Fire...it can warm your hearth or it can burn your house down. You never know.

But for the Oberois, fire was burning their house down.

Fire...it is a natural symbol of life and passion but it is that one element in which nothing can live in. 

Fire...it's not just fire. It was death. It was a giant wave, a fire storm, rolling in on itself, undulating like some grotesque creature hell-bent on murder.

And it was hurtling towards the Oberois at staggering speed as the Oberois ran out of the mansion along with the servants expect Gauri and Om who went the opposite direction to get their daughter, Mira.

Fire...it comes to represent the truth because it destroys all sophistry and lies, and the mask is for lying and falsehood which conceals the truth. 

Fire...it's merciless. No matter how much you scream, cry, yell, beg, wail...it will not listen to you. It will only do the thing it does best. Destroy. 

And it was destroying the only home the Oberois knew. 

The newborn flames licked the oxygen with their wrath and fury. Refusing to be contained, they danced orange and yellow reaching hungrily for fuel. 

Shivay had called the firefighters to come put out the fire as the Oberois were outside...some in shock like Dadi and Pinky. 

Rudy: I have to go in....

Anika and Shivay pulled him away from the burning mansion.

Rudy: let me go!

Anika: they'll get Mira. Don't worry!

Rudy: I am worried for them too.

Anika was also worried for Om, Gauri and Mira. She didn't know what was taking long but she was scared. 

...

Gauri had ran faster than Om in order to get Mira. She reached the room that Mira was in and saw that it was locked from the inside.

Why was it locked?

Who locked it?

That servant couldn't have locked it....right?

She tried to put her bodyweight on the door in order to break it but the door was stubborn. Om reached and noticed her trying to break the door. He moved her to a side....her veil nearly slipping off but it didn't reveal her face. 

It only took Om one go to break the door. Once the door fell on the floor, the two saw a woman about to escape from the window with a baby in her arms....a crying baby and it was no other than Mira...

If the baby was Mira, then who was this woman? 

Gauri went up to the woman and dragged her from the window to see a face she hadn't seen before but Om had...

Om: Svetlana!

Svetlana smirked and turned to the window so she could jump with Mira when Gauri dragged her away from the window once more, taking her child from her. 

Gauri: what are you trying to do? And where was that servant?

Svetlana: oh she left. Now give me the baby back!

Gauri: nahi!

Svetlana: oh nanny! This isn't your kid! Give her to me!

Gauri: and she isn't your kid. 

Svetlana: I know! Now give her!

Om ran to the two women and took Mira off Gauri.

Om: Ketki, come quick. This woman can die here for all I care about.

Gauri followed Om when she was grabbed by Svetlana. 

Gauri: AAH!

The moment she was grabbed by Svetlana, the veil came off her face...the moment the veil came off, her true face was revealed. Om turned to see the wife he thought left forever. 

Om: Gauri...

Svetlana knew at that moment this was Om's wife, Gauri. The wife who was Mira's mother. She smirked as she circled her hands around Gauri's neck, tightly strangling her neck...

Om: Svetlana, leave her!

Svetlana: then give me Mira!

She had placed him in a terrible situation. Either he ran with Mira leaving Gauri to die in Svetlana's hands and the fire or he gave Mira to Svetlana for Gauri to be safe.

But he didn't want to make a choice but then again, Gauri lied being someone else and he hated lies but then again....

Svetlana: why are you thinking so much? It's simple. 

Gauri: lea...leave wit...h Mira...please...

Om was about to speak when Gauri said: LEAVE WITH MIRA! SHE IS A BABY, LEAVE!

Keeping Mira close to his chest, he hesitantly ran. But that didn't mean he left Gauri to die in that witch's hands. Once he was out of the mansion with Mira, Rudy and Anika wondered where Gauri was. What happened to her in the burning mansion? 

Jhanvi: where's Ketki?

She asked as Om gave her Mira to hold. 

Om: there is no Ketki.

Jhanvi: matlab?

Om: I'll tell you everything later. Is any firefighter coming?

Shivay: they're here now. 

Om: keep Mira with you. Don't let Mr Oberoi lay a finger on her. 

He gave a dangerous glare at Tej as he ran back into the mansion though many of his family members tried to stop him. The firemen came and started to tame the flames with water from their hoses...all in vain since the flames refused to be tamed. They refused to be controlled. 

...

