Repay for blood?

"5 cups of black tea!!" Rishi shouted to the tea maker.

"With ginger!!!" Aditya added.

It's been a long time they had a chat in roadside cafés like this. Before Drishti's marriage, they used to come to Chowrangi Road every evening. But things have changed drastically with the passage of time.

"You have come after a long time." The waiter who served said with a smile.

"Hmm, and today she's gonna treat us." Mohit guestered at the boy.

"Seriously?" When that boy looked at her with suspicion, she gritted her teeth. Under the table everyone got some hard kicks yet they maintained their smirk on the face.

When the boy was gone, she whined, "Guys!! I pay....." She was also thinking when it was the last time she actually paid, ".......Sometimes."

"Yeah you really make your heart bleed sometimes." Dhruv smirked.

"Arghhh! Why the hell did you call me here? For the game launching programme, right? Then why I became the hot topic?" She rolled her eyes at them.

"Hmmm....That little boy had done a great job, he completed most of the works. Now for the marketing, we are gonna help him." Mohit already prepared a data analysis on that.

"Why didn't Mayank come? We needed him here. It's about his company." Rishi was impatient to congratulate him about his success.

"My beloved husband booked him first." Drishti sighed.

For the past few days, Mayank was too busy in handling Raunak's company that couldn't even look after his own works. He secretly started a gaming company long ago but couldn't hold it as there was a lot of bad incidents. But now he wanted to leave the universals and find his own happiness. So he created a game and asked help from the closet people. And of course they gladly helped.

"Does Raunak know?" Aditya asked curiously. As far as he knew Raunak, it was really hard to deceive his eyes.

"Nah.....He's clueless. But he guessed something. He is not that cunning like Manav bhai, you know." Drishti was sure Raunak didn't know the entire truth.

"But Manav bhai helped us a lot though he blackmailed." Mohit was the worst sufferer of those blackmail.

"Please ask mayank to hurry up. I want to see him successful before going to the sea....let me cry....I'm going of six months, duh!" Dhruv liked his job a lot yet he will miss his city, friends, family and photos. He's gonna miss his studio a lot. Not everyone is lucky like Mayank to get a second chance for passion.

"Don't worry, bro. It will sort out before you go." Rishi gave him a assuring look.

"Guys!!! Guys!! Look, who's that!!" Aditya guestered them to look at the entrance where Rajiv, Raunak, Mayank, Deep and Anand entered together. Drishti was only expecting Deep and mayank.

"5 more ginger tea!!" Drishti shouted at the waiter and asked them to seat.

"Why are you so shocked? Don't want to pay for us?" Anand smirked at her.

"Bhai! Why aren't you taking rest? I mean you just came from Bangalore, had some fights again. You have grown weak." Aditya sighed. Sometimes Anand was too much.

"I just wanted to see you. I missed you" The faint smile on his face made everyone shock. He missed them. Since when he got that time?

"Why did you go to Bangalore, be truthful, Anand." Rajiv was suspicious.

With a simple nod, he started, "To know more about mom. I asked Shovan and Zara to have a good investigation before returning to Kolkata. This time, they gave me results. That's all."

"So....?" Mohit couldn't bear the silence anymore.

"Mom tried to call Asha and Avinash that time. For a last glance to her twins. She contacted Amal Mehta then. Actually Kartik uncle helped to contact. But Amal Mehta was reluctant. He said if she tore off all the relations, she had no right to meet her children anymore. Mom knew nothing could be changed by pestering. But the night mom died, Kartik uncle just returned from a business trip."

"Only now I know he actually went to meet Amal Mehta to tell every truth. That my mom was innocent. She had cancer and fighting with death, that I'm his child.....everything. Amal Mehta didn't believe at first. But Kartik uncle didn't want to waste time on his hopeless man. So he returned to mom, only leaving the proofs on his table. "

Anand sighed, "Maybe Amal Mehta looked at them afterwards. But he was late. The moment he tried to go to Kolkata with Asha and Avinash......"

"I already burnt her dead body. She was dead by the time. Then Amal Mehta tried to reach me but Kartik uncle never let that happen. The moment he lost my mom, he lost all of his rights on me. Mom asked a favour from Kartik uncle, to let me grow up without the bad effects of Mehta family. And he gladly accepted. That's all."

There was a unbearable silence in the room. They didn't know what to say. Nothing matters if Amal Mehta was guilty or not, he lost Anand long ago. Anand was determined not to get his father's identity back.

"But you donated blood...." Drishti was really confused.

"Why not? I owed him his blood and flesh, so I just repayed. Now I'm free from him." Anand smiled, "Guys! Tea is turning cold."

Maybe Anand was wrong here. Blood could never be repayed. No matter how the parents were, one needed to bear the identity for the whole life. It was not something he could repay.

"And about Avantika...." Deep asked suddenly.

"I told her about my life. It's hard for me to love. Maybe I have some affections for her, but I'm not sure if it's love or not. I told her about my job. I said if she really liked me, I would accept her. Maybe I will love her gradually. It's time to move on, right?"

"Wait!!! So it's gonna be a wedding!"Dhruv whined, "Ahhh!!! No! I need to go for marine. I'm gonna miss it."

"I missed my best friend and Drishti's wedding too. Just remember to send gifts." Anand smirked.

"But you still didn't send gifts." Here Raunak started again.

"Who said? I already gave Dri books." Anand argued.

"Yup! He gave me almost 3 series and eight single books." She agreed.

"Wait, man! It's my marriage too. How could you give her those gifts?" Raunak gritted his teeth.

"She's my heart, bro. Don't mind." He smiled like a devil.

"Gosh... you are such a bully."

They laughed out loudly. They had missed their good times together a lot. But suddenly Mayank excused himself from them as he got an urgent call. Raunak was looking at him suspiciously to know what kind of emergency he could get.

Faking his cough, Rishi suddenly whispered, "Salini called him."