Reality v/s Dreams...

Sitara felt like to stay a few hours in the Durga Devi Temple as she felt weak.

Weakness.

She always hated this word from the time she came to know the reality of her existence in this society.

It's been a week since that incident happened, which turned her world upside down. The next day after she met with Lakshman and Revathi, her family got invited to the Maheshwari Mansion for a meetup. She got confused. They have no connection with Maheshwari's, then why are they called to meet them? But her mother said to meet them once so that they could know the reason.

The Maheshwari Mansion is an architectural marvel. Whoever designed this structure had one hell of a taste in buildings. The mansion was designed with a blend of modern and tradition. When they reached the entrance, a security person checked them top to bottom before letting them in. The door opened, revealing a staircase going downwards, opening up to the living room where Sitara saw Maheshwari's and Revathi's family seated. Clutching her Dida's hand, Sitara walked down the stairs with her Maa, and when they reached near the crowd, a middle-aged man around the late 50's stood up from a single sofa and came towards Dida, introducing him as Durga Prasad Maheshwari.

"Greetings, Maa ji. I am Durga Prasad Maheshwari, Head of this house, and this is my wife Annapurna, my brother Ram Prasad, and Sujata, his wife. This is my elder son Aditya, his wife Lakshmi, their daughter Nithya, and my youngest son Lakshman."

"Greetings, Mr. Maheshwari. This is my daughter Sonali and my granddaughter Sitara. Must say your house is so beautiful. It shows that you guys live according to today's modernization, at the same time not letting your roots be covered by it." Dida's words made the Maheshwari's creased forehead relax. Sitara took blessings from the elders and greeted them as the first thing which made them smile.

"You all, please take a seat," Ram said, and all of them got settled.

"I don't like to beat around the bush. Why I called you guys to meet is because yesterday night, we received this letter stating that Sitara is the daughter of Shekar Vasthav and Sonali Ashutosh, who was born out of wedlock. With few proves like DNA results and photos of Mr. Vasthav and Ms. Ashutosh from their college days," as soon as the words left Durga Prasad's mouth, Sitara looked at Revathi in a questioning way she looked at everyone except Sitara.

Sonali looked towards Shekar, who is shocked to hear this, and turned her gaze away from him, not wanting to face his accusing eyes. Shekar took the DNA report, which was placed on the table in his hand, and read through it. He looked at Sonali for answers, but she is not ready to look at him.

"Is this true?" was all he could utter while Sitara closed her in frustration. As no one is ready to speak anything, Sitara thought of breaking the ice.

"Uncle, I am sorry to speak like this in front of elders, but this is our personal matter. I think you guys have nothing to do this."

"You disrespectful girl, don't you have the sense that when elders are speaking, you have to keep your mouth shut."

"Parvathi, you have no right to call my Shonu names here, and what wrong she said? Also, she asked sorry before she could ask Mr. Maheshwari a question. I think that shows how much she respects elders. Mr. Maheshwari, as my Shonu asked what you guys have to do with our personal matter?" Dida asked politely, but her insides are burning in anger, hearing Parvathi's words.

"Maa ji, I think by now you guys would have known that we came to see Revathi for our Lakshman. If by God's grace, everything goes well, we will be relatives very soon. This letter came as a threat to all three families' reputation. If we can get this information, then tomorrow anyone gets it, and it will destroy our family's name in this society."

"Durga Prasad ji. We don't have any relations with those people. Because of them, please don't try to spoil my granddaughter's life. I don't know where you got to know about this, but this characterless girl is not our blood. This Sonali already married a guy and divorced him because he got to know this Sitara is not his child. Because of Sonali, today, my Revathi is motherless, and now she is trying to snatch her father also. I am telling you, this is all a drama by this Madrasi family only," Dadi's words once again brought tears in Sitara's eyes, but she stopped Dida from speaking anything. Wiping her tears, Sitara looked at Shekar, who is looking at her with some kind of emotion. Which made her shiver in nervousness.

What if he accepts her?

"Uncle, whatever written in that report is true. I am their daughter only, but we have no relation with them for two decades. I am just a mistake, who came into this world just because of one person, and he also left me in the mid-way. I knew about the truth long back, but I never claimed my rights because I am strong enough to stand on my own feet. My name is My Identity. I never felt the need to use my father or my mother's name to prove my identity." Sitara's words made the Maheshwari's nostalgic as resembled that one person whose name is restricted to be echoed in this mansion. They could see his shadow in her while Aditya and Lakshman stunned, hearing her words. They exchanged a known look before turning their attention towards the crowd.

"But what if our relatives come to know about this complicated equation and question us? What answer will we give them? Maa ji, let's try to keep the family equations aside. Then also, we can't deny the fact that Sitara is the elder daughter of your household also Revathi's elder sister. We can't get our son married to a family where the elder daughter of the house is still unmarried." Annapurna, this time asked the question while Dida looked at Dadi's face, which is contracted in fear. She very well knows how much this alliance means to Parvathi. Somewhere, she didn't like the fact that Lakshman is marrying Revathi when she knows what type of a brat he is, but what can she do in front of her stubborn Shonu.

