Chapter 6

Sicily, Italy

Somewhere far away in a big mansion….

“Did you see her?” A woman asked a man who was in his late forties.

“Yes, she has the same ocean blue eyes.” The man replied.

“Can’t we bring her here? She is all alone”.

“No, we are still bound with one single promise. Until she comes to us by herself, we won’t disclose about us.”

They both sat silently for some time when a boy entered the room. He was more than handsome with a feature of 6 feet and clean jawline.

“Hey, dad, why are you looking so worried?” The boy asked.

“Arthur, nothing as such, we are just discussing our second honeymoon.”

“Oh, really mom? Second honeymoon? What did you find in him to stick for so long?” Arthur could not help but chuckle.

“Something special, that your last girlfriend could not find in you to continue the relationship anymore.” The woman who is his mother replied with a smirk.

“Mom, stop pulling my legs. It was not my fault. I got bored and she was with me just for money and power.”

“Ah, the same curse son. It’s like our family carries this curse. Most of the girls or boys who get involved with our family members always have this motive behind. Getting pure love is truly tough I can see.” The man replied.

“But you got mom. Right dad? So?”

“Luck by chance.” The man replied and put a gentle kiss on her wife’s temple.

“So, you are actually going for your second honeymoon?” Arthur asked his parents.

‘No, we were kidding.”

“Ok. Let me send you both for a vacation. Let your grown-up son take the responsibility of your business and other stuff.”

Arthur laughed with his parents after finishing his sentence.

“Long live the Lombardi family, oops, Moretti family.” Arthur chuckled while finishing the sentence and hugged his parents.

Myra’s House

Lily has arrived in Myra’s place to help Myra in different work. After Myra’s mom’s death Lily started staying over with Myra for some time. Myra had already completed her graduation and worked as an analyst. She has a dream of doing masters too but currently she is focused in the business industry to learn and enrich herself. After all she needs to earn too. She has this house to stay but she needs to work to fulfil her basic requirements.

Lily knew that Myra is a person of one or two words and she never tried to indulge her in anything that might cause her pain. But since she was with Myra for a long time, she knew few things about her. Especially the matter with her father. With a small trepidation she asked Myra about the fact.

“Did you try to contact your father?” Lily could see something was bothering Myra a lot. She just needed to make her speak. Myra became colder after her mom’s death. This much coldness is something that is unexpected. If a human being starts shutting herself from everything then it would create immense pressure and pain inside. Lily is a psychology student and that is why she always helps Myra with many things.

“Yes. Mr. Rana Pratap Singh Solanki. I did talk to that person who is my biological father.”

Myra’s voice was stone cold that made Lily more frightened.

“Did you have any plan to go there?” As soon as Lily finished her sentence, she found Myra’s death glare at her.

“In that zoo? Really?” Myra spoke with venom in her voice.

Lily felt that this time she might have crossed the limits. But still she tried her level best to break Myra’s cold and suppressing situation.

“What happened, Myra?”

Lily spoke with gentleness.

Myra stood up and went to the bar near the kitchen and brought one bottle of wine and placed it on the table.

“Would you have?” Myra asked Lily, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, sure as long as you are on this planet.” Lily replied with a small smile to light up the mood.

Myra poured herself a glass and offered another one to Lily and sat across her.

“Now tell me what you want to listen to.” Myra’s question was straight as always.

“Nothing as such. Just your recent situation and thoughts about the zoo.