Om was running in the mansion, up the stairs, to get Gauri. Whilst he ran, Gauri was in the room, being strangled by Svetlana. Gauri watched the deep flames of the enraged fire via her eyes that were struggling to keep open. She couldn't breathe, nor could she hear the simplicity of her heart racing in her chest. She watched everything burn around her and she couldn't even take any  action expect from trying to escape Svetlana's strong grip. 

Gauri saw around her that what was once beautiful wilted and cracked under the ferocity of the flames, turning to ash and dust. She choked and spluttered. She wanted to scream but she couldn't. She no longer had the energy to keep her eyes opened. She didn't have the energy to keep standing. 

She didn't even have the energy nor the will to live anymore. 

Her eyes shut as Svetlana gave up strangling her. She left her neck making Gauri fall to the ground. 

Svetlana: might as well let you die here. This fire happened for one person to die and that might as well be you.

With that said, she left via the window. At that moment, Om entered the room to see Gauri on the floor. She had lost conscious. He ran to her and lifted her fragile lifeless body in bridal style. He saw her face...charcoal marks on her face, her hazel eyes shut with no means to open and life completely sunken out from her face.

He never thought he'd see this face again but turns out this face, this woman was in the mansion the entire time as Ketki.

But he had no time to think about this, he had to get her out of the fire so he ran with her in his arms, gentle that he didn't hurt her. The moment he got out of the burning mansion, the Oberois saw Gauri in Om's arms. A lot of them were shocked expect for Rudy and Anika as they knew her truth. 

Pinky: Gauri....

...

It all happened fast. One minute Om came out with Gauri in his arms. The next minute an ambulance came whilst the firemen tried to put out the fire. The next, Gauri was placed on a stretcher and Om refused to leave her side as he went in the ambulance with her. The moment she was placed on a stretcher, an oxygen mask was kept on her as a nurse tried to check for a pulse. 

The next minute, they were in hospital. Gauri was being wheeled on the stretcher. The oxygen mask still on her. Oh the Oberois followed the ambulance in the cars whilst Tej was told to get lost. 

Om looked at her as she was being wheeled to the emergency room. He wanted to say something but his throat was too dry to even say a two-letter word. 

She was taken to the emergency room. Om was about to go in when the medical team stopped him. The doors of the emergency room closed and he found himself sitting on the metal chair....his mind full of a million questions, thoughts and confusion. 

The Oberois came to him...they saw that he was about to break...he didn't have to say a single thing, nor did he have to cry. They could tell that he was breaking inside. 

Shivay went next to Om and said: Om...

He broke down....he kept his head on his brother's shoulder and the tears fell from his eyes. Shivay kept his arm around Om, trying to comfort him. Rudy came and sat at the other free chair next to Om so he could also try comfort him. 

Mira, who was awake, saw her father with tears. She had been quiet since she had been out of the fire but seeing her father broken, she started crying. 

Jhanvi: Mira? Baby, don't cry. Mummy will be okay jaanu.

Mira tried reaching out for her father in Jhanvi's arms. Jhanvi realised what she wanted and went to her long-haired son, bending down and said: Om...your princess wants you. 

He lifted his head up from Shivay's shoulder to see his dil ki rani. Jhanvi kept her in his arms. Mira stopped crying and her tiny hands reached for her father's cheeks as she managed to wipe one tear that rolled from his eyes. 

He kissed her forehead and kept her close to him. In a time like this, his little girl was his comfort. 

...

Hours had passed, there was no update on Gauri. Mira had slept. The Oberois were staying in the hospital, waiting for a doctor or a nurse to update them on Gauri's condition. Om looked at Rudy and asked him: did you know about Ketki being Gauri?

Rudy: why do you ask?

Om: because you are close to Gauri that's why. If Gauri does something, then you'd be the first to know.

Rudy: haan...I knew that Gauri was Ketki. I knew since the beginning. Me and Gauri planned this because she didn't want to be separated from Mira. Mira is her child as much as she is your child. 

Om: so you let her lie to me and you lied?

Rudy: who cares about lying? She didn't lie for greed or anything. She lied for Mira. Her heart was in the right place and I helped her because she is my sister. I couldn't see a mother be separated from her daughter.

Om didn't' say anything because he knew that he was a jerk to Gauri....his heart knew that he was a jerk to Gauri but what about his head?

Was his head going to overpower his heart again?

Precap: does the heart or head win?

No people, this story is not finishing just yet. We need some jealously.

I hope you all liked this backwass chapter ❤️

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