"I love you too, Ranbir. And I love you a lot." The voice he had been longing to hear, finally once again echoed in his ears.

The voice seemed so real. The embrace contained emotions seeming to be true. Maybe it was just his extreme desire of the same that his subconscious mind was presenting in the form of some sort of a hallucination before him. Oh, how he never wanted to step out of this beautiful dream.

Even if just an illusion, hearing her voice once again, hearing her confession, her feelings beautifully mingled in the three words for the first time, his aching heart leapt with a sudden elation. A soothing breeze of intense happiness and extreme satisfaction blowing gently over the pieces of his broken heart, the magic of the words spoken by the person he loved the most in his life somehow already beginning to heal the sharp pieces of the same.

He closed his eyes, once again feeling complete in her warm embrace, as his palms reflexively moved towards the feminine ones place on his chest, surrounding him from behind. Feeling the same touch once more, he clasped her hands gently, his head spontaneously bending towards the side, being controlled by the warmth of the love surrounding him.

It didn't suddenly feel like a dream anymore. It felt as if she herself was there. Her warmth, her embrace, her fragrance, her love that surrounded him, it all...it all felt so real.

The sudden thought pierced his mind, immediately gaining control of all the other emotions present within him at the moment, as he jerked his lids open. The sudden alarming thought earned some more of his consciousness, and he could still feel her. Was it real then?

Staring at their entwined fingers, he finally seemed to come back to the reality, as he immediately lifted her hands and whirled around to face her, shocked. It was she! But then what was she doing here?!

Wasn't she supposed to leave him forever after all the humiliating and heart breaking things Rhea had said to her? Wasn't she supposed to never return to him if she had just refused to listen to any of his words, driven by a feeling of intense hatred and disgust for him, only moments ago? Wasn't she just supposed to hate and disgust him like that forever?

"Ranbir.. " His confused thoughts were invaded by her beautiful voice, which held emotions different from what it had held the last time he had seen her.

He stood there still, filling the gap between them with a long silence, contemplating on the things going on around him. As she took a step towards him, he took one in the opposite direction, raising a palm before him, signalling her to stop as she obeyed, confused.

"What....what are you doing here, Prachi? Don't you understand I don't love you? Rhea had said everything to you, right? Go... Go away." He spoke with much difficulty, both due to his subconsciousness as well as the effect the bitter words escaping his lips had on he himself.

It was true. It was true he had wanted to clear things between them, but sometimes, the true shade of a story maybe makes it even more complex. He wanted her to hate him, and maybe she did now, and so he wasn't going to make it any more difficult for her. Things had turned out the way he had wanted them too, and now he won't try to make any changes, since he feared any further movement of the entangled, complicated threads of the relationships might entangle and complicate them even more. He knew the truth would be better for her, but maybe not easy. And he chose the option in accordance with the latter one, trying his best to plaster a hard expression on his face, only to be betrayed by his moist eyes.

Prachi on the other hand, simply stared at the person standing in front of her, with tears of pure love and admiration shining in her eyes. Even though she had denied listening to his words, her heart had always wanted to hear those unspoken ones. And when Aryan had presented the supposed true side of the story, her heart had believed it instantly, as those were the same words it had been yearning for. And if even the slightest bit of hesitation had been left at some corner of her heart, it had all been cleared by his words drenched in his unconditional and selfless love only moments ago, words spoken just for her.

Driven my the myriad of extreme emotions swirling inside her, she did the first thing that came to her mind, shocking him as a light slap gently brushed his cheek, turning his head to the side.

Brows slightly furrowed in confusion, Ranbir turned his head towards the girl, only to find her staring hard at him with moist eyes accompanying the resentment spread across her lovely features. The tears shining in her beautiful eyes melted his heart instantly once again, however, holding back all his desires with his extreme potential, he decided to try once more.

"Prachi, what the heck.. " He began with much difficulty, fake gritting his teeth, only to be stopped by her midway.

