Siddarth frowned, furrowing his eyebrows. He picked something up and looked at the back of Riya's head, feeling tensed. He had heard bad things and good from both Prachi and Ranbir about Riya, though they were mainly bad could Riya have - no, he wouldn't think that until he was sure. He quickly hid the thing behind his back when Riya looked at him, tiredly.

"Siddarth, I'm sorry for messing the room up. I'm just feeling worried! Pallavi Aunty has covid, and if god forbids she doe-" Riya began to start her melodrama when Siddarth interrupted her.

"Chachi will be fine. If we all take care of her and don't make her tensed."

"Of course she'll be fine! I was just stating it general," Riya stammered.

Siddarth just nodded and made his way to the bed, deciding to keep a pillow between them himself this time. When he was certain that Riya was asleep he hid stealthily got up and hid the thing he had found in his closet, in a place where Riya was unlikely to look for it. He moved back to the bed, taking slow and steady steps, not wanting to make Riya even move. If she came to know that he was onto her, she would definitely do something to distract him.

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"Prachi when will Mom get better?" Ranbir whispered gazing out the window.

No one answered. This caused Ranbir to frown and he turned around. He scanned the room and frowned when Prachi wasn't anywhere in sight. His mind began thinking all sorts of things and he started to worry. Prachi was with him only a few moments ago. Where had she disappeared to? He instantly left his room and rushed out into the living room.

Ranbir feared for the worst when he couldn't find Prachi anywhere. He mentally chided himself for thinking such things and moved to the place where Prachi was most likely to be. The worried expression on his face was replaced by a soft smile when he saw the sight in front of him.

"Prachi, you know, there's one thing I'll never understand." Ranbir said, causing Prachi to become startled and accidentally cut her finger, only slightly though.

Within seconds, Ranbir was next to Prachi, carefully examining her hand for any serious injuries. "Prachi, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have startled you like that. Let me apply some medicine on your hand."

"Ranbir, there's no need for medicine. It just a small cut, and it doesn't even hurt much!" Prachi reassured Ranbir but he frowned.

"Fine, but at least me throw out the knife." Ranbir mumbled and Prachi widened her eyes.

"Ranbir, you'll throw out a knife because of this? What has gotten into you?!"

"I - Mom has covid, Dad has heart problems, what something happens to you next? I don't know whether or not my parents will recover and I don't want you in danger too. Prachi, just - just promise you won't leave me, ever." Ranbir confessed, his eyes getting slightly watery.

"Ranbir, you already know that I won't leave you. Also, what's made you so upset all of a sudden? I mean, I know Mom's health isn't exactly in it's best condition right now, but we'll make sure she recovers. So, I would understand you being worried but I don't understand why you're upset." Prachi raised an eyebrow, tears brimming her own eyes at the thought of separating from Ranbir.

"Who said I was upset?" Ranbir smiled playfully, causing Prachi to give him a questioning look.

"But your eyes are watery," pointed out Prachi.

"So are yours." Ranbir instantly replied.

"I'm cutting onions!"

"And I'm standing near you."

"So?" Prachi furrowed her eyebrows, not understanding what Ranbir was trying to say.

Ranbir hit his forehead, "Even though you were the college's top student, you still can't understand what I'm trying to say! Look - onion's cause your eyes to become watery regardless of whether or not you are the person cutting them!"

Prachi just smiled making Ranbir utterly bewildered. He had expected some sort of retort from Prachi and that's when it hit him. "You just started this conversation to distract me, didn't you?" Ranbir said, smiling.

"What would you never understand?" Prachi ignored Ranbir's question. Though she wasn't really ignoring it, considering it was rhetorical.

"Prachi - how can you care for Mom after all the times she's insulted you?" Ranbir asked the question that had bugged him ever since they returned to the house he grew up in.

