Home is where your heart is

Therefore, home is not a place

It is but a person...

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Pallavi laughed uninhibitedly for what seemed like the first time after seven years. Amrutha slapped her forehead seeing her son's antics which seemed to set off her sister into squealing laughs within breathless seconds.

"He is so cute yaar..."

Pallavi said cuddling the infant close while Amrutha sat down beside Nikhil who had been filming the entire episode. You would be able to hear the chatter coming from the kitchen if you heard closely enough as the familiar aromas of Pallavi's favourite Maharashtrian cuisine pervaded the air of a home suddenly filled with exuberance it had seldom seen in the past decade.

The Deshmukh Nivas seemed to have lost most of it's warmth as both Pallavi and Amrutha had stepped out of its confines, to find their own wings. Sharda mostly lived in a limbo, going about her day to day routine like a machine as her relation with her husband deteriorated as moments passed. Milind had cut off from them almost completely and Sharda couldn't blame him. Vijay Deshmukh had become intolerable to reason with, live with...

Then all that happened with Pallavi had triggered him to solidify his immense hatred against Raghav even as secretly Sharda couldn't seem to the digest the fact which was bared even after so many years. Still, in some corner of her heart she refused to believe that Raghav could have cheated on Pallavi, intoxicated or not..

"Where is Farhad, Ammu?"

Pallavi asked and Amrutha rolled her eyes.

"Working. What do you think? This man could work like a bloody robot! No need for rest or food or sleep... nhi, woh sab toh hum tuchh manushyo keliye hain.."

Pallavi laughed.

"Did you even tell him that I am here..?"

She asked and in the naughty twinkle in her eyes, she understood. She was frankly a bit nervous how Farhad would react seeing her after such a long time. Somewhere deep in her heart, she had always believed that however much Farhad loved and supported her, he had always been his Anna's man. Maybe her decision to leave Raghav might have hurt Farhad somewhere whether he admitted it or not. He was the only person who probably knew Raghav Rao inside out, without any filters or so. He was the only one, her ex husband had fully bared himself to without any secrets.

Thinking about the man in question brought that same feeling of a violent twist in her pumping organ as usual. But only this time there was a bewildering apprehension mixed in as well. When Pallavi had decided to come back to Hyderabad she knew she had a chance of accidently meeting with her former husband. She knew she still harboured an unhealthy dose of weakness where he was concerned. At first she had tried very hard to wipe him off completely from her system but after a long disappointing and painful struggle she had made peace with the situation.

She couldn't remain apathic towards that man.. come what may.

So if she couldn't love him, she may as well hate him.

But her recent brush with Esha yesterday night triggered a new feeling adding to the already complicated emotions she had trapped beneath her chest.

Confusion.

Her wrath on him had increased maybe a hundred folds after knowing the apparent truth from his ex lover. She couldn't decipher what motive he had which forced him to keep the truth hidden from her and more than most, what had happened with him all those hours Esha had been taken away by Sunil.

The desire to walk up to the man and smack him as hard as she could, probably with a craftly diamond on her finger turned across his face has started building in her like an irrepressible temptation.

Thinking about Esha she smiled involuntarily as last night's conversation came to her mind. She had so grossly misjudged the girl. She had only been unlucky in love. Her smile increased in a smirk when she recalled the slight baby bump she had tried desperately to hide behind her wrapped hands.

Maybe not so unlucky...

"I have moved on Pallavi... Maybe I can never love someone as much as I have loved Raghav but I have made peace with the situation. I have discovered within these few years that we all have quite a stretchable heart. We don't have to replace a person to make space for another.. we can just pull it a bit to accommodate a new one. I have done just that... Today finally I feel like I can live happily again.. this last bit of truth was eating away at my nerves. I knew Raghav hadn't told you anything so I had to say. And if you could ever forgive me without restrain then I implore you to do so. Please know that my only crime, was to love a man who was never mine to have...."