"Shh! Shut up! It's enough! I don't want any more lies!" She raised a finger at him, voice bold.

"Li... Lies? I don't know what you're talking about." Ranbir denied, eyes looking everywhere but her.

"You don't?! You want one more?! It will help you gain a better memory!" She raised her palm, while he held his cheek, somewhat scared.

"Prachi... I... " He uttered, confused.

"I said shut up! Don't you dare speak any more lies to me! Who do you think of yourself?! Huh?! What do you want to show!? That you're very great!? That you have a very big heart!? That you don't want to give pain to anyone else and so take it all yourself?! No, no! Don't give me that look! I very well know you know what I'm talking about! Why did you do it now?! Come on, tell me!" Prachi crossed her hands in front of her chest, pouring out all her emotions in the form of the supposed anger, at one go, crying simultaneously. "Even I wanna know! Which medal were you gonna receive for this sacrifice of yours!? Tell me, Ranbir Kohli! Weren't you happy being famous that you wanted to be recognised as a great person too now?! Who gave you the right to manipulate the truths in my life?! Who gave you the right to decide whom should I love and whom should I hate?!" Prachi blabbered at one go, while he stared at her with sheer confusion reflected on his earlier pained face. What was she talking about? Was it what he was thinking she is?

"Pra.. " He tried to begin.

"Shhhh! I told you not to speak anything! I've heard all I had to! All I needed to! I've heard everything, Ranbir! Everything that you just confessed to me, thinking that I'm Aryan, of course! I heard......Everything." She finally spoke the last word before taking a deep breath, with moisture filling up her eyes, as she stared straight at him.

Ranbir didn't know what to say. He just couldn't think of any possible explanation that could justify his deeds, or any possible reason that was worth her tears.

"Prachi... " He finally managed, only to be cut off by her again.

"Shut up! Just shut up! I don't want to listen to you! You're......bad." Prachi spoke with a lump in her throat, as some tears finally managed to roll down her cheeks, while Ranbir just stared at her with his own eyes wet, and full of love and guilt.

"Won't you say anything now?? Yeah, why will you?! Just remain quiet and decide things alone!" Prachi broke a long silence, complaining, as a soft smile formed on his lips at her ironic statements.

"Sorry." He finally whispered, wiping her tears, while she jerked his hand away turning her head to the side, as he had indirectly accepted his devilish deeds.

"Okay fine, punish me." Ranbir said, holding her palms in his. "I promise I won't say a word. Just not such a big punishment." He continued, wiping her tears once again at the last phrase.

Prachi turned towards him, as their moist eyes remained glued for a long minute, exchanging numerous emotions, said and unsaid, before she forwarded her palm towards him.

"Then promise me. Promise you'll never ever do such a thing again. Never force me away from you. Never hurt yourself so much. Never punish yourself like this for any reason, even if it's me. Promise." She demanded hopefully. However, his hesitant face somewhere scared her.

"Prachi... I... I cannot promise that. First listen to me." He spoke, caressing her cheek once as she was about to interrupt him. "I cannot promise you that I'll never do any such thing, cuz I can assure you I will. If any such circumstances ever arise again, I assure you I'll do the same again. If I've to choose between me and you, I'll choose you again, and I'll choose you everytime. Even if it means sending you away from me. I did what I thought was good for you. What would hurt you the least in every possible way. What would keep you away from me but happy in the long run. And I assure you, Prachi, that I'll do what I feel is the best for you, everytime, everytime I've to choose between us." He spoke gently, as her heart melted at his words, their eyes never leaving each other's.

"Done? Now listen to me." She softly placed her palm on his that had been resting on her cheek. "You know where you're wrong? That you'll choose me between us. Ranbir, we're not two different people, we're one. We're together. Our feelings, hearts, emotions, everything is tied with each other. We are connected with each other. And things tied are inseparable. Things connected together can't be separated from each other. Can't be thought of differently. Connected fates are inextricable. Blended souls, binded lives are indistinguishable. Tied hearts are inseparable." Prachi cupped his cheek, now wiping his tears.

