12 I Did Come

Baragaon - Mrityunjay's Cottage

Shivani had been quite all the way back to the house. She refused to speak to Mrityunjay, even as he attempted to make small talk. She did not even look at his face. He knew she was angry with him. Shivani's anger came and went as frequently as a chameleon could change colours and Mrityunjay knew exactly how he needed to deal with it.

They ate their breakfast in silence and whenever he tried to talk to her, she walked away looking through him. Beckon hovered around Mrityunjay, wondering why he was so worried and Mrityunjay hovered around Shivani for a chance to explain himself. Her refusal to listen to anything he said, was making him more and more agitated.

When he finally could take it no more, he walked into the bedroom, where she had locked herself up, after the silent breakfast. She stood at the window, her back facing him. She did not even bother to turn around to glance at him.

Mrityunjay marched across to Shivani and grabbed her by both hands. "What is it? You have a problem with some thing, tell me to my face. What is the need to behave like this?" he demanded, shaking her vigorously.

She pushed him away, frowning at him, seething with anger. "You want answers? Great! I will give you answers. Why don't you give me some too? Why did you not come back?" she demanded of him.

,Mrityunjay closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "I did come back," he responded, after what seemed like an eternity. "I came back as soon as I was able to, physically," he said, looking at her patiently. " When I came back, there was a mourning ceremony being organised in the house. I was in such bad shape that no one recognised me. They had put up your picture alongside mine and were mourning our death. I.. I.. I thought, I had lost you... forever," his voice strained with the emotions he tired to control and the pain coming alive in his eyes. "I couldn't take it. I could not stay in that sick place anymore. I came back to Baragaon, don't know how, but I did. When I came back, I wanted to kill myself and I almost did. But Saanvi put some sense into me. I decided that day, I would live... for whatever it was worth, I would live," he completed.

He came closer to her then, his eyes boring into her's. "For this world I am dead, I have died once already. Don't kill me again, don't ask me to go back," he beseeched.

As tears streamed down her cheeks, Shivani hugged Mrityunjay hard. Safe in his embrace, she told him in a voice straining with emotions, "they assumed I was dead, like you, as they did not recover both of our bodies. I was admitted into a military hospital by some army personnel, who were there on rescue operations. Since you had all my documentation, it took them some time to trace who I was, plus my wounds took time to heal too, as I had a couple of broken bones. So, I came back home only after few months," she replied to him, answering his unnamed questions.

"Why us Shivani?" he asked. "Why does it have to be us all the time?" he spoke his thoughts out loud, as though asking the question to himself. "Because He knows our love is strong enough to withstand these small tests," she answered, looking up at his face and pointing her finger heavenwards. He studied her optimistic face. "What have you decided to do?" he asked her finally. "I must go back... but I promise I will be back next summer," she proclaimed, her tone serious. The words hit his heart like a ton of bricks.

Shimla - Next Day

Shivani had reached Shimla the previous day and had returned to Mumbai. Mrityunjay had taken a detour from Baragaon to another town and they both headed to Shimla from there. He did not want anyone to suspect that he was alive or that Shivani had met him.

"I am sure Brihannala has a hand in whatever had happened," he had told her in Baragaon.

“What makes you say that?" she asked bewildered, not believing his words. "The day, I came back, I saw Brihannala in the shok sabha. She had come in a disguise too. I am sure someone from the Gaekwad house helped her get in. Luckily for me, she neither saw me nor anyone around recognised me. She wouldn't have come out until she was absolutely sure that both you and I were dead. That I am sure off," he had told her.

The Next Morning - Gaekwad Mansion

"Good morning lil sis, how have you been?" Nandita asked enthusiastically, as she came up to Shivani, still sleeping in her room. She always tried to cheer her up. It was she and her husband, who were caretakers for the estate when Shivani was away. And they did a great job of it.

"I am fine. How are you?" asked Shivani, smiling.

"Did you sleep well?" asked Nandita, looking at Shivani with concern.

Shivani looked on wordlessly and walked away. Nandita sighed deeply. Her sister suffered from insomnia – she had problems falling asleep at night. This had come about after the incident in Shimla, where she lost Mrityunjay, 3 years ago. The only reason, Shivani stayed put in the Gaekwad Mansion, was to make sure, Swaraj Party had a guardian and that the estate did not fall into the wrong hands. She considered it her duty, as Mrityunjay’s wife, to take care of the family estate.

As they sat down for breakfast, one of the domestic staff walked in. "There's some Inspector Dixit, waiting to talk to you," he said, looking at Shivani. Both the sisters exchanged glances. What did an inspector want with them?

"Did you..?" Shivani asked Nandita.

"No," replied Nandita, knowing what her sister's question was going to be. Shivani stood up and went to meet the visitor.

Anirudh stood in the lobby, looking at the palatial mansion. The Gaekwads were rich of course. This was the family that founded the once in power Swaraj Party. His curiosity deepened further. ‘What prevented them from saving their son from his terrible fate, when they had the means to do it?’ he thought to himself. A family who's son was once the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, could not save the other son from a prison term? How was that possible?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone come into the lobby. As he turned around, he stopped dead for a few seconds, his surroundings dissolved into nothing and all that remained in sight, was this vision, almost as if the goddess of beauty was walking up to him in a human form. She stood in front of him, her face exquisitely beautiful, her eyes wide, as though she held a million questions in them. Her brows were slightly knotted with concern, her small dainty form, an hour glass figure, complementing her beautiful face to perfection.

He had never felt like that before. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. It was love at first sight for Anirudh. What he did not realise though, was that, the woman he was falling in love with, was none other than Shivani Mrityunjay Gaekwad.