Pallavi's internal musings broke with a fairly audible gasp from behind at her. She stood up letting the two year old bundle of joy from her hands to turn back and see the brother she had missed with a fierce vengeance since the past seven years of her self proclaimed exile.

Farhad had frozen like a marble statue at the foyer of the Deshmukhs, the mobile still on his ear but his brain not registering a single word the caller was speaking from the other end, seeing the woman he has only seen in dreams since that horrible day looking at him like a deer caught in headlights.

He took a good look at her and noticed the marked difference in her. Though Pallavi had always been a confident woman since the get go, he could now see a sheen of a very familiar arrogance in her body language. The pride of achieving what she had set out to do. An arrogance of the person holding the crown of success. An arrogance to hide a brutally broken heart somewhere behind.

An arrogance he was so well acquainted with, that he knew was a defence mechanism for a man he had worked for since forever it seemed, that tears welled up in his eyes unknowingly.

Oh how much had he prayed for this day...

Farhad didn't know when he had switched off the call and neared a now slightly nervous looking Pallavi.

"Bhabi.."

Several years later Farhad would reminiscence right back to this day, this very instant and wonder how neither of them had even blinked at the wrong usage of his addressing. How neither Pallavi ad batted an eyelash nor he had gulped down his words as both hugged each other.. holding onto the other person for dear life it seemed. And he would laugh knowing that the reason behind the same was painfully evident.

The bond forged between them, Farhad and Pallavi was too strong to break. The unbreakable strings which had been tied by a man, both of them have loved so differently yet so ardently.

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Pallavi and Farhad were walking hand in hand admiring the perfectly cool Autumn evening. Laughing occasionally at their shared memories Pallavi noticed Farhad gracefully keeping away from anything related to his employer. He was being cautious of not divulging anything remotely related to Raghav as he told her about these past seven years.

Pallavi was frankly tired of this beating around the bush. She was not made of glass that everyone around her had to keep walking on eggshells. She wanted to know... how had he fared all this time. She was embarrassed but her curiosity had trumped her ego. And then she wanted answers, a closure.. so she had to meet up with him anyways. What is the use of all this wilful avoidance?

"Farhad... can you fix a meeting for me with Raghav?"

Her blunt reprisal might have been a bit too blunt, she realised the moment the words left her mouth and she saw the other man pale considerably. He looked here and there and fumbled a bit.

"I..I but... I don't..think.."

She sighed.

"Farhad please. You all have to stop doing like this. I won't break by just the mention of his name. What have all you been thinking about me? Do not think that I haven't been noticing how everyone is avoiding the topic."

He looked embarrassed as he walked a bit in front, kicking a small pebble on the road to skitter away in the grass beside. She copied him with another small chip and sprinted in front.

"I have moved on from all that. It doesn't really matter any more. I just needed some answers and I can safely close that chapter of my life.. that's all.."

She bit her tongue thinking maybe she shouldn't have phrased her words so insensitively. All the business meetings and media handlings from the past years coupled with her paranoia of becoming soft had moulded her in a weird fashion now. She hated some of the side effects of this 2.0 version of hers.

Farhad looked mildly in pain as if a needle has pricked him somewhere yet his eyes held a sadness so deep that it hit her gut like a freight train.

What was she missing here?

"I am sorry bha.. Pallavi. Its just a bit difficult. We just don't want you to feel even a little bit at discomfort. You had left, but here, all of us had stumbled apart like a house of cards. Truth be told, we never even knew how important you were to all of us, how you had bounded us all.. till you just vanished into thin air one day, suddenly. That makes me wonder how much we all have been taking you for granted. Maybe, this was all for the good... "

He swallowed a lump while stuttering over the last few words and Pallavi felt her eyes sting. Farhad wasn't a man of emotions. Yet sometimes he could make even the simplest words stab like arrows. She held his arm tightly and gave it a gentle squeeze as if in assurance.

He composed himself within the next few seconds and gave her a small smile.

