Aarna's POV:

This boy...

He neither messaged me nor called me. He was not even attending my calls or replying to my messages. It's been a week since he went on a business trip.

Except for messaging me once, informing me about his safe arrival there, he didn't give me a heck at all.

Just come home, I will see your end.

My chain of thoughts was broken by the sudden ringing of my mobile. Seeing it was a call from Sadhvi Vadhina, I attended it immediately.

"Hello, Vadhina."

"Hello, Aaru. Can you do me a little help? Can you please go to my house and keep Advik with you till evening." She sounded urgent. I frowned a little, not understanding the reason for her sudden request.

"Okay, Vadhina but can you tell me what happened? Is everything okay?" I asked her.

'Everything is fine. This morning, My Athayya fainted suddenly. So I took her to the hospital. Daksha advised her to stay in the hospital for a day. So I am here to accompany her. Your Nivas Anna also went on a business trip along with your husband. Latha ma called and informed me that Advith is crying for me. I can't go to him or bring him to the hospital, leaving Athayya here all alone. So help me in looking after him for today." She said in a one go.

"Don't worry. Take care of your Athayya. I will go right away to pick him up." I assured her and she just an 'okay' before hanging up.

After the call was ended, I lazily stood up from the bed and get changed into jeans and a simple tee before grabbing my bag.

After going downstairs, I informed Athayya about this matter and she immediately asked the driver to drop me at Sadhvi Vadhina's house.

Upon reaching there, I went inside and greeted the housekeeper, latha ma who rushed outside to greet me.

"Aaru, how are you?" She asked me.

"I am fine, latha ma. How are you? How is your health? Is that little fella troubling you a lot?" I inquired.

"I am doing good. Hahahah..as usual. It's just that I am getting old na. So I can't handle his tantrums anymore." She said with a smile.

I nodded at her with a slight smile and went to Advith, who was sniffing his nose while wiping his eyes.

"Hey, laddu," I called out for him and he immediately looked up to have a glance at me. Seeing me, his face split into a wide grin. He trotted towards me quickly and hugged my legs.

I patted his little head before kneeling to his level.

"Your mom called me and said that you were crying. Why so?" I asked him softly.

"Who said that I was crying? I was not crying. I am a little man. Why would I cry? Believe me, my mom was lying to you." He immediately denied it while avoiding my eyes, waving his little hands hurriedly in front of me.

I chuckled a little and stood up. I held his hand and asked, " I believe you. Your mom must be lying then. Aren't you feeling bored staying all alone here? So let's go to my house..okay?"

He bobbed his head in agreement and looked at Latha ma before started saying, " Look after the house in my absence."

He told her like a little matured man and latha ma shook her head helplessly and nodded at him in agreement before passing me a smile

I laughed at his words and bid goodbye to latha ma before going out with him.

Once we both got settled in the car, he started looking at me like he was hesitating to ask me about something.

"What's the matter?" I asked him after noticing his actions.

"That..that pretty Akka.. Will she be at home?" He asked meekly and I know very well for that matter who that pretty Akka is.

I stifled my laughter and replied, "No. She went to her university," Hearing my answer, his face fell a little but soon brightened up after hearing the rest of my words, "but she will be back at noon."

He nodded at me with a grin.

After reaching home, I took him inside. Immediately Athayya started pinching his cheeks and smooched his face. He puffed his cheeks adorably and looked at me helplessly.

When Athayya went to the kitchen to bring him some snacks, I approached him while laughing.

"Normally you don't like it when someone pulls your cheeks na. Then why are you behaving like an obedient little lamb in front of her?" I asked while cocking my brows at him.

"She is not anyone. She is the mother of that pretty Akka. So I have to impress her first to get into her good books." He replied cockily and I immediately smacked his head.

"Stop watching those stupid daily soaps with your grandma.l," I chided him and he glared at me while rubbing the spot that I had smacked just now.

When Aadhya came back from her university, we all had lunch together. Athayya informed me that mavayya(father-in-law) is returning from his trip.

My dad and he, along with some of their other friends went on a trip to chill out together. So they are returning from that trip today.

Advith was taking his afternoon nap in my room and I was sitting with Athayya and Aadhya in the living room when mavayya returned home.

We all greeted him and he summoned Aadhya and me to sit at either side of him. I smiled at him and sat beside him. He always treats Aadhya and me equally.