"And you know what ties them? Our love for each other. The sacred bond of our pure love is much above and way more stronger than everything else. And when we're connected in every way, how can you choose only one of us and leave the other? How can our pains not be connected then? How can one ever be happy while the other one is hurting? How can you ever choose between people who have nothing amidst them which separates them in any way, who are one? You can't, Ranbir." She spoke each word softly, looking directly into his eyes

"This is something you've told me many times. But I haven't. Ever. Maybe I should have, but I won't continue doing the same mistake anymore." Prachi clasped his palm gently, placing it over her heart, taking a deep breath. "Do you feel it? It beats just for you. It can never ever be happy away from you. You know why? Because I love you, Ranbir. I love you a lot." Prachi finally confessed, looking straight into his eyes, before winding her arms around him in a tight grip, placing her head on his chest. "And I cannot see you like this. You would have killed both of us. Baklu. Don't you know? The knots tying us will automatically pull us towards each other if we ever even try to go apart. Yes, now don't hug me as well." Prachi complained as Ranbir had been standing there still, too caught up in the plethora of emotions to react, or even respond to her embrace. However, as her words pulled him out of his trance, he immediately surrounded his love in a tight grip, resting his cheek on her head, both of them never wanting to let the other go, breaking down in the warm embrace that finally made them feel complete and healed.

"I'm sorry, Prachi. I just didn't want to hurt you. Or my Mom. I just wanted the best for both of you, and I couldn't handle anything. I'm such a fool." Ranbir sobbed.

"That you are. You don't need to handle anything, leave the brainy decisions on me." Prachi's voice conveyed that her state was the same as his, as he nodded against her head, before placing a soft kiss on it.

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Prachi. Thank you so much for making everything correct. You don't know how it felt seeing hatred, and moreover, disgust for me in your eyes. It felt like... It felt like I would die any second." Ranbir poured his heart out, as her grip on him tightened even more.

"I'll kill you any second for sure if you utter that rubbish once more." Prachi threatened him, making him chuckle.

Standing in each other's arms for who knows how long, Pranbir's shattered hearts seemed to heal once again, the pain no more being there, the broken pieces seemed to gather themselves once again, the gentle blanket of love surrounding them leaving no marks of the ruthless incident on their pure hearts that beat for each other.

"Now my promise, Mister Baklu." Prachi finally parted a little, forwarding her palm once again. "Promise me you'll never hide anything from me. Whatever it is, no matter how big or small, we'll face it together. Everytime. And this time too." Demanded she again, stressing on the word 'everytime' as he had earlier. However, this time Ranbir placed his palm on hers, looking deep into her beautiful eyes that were still shining with some tears, as he said.

"Promise." The single word poured showers of immense relief over Prachi's heart. Hearing the single word from him made her feel as if everything would be fine now. Everything.

Ranbir suddenly felt things going a bit blur for a fleeting moment as he reflexively held his head, his steps faltering a bit. Prachi immediately held him, sheer concern and worry laced in her expressions at his state.

"Ranbir!" She almost screamed in her still tear clogged voice.

"I'm fi..fine." He tried to convince her.

"Seriously?! You're an idiot! Who had told you to drink so much! You... " She trailed off abruptly, as her attention finally rested on the injury on his other hand, the one he had somewhat been keeping away from her vision apparently. "Ranbir! What happened?! Why is your hand bleeding?! Why didn't you tell me earlier!? Oh God! The whole of your palm is red! You're such an idiot!" She rebuked him at one go, panicking, as she held his palm with her other hand gently, eyes simultaneously scanning the terrace.

"Prachi... " Ranbir tried to justify himself.

"Shut up! Come with me!" She lead him to the seating area, making him sit down on the large couch. "Sit here! And don't you dare speak anything!" Prachi chided him, as she simultaneously looked around the table hurriedly for a first aid kit, but in vain.

