Hello everyone, I hope everyone is having a great day.
Thank you all for your wonderful comments and encouragements.
Here is the next part. Hope you enjoy it.
Part 8
Ahem
sat back and rubbed the back of his neck. He had been on his laptop and his
phone all morning. He had some pending work he needed to finish related to the
project.
He
had also been communicating with his private investigators, regarding the
information they had so far on Urmila and Rashi. They have been unable to come
up with anything on the owner of the rival company. No one even knew who it
was.
They
had come up with a plan to bring Gopi back to Rajkot, but to protect her they
decided to tell everyone that Ahem found Gopi, accidently, in New Delhi shelter
for women. They didn't want Urshi to get suspicious and plan something else.
They were also going to tell everyone that Gopi had partial memory loss from
the trauma of kidnapping, and she was just now feeling better. They needed to
reveal that Gopi doesn't remember the people that took her, that will give them
time to gather more evidence against the people that are after the Modi's
including Rashi and Urmila.
Ahem
wished he could leave Gopi here to protect her, but he also didn't want to
leave her now that he has found her. They also needed her help in identifying
the people that kidnapped her, if they could catch the two men and the woman,
they might be able to turn the three against their bosses. It's a long shot,
but Ahem's private investigator thought it was a good idea.
Ahem
glanced at Gopi who was sitting on the couch knitting a blanket for one the
ladies that worked at the main house.
He
thought back to the night before and how she had stepped back when he tried to
go towards her. Did Gopi fear him? When she had stepped back from him, it had
felt like his heart was breaking into thousand pieces. It had taken him back to
the incident that happened when the thief broke into the house. He had offered
to put the ointment on her wound, but she had flat out refused, he had heard
the tears in her voice and felt the worst kind of pain.
He
finally understood how she must have felt each time he rebuffed her attempts to
make him happy. He wished he had known of her childhood before. If only he
had taken his time in getting to know
her personally none of this would have ever happened. There was so much he had
to make up for, and this lifetime wouldn't be enough to make up for each
cruelty he had dealt her in the year of their marriage.
Any
other person would have broke under that kind of treatment, but not Gopi, and
he still didn't understand, how she kept going after all the things that had
happened to her in the past.
His
phone beeped to let him know of incoming text, he checked the text message.
All set, you can bring Gopi bhabhi back to Rajkot
when you are ready. We will be waiting.
Ahem
sighed and got up from the table. It was time to talk to Gopi.
Gopi
looked up from her knitting when she felt Ahem come and stand in front of her.
She
knew he had been planning how to go back to Rajkot with her. He had told her
little bit about what his private investigators had suggested the day before.
She
also knew if he could catch the people without her help he would never take her
back until everyone was caught, but he needed her help, and she needed to do
this for herself also. She needed to face her, so called, family who had
attempted to use her to take revenge on Modi family. She wished she had enough
courage to face their cruelty earlier in her life and stand up to them for her
rights.
But
now she was better prepared to stand up to them. Now she won't be brainwashed
in to believing that they are the only ones who would ever care for her or love
her. She knew different now.
As
for her marriage, she didn't know what to do about it. She loved Ahemji more
than her life, but what good is that love when it makes the person you love
unhappy. May be by the time everything is taken care of, she will have a better
understanding of what to do.
Ahem
sat down beside Gopi. "We need to talk."
Gopi
put the knitting aside, thinking he wanted to talk about their trip back to
Rajkot, but he surprised her when he said, "Gopi, are you scared of me?"
Gopi
gave him a startled look, "Why do you say that?"
Ahem
watched her closely. "Last night, when I came towards you, you stepped back, as
if I was going to hurt you somehow."
Gopi
flushed, he had misunderstood her gesture, she hadn't stepped back because she
feared him. She had stepped back because she was afraid of how he made her
feel.
Ahem
watched as she flushed and was confused by it. "Ahemji, I am not scared of you,
it just that….." She stopped she didn't know how to explain to him how he had
made her feel earlier when he had been flirting with her. How do you explain to
a person that you were attracted to them? That every time they were near you,
you wanted them to take you in their arms and protect you and love you, like
there is nothing else they would rather do than be with you.
Ahem
waited, but she didn't continue, she just lowered her eyes and twisted her
hands in her lap nervously. Then it hit him, what she had been trying to say.
She wasn't scared that he would hurt her physically, but she was scared of the
way the attraction between them made her feel.
Ahem
moved close to her and took her small hands in his big ones. "Gopi, look at
me."
Gopi
looked up to see him watching her intently, she couldn't hold his gaze for
long, and looked down again. Ahem cupped her face with his big and slowly
raised her face to make her look at him.
