[Everyone except @sanyogitaprc was wrong. :D

And @sanyogitaprc reasoning was also right. Aliya won't come in front of Pragya unless by accident. And since she could have easily seen Pragya in front of Ranbir's cabin she would have never gone there nor let Rhea go. ;)]

Pragya, Saritaji and the Kohli family stopped on the threshold. They smiled happily at the sweet scene unfolding in front of them. Prachi and Ranbir's complete absorption in each other was a treat to watch for their respective families who want nothing but their absolute happiness.

"Awe! They look so adorable together. What do you think, Anuradha ji?" Pallavi gushed.

"I know they do, Pallaviji." Pragya smiled.

"Why not? After all they are made for each other." Daljeet beamed

"You are absolutely right, beeji. These two are just perfect for each other." Vikram sighed contentedly.

After the juice was finished too, Prachi got to her feet and placed the empty glass on the tray over the bedside table. Ranbir opened his mouth to ask her to sit beside him again when some footsteps made him turn towards the door.

"Hey, when did you guys come?" Ranbir grinned at them.

"Just now. Did you have your meal? And did you take your medicines?" Pallavi smiled, walking over to him.

"Do you think this hitler will let me skip either the meal or medicine?" Ranbir quipped, earning a narrow eyed glare from Prachi.

"What else can I do, aunty, if he is hell bent on throwing tantrums like a baby?" Prachi rolled her eyes and proffered the capsule and a glass of water to him.

"You are absolutely right, Prachi. If he is throwing tantrums then he needs to be dealt with in a tough manner." Pallavi sided with Prachi, making Ranbir's jaw drop.

"Since when have you switched sides, mom? Till date you have always supported me." Ranbir gaped at his mother in open astonishment.

"Get used to it, son. That is going to be the norm from now on. I had to get used to it. Now it's your turn." Vikram smirked.

Understanding the meaning of what his father had said, Ranbir grinned while Prachi stared bemusedly as she didn't understand the import of the words.

Before anyone could say anything more, the nurse walked into the room again. She looked around with a smile and greeted them.

"That's nice. You have finished both the soup and the juice. All thanks to your wife here. Otherwise, we have to bear tantrums from patients regarding having the soup. Thank God, that your wife was here. She saved me a lot of trouble." The nurse beamed at the blushing girl, took the tray and left.

Ranbir chuckled softly as Prachi glared at him. Embarrassed, she frantically looked around to change the topic.

"Where are Aryan and Sahana?" Prachi looked at Pragya.

"I don't know. They were right behind us." Pragya looked around, puzzled.

"I will go find them." Prachi was thankful for the excuse to escape the knowing glances and smiles of the elders as well as the grinning idiot.

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Aryan was standing in front of the idol of Lord Ganesha just opposite to the lift which opens in the corridor where Ranbir's room is situated.

He was standing with his palms joined and eyes closed when Sahana found him. Not finding him with the group shortly after they walked out of Ranbir's room, Sahana had started searching for him. She never thought she would find him in front of the God's idol, praying.

"Aryan" Sahana called out to him softly.

Aryan opened his eyes and turned around to find her standing a few feet away. She sauntered towards him with unhurried steps.

"Are you okay?" Sahana looked at him with compassion in her eyes.

"Yeah. I am fine. What will happen to me? It's Ranbir who is lying in the hospital bed." Aryan looked down the corridor with tensed eyes.

"And you are worried about him." Understanding regarding the tension that emanated from him dawned on Sahana.

Aryan turned to look at the girl's compassion filled eyes and then looked away.

"I...yes...I was worried about him. Now that he is okay, I have come to thank the Almighty. He is not just my best friend Sahana, he is also the brother I never had but always wanted to have. He had always been there for me. Even when my mom couldn't since she was too busy with Rhea. I don't want to lose him, ever. He is my friend, brother and confidante." Aryan didn't know why he was revealing his feelings in front of this girl.

"I understand Aryan. I feel exactly the same for Prachi. She is my best friend, sister and confidante. I am very protective of her and don't want to lose her ever. In her I got a sister and in her mother, I got a mother." Sahana smiled softly.

Aryan was surprised to see the depth of emotions swirling in the eyes of the mischievous, bubbly girl.

"Aryan, Sahana, what are you both doing here?" Prachi called out as she started walking towards them after locating them.