"Do you have a handkerchief!?" She finally turned to him. However, he didn't respond.

"Ranbir?!" She yelled. "I'm asking something! Oh God! Of course! You can speak now!" She informed him, as she noticed he had been keeping a finger on his lips.

"Ahhmmm." He pretended to clear his throat. "Weren't you supposed to tear your dupatta and dress my wound?" He asked with the most innocent face, only to immediately hand over the asked material to Prachi, dreaded by her death glare.

"My dupatta isn't currently the best fabric available for this purpose." She replied after a long time, washing and dressing his hand simultaneously, herself hissing in pain every now and then with unshed tears in her eyes, as he chuckled once internally with satisfaction seeing her love and care for him, before some sort of seriousness took over him.

"I'm sorry, Prachi." He spoke suddenly.

"I'm not forgiving you. Who behaves like this?! I very well know what you've done. You hurt my Baklu everytime. I've not given that right to anyone." Prachi replied, somewhat crying, never looking at him.

"I'm sorry for hurting you. I'm sorry for the bet." Ranbir clarified in a serious tone, as Prachi's working hands stopped. "Now that you know everything, I..." He began, only to be interrupted by her.

"Now that I know everything, you don't need to feel guilty at all, Ranbir." She finally looked up at him. "I know everything, and so I know who was at fault, and who wasn't. I know you. I trust you. And I trust our love enough to say that it is true and pure and that is the biggest truth. I know that much. And I don't want to know anything more." She assured him, placing a soft kiss on his bandaged palm. "And I had stopped my work cuz it was done. Your hand is fine for now, but we need to properly bandage it soon. Come with me." She spoke, as he stared at her with moist eyes.

"How can you be so good?" He asked, mesmerised by the purity of the soul in front of him.

"The similar way you can be such an idiot." She replied in the same angry cum hurt tone, as he lowered his head, before both of them chuckled lightly.

"I love you, Prachi. I just feel so lucky to have you." Ranbir confessed once more as he got up.

"I love you too, Ranbir. And the lucky one is me here." She replied, helping him towards the exit, as they both continued to walk, debating on who was the luckiest of the two lovers.
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[Note: This part ahead might be a bit hurried up, as the basic idea of this TS was to clear the misunderstandings between Pranbir and unite them. The portion ahead might not be detailed, but express feelings and conclusions more. ]

Descending down the stairs, Pranbir's steps slowed as some words began filling their ears, before they stood still at the foot of the grand staircase, completely shocked by the message the words conveyed.

A tight slap could be heard landing on someone's cheek from halfway between the stairs, and as they approached the ground floor, they saw Rhea standing with tears in her eyes, holding her cheek which appeared crimson, with Abhishek standing before her, staring at her with furious eyes which had a mixture of rage as well as tears of pain filled in them.

"Rhea!? How could... " Abhishek began, however, couldn't complete.

"Stop it!" A familiar voice caught their attention, and they now turned to see Pragya standing at almost the centre of the large hall, palm raised before her.

"Please stop it, Mister Abhishek Prem Mehra! Please! It's enough now!" Pragya stared at her husband with bloodshot eyes.

"Pragya, what...what are you talking about? Our... Our daughter... " He began his justification like every other time, however, this time, she was in no mood to hear it.