"Gopi,
don't be afraid of your feelings, I am just as attracted to you as you are to me,
and nothing will happen until you are ready for something to happen between
us."
Gopi
couldn't look away from him. He sounded so sincere. But she couldn't trust
that. Why now? What made him change his mind about her? She didn't realize she
had voiced the last question out loud.
Ahem
smiled when she flushed. "Gopi, I didn't change my mind about you. I have
always been attracted to you, but I always hid it, not only from you but from
myself too."
Gopi
put her hand on top of his, which was still on her cheek. "Ahemji, how can you
say this? You might be just feeling guilty because of what happened to me three
months ago. Don't sacrifice your needs and dreams for your misguided feelings
of guilt, what happened to me is not your fault."
Ahem
closed his eyes and counted to five, he didn't want to shout at her. He
couldn't believe she thought he was doing all this just because he felt guilty.
Do you blame her Ahem? Have you ever given her
any indication that you liked her, let alone felt any attraction towards her.
Of course she is going to question your motives now. She is wiser now, she has
learned few things in the last three months.
Ahem
cupped her face with both of his hands and brought her even closer to him.
"Gopi, tell me something, is it guilt that makes me want to carry you off to
that room and ravish you?" Guilt would not make my heart race every time you
are close to me, or every time you give me one of your rare sweet smiles."
Gopi
removed his hands from her face and stood up. "Ahemji, that's physical attraction,
and there is a world of difference between wanting someone physically and
loving someone. And now I have decided that I deserve better than to settle for
anything less than love."
Ahem
stood up and went towards her. He clenched his teeth to prevent from shaking
some sense into her, but he knew it was his fault for not explaining himself.
"Who
says I only want you physically? Didn't I tell you the night I arrived that I
wanted us to work on our marriage?" Ahem was glaring at her by now.
Gopi
snapped back at him. "That's just it, I don't understand your sudden change and
I don't trust it."
That
calmed Ahem down instantly. He took Gopi back to the couch and sat down. "Gopi,
I am sorry, I know you don't trust me right now because of the way I treated
you in the past, but I want you to know I do care for you, I always have. When
we got married I had every intentions to get to know you, to give my hundred
percent to make the marriage work, but due to some circumstances and
misunderstanding created between us things didn't work the way it should have."
"Ahemji,
what misunderstandings you are talking about?
Ahem
didn't think about the fact that she didn't know that he knew all about what
Rashi and her mom did to separate them. Jigar hadn't found out about that until
Gopi disappeared.
"Gopi,
I am talking about the things Rashi did to set you up, things that she did and
blamed you for it, so that I would hate you and throw you out the house, so she
could rule the household."
Gopi
couldn't believe it. "What?"
Ahem
once again cupped Gopi's face. "Yes, it was Rashi who did all those things.
Jigar overheard her talking to your mami about it after you disappeared, and he
told the whole family. She doesn't know that we know everything."
Gopi
closed her eyes as silent tears fell down her cheeks. Ahem put his arm around her
to comfort her.
"Why
do they hate me so much? What have I ever done to them?"
Ahem
pulled her closer, it hurt to see her like this. "They don't hate you, they
hate the fact that you are the elder daughter in law of the Modi's, they hate
the fact that you were chosen over Rashi, they hate the fact that you have made
a place for yourself in mom's heart and in Modi Bhavan. They don't want to see
you happy."
When
she looked up, he wiped her tears and kissed her forehead. "We need to talk
about what to do when you return home, you need to act like you don't know
anything about their involvement in your disappearance, and also that you are
unaware of the fact that they set you up to take the blame for all the things
that happened after our marriage. The whole family is doing the same thing. Can
you do that?"
Gopi
nodded her head. "Yes I can do that, this time I will be ready for them."
Ahem
realized Gopi was lot stronger now, and she has learned to read and write, so
she has that advantage now.
"And
what about us? Will you give me a chance to make up for my mistreatment of you?
Will you give our marriage a second chance." Ahem knew it was not going to be
easy to convince her.
Gopi
didn't know what to say. On one hand she wanted to jump at this chance, but she
also didn't want to be hurt again. "I don't know Ahemji, I do know that I care
for you, but I am afraid of getting hurt again, so lets just take it one day at
a time and see."
"Thank
you Gopi, that's all I can ask for after the way you have been treated by me in
the past. Now lets talk about what we need to do when we return home tomorrow."
For
rest of the afternoon they talked about what is going to happen once they
returned to Rajkot.
*~+~*
So friends
I end this part here.
If
Ahem were to prove that he has fallen for Gopi, how would he do it? What does
he have to do to convince her. I personally would like for him to sing this
song for her.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ga7A82AF6E[/YOUTUBE]
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