Silence... there was pin drop silence in the Khanna house though, each member of the family was present in the hall.

Neil and Avni were sitting on the bare floor leaning to a wall with tears in their eyes and blankness on their face.

Bebe, Shwetha and Neela seemed stunned with agony whereas Prakash looked clueless of what all happened in just few hours of the day.

The day was supposed to bring happiness to the entire family but it brought about a ferocious storm which was least expected by anyone.

The whole turmoil of Neil, mishti , juhi and the illegitimacy was all a wicked plan of mainly Juhi who initiated it and Vidyuth who proceeded with the further execution.

Unknown to this truth, the Khanna family believed what was just appearing to be true based on Juhi's words.

Now, the whole world knew the truth about Juhi being alive and mishti being Neil's illegitimate child ! Yes, she was his illegetimate daughter but only for the world and never for him. He believed that she is his own daughter wholeheartedly.

Unlike Aashish Mehta who denied to accept his daughter in front of the media, Neil proclaimed to be Mishti's father in the heat of the moment to the press.

This was his biggest mistake since vidyuth had left no stone unturned to expose Neil's affair with Juhi and his illegetimate kid who were staying under the same roof along with his wife.

The media grilled him with uncomfortable questions regarding all this. He was bound and compelled to say that he will divorce his beloved Avni and wed Juhi to give her and Mishti a respectable presence in the society.

Now that, this started taking a heavy toll on each person of his family, especially his dear Avni... Neil was preparing himself to bounce back and find out each truth which was left covered from him.

Avni was left shattered and broken to pieces when Neil had to agree to divorce her and marry Juhi. His words still rang in her ears and flooded her eyes.

Finally Neil gathered the courage to look into his lady's eyes. She was still blank...she wasn't even blinking her red flooded eyes.

He touched her shoulder and called her name softly of course with love...

"Avni,..."

She did not bother to neither look at him or to respond him... she was sitting holding her knees like a dead person without any movement in her body.

Neil had never seen her in this condition. He was shell shocked to see her that way. His wife was strong like a lioness when she was devastated to see her brother supporting the evil Dayawanthi and fought fiercely even when she was on gun point facing death.

When he was there with her, for her, she could face any situation be it facing death.

But his mere statement of his marriage with Juhi broke her and her mighty strength.

She had felt her heart beat skip at the thought of Neil marrying someone else... she wasn't scared of facing death but she feared losing her man !

However strong she was...but at the end she is a wife and a human being foremost. The level of generosity and goodness in her had broken with all this. It was heights now for her to tolerate.

"Avni...dekho mujhe...Avni please..." Neil pleaded while shaking her shoulders. He had tears too flowing down his cheeks.

She turned and gave a pale look to him when his tear droplets fell on her hands.

"Avni... i know... i understand how you are feeling right now. I'm extremely sorry for hurting you so much. I'm really really sorry Avni... But i promise you now also, I will never let you go...ever ! I can't even think in my weirdest dreams of getting married to someone else Avni...and you know that.

I think I'm missing out on a very important clue or a dangerous plot against us because many strange things are happening which we did not consider seriously. With all this chaos at home and our lives i wasn't really able to concentrate on finding out the truth.

From now on, i will definitely put in my 100% effort, mind and strength to find out the crux of all this turmoil.

I promise you Avni, I will neither let this marriage happen nor let you move apart from me. Trust me Avni please..."

Neil gathers the courage to become firm and not get carried away with his emotions. He looks into his lady's eyes longingly.

After listening to him, Avni is still sitting like a statue but this time she is looking in his eyes.

"Avni...please forgive me...say something Avni " Neil pleads once more.

Avni does not speak a word...instead gives him a warm hug and closes her eyes. Tears flow down her tender rose cheeks.

This gesture of her was enough for him to understand her reply...her response of supporting him in this was conveyed without saying a word.

They stayed bound in that hug for time unknown to them... The peace, the solace, the tranquility they found in each other's arms was priceless indeed... They conveyed each other what all they wanted to silently without uttering a word with a mere hug...

***********

Thanks for reading guys...! ☺

I think u'd have felt this as a short chapter... From the next onwards the updates will be lenghtier...

Please do let me know how you felt about this story... Through your votes and comments... ☺ they are much awaited!!

PS : If u've liked the storyline do add the book to your libraries since the updates are gonna be frequent and u might miss it...

Love,

Avni