"Our daughter?! Whom are you talking about?!  As far as I remember, it was you who had said only days before that Rhea is your daughter, and Prachi is mine. Whom are you referring to as our then?! This girl." She said, pointing towards Rhea. "This shameless, selfish girl can never be my daughter! This was what I had left her with you for?! So that she turns into the monster she is?! You know what, you could never trust me, you could never see or hear my words over anyone else's. Be it your spoilt sister or your girlfriend. But I still trusted you. Trusted you with the most valuable treasure a mother can ever possess. Trusted you with my daughter! And what did you do?! Handed her over to a heartless person!? And yes, I'm talking about you Aaliyah, in case you've any doubts. And Mister Abhishek, between me and you, something like 'our' never even existed in the first place, isn't it? It was always about you. Your pain. Your ego. Your sufferings. Your life. Your daughter. It was never about me or my daughter, was it? Remember how easily you had narrated your entire tale of turning into a businessman from a rockstar because of me? Well, shouldn't you thank me? You've grown even richer! Did you ever bother to hear my tale?! Where was I? Where did I live? Where did I work? Did I even have money to fulfill the basic requirements and the needs and desires of my child when yours was living not less than a princess in this royal estate of yours. No, no. I'm not complaining! Just showing you the face of real pain and struggle. Not mine again, but of my child. I'm not blaming my husband. Your wife can do anything for you. But as I had said earlier, a mother cannot! A mother cannot compromise with her child's happiness, and she won't anymore. You say I never tried to find you. Yes, I didn't. Cuz I knew you were fine wherever you were. I didn't have the courage to face both of you, but I was relieved cuz I knew my daughter was secured with a good life, of course I was not completely right. But she had you, she had your name. Now let me ask you. Did you ever try to find where we were? Where Prachi was? Or should I assume that so blinded were you in your ego that you never cared if she lived or died? Did you? Now I'll say, you left us. You left us to die on the roads when we needed you the most, Mister Mehra. Which words will you use to justify them now? Cuz none can. Did you ever bother to know about Prachi's past? How did she grow up? Where did she study? Did she ever feel the absence of a father in her life or not? Did she ever miss her family? Did she ever even know she had one? Was she ever teased by her friends regarding the same? Not having a mother is considered a crime far less than not having a father in this patriarchal society, you know that right? Did you ever bother to ask her what kinds of taunts has she heard more till now? The vulgar ones or the illegitimate ones? You didn't! You never bothered to ask her! And trust me, I don't clearly know as well. Cuz my Prachi hid it all in her heart just to save her mother from more pain. And never complained! Neither to me nor to you! That is my daughter. Not this filthy being who had all the comforts in this world, an entire family to take care of her, and still tries to kill people because of the hatred she has herself mixed in her own life."

"She didn't have a mother." Abhishek defended 'his' daughter.

"Oh, is it? Then please remind me once again what are you marrying Meera for?" The hall fell silent for a minute. "What happened? No answer? I thought she had always loved your daughter more than her real mother. Isn't it?" Pragya mocked with a bitter laugh.

Pranbir stood there frozen as they witnessed the video which the others had seen not long ago. There, Ranbir's mother, Pallavi, could be clearly heard self praising herself before Rhea for her marvellous performance of faking the heart attack, with her head held high due to her ego, right after witnessing Pranbir's supposed break up herself. But this was not it. The second part of the video, and the major part, had no traces of Pallavi, but only Rhea and her hideous deeds. Seeing Pallavi leave her room proud at her own self, Rhea had chuckled bitterly, reminiscing as well as confessing it out aloud, as to it was actually her who had done all of it, from the very beginning. All her deeds from the minute she saw Prachi to Maya's case and Prachi's accident, her own suicide drama, blaming Prachi intentionally and trying to separate her from Ranbir due to her immature obsession, were spilled by she herself, and had been recorded by a broken Pragya who had luckily been crossing her room the moment Pallavi had entered it.

Pragya had always known that her younger daughter was a stubborn person, an immature girl and an impulsive soul just like her father. But what she couldn't ever think was that this person just couldn't be her daughter. Maybe biologically by mistake, but nothing more than that for sure. She had thought maybe Rhea was a good person at heart like her father used to say, like her father supposedly is, but this girl, this girl seemed to lack a heart in the first place. Pragya had always been attracted to her, and illogically attracted, she always forgave all her deeds thinking she was a kid, a kid whom she had left alone just after she was born. But the kid had her father. The 'kid' had an entire family. The kid had her since a long time now. She who had always been literally requesting her to change herself for the better wherever possible, with the false hope that her words mattered to her. That she cared for her. Seems like all she ever cared for was herself. Anyways, it wasn't her matter anymore, it was her daughter's life now. And this girl was a pure threat to her happiness.

