Page 53

Story: Tainted Bride

"Even if she goes to the police, can she prove that something like this happened because, as far as I know, even Jacob's body is not going to be found by the police?... No other policeman could ever accuse Bundela, and the reason I let her leave so easily was because she had a deep love for Aashi, which is why I spared her life. I can let her go because of Aashi; I am going to Aashi's room to sleep."

Prakram immediately turns and goes towards Aashi's room, and Armaan looks down from where Avishka has very comfortably run away in the first auto she got. Armaan is not feeling something right, so he immediately calls one of his men.

"Avishka has been out of here; keep following her continuously, as per sir's order; she should not face any problems, but do not stop following her until you get another order; and secondly, keep close eyes on her."

Prakram comes to his daughter and, after taking off his shirt, throws it nearby and lies down beside her smilingly, who is still holding Avishka's dupatta very well. Aashi has become habituated to holding Avishka's dupatta often, so she sleeps while holding it; hence, Avishka often gives her dupatta to her and uses another dupatta. Something similar might have happened here too. She must have slept holding her dupatta, so she must have left it in her hand and ran away from here with the other dupatta on her head.

As soon as Prakram approaches Aashi, a peculiar scent slightly irritates him, prompting him to turn his gaze towards her. He then carefully picks up the dupatta and places it close to his nose. A strong fragrance of flowers is coming from it. To remove this fragrance as it is bothering him suddenly, he tries to get rid of the dupatta from Aashi's hand, but it is in her sleep thatshe holds the dupatta more tightly. Prakram utters these words softly, his gaze fixed on his child.

"How will I tell you that your Avu has left you in the morning?"

"Mumma…"

Feeling movement and noise around her, Aashi creeps towards him and calls out to him “Mumma” while holding him, due to which a very intense movement starts happening in Prakram's heart and mind, which is somewhat scary and also strange. It is also going to bring you into a weird situation where you can't exactly judge what is happening to you. He tries to close his eyes, but for some unknown reason, he feels as if sleep has gone far away from his eyes, and he is unable to close them even if he wants to.

He closes his eyes with great difficulty, and then he suddenly realizes that when he was standing near Jacob, he could hear Avishka's breathing very clearly. Because of that, he realized that Avishka had seen him killing Jacob. When he came into the room, Avishka had pretended to be asleep, but the way she was shivering and trying to control herself, she could not hide it from his sharp eyes. He neither wants to kill Avishka nor imprison her because he knows that there are already many problems in her life, and in such a situation, he does not want to increase these problems further. He himself does not know the specific reason for this, but it is clear that he does not want to do anything to Avishka. He tries his best to close his eyes and go to sleep.

CHAPTER 30

When Avishka ran inside the railway station, she sat in whatever train was parked in front, and her ticket was also made throughTT because, seeing her condition, TT also helped her. But the truth was that, as per Armaan's orders, the man who had come with her had refused TT to take any action against Avishka, due to which, at this moment, she is sitting near the window with tears flowing from her eyes continuously. It has been six hours since she has sat on the train continuously, and while she knows she has gone too far, the memories of Aashi are causing her great discomfort. She is feeling dizzy and weak.

Avishka's condition at that time was such that she knew only that she had to get away from here by any means, due to which she boarded the train that she saw in front of her. The train was going from Orissa to Rajasthan. It will take her approximately 29 hours to reach Rajasthan. She has informed Padma and Vishnu; they have also quietly left from there. It is not going to take much time for them to reach Rajasthan from Punjab, but Avishka will take a long time. Since it is a long-distance train, there are very few people in the train, and there is no one special sitting around the place where Avishka is sitting, due to which she is sitting and crying continuously, she says to herself.

“I don't understand why this is happening to me. When I wanted to die, you told me that I have to live, I can't die like this, and happiness will definitely come for me one day or another. When Aashi came into my life, I thought that maybe you were talking about this happiness: Why, Papa, am I not able to do anything? I was never so weak; why am I becoming weaker day by day? You had taught me to fight with courage; then why is this cowardice developing in me all of a sudden?”

She doesn't have any sleep in her eyes, but she closes them due to a severe headache she's been experiencing after vomiting twice, as well as her exhaustion from constant crying. Kailash'ssmiling face appears in front of her eyes, as if he were explaining to her again.

"Who says you are a coward? My daughter was never a coward, nor will she ever be one. Sometimes you have to consider your strengths and weaknesses based on the situation, and you should not worry until you find happiness in your life. I will not leave you. I want to see my daughter very happy, and as long as her father is with her, she cannot call herself a coward... She is my tigress."

Avishka suddenly opens her eyes and starts looking around. She longs to see Kailash in front of her, but she understands that this is not possible. However, she always senses her father's presence when she is upset.

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is not any paranormal activity at all; it is just a ray of hope. When you lose a loved one, that feeling always remains with you, and you feel as if he or she is there to guide you continuously.)

Avishka just sits down and starts looking outside, where she can see the trees moving fast, which are not giving her happiness while traveling by train like every time, but she is feeling as if she is becoming increasingly distant from her life, which is causing her a lot of pain. As time passes, Avishka feels increasingly weak and her body begins to radiate heat.

.

.

.

Aashi is so exhausted from crying that her voice is no longer audible, only her hiccups. She is still holding Avishka's scarftightly, and Prakram is holding her in his arms to control her sobbing. Since Aashi woke up, she has only inquired about Avishka. She has neither drunk a drop of water nor eaten food, which has become a big problem for Prakram because a small girl has not only been hungry and thirsty for many hours. In fact, her constant crying and worry have also caused her to suffer from a high fever. Only Avishka's memories are tormenting her. At this time, she has had such a high fever that even Prakram, who has taken her in his arms, is feeling the heat of her warm body. Because of this, he is sweating profusely.

"Aashi, listen… my love…”

"Mumma…"

"Sweety, try to understand my point; she is not your mother; that is why she has left you. Now, please refrain from acting in this manner, as doing so could lead to consequences."

"Grandma says... Now the person you will marry.... would be my mumma.... if you had married mumma... My mumma never... leaves me and.... goes anywhere."

Ashi is having a hard time getting her words out. Everything became difficult. Armaan is quite aware that Prakram might have let Avishka go earlier, but now seeing Aashi's condition, he is getting very angry because if Avishka ever had to go, then she should not have loved Aashi so much. Because a small child does not understand all this, she had just started loving her like her mother, and now she is so yearning in her memory that within a few hours she has developed a very high fever; even after giving her medicine, it is not getting down, and now neither Armaan nor Prakram are able to see her condition; both of them are very upset seeing the situation.

Armaan sits with Aashi on his lap and tries to feed her hotch-potch, but as soon as he forcefully feeds her a spoonful of Khichdi, Aashi vomits, which causes her health to deteriorate even more.

"Aashi…"

Prakram immediately enfolds Aashi in his arms, cleanses her mouth, forces her to lie down on the bed, and begins applying cold water strips to her head. He is filled with anger towards Avishka, which prompts him to inform Armaan.