almost had an heart attack amd murdered the employee. The employee had officially prrssed charges against him though Rudra had made them go away. Gone were the days when Rudra Singh Oberoi could act immaturely. He was now the new great wall of Rudra Singh Oberoi.