Chapter 02


The Kohli's made their way to their respective rooms, annoyed with their tests. Though they cared very much for their health and wellbeing, the way the covid tests were conducted was just irritating. Pallavi's nose was slightly red, and she seemed to have a caught a cold, which arouse worry in the family. The health professionals had advised to maintain distance from one another, and almost everyone abided by it.

Riya had thought of it as the perfect opportunity to come closer to the person she was oh so madly in love with, at least that's what she thought.

Ranbir and Siddarth had gotten their covid results, before most and so they visited office keeping distance from everyone, though it was much harder for Ranbir than Sid. Riya had already planned a way to get closer to her ex-fiancé. As she saw him coming into the house, she made sure that Sid wasn't anywhere near him and pretended to fall when Ranbir came.

"Ah!" Riya shrieked, hoping to gain Ranbir's attention but fate had other plans as Ranbir continued rushing up stairs, too concerned about his mother's wellbeing to care about Riya - the person he despised most. As a result Riya ended up falling for real, and rubbed her aching back.

Prachi had witnessed the whole scene from afar, not noticing Riya doing it on purpose, and got concerned. Though she did hate her sister now, after all she had done with them, she still couldn't help but be worried for safety. Riya feigned a smile, and nodded reassuringly. She didn't need any help from Prachi, she only wanted Ranbir's care which was seemingly hard to get at the moment. But deep down, her heart knew that Ranbir would never even look at her, as long as her twin was here.

"Are you sure, Riya?" Prachi furrowed her eyebrows, tensed.

"Yes Prachi, I'm sure." Riya smiled and Prachi sighed.

"Make sure to tell me if it pains, we can take you to the doctors," Prachi said and left after Ranbir causing Riya to frown.

Riya hated her sister, that she knew without a doubt but - but she couldn't help but sigh as she had longed for her sister's love since childhood, now that she had got it, she was regretting ever waiting for her twin. She had gotten her sister's love but at the expense of what? Her dad, her 'love', and even her aunt. And when she saw Prachi and Ranbir together and happy, even with the Kohli's, she was furious. She had resolved to snatch Ranbir away from Prachi no matter what the cost.

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"Mom, are you feeling okay?" Prachi asked after placing an icepack on Pallavi's forehead, to help with her fever.

"Do I look I'm okay? What kind of question is that? I'm in bed, having a headache and you're asking me whether I'm okay! Please stop with your fake concern Prachi, you drove Ranbir away from us 2 years ago and I will never forget that. And remember, I did give you a fair chance, but what do you do? You ruin everything. You'll never be fit to be the daughter-in-law of this household." Pallavi spat, while Prachi stifled her tears.

Ranbir, who was also present frowned on hearing the venom in Pallavi's voice but decided to keep quiet for now, as she wasn't well at the moment. Though he made sure to defend Prachi in a subtle way. "Mom, Prachi just asked how you are. She didn't saying anything else. She just wanted to know whether you needed anything."

Pallavi however, didn't answer as her headache was too strong. Though it was something that the other two present should've been thankful about, considering she would only open her mouth to insult Prachi further.

"Riya, go call Riya!" Pallavi commanded, closing her eyes and keeping a hand on the side of her head, feeling immense pain. Prachi instantly rushed downstairs, knowing well that Pallavi would never accept anything from her, while Ranbir stayed behind making sure his mother was okay.

Riya, who was still were Prachi left her furrowed her eyebrows on seeing Prachi rush downstairs, seemingly worried. "Riya, come to Mom's room, now!" Prachi said in a tone that brook no arguments, and reluctantly, Riya did as told.

Riya hid her smirk when she saw the scene in front of her, Pallavi considered her as her daughter-in-law till this date. All she had to do was somehow get rid of Sid and Prachi now. That way, getting Ranbir would be so much easier. However, before Riya could start faking her concern for Pallavi, a panicked voice came from outside.

"Everybody, stay away from Pallavi! She is covid positive, and we will need to now isolate for 14 days." Vikram rushed into Pallavi's room, alerting the others present. Riya was horrified and instantly rushed out of the room, forgetting about her good girl act. Covid was something she did not want to be associated with, ever. She had heard a lot of bad things about the virus and she was not going to catch it.

