A/N: The image attached to the top of this chapter is the first book cover I've ever received from any dedicated reader... The entire credit goes to Sasanka54 (my honest reader and brother) for creating such a beautiful masterpiece. Thank you bro from the bottom of my heart for giving a chance to Sanchi-Vihaan's story (or whom he lovingly calls VIVA)!

Chapter 55

Stepping outside into the frosty atmosphere during the month of December, Sanchi found the chilly wind hugging her with all it's might. She was standing right in the middle of the railway station of Gwalior, glancing over at the wintry evening of the town. The foggy dense clouds surrounding the sky like a cold blanket seemed to be her kith and kin, where her own life was rendered with darkness again.

From staunch enemies to hostile behavior against each other, Sanchi was formidably at daggers drawn with Vihaan. In the span of six months of togetherness, they had primarily learnt the art of living like close companions setting aside their pride and ego. Falling in love with each other was only secondary.

Leaving Indore, Ujjain and her  beautiful old life with Vihaan behind, Sanchi was once again back to her town where she had spent all her childhood. From being humiliated and disgraced by different people to being bashed and mortified by her own evil mother, Sanchi had faced everything here. Taking the decision of returning to Gwalior wasn't easy but she had no other choice. The last time she had met her own grandmother, she had come to know the reality of her parents' motives behind disowning her from the Patel family.

Sitting down on a chair in the platform, Sanchi wiped the icy layer of her dry face. The more affected her heart was, the worse her eyes exhibited her pain, a pain which she could never overcome. When she had been stepping out of the Bundela mansion, she remembered Vihaan's prominent silence and not conversing with her again. She was at fault this time for deliberately pushing away the most precious possession of her life.

Before making her exit from the Bundela house and family forever, she had committed an another sin absent-mindedly. While arranging her luggage, the miniature glass model of Taj Mahal that Vihaan had ever gifted her accidentally fell to the floor of his room, getting smashed and completely destroyed. The only remembrance of Vihaan wasn't anymore with her.

Unwillingly walking her way towards the crowded locality where the Patel house stood, Sanchi saw the lights to the building yet switched on. Briskly pressing the bell, she patiently waited for a response from the insiders.

"Vanya?" Nidhi exclaimed as soon as she threw open the door. "I don't think I'm daydreaming to see you in front of me at this time of the evening!"

"I'm he-re for the real, Ni-dhi," Sanchi announced before pulling her luggage through the doorway.

"Wait yeah! Did you speak to mom before returning home? Did she allow you?" Nidhi waited for Sanchi's reply before continuing, "If you want to enter the house without her permission, do it to your own discretion. I won't be stopping you at all. But if you haven't, be ready to face her wrath because she's in a very bad mood."

"What happ-ened to her?" Sanchi asked, scanning her eyes around the interior of the medium-sized house.

"Don't you know how mom is, her mood keeps shifting in a fashion she likes." Nidhi laughed before frowning again. "But what about you? Where have you been in all these years? Hiding somewhere with your coward and fearful face!"

Before Sanchi could answer, Jwala moved out of her own room screaming loudly, "Who's knocking at the door, Nidhi?"

Sanchi's fingers tightened their grip on her trolley as her eyes met her mother's, sending a shiver down her spine. Pursing her lips into a thin line, she fumbled. "Maa...maa... I am ba-ck..."

"I didn't ask you to ever return because you don't belong here." Jwala stepped closer to her to grab Sanchi's arm vindictively before being shoved away by Sanchi herself. The audacity of the latter took Jwala by surprise and she yelled, "Vanya! How dare you?"

"Lo-ok maa... I'm not here to fi-ght with you or aff-ect you by my pre-sence." Sanchi uttered politely, letting go Jwala's hand. "I'm only he-re to take care of my ail-ing grand-mother and stay wi-th her in her room. I won't be also occu-pying any other ex-tra room of you-rs."

"If you remember, I had warned you to leave the house forever. Returning after a few years doesn't mean the same as staying away 'forever'!" Jwala pushed her, causing Sanchi to fall backwards before being held by Nidhi.