Aryan and Sahana looked towards each other and as if in mutual understanding, began to walk towards Prachi.

"Nothing, Prachi. Just talking." Sahana chirped.

"Okay let's go inside now." Prachi smiled at them both and turned to walk away.

Aryan and Sahana glanced at each other and followed suit.

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The trio, i.e Prachi and Arhana, sauntered into Ranbir's cabin. They were soon followed by the doctor.

"So, how are you feeling now, young man?" The older lady smiled benevolently.

"Fit and fine and willing to go home. Pleaaaase." Ranbir pleaded.

"While I am glad to know that you are fit and fine, I am sorry to say that you will still have to stay. I can only release you after I have discussed the test results with our specialist." Dr. Roy smiled apologetically at the sulking young man.

"Where is Mehra Sir?" Prachi asked suddenly.

"Oh, Mr. Mehra is with the specialist and he is discussing Ranbir's progress. He will be back soon. Another thing. Since visiting hours will end in about half an hour, I must inform you that only two people can stay here with Ranbir. See you tomorrow, Ranbir. Bye everyone." Smiling, Dr.Roy meandered out of the room.

"We shall leave too now. Ranbir take care, okay?" Pragya smiled affectionately at the boy she had come to regard as her own son.

"I am already fine, aunty. Don't know why they won't let me go home." Ranbir whined, making everyone laugh.

"So, who is going to stay here with Ranbir? I will stay. And maybe Abhi can too." Vikram suggested.

"No, uncle. You all go home. I will stay here with Ranbir." Aryan assured them.

"But two people are to stay here. Who else will stay?" Pallavi looked worried.

Ranbir looked at Prachi expectantly while she rolled her eyes. But was there a little smile on her lips?

"I will stay here Pallavi aunty. Don't worry. You all go home and take rest. I and Aryan will handle everything." Prachi smiled reassuringly.

Ranbir's blinding smile didn't go unnoticed either by the elders or by Arhana.

"You are such a sweet girl, Prachi. And I am feeling even more bad for my behaviour." Pallavi looked at Prachi sheepishly.

"Please forget that aunty. I have." Prachi tried to alleviate the guilt of the older woman.

"Ok then. Take care." Pragya patted Prachi's cheek and then turned to Ranbir "You too take care, Ranbir."

"Sure aunty." Ranbir flashed a wide grin.

Smiling, Pragya walked out of the room. Others followed suit.

"We will leave now, Mr. Kohli." Pragya smiled at Vikram.

"Sure. Thank you so much for supporting us in this tough time even after all that you and prachi had to endure because of us. I can't apologize enough for it and I can't thank you enough for forgiving us." Vikram joined his palms.

"Like Prachi said, Mr. Kohli, let bygones be bygones. We should learn from our past mistakes and move on." Pragya smiled reassuringly.

Pragya, Saritaji and Sahana bid farewell to the Kohlis and walked away.

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As the cab carrying Pragya, Sarita ji and Sahana was pulling away, a very expensive car entered the Hospital premises and drew up near the entrance.

"You go in. We still have half an hour of visiting hours. I will come after parking the car." Aliya gestured to Rhea to get going.

"Ok, Buji." Rhea was only too happy to comply.

As Rhea disembarked from the vehicle, Aaliya drove off towards the parking. Rhea turned towards the hospital entrance when someone blocked her path. Rhea was shocked to see Sanju standing in front of her.

"You? What are you doing here? How did you get away from the police?" Rhea gaped at him in stark astonishment.

"Yes, I know. You and your Buji were doing 'Bhangra' thinking I am safely out of the way and left me to rot in the jail." Sanju glared at her.

"Uh...no...nothing like that. We were about to get you out." Rhea looked at everywhere but him.

"Really? When? After they had issued prison sentence for me? Oh no, Rhea. I am never going to trust you or your 'Buji' again." Sanju shook his head.

"Listen..." Rhea began.

"No, you listen to me.  You were the one who was the mastermind behind the fake mms scandal against Prachi, diwali scandal against her and you and your aunt were the masterminds behind this recent theft scandal against her. Were you not?" Sanju raised his brows.

"Yes. I was. But..." Rhea began again.

"But what? You did all this to defame Prachi because you don't like her and I did it because I love her and want her to marry me. So you should be punished as much as me, if not more. If I have to go down, I will take you with me too. Remember that." Sanju threatened.

"Just shut up."

Sanju and Rhea whirled around to see Aliya striding up to them.

"Just shut your nonsense. What if someone hears you? We will get you out of this mess." Aliya hissed.

"Really? When exactly?" Sanju glared at her.

"Soon. very soon. For now, go into hiding." Aliya instructed in a low voice.

"Fine. Like I said, if I go down I will take you both along with me." Sanju smirked and turning on his heels, walked away.

"Buji, what will happen now?" Rhea fretted.

"Nothing will happen, Sweetheart. Even if he says our name, no one is gonna trust him over us. They have already made a mistake about trusting a thief over Prachi once. They won't repeat the mistake. Listen carefully. From now, if he comes over to talk with you about this, deny any knowledge about it. Plain and simple. Got it?" Aliya raised a brow, smirking.

"Definitely, Buji." Rhea smirked back.

"let's go and see Ranbir then." Aliya smiled.

"Oh no! We are already so late. Let's go, Buji." Rhea dragged a laughing Aliya with her.

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Rhea and Aliya walked into Ranbir's room and  found the Kohlis and Aryan there, chatting with Ranbir.

"Ranbir! Are you alright?" Rhea stared at him anxiously

"Totally, Rhea. See." Ranbir smiled reassuringly.

"Thank God you are fine, Ranbir. We, especially Rhea, were so worried." Aliya stressed on Rhea.

Pallavi looked away awkwardly. Precisely at that moment Prachi sauntered out of the washroom after freshening up. Droplets of water were still glistening on her forehead and cheeks and some loose, wet tendrils of hair were tickling her cheeks. She walked while simultaneously tucking them behind her ears.

Ranbir's eyes, which were already searching for her, met the object of their quest. Mesmerized, he could only stare at her. Involunatarily, his lips curved into a small smile. 

The change in him didn't go unnoticed by Rhea, who whirled around, frowning. Her face tautened as she came to know aboout the reason of his inattentiveness.

"You? What are you doing here, Prachi? How can you all allow her to come here? She is the only reason that Ranbir is lying on a hospital bed right now. She is such a bad influence on Ranbir and..." Rhea's tirade was interrupted as a voice cut across her.

"That's enough, Rhea. You can't talk to Prachi like that. She is the one who had always helped Ranbir whenever he was in some kind of a problem. She is the one who, inspite of everything she has suffered due to us, came here as soon as she heard about Ranbir's accident. She is the one who offered to stay with him, along with Aryan. I have done a grave error once. I will not repeat my mistake. I won't hear anything against Prachi." Pallavi frowned heavily.

Pallavi's outburst stunned everyone, including Ranbir who had opened his mouth to give Rhea a piece of his mind. Now, a proud and satisfied smile was playing on his lips. 

"Absolutely right. I absolutely hate it Rhea that you always badmouth Prachi and speak against her and that too without any fault of this sweet girl. What do you have against her?" Daljeet scowled.

"You are not understanding, beeji...." Aliya began to defend Rhea.

"We don't want to understand anything Aliya. You and Rhea learn to keep your opinions to yourselves if you can't change them or get out of here." 

Everyone turned around to see Abhishek walking into the room.

"Dad..." Rhea began.

"Sir, it's good that you came. I have to talk to you about something. Can you please come with me." Prachi entreated.

"No. He will not. he is my dad. he won't go with you." Rhea glared at Prachi obstinately while Prachi sighed impatiently.

"Look Rhea, this is way more important than your childish whims. So try to act like an adult for once. Sir, can you please come?" Prachi turned to Abhishek after giving Rhea an apt reply.

"Come, Prachi." Abhishek walked a little away from the group along with Prachi.

They talked for sometime and when they returned Abhishek looked a little tensed.

"What happened? Is everything alright?" Vikram looked at them questioningly.

"Yeah, yeah, everything is fine. Don't worry." Abhishek looked around the room before looking at Vikram.

Suddenly, Abhishek's mobile beeped with an incoming mesage alert. He fished out his phone fron his jeans' pocket and looked into it.  Within minutes a murderous fury filtered into his eyes and his jaw hardened ominously.

Let's end it here today. Today's part is the largest one of this ff I think. 

So, what happened guys? Why is Abhishek so furious? What did he see in his phone? Socho socho ;) 

Hope you all like this part. Please vote and comment. Waiting for your feedbacks.