Pallavi looked on, bemused on why Riya had left so quickly.

"Mom look at Riya, the moment she hears about your health she rushes away. This is the girl you had wanted me to marry?" Ranbir couldn't help but comment on Riya's departure, earning the glares of everyone else present - though the glares were directed at him for three different reasons.

"Ranbir, Riya isn't like that! I'm sure she might have been reminded of something urgent, causing her to leave abruptly like this. I know she'll take proper care of me once she's done with her work," Pallavi defended her favourite daughter-in-law while Ranbir just looked at his mother in disbelief.

Since when had his mother gotten so dense? He sighed but decided on letting the matter go. Stress would only cause Pallavi's health to deteriorate more.

"Ranbir, Prachi, the two of you go downstairs and stay away from Pallavi. I've heard covid is really contagious, and I don't want either of you to catch it." Vikram ordered and Pallavi scoffed in her head. She was sure her son would stay and she was also sure that her daughter-in-law would leave her, afraid for her own wellbeing rather caring about anyone else.

"But Dad - you aren't well either! We're young, if we catch covid we won't be at much risk as you and Dida. Shouldn't we be the ones to take care of Mom?" Prachi asked, tensed.

"Maybe, but no one will come in this room until Pallavi tests negative for covid." Vikram stated and dragged Prachi and Ranbir out of the room.

Riya, who was observing this from afar became tensed. The biggest worry in her mind was whether or not Pallavi started disliking her. She hadn't heard a word they said but she had seen the expressions of each person present. And Pallavi looked upset when she started talking after Riya had left. So, was her act wasted? Riya furrowed her eyebrows and her eyes became watery. She wouldn't let her game fail. Last time, Prachi and Ranbir had thought of her a spoilt brat, but now - now, no one knew her reality and she could fool them all easily. But first, she needed to get Ranbir's mother back on her side. She smirked as she knew it would be a very simple task. All she had to was shed a few tears of how sorry she was feeling and tell her that she panicked in the heat of the moment. She quickly put on a solemn expression and headed towards the room she had left a few minutes ago.

She knocked on the door twice and entered.

Pallavi looked up and smiled feebly on seeing Riya. "Riya, please don't come in. I don't want you to catch this disease." Pallavi said in an innocent voice, which reminded Riya so much of the Pallavi who existed before Riya's suicide attempt.

"Aunty, I'm so sorry for leaving like that earlier! I - I had a friend who died of covid, I've been so scared of the disease since then. I really didn't mean to leave like that. I bought your medicines too," Riya shed a few crocodile tears and moved closer to Pallavi, still making sure to keep a reasonable amount of distance. She was about to put some medicine on the bedside draw, where Pallavi could reach it, but was stopped by a voice.

"Riya, I've already had Panadol. Prachi had given it to me before leaving," Pallavi revealed while Riya feigned a smile. "You should leave now, I don't want you to get infected."

Riya faked her concern for Pallavi and left. As soon as she made her way to her room, she started throwing things all over the place. Siddarth, who had rushed home after hearing about Pallavi's report, frowned when he saw the state of the room.

"Riya, what are you doing?" Siddarth asked.

Riya simply ignored him and was about to go to the bed when Siddarth clasped her hand. She harshly made him let go of and slept, covering herself with a separate blanket to his. Siddarth looked on with tears brimming his eyes. '

Riya, what wrong did I do? Why are you avoiding me?' Siddarth sighed and moved to his bed to get some rest. His widened in shock when he noticed something.

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(1500+ words)

What did Siddarth see?

Will Pallavi ever realise the truth?

And don't worry, this update had no Pranbir moments but there will be plenty in the future. :)

I was planning to add the surprise in this update but then I decided to keep approximately 1500 words in each update.

Also, I was infuriated after watching today's episode. Though I left the show long back, my mother watched it and so I ended up watching it with her. Even though as an experienced KKB viewer, I know that we shouldn't expect anything good from the show - I actually felt disappointed for once. Plus Riya's dream went on for so long! That was actually starting to make me think that it was real considering it the dream was in not one, but two episodes. I feel disappointed with myself for actually thinking it was real though.

Anyways, that's enough of my mini-rant.

Do comment!

Until Next Time (Friday)!

~ Riya Sharma

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