He opened his bag and took some boxes before handing them to Aadhya. She opened them and the boxes were full of chocolates and candies and the small box had a diamond pendant in it.

When I saw the chocolates, I pouted a little and looked at him accusingly.

"Mavayya, where are my treats? Do you forget my existence already?" I whined and he laughed a little at my words before handing me a small bag.

" You are also my daughter na then how can I forget you ra?" He said with a warm smile. I grinned at him with glee and opened that bag.

There are so many chocolates, cookies, candies..what not and also there was a small box. After opening it, I immediately looked at him in surprise. He just passed me a smile in reply. There is a pair of Jhumkas with gemstones embedded on them. Jhumkas are my favorite jewelry.

"Mavayya, I just love them. You are so awesome," Saying this, I gave him a bear hug and he patted my back while chuckling.

Suddenly we heard the throat-clearing of someone and saw that Athayya was glaring at mavayya. Seeing this, I retracted myself and sat back to witness their banter.

"Where is my share? Do you even get me anything? " She asked him. He raised his eyebrows at her and looked at her from top to bottom.

"Of course, I brought you some good presents. Since you are already so old, what's the need for dolling up like my daughters? So I brought you some shawls which are suitable for your age." He said calmly and she immediately glared at him.

"Who are you calling 'old'? Did you forget about how many old bones you have in your body or what? Hmmph..go to hell with your shawls. Don't you dare to step into the bedroom today or else you don't know what I am going to do to you." She warned him and stomped her way upstairs.

He chuckled and stood up to follow her after telling us that he is taking his leave to pacify his old-aged wife.

Aadhya and I laughed at them before making our way to our rooms. I went inside and placed the jhumkas with my other jewelry in the locker.

I took the chocolate and started munching on it while leafing through the magazine casually, occasionally glancing at the sleeping advith.

Suddenly a knock came, disturbing the little peace that I was enjoying.
Lifting my head from the magazine, I glanced at the door and saw that Aadhya was standing outside.

"Come inside, Aadhu. Why are you standing there itself ?" I asked her while standing up from the bed.

"No Vadhina, I have the assignment to complete. I just came here to inform you that your dad is calling your number but you aren't attending his calls. So he called to dad's phone. Dad asked me to inform this you."

Hearing her words, I immediately searched for my phone and saw that there were so many missed calls from my dad.

"Yeah. He called me. My phone is on silent mode. I will call him right away. Thanks for informing me." I told her. She nodded at me with a smile and left.

Before calling my dad, I once again tried my luck by calling Dhruv but now his number is unreachable.

"Is he fine?" I thought, unsure of why his phone was switched off.

Keeping that matter aside for a while, I called my dad and he attended it within three rings.

"Aaru ma, how are you?" He asked me before I even could open my mouth to greet him. I chuckled, settling myself on the couch, and replied.

"I am fine, dad. How are you? Did you enjoy your trip?" I asked.

"Yeah. I enjoyed it a lot. I bought you so many gifts. Swarna said that your results are going to be announced tomorrow. What's your plan after that? Are you going to join Daksha and yuktha in the hospital.?" He asked me.

"Hahaha..really? I can't wait to receive them. Yeah. Tomorrow is the day of my results. About joining the hospital, I haven't decided anything yet, dad. Will tell you soon about my decision."

"Okay. Just remember this, whatever your decision maybe, I will always support you." He assured me.

"I know right. That's why I love you the most. How is my swaru baby doing? " I asked him.

"She is with me only. I am handing over the phone to her then. I have some important matters to deal with." He said.

"Akka, how are you?" She asked me in an excited tone and I could hear the distant voice of my dad asking her to charge his phone once she was done talking with me.

"I am fine, swaru. How are you? Are you taking your medicines on time? Are you still staying up all night?" I asked her.

"Uggh. Stop treating me like a child, Akka. For god's sake, I am turning 21 next month."

"Whatever, you are still a child to me," I said while laughing.

"Fine. I can't win over you. Tell me how is Bava treating you? Is he good to you? Are you happy there? Are you irritating the hell out of him too?" She asked me in a teasing tone.

"He is treating me well. Everyone here is so good. Though he never expresses his concern, he cares for me a lot. He is putting up with all my tantrums. Hahaha...marriage life is not that boring as I have imagined it to be." Suddenly I started missing him. Dude..come back soon.

"Glad to hear that you are happy. Akka, you know, he frequently calls me to inquire about my health." I surely got surprised at this newfound information.

