PRESENT

Aryamann's POV:

I hurried up the stairs, cursing the estate agent who wasted my time for no particular reason. All my plans went south the second the estate agent took me to a place farther away from where I had thought. And now I am late. I hadn't gotten a chance to meet Bhumi before going out. And what would she be thinking now? That I had walked out! No way in hell would I let her think that. As I hurried towards the operation theatre, I found the hunched figure of Bhumi, and my heart ached.

"Bhumi," I called out softly.

The look she threw my way was icy.

"Bhumi, I am so sorry. I got caught up-"

"It doesn't matter. You could have just informed me that you have work to manage. I would have stayed here," Bhumi said in a cold tone.

Damn it! She was warming up to me and now we are back to square one.

"Listen. It is not what you think-"

"I really don't care, Aryamann. And you don't have to stay here either. You can leave to do whatever work that is important," she said icily.

"Damn it, Bhumi. I am not going anywhere," I snapped at her, and she simply shrugged, saying that it doesn't matter to her either way.

The procedure took a couple of hours to be completed. The doctor who came out looked positive, and that gave us hope.

"Mr. and Mrs. Mehrotra. The surgery was a success. We just need to keep him under observation for the next couple of weeks to check how the new cells are rejuvenating," Dr. John said.

"The next two weeks are very important. We need to keep a close eye on him. And we have to be extra careful too," Dr. Zohail added.

"Thank you, doctors," I said, and the doctors left for the cabins provided for them by the hospital management.

"Bhumi," we both looked back and saw the whole of Mumbai standing there, with their hearts in their eyes.

Damn it! I didn't even get a chance to warn Bhumi.

Bhumi paled seeing them all.

"Oh my darling baby," Jalaja Adani, Bhumi's paternal grandmother, was the first one to move forward and gather Bhumi into her tight embrace.

"Uh, Mrs. Adani..." Bhumi stammered awkwardly.

Jalaja pulled away from her lightly and shook her head in disapproval.

"Dadi. I am your dadi, little one. Why didn't you tell us?" Jalaja cried, and Bhumi paled even more.

"How did you know??" She asked, still in shock.

My mind went back to the memories of the day Daksh dragged me to attend a prayer at Ishitha bhabhi's house.

*****

FEW DAYS AGO

"You are late, Daksh Mehrotra." Ishitha bhabhi said glaring at Daksh.

"Don't glare at me, darling. It was for Aryamann." He pointed at me and then told her about searching for Bhumi and her face softened at the mention of Bhumi.

Though she doesn't like me very much now, she too wants to find Bhumi.

"We will find her," She said and I smiled at her sadly.

As I walked inside I saw the Adanis, Kauras, Kapoors and the Mehrotras all sitting over there.

My relationship with my family was also affected greatly.

After what happened with Harini, I had distanced myself from my family.

And after what happened with Bhumi, my family distanced themselves from me.

The news of our contract marriage was leaked and I was sure the person behind it was Harini.

Harini and Ranbir got divorced two years ago and Harini has been behind me ever since, trying to get me.

The tabloid war made me realise Bhumi's value more. About how much she means to everyone. Anyway, that's a story for another day.

We were served drinks and starters.

But what caught my attention was one particular family photo placed among the photographs of other deceased people.

"Bhumi," I whispered, looking at Bhumi's childhood photo with her family there.

What is it doing here?

"This is Aadhav Basu's family photo. What is it doing here?" I asked no one in particular.

"That is Aadhav Adani, my younger son," Adani grandfather said with a shocked look on his face and my eyes widened in surprise.

"And that is my daughter, Maanasi Kaur," Kaura grandfather said, pointing towards the woman in the photo.

"And their kids, Bhumi and Ryan," Adani' grandmother said with tears in her eyes.

"They all died in an accident ten years ago!!" Ishitha bhabhi said softly.

'Papa and Mama had a love marriage.'

'They were from wealthy families.'

'The families were rivals, so they had to elope!'

'I am a Xerox copy of my mom.'

Bhumi's words kept ringing in my ears.

"That is Bhumi. My Bhumi." I said pointing at the little girl in the photo and there was a chorus of shocked gasps

"I knew it," Adani's grandmother cried out.

"I told you, Parth. That she looks so much like Maanasi and Aadhav." Adani grandmother said looking at her husband who was still looking at me in disbelief.

"Bhumi. Bhumi is our child?" Kaura grandfather stammered emotionally.

"What about, Ryan? Is he also alive?" Siddharth asked hopefully.

"No. Ryan died due to cardiac failure on the same day Aadhav papa and Maanasi Maa met with the accident. They all died the same day, leaving- leaving Bhumi all alone, at the tender age of seven." I whispered and explained all about Ryan's heart disease and their financial difficulties leading to their death.

Adani's grandmother cried out in agony.

"If- if we were ready to let go of the rivalry long back. Only if we forgave our children. They would have been here with us now." She said crying.

"My little girl. She might be thinking that she doesn't have anyone in this world. She doesn't know her family is still here." Kaura grandfather said.

"She knows." I said and they all looked at me in horror.

"She knows?" They asked in shock.

"She knows and she didn't want any of you to know. That much was clear from what she said to me." I said.

"Of course she wouldn't want any of us to know her. She might hate us now. We were not with her parents when they needed us, right? Of course she hates us." Adani's grandmother cried.

"Jalaja dadi, she doesn't hate you. She is scared of something. That's why she didn't want any of you to know. She can't hate anyone. My Bhumi doesn't have it in her to hate someone, Jalaja dadi." I said.

"My darling. God knows where she is now. I wish to gather her in my arms and hide her away from all the evils in the world." Jalaja Adani whispered.

"I will bring her back." I vowed.

"How did you miss the fact that Bhumi is still alive?" Gaurav asked, the question that has been plaguing my mind too.

"When they eloped, we were made to believe that they left for Pune. Kedar Mittal and Aadhav have been best friends since their schooling days. So we believed that Aadhav and Maanasi settled in Pune with the help of Mitaals." Adani grandfather said.

"We were too angry to look into more details about them. It was only months after the incident that we came to know of their death. And that was when we realised that they were living in Mumbai only. Far away from the city." Kaur grandfather continued.

"And we contacted Kedar immediately. We were told that all four of them died." Yash Adani, Aadhav's elder brother and Ishitha bhabhi's father said.

"We were too sunk in grief by then. Grief, regret and pain overshadowed our lives for years. And then realising our mistakes, we made amends with the Adani family." Hemant Kaura, Maanasi's brother and Siddharth's father said.

Now things made sense.

For some reason, Ekansh's father kept the truth of Bhumi's existence a secret from Adanis and Kaurs.

Maybe he feared that they would take Bhumi away from him, if they came to know.

A/N

Hey guys, somebody told me that Kaur is a surname used only for women in the Sikh community. And for men, Singh is used. I didn't knew that. So I am changing Kaur to Kaura as a surname here..

And yes, this book has too many characters.. I know it is hard to keep up with these many characters in a story. I will post the family trees of these families today itself so that you guys can check it out whenever you feel confused...😜 

Please do vote and comment...

Love,

SF❤️