"Aunty, we have a complicated past, but to be honest, I nothing to with the Vasthav family. If we keep on think about what society will think about us, we can never live peacefully in this world. I am no one elder daughter or sister or granddaughter. I am a single child to my mother. If you want to get your son married to Revathi, then see her qualities, personalities. Not her family background because if she gets married to your son till her death, she is going to be identified as the daughter of the Maheshwari family, not Vasthav. When her whole identity can change in just one moment, I think no one will have the guts to point their finger at Revathi or your family." Sujata and Annapurna smiled in tears while Lakshman's eyes twinkled with a newfound respect and attraction for Sitara. Parvathi Dadi's eyes softened, hearing Sitara's words. She thought Sitara and Aarya will create a tornado in her Reva's marriage, but not even once, they tried to degrade them or let anyone point fingers at themselves.

"Maa ji must say you and your daughter brought up Sitara, teaching her the right values and tradition. Just because of some people's mistakes, their children have to bear their punishment. We just wanted to clear the air before we could move on with this alliance because we don't want complications in the future. As it's a matter of our children's happiness. Maybe, if we had one more son, we would have asked for Sitara's hand. Please keep visiting our house." Durga prasad said and blessed Sitara wholeheartedly. Taking it as a cue, Sitara, Dida, and Sonali left the Maheshwari Mansion, followed by Vasthav Family.

"Jiji, only if Sidhanth was with us. Sitara is the perfect match for him. You remember, he always used to say that he will marry only the girl who challenges his thought process. Don't you think, the minute Sitara and Sidhanth came face to face, a storm would have happened here," Sujata smiled in tears, but her smile fell down when reality dawned on her.

"Only if Aashna was like Sitara, Jiji. Till I met Sitara, I thought she is also like her after seeing the video, but now I realize not everyone is the same." Sujata's words made everyone realize that their dream is always going to be a dream.

"Mumma, is Sitara Aunty going to be my Chachi? Lucky Chachu, she is so cute, just like me." Nithya's innocent words shocked everyone, especially Lakshman, while Aditya immediately made Nithya sit on his lap.

"Baby, No. The Aunty who came before Sitara Aunty, she might become your Chachi." Aditya explained to her while Nithya crunched her nose and got lost in her own world of video games.

Lakshmi signed Aditya to look at Lakshman, who is looking at the floor with his eyebrows furrowed. After everyone dispersed to do their routine, Aditya took Lakshman to their boys' room, which is a brown wallpapered roomed decorated with a 72-inch wall-mounted 4k display television. With the latest gaming console, and a glass coffee table with a long pull out couch, and a few bags thrown at the corners. Taking two beer from the mini-fridge, Aditya gave one to Lakshman and settled on the couch, signing Lakshman to sit.

"Now tell me what is bothering you, Lucky?" Adi asked, taking a sip from the bottle.

"Bhai, If I tell you that I agreed to meet Revathi only to get hold of Sitara so that I can take my revenge, am I a bad guy?" Lakshman asked with fear and guilt, reflecting in his eyes.

"Lucky, you know right, whatever happened between you and Sitara, the fault is on your side. Tell me the real reason, or I am going to tell Papa about your stunt."

"Bhai, I thought Sitara is also like Aashna as you know only I know the real story of Aashna and Sidhu Bhai. When I met Sitara, all I could see was Aashna Bhai, and I thought through avenging Sitara, I will give justice to Sidhu Bhai, but today the assumptions I had on Sitara got totally changed. Yesterday, when I met Revathi, just in a few minutes, I realized she is the one for me, but now when things went this far, I don't know what to do? I could feel a strong pull towards Sitara, and I don't know how to decide whether I should give Revathi another chance, or should I try to know Sitara more?" Lakshman poured his heart and chugged the beer in one go. Aditya analyzed his little brother's face for a few seconds. He hates to admit it, but if only Sidhanth was here, he would have solved this problem in a snap. Though he is the elder son of this family, Sidhanth is the only guy who has all the qualities of running this family.

"Well, Lucky, all I could say is, you should stop blaming the past. It's been 5 years since the death of Sidhanth. You have to move on from it, and about Revathi and Sitara; it's your life, and you have to take the decision. Take as much time as you want, but make sure of one thing- In your quest, don't ever try to hurt neither of them." Aditya said and got up from the couch, not before pressing Lakshman's shoulder in assurance.

The minute Aditya walked out of the room, Smith came out of the pillar and snuck out through the back door. Looks like it had been locked for a long time. He took the cell phone out of his pant pocket and dialed a no, which is saved as BOSS.

"Boss, everything is going according to our plan, but a small change. Instead of everyone hating Sitara, they loved her." the minute he finished that sentence, he kept the phone away from her ears as a scream erupted from the other side.

"What the fuck are you talking about Smith? You bloody bastard, how the fuck could they love her when I very well know about those Maheshwari's? You are useless, Smith. Go back to your flat and wait for my next instructions." the other person ended the call while Smith sighed in relief as if he escaped a volcano eruption.