"Mom, will you stop assaulting people as and when you like?" Nidhi helped Sanchi straighten up next to them. "If you don't like her, express it. You've been given a mouth to speak but you should stop hurting people physically."

Before Jwala could respond to Nidhi's stern replies, Sanchi opened her mouth to speak, "I am not go-ing to give you a rea-son for get-ting annoy-ed due to my pre-sence. Beli-eve me."

Nidhi folded her arms together, shifting between them. "Mom, if Vanya has returned home, let her be. If you are finding her annoying, she can live here as our maid and work in the kitchen. Don't you also miss the tasty dishes she used to cook for the family?"

"I will see you later." Jwala gave Sanchi an evil look before stomping her feet and departing from the hallway.

Nidhi, who stood there dressed up in a blue crop top and grey ripped jeans, her dark brown hair tied into a neat ponytail. Huffing closely to Sanchi's face, she whispered, "Now tell me why did you return home after so many years? Where were you in all these months that passed?"

Sanchi bit on her lower lip before tugging a lock of hair behind her ear. "It me-ans you delibe-rately saved me fr-om her anger!"

"That's not important. Just tell me the real reasons."

"Where is grand-ma? She has call-ed me here and I'm go-ing to stay with her fr-om now on." Sanchi wrapped her fingers around the steel handle of her trolley again.

"Woah! Were you in contact with grandmom for so long?" Nidhi's jaws fell wide open.

"That's not impor-tant too, Ni-dhi," Sanchi said in a polite voice. "I'm go-ing to grand-ma's room. I'll start work-ing in the kitchen from tomo-rrow."

As Sanchi ascended her way up the stairs, Nidhi chirped behind her. "I saved you from mom today so you owe me a thing later. Mind it!"

Sanchi smiled at her elder sister's playful nature before disappearing into her grandmother's room. Even though she wasn't living in the house for over three years, things were still the same, including the members of her own family.

*****

"You could have waited for me before allowing her to leave the house, couldn't you?" Durga remarked the shrieking words for her husband as they waited impatiently outside the hospital room in Indore.

"I figured that Sanchi was firm in her decision of leaving the house. She preferred to not wait for Vidya or else it could have made things difficult for her emotionally," Virendra spoke in a low voice before catching a quick glance of a gloomy Dheeraj, who was sitting on a chair at the far end of the corridor. Vidya sat next to him with her head leaning against his shoulder lightly.

"Why did you support Sanchi's insensible decision without caring for your own son's well-being? Didn't you feel that even he was important to you?" Durga's voice thundered along the corridor of the nursing home where Vihaan was admitted a couple of hours ago. Her tone hammered against the soundproof walls as her eyes bore deeper into her husband's grieving ones.

Virendra wiped the little sweat occurring over his forehead even in the cold weather and then explaining it. "I did what I was supposed to do for Sanchi. She had taken a promise from me to allow her to leave Indore and the bureau. She has her own life and we can't really interfere. Though I was expecting Vihaan to either stop her or say something that could compel her to rethink her decision, he chose to remain silent. I was proud of him because he had saved a girl's life by marrying her and giving her a new name and life, but he broke my pride by breaking the promise he had ever made to me."

"The promise!" Durga shut her flooding eyes simultaneously.

"Promise of keeping Sanchi happy always and taking good care of her. He promised me to never hurt her but he did. Do you think any married girl would ever willingly like to part from her signs of marriage? Sanchi was so hurt due to untold pains that she couldn't share with us. The divorce drama took a pitiful toll on her and I was standing there like a helpless father. Her eyes were full of expectancies thinking that Vihaan would at least stop her once but he didn't. Instead, he chose silence and remained stuck to his age old stubbornness."

Durga hugged the woollen shawl around her body, exhaling audibly. "Vihaan wasn't keeping silence, Vir... He had already been traumatized by her proclamation and lost his speech... Didn't you notice he was standing there like a statue before Vidya and I returned from the temple? It was only when Vidya checked his pulse rate and declared that he was dipping rapidly...We had to immediately shift him here..."