"Really? I didn't know about that till now," He never told me about this matter at all.

"Haa Akka. At first, it was so awkward as he only speaks a few words but later I got used to his behavior and eventually warmed up to him. Yesterday he called mom and talked with her for a while."

"Woah. He is really an ideal son-in-law. Ohh..are you forgetting the fact that he has time to call everyone except you!" My mind reminded me.

"Btw, how is mom doing?" Ignoring those thoughts, I asked her in a low voice after hearing the mention of mom.

"She is doing good, Akka. Don't worry about us. I will call you later. Bye. Take care." She answered me instantly, making me doubt the genuineness of her words.

"Swaru, don't you dare to hang up. You are my sister. I know you in and out. So I can say it easily when you are lying. Now tell me the truth." I asked her sternly.

"No, akka. I am not lyi-"

"Tell me the truth Swaru. I am her daughter too. I have every right to know everything related to her." I said and I could hear her sighing at the other end of the call.

"Akka, I will be honest with you. I don't know what happened to her. After your marriage, she became so silent. She is not even talking to me properly. I really started worrying about her. When I told the dad about the same, he assured me that nothing was going on and asked me not to worry about this."

Hearing this, I just stayed in silence as she continued.

"All she is doing is, staying in her room. I just don't know how to say it but she changed a lot."

"Okay. I got it. As dad had said, don't worry about these matters. She will be fine."

"Akka. You know something that I am not aware of...right. Well, I don't ask you to tell me about it as I know you don't hide it from me unless it is necessary." Her words literally brought tears to my eyes.

"You behaving like a big girl," I said softly, trying to control my tears.

"Of course I am a big girl. Akka, visit me on my birthday with Bava..okay? Dad said that he will invite your in-laws personally for my b'day. I will send you a pic. Buy me that watch. " she added cheekily.

"Of course. Though I don't know why do you always ask me to buy things for you when there is a dad at home."

"Should I tell you the truth? I also don't know why but I love to receive stuff from you. Another thing, don't think of it as my birthday present. I am waiting for you to surprise me on my big day." She added generously.

"When did I even say about the surprise?" I asked her with a slight smile playing on my lips.

"You didn't but I want you to do it. Will talk to you later. Dad's phone is running out of battery. Love you." Saying this, she hung up the phone.

"Love you too," I whispered softly while looking at my phone.

The tears that I have been holding up till now started to trickle down continuously. Curling up on the couch, I started sobbing bitterly while covering my mouth with one hand and clutching my heart with another hand, as to not disturb advith's sleep.

Like every child, all I want to do is, keep my parents happy and make them proud of me but all I am doing is inflicting pain on my mom. How bad as a daughter I am.

All I am doing is complaining and crying over the lack of love she is not showering on me, forgetting the blunder that I had committed when I was a child, forgetting the loss she had suffered and is still suffering.

Do I even deserve this life? All the people around me are somehow suffering because of me yet they never once blamed me for it and still showering me with all the love. Why can't I just make them happy? Why am I not capable of doing it?

Do I even deserve forgiveness for that so-called innocent mistake of mine? How can I undo it? Is it even possible? Do I have to carry this guilt all my life? I am tired of pretending to be fine. I am tired of smiling when my heart is wrenching in pain. I am tired of understanding everyone.

I want someone to console me. Someone to notice my pain and sufferings. Someone to share my grief along with me. Someone to assure me that everything will be fine. Someone to not judge me.

Though I don't deserve all these things, I, for once, want to be selfish in my life. I know it is too much to ask for but all I want is, for someone to lend me their shoulder when I want to cry.

And swaru, she is considering me as a mighty person. Though I don't want to think like that, I fear her reaction once she comes to know the whole truth which was only known to my parents, in their opinion.

What they don't know is, even if they did their best to hide it from me, sadly I got to know that bitter truth ages ago itself.

"Swaru, don't think too highly of me. I am not a good person. I am a sinner. I am living in a fear of the day..the day when you will look at me with hate. You will loathe me for sure once you come to know the truth. Though I know what's going to come in my way, I just hope that you won't hate me too much because I can't take it." I thought and started crying over my fate.

Thanks for reading.

Hope you guys liked the chapter.

Many are asking about Dhruv's POV, the next update will be about it only.

As for Aarna's past, it's going to get revealed soon.

Next update: Tuesday.

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