"I think I shouldn't even be shocked, isn't it? How many times had I told you Mister Mehra that Rhea had committed a lot of crimes? She had planned a god damn murder?! And how many times did you believe me? None. Thirty years of marriage and this was how much you had known me? I'm not blaming you for anything Mister Mehra. I'm not blaming you at all. Even though separating was a mutual decision, you go around spreading the word that I had 'left' you right? You even complain to me about it. And I took all the blames! And never said anything! Because I think somewhere they were valid! But you were so blinded in seeing your own pain, that you could never see my side of the story, could you? Here you are, marrying another woman in front of my eyes after thirty years of our marriage. Why? Just cuz Rhea had said? Just cuz I didn't confess my emotions to you for once? What about the numerous times I have? Leave me then. What about Prachi? That girl has come to attend her father's second wedding with another woman after twenty years of being away from him for no mistake of her own. Did you ever think about her? I don't even expect an answer at this point. And to be frank, I don't want one. Words have a lot of power, right? But sometimes they fall too weak before the sharp edges of a broken relationship. And well, relationship is from two people, not one like ours seemed to be." Pragya stared at her husband with tears of extreme pain glistening in her eyes. Yes, she loved him a lot. But she couldn't be blinded by that love anymore. Each of her words said to him had equally hurt her as well. But she was not going to let her daughter live the same fate as hers. She was not for sure.

Staring at Abhishek for a long time, who just stood there, head hung low, Pragya went towards Prachi and Ranbir, as she took both their hands in hers, entwining them, marking the creation of a bond of eternity before everyone this time. Prachi stared at her mother with tears of pain in her eyes, while Ranbir placed his palm around her shoulder tightly, understanding her state. She had suffered so much, and yet she was the best person in the world. Her respect increased even more in his eyes. While his other hand was raised towards Pallavi, signalling her to stop as she was probably about to apologise, once again.

"I'm sorry Prachi. I was unfair with you, right?" Pragya caressed her cheeks.

"You're the best mother in the world!" Prachi replied, hugging her. Though she wanted to say a similar line with the same emotions to her father as well, her past which had been recently unfolded before her once again as well as Pragya's tears stopped her to do so.

"Ranbir" Pallavi held his hand with tears of the coming unbearable loss in her eyes.

"Mrs. Pallavi Kohli..... " Ranbir jerked her hand away, gritting his teeth in extreme rage, shouting.

"Ranbir. Shh, please calm down. You're not fine." Prachi rubbed his chest in an attempt to calm him down, as he took a deep breath, turning his head away from his mother, side hugging Prachi. This was a time both of them needed each other the most.

"The threads of relationships are too fragile to experiment with them for our own selfish motives, Pallavi Ji. You know better, anyways." Pragya spoke softly, before placing a kiss on Pranbir's head, blessing them of a life full of happiness, trust, love, and togetherness, as Vikram, Arhana, Saritaji and Baljeet joined them, wishing and blessing the couple of the same.

And as for the rest of them, they had lost the right due to their own deeds.

___________________

Some were blessed with love, some were granted tears of joy
Some were surrounded by darkness, their deeds forcing their own lives to destroy
For love shall always reap love, hatred yield even more poisonous seeds
As love was loved and hatred was abhorred, for at the end, life is just a matter of deeds.

~ THE END
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Here's the final part for this one. Really sorry for the delay.

I'm also really sorry if any of your feelings or expectations were hurt or unfulfilled. This is just basically what I wanted to see somewhere at least.

Long again right..? I'm not gonna tell the words this time though. Go count. Lol

Do share your honest reviews. Waiting:)