"I realised it later when Vihaan fell unconscious. Do you think Vihaan is suffering from something else?" Virendra asked her, seriousness in his voice.

Durga dabbed her wet eyes with the hem of her shawl. "He is... He is suffering from unrequited love, the pain of not being able to share the depth of his love with her... He is suffering from the pangs of being ignored and pushed away by her... Not just once but many times, maybe for so many days and..."

Before Durga could utter more in her heavy voice, Dheeraj walked towards her in large strides. Holding his mother's shoulders in close proximity, he murmured, "What did you just say? Sanchi was ignoring him? And above all, is he in love with her?"

As Durga shook her head in affirmation, Virendra leaned against the wall. "Things aren't going the right way. What are you saying, Dia?"

"It all happened when he had to take a decision to marry her and save her life. He gave you a promise on the very reception day and started spending days with her without complaints. Amidst fulfilling the promise and his responsibilities for her, he actually fell in love with her. When he fell for her, he took my advice. He tried a number of times to share his feelings but he failed, or rather she pushed him away. She resigned from the bureau without informing him and told him that she was wanting to join it officially. He followed her to the Trivedi house but without any success." Durga continued weeping.

"It means I was so wrong this time." Dheeraj felt immediate guilt grasping him. "I thought Vihaan had as usual hurt her and maybe more seriously this time. Why didn't he tell me the truth when I'm the one with whom he used to share everything?"

"You were so tensed for Vidya and the baby. He could not worry you more." Durga looked up at her son. "Secondly, you possessed immense trust on Sanchi because she had saved your life once and even Vihaan's so many times. He couldn't afford to shame Sanchi in your eyes by telling the truth. He didn't want your trust on her to break for hurting and ignoring your brother."

"I was so... I feel like hating myself for not understanding the pain he was going through. Now that I know it, I will see to it that he isn't hurt by her again." Dheeraj fisted his palms on the sides.

"No Dheeraj, you can't hate Sanchi simply because she left or didn't allow Vihaan to share his feelings. It can be possible she doesn't even know that he wanted to tell her about his love and..." Virendra interrupted, taking hold of the situation.

"No dad, not this time. The girl needs to see what she has done to my brother. The boy who never fell in love with any other girl is now under serious condition because of a girl. The woman species he had hated once has caused him pain again," Dheeraj said angrily.

Durga stepped closer to Dheeraj. "I had not believed Vihaan when he was arrested for killing his own brother but I won't repeat it this time. I know Vihaan isn't at fault today. He helped her in every way he could, keeping aside his self-ego and arrogance. She got his name to save her orphanage, she found him beside her to help her in every way and when six months were getting over, she chose to leave simply. How could she be so selfish? Why couldn't she give into this marriage or speak to him once? Sanchi is at fault this time, and that too very big."

"Vanya is not alone to be blamed, mom," Vidya spoke for the first time, walking her way towards them. "How can you simply forget the sacrifices she made into this marriage with Vihaan? I know she chose to accept his surname for her own needs but she even gave things in return. She threw her dignity before the world by letting many people know that she was his wife. She agreed to stay at the Bundela house to save YOUR life and not to save herself, mom."

"My life?" Durga's stunning face looked pale.

"If you don't believe me, you can also ask your son Dheeraj about it. He knew everything from day one, even about the divorce," Vidya muttered aloud while Dheeraj pinned his lips together. "I know Vihaan has fallen ill because of some stuff going on in his life for the past few years. He couldn't bear Vanya's departure from his life but we can't surely say Vanya isn't suffering at all. Maybe she is also facing things silently but couldn't share with us, with me?"

"I wanted to tell exactly the same thing, Vidya. The girl who made so many sacrifices can't simply choose to hurt Vihaan intentionally." Virendra gasped, expelling air rapidly.

"I had turned against Vanya during Dheeraj's case but I wouldn't do the same again. She is my soulmate and she can't be humiliated by anyone in her absence." Vidya warned, gulping a little saliva. "Instead of blaming Vanya, we must think of curing Vihaan out of the illness."

"I'm sorry Vidya." Dheeraj hugged her. "I take back my harsh words for Sanchi. It was all out of my love for my brother. I should have thought before blaming her.