"So.. will you tell Ra.. him? Just a little bit of his time if he could spare it..?"

He looked into the distance contemplating something deeply before nodding his head slightly.

"I.. I will try. He is not here.. at the present but.. I will try..."

"Thanks Farhad. I owe you one.."

"Oh no Bha.. Pallavi! We all owe you so much that even if we keep repaying all the debts we would require another lifetime."

"Heh! Kuch bhi mat bolo Farhad... pyaar mein kiye kaam mohabbat ki nishani hain.. ehsaan nhi.."

She scoffed and he smiled at her.

"Toh aapne isse kyun ehsaan bola? Ye bhi kahaan ehsaan hain..?"

"Okay baba.. sorry! Ab chalein wapas, isse pehle aapki begum sahiba ko shak ho jaaye ki kahi hum dono bhaag toh nhi gaye saath mein..?"

Farhad laughed and she chuckled while turning to retrace their paths back to the house.

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Pallavi gave swift instructions to her PA over the phone in her usual clipped tone as she entered through the main corridor which would take her to the ACP's room. The police station was alive in it's usual activities just as she remembered it from that day. That night she had been waiting right there, with Sunny.. waiting for ACP Laxmi Singh to help them find her husband.

"Will that be all ma'am?"

Her secretary's voice brought her promptly out of her trance as she stared at the nameplate of the ACP while coming to a stop in front of the door. Her hair was tastefully styled yet kept open which complemented her blood red business suit and matching Louboutin's.

"Yes.. no no. Wait Aman.."

"Yes ma'am?"

"Ahh.. I want to you do something else for me. Get me all the details of the present Commissioner of Hyderabad Police and file it. Schedule a meeting with him. Reschedule my further meetings for a week later. I want to keep my schedule light."

"Sure ma'am."

Aman's efficient voice filtered in before she cut the call and rolled the balls of her shoulder in a way as if it was a warmup session before a major fight. Considering the name printed on the nameplate in front, it may as well be. She pushed the wooden door open and the woman seated behind the desk smiled at her.

"Welcome to Hyderabad!"

Pallavi returned her icy smile and came and sat down on the offered chair in front. The ACP smirked and leaned back while Pallavi crossed her legs lazily in front and settled comfortably in the chair putting her hands on the arm rests unknowingly miming the power move she had seen one man do in several occasion.

The playground was set and the war cry already given. What was left to see, was the outcome of this war of words.

"So, what brings you to my abode Mrs. Rao.. or should I say Deshmukh..? Sorry, I am a tad confused here, as you can see."

Laxmi Singh had expected Pallavi to at least grimace at the clear taunt if not shudder. But to her utter surprise she didn't even twitch a muscle of her face. In fact there was a hint of an amused smile at the corner of her lips as if she was merely humouring her. She frowned and saw the other woman lean forward casually. Suddenly the woman she remembered being the one radiating positivity and innocence since the last she saw of her seemed to have become a kernel of nuclear power. Pallavi was looking like a predator on a hunt. And she was having a rather nasty realisation that in this case, the bait is she herself.

"I want some of my confusion clear as well, Mrs. Singh or should I say.. Pillai. Sorry.. I am a tad perplexed too honestly, as you can see."

Pallavi saw Laxmi's face blanch like someone had poured bleaching powder over it and let her small smirk stretch to a shark like grin. She would make this woman squirm till she spills everything out.

All of a sudden the room seemed to shrink for ACP Laxmi Singh as Pallavi placed her palms on the table in front straightening up, her nails looking like claws ready to rip the other woman apart to shreds.

"So, now I think you will be ready to be cooperative enough Mrs. Pillai? Tell me everything you know and don't even think about hiding anything. Your game as you might have already judged is over Laxmi. Do not prolong your suffering any more."

"I.. I don't... how come.. I am not.."

Pallavi suddenly realised that she actually liked doing this. Making the other person stutter and fumble in intimidation.

