Plotholes

The thought of having been on the wrong foot all these years was making Manya regret each and every word she had used against her mother. 

*She had been hurting- it was true, but her own hurtful words had inflicted such deep wounds on her mother. How could she have been so impolite, and sunk to this level of inhumanity while treating her own mother! The guilt was making her nauseous, but the regret was making her more and more depressed with each passing second of realisation. How could she have been immature enough to eat that cake, after which she had left the car by herself and headed towards her father's SUV. She had known, deep down somewhere, that there had been something fishy going on with her Mausa; and yet, she hadn't paid it much heed, because she thought she would handle everything by herself as she still had plenty of time. Getting used to things and taking them for granted is the worst thing humans do. They take everything for granted, be it their relations or their time. Had she known that anything like this had a chance of happening, she would never have left them alone with the driver, even if said chances might have been in decimals.

She needed to find out where her mausaji was, and how he had managed to hide everything from everyone all these years.She hadn't heard anything about him, from anyone else either.*

She jumped back to reality, after seeing Sagrika standing at the doorway. She looked at the way her legs were shaking in anticipation. For the first time in years, Manya actually looked at her properly- her face was looking old, way older than her age; and her eyes held pain and helplessness- the helplessness of not being able to save her family, and the pain of being accused for their murder by her own daughter. She was the reason behind this state of hers; tears started to fall from Manya's eyes as she opened her mouth to say, "I am sorry mumma…" This was all that she had managed to utter, before she broke down again. 

Sagrika dashed to her daughter and enveloped her in her warm embrace. Twelve years...twelve long years had been spent in her craving for this moment; and now, when the moment was actually in front of her, it was making her feel like she had never been deprived of it. Her heart felt full, as if her daughter was still her little one, who never had been able to complete her sentences while crying. But it was enough, she had cried enough, she couldn't let her cry any further, as it was all in the past. Now, they both had to move forward- she declared to herself, and pulled back from the hug, wiping her daughter's tears while crying herself.

"It's okay, sweety, hush! Now don't cry... everything has already happened, and we can't do anything regarding that. But I am still happy that you have finally realised that I am not behind all this, and that you have regained your memory. It was nobody's fault that the accident happened, so we both have to move on. And thankfully, we have Sia to cherish and remember my Swara by."

"No mumma!" Manya screamed all of a sudden. "We need to get the culprit behind bars, as soon as possible! Mausaji is still out there, roaming freely even after-"

"What are you talking about, dear? Siddhant? Culprit! I am not able to get any of this...it was an accident- a deadly accident. And how can Siddhant be roaming freely? He was also one of the victims of that very accident; no one survived the tragedy, apart from you. And we were lucky enough that you and Siddhant came up with that idea of a prank, or we might have lost you as well!" Sagrika narrated everything in horror, as if someone was going to snatch her daughter away, from right in front of her eyes.

*Manya looked at her with a fully confused expression, as if questioning herself, regarding the events of that day. What prank...what tragedy? There was no tragedy- her Mausa had been planning everything from the very beginning. Then what was her mother talking about?*

She asked, "What are you saying- none of it makes sense to me! What prank? I don't know about any prank, and why would I be pairing up with him; he is not as good as we all thought him to be!"

At this point, Sagrika was just as puzzled as Manya! It was like both of them were talking about two stories, which had perhaps taken place with the same characters, but the circumstances were entirely different!

Sagrika shook her head and spoke, trying to find a common point which they both agreed on, and would then start to sort out their respective stories from there. "Weren't you planning to prank everyone about your kidnapping? And isn't that why you left them and joined your dad in his car?!"

"No! Why would I do such an insensitive thing? I joined dad in his car, because at the last moment, the plan was changed and Massi had asked me to go home before everyone else, saying that they would be joining us in some time. Nanu had to tell everyone about a big secret, and so did Massi- I don't know the whole thing, but it was something related to mausaji. She had only briefed me about it; that he was not as good of a person as we had all assumed him to be- he wanted our money and he didn't like Sia as well! So I was supposed to come home and tell you that you need to stop the project which was going to be signed under his name. But I somehow ended up eating a stupid slice of cake, which made me extremely drowsy for some reason; and I had forgotten everything by the time I reached home. But I remember now, I was supposed to solve a puzzle related to the locket before that, as it was connected to all the weird things happening around that time."

Sagrika was running out of breath as Manya continued to reach into the hidden folds of events once again, to reveal new details even now. But they really needed to let it go, as the person had already been convicted by God and had paid the payment of his deeds by his own life!

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