Vihaan wouldn't like it if he comes to know that we insulted Sanchi in his absence. Though I wasn't aware of his love for her, I very well know how much he respects her. He hated the women species but when he fell in love with one, his love for her grew intense and deep."

Durga wrapped her arms around both Dheeraj and Vidya, whispering softly, "I was unaware of many things too. Being a mother, I couldn't bear Vihaan's sufferings and longing for love. You people are right, Sanchi is not to be blamed. We are just toys in the hands of misfortunes and the unfavorable circumstances created by destiny. We all have fallen prey to the game of fate and nothing else."

*****

Sanchi became used to staying in her grandmother's room after her return. As she woke up early everyday, she used to bury her skills of excellent cooking in their kitchen. There were times when she used to happily cook plain dishes for Vihaan and his family, she used to wake up daily to seeing the face of a sleepy Vihaan on the sofa and she used to spend the hours arguing with him over silly issues.

His absence felt like an empty vice on her heart, it was killing her everyday a little more. Five days away from him and it was like five long years, with nightmares haunting her. The more she thought of him, she only consoled herself by saying that she had only done things for his and his gracious family's welfare.

Jwala spilled the warm liquid on to the floor next to Sanchi as soon as the former entered the kitchen. "You know what this tea tastes awful, just like you. I'm only tolerating you in my house because of Nidhi and her stubbornness for keeping you here."

Sanchi didn't respond. Instead, she took the floor mop to clean up the mess when Jwala twisted her arm. "Will you tell me your motive behind returning here? I still have the power to expel you out of this place. You don't belong here, I repeat you don't belong here."

Sanchi snapped her arm out of Jwala's stiff grip before muttering aloud, "You can't black-mail me any-more, maa... You ju-st can't..."

"From where have you gathered this much courage to talk against me?" Jwala's voice thundered around the kitchen.

"Wh-en you have faced so mu-ch in life liv-ing to only your-self, you gain cou-rage on your own."

"So do I take it by confirmation that your in-laws and your husband have kicked you out of their house? You are not even carrying the marriage signs with you anymore." Jwala let out an evil laugh. "I was right in prophesizing your future. Your husband wouldn't be able to keep you and so you are back here."

Sanchi tried hard to prevent crying in front of her mother and reverse counted on her emotions. Widening her eyes and shifting closer to Jwala, she held the long handle of the mop head against her mother's face. "You rea-lly want to know why I'm he-re? I am here to spoil your inten-tions of seizing the entire pro-perty in your name... I'm here to pro-tect my grand-mother from your daily tor-tures for restruc-turing her will... Now that I know every-thing, I'm not lea-ving this house any-time soon."

*****

The number of days Vihaan was admitted into the hospital, his family hadn't left his side even for once. He had regained his senses on the very same day but he wasn't easily speaking to people around him. His unstable condition was a reason to worry for the eligible doctors at the hospital of Indore and they were eagerly waiting for some improvements in his health.

Vihaan was being treated under Dr. Gautam Jain, who was a renowned psychiatrist too. Moving out of the room Vihaan was admitted into, he stood facing the Bundela family. "Things don't look as severe as they are except for a few accidental encounters. He got overexcited when he heard the name of our nurse Sanchi Anand and threw the medicine palette away. This excitement is not good for his health where he is getting easily triggered. Do you know why?"

"He is in such a condition because of someone named Sanchi in his life," Dheeraj quietly uttered, respiring heavily.

"Why didn't you bring him to us earlier? It took him years to reach to this condition, didn't you know?" The doctor said while a genuine mark of confusion prevailed over the entire family's face.

"But Sanchi came into his life only six months ago!" Dheeraj exclaimed, trying to keep his voice low.

"Are you sure?" The doctor folded his arms over his chest. "Mr. Bundela has been suffering from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and I cross-checked all the tests for the past couple of days. The disease didn't develop in a day, he must have been dealing with it for many months or might even be for a few years. We can't exactly explain that without knowing the truth. It's only the sufferer or the patient who can detail us further."

To be continued...