"Ranbir, a mother will scold you, hit you, insult you, even mask her emotions, but in the end of the day, somewhere deep down, she will still care for you. She might even convince herself otherwise, but she will never truly be able to hate her own child. Mom is also a mother, and every time she's insulted me, she's been right in her place. I might've hated her, had I not known the whole story but you've told me everything and I just feel she was afraid. She was afraid of many things, and all her fears actually came true. She afraid of you leaving them, she was afraid of the friendship between Papa and Dad ending, she was afraid of Riya attempting suicide a second time. She was also mislead by Riya. And though I may've been upset for her trusting Maya's confession over me, I wouldn't have hated her even if that was the only thing I knew. You know, the betrayal of the people closest to us hurts the most and my supposed 'betrayal' hurt Mom a lot. She changed completely after it, it just makes me think that she did consider me worthy of being her daughter-in-law once." Prachi revealed and Ranbir smiled tenderly, tears still visible in his eyes.

"Prachi, you know, if I was in your place I wouldn't have ever forgiven my mother for all the insults she's thrown at you. And you're right, betrayal from people we care about and consider our own does hurt more than those who aren't close to us but if the betrayal never happens then it's our own fault for not believing the person, supposedly close to us. Besides, who was Maya? A manipulative and cunning gold digger, right? Mom believed her over you! She couldn't believe the person who saved her son and yet she could believe the person who made our life hell!" A person who was coming by to grab an apple, frowned on hearing what Ranbir was saying. The person hid outside the kitchen, deciding to listen in on the rest of the conversation.

"Ranbir. Maya wasn't the only one who instigated Mom against me, Riya, the person who she's seen grow up, also provoked her by falsely accusing me. And Mom believed her as she attempted suicide and blamed me for it. Mom didn't know of Riya's crimes and so she found it easier to believe Riya than me."

"I wouldn't have believed Riya's accusations, even if I didn't know of her crimes."

"Ranbir, you and Mom felt different ways about me. Mom thought I was well mannered and sweet for a while, but she wouldn't trust me over someone she's seen grown up. You thought that I was annoying and irritating but still knew what I was and wasn't capable of doing. You probably would've thought that Riya was misunderstanding me - or just letting her grudges get in the way. Anyways, I need to go give this tea to Mom, it should help her feel a little better." Prachi poured some tea into a cup and Ranbir scratched his head, trying to figure out why Prachi was cutting onions while making tea.

"If you were making tea, why were you cutting onions?"

"I thought to make dinner for Pallavi Aunty. Soni needs to isolate and now that we know that Riya is still the same as before, I don't want any of her plans to cause harm to anyone." Prachi explained and the eavesdropper wondered what she meant by that.

"Oh, I'll make the dinner then. Riya might do something to the food and frame it on you. Dida might not say anything but Mom and Dad definitely will. If I cook the food they won't be that upset, even if they find something wrong with the food."

Prachi nodded and left the kitchen to give tea to Pallavi. Just as Prachi left Dida came in and was surprised to see Ranbir cooking. "Ranbir, you know how to cook?"

Ranbir nodded and continued making the dinner while Dida smiled. Though she had missed her grandson for the past two years, him leaving them had made him responsible, just like Vikram had wanted to him to be. For the first time she felt that Ranbir living in a separate house, without luxuries was a good thing and not a bad one.

'Log sahi kehte hain, bhagwan jo karta hain bhale ke liye karta hain,' thought Dida.

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Pallavi groaned and kept a hand on her head, annoyed with her headache. She head the door open and looked up, expecting Riya, Siddarth or Ranbir to there. She hardened her face when she saw Prachi standing at the door, with a tray in her hands.

"What do you want?" Pallavi asked bluntly.

"I bought tea." Prachi said, coming in and putting the tray on the draw closest to Pallavi.

"I don't want it, you can take it away." Pallavi ordered.

"I didn't make it. Riya did. She couldn't come here to give to you as her foot was hurting," Prachi lied, not wanting Pallavi to worsen her health due to the grudges she held against her.

"Oh, okay. You can go now." Pallavi ordered, while taking a small sip from the teacup.

Prachi left and sighed. Pallavi had changed so much since the first time she met her. At that moment, the hatred Prachi felt for Riya became more solid. Riya was the reason that Abhi hated her today, when in reality, Riya had done all that she accused her of doing.

She silently vowed that she would never forgive Riya, for everything that she has done.

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(1600+ words)

So, the update was meant to be published on Friday but I compromised the updating schedule due to the deal struck with .

How's the update?

Who overheard Pranbir's conversation?

What did Siddarth see? (This won't be revealed soon)

Next update on Friday.

Also, this story has reached 1K+ reads and 100+ votes in just two chapters of content!