"Shall we begin then? What happened that night in Warangal ACP sahiba..? Spit! Now!"

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Pallavi would never have imagined this in her wildest dreams that one day she will sit in the Assistant Commissioner of Police's office and blackmail her into revealing information. But then she could never have imagined half of the things that has happened with her since the past decade anyways. Aman, her trusted secretary and PA had sniffed out the information for her yesterday after she expressed a desire to meet with Singh. She knew, the ACP may have a fairly good idea what might have happened that night.

Truth be told, she didn't want to meet with Raghav without knowing anything at all. Gone were the days when she would have thought ignorance is bliss. She had learnt it the hard way that most situations demanded the winning side to have an upper hand. And Pallavi was not walking into the battleground empty handed.

Laxmi, as Aman had found out for her, has married twice. Her first husband, shockingly had been Ved Pillai, Raghav's former business partner turned rival and was at the moment rotting in prison. He had been jailed when she was on the process of getting a divorce. When Raghav had bypassed her and directly forced the Commissioner to lock up Ved in maximum security lockup Laxmi hadn't been given an entry. Thus her divorce proceedings got stuck.

Then she had gotten married again to someone else, the man she had had an affair with previously. That technically made her a bigamist. And Pallavi had all the details ready by six in the morning at her desk as incriminating documents along with a cup of steaming coffee by her enthusiastic PA on her orders.

"What do you want to know?"

Singh said irritated but fairly nervous. Pallavi flipped her mobile on pointedly and shoved it in front of her face. It had Sunil's picture on the screen. She saw the ACP's eyes widening slightly in a blink it and you miss it moment.

"You know him?"

"No... how will I..?"

"Cut the crap Singh! Both of us know that you know him. Important question is, did you know he raped his ex wife that night?"

Her expression proved to her that she hadn't known that.

"I... I didn't know that. They didn't tell me that anything of that sort.."

She stopped and Pallavi's face hardened. She was caught by that slip of tongue. She had her in her corner now.

"They..? So you were part of the plan."

"Not a willing part mind you. Ved was blackmailing me.. just like you. I couldn't.."

"So Ved's out now?"

"No. He wanted me to help one of his friend get to Warangal that night. I just did that and later helped in editing the CCTV footage."

"What the f**k happened ACP Singh! I am asking you the last f**king time. Don't test my bloody patience. I have talked with Esha. I know Raghav and her hadn't.. that sick pig was there.."

Laxmi sighed and rubbed her temples grindingly while Pallavi back counted to reign in her exponentially increasing temper.

"I don't know Pallavi. I told you I just helped Ved's accomplice reach Warangal. I bailed him out of jail.."

"That man, Ved's accomplice. Who is he? And what was he doing in prison?"

"I don't know that.."

Pallavi slammed her hand on the table knocking off the desk calendar and shocking Singh into reflexively jumping slightly in her chair.

"How can you not know! You bailed him out! You couldn't have not known who you are taking out of lockup woman! Don't give me that shit!"

"I did not see his name or such. Is it a Bollywood film running here that you expect me to go in the dead of the night under a blanket and pull out the cage's locks? I had delegated it to my junior. He might know!"

Pallavi stood up abruptly, completely at the end of her patience limit. She whisked away with an arrogant swish of her hair and ripped open the door to her cabin. Laxmi Singh refilled her glass of water to down it completely within a gulp. Her throat had dried up in fear.

"Get me the name of that man asap ACP or else the next thing hitting you will be a suspension letter with a possible bigotry allegation. Phir chakki pisti rehna jail mein.. Good day!"

She didn't wait to hear the colourful curses spewed at her back in vibrant Haryanvi as the glass tumbler came crashing on the door behind her.

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A/N:- This is all I wrote for this story, its my take from the part where the show showed, Pallavi coming to know of what happened in Warangal that night. At least, what was shown to her to be the truth. I don't know whether I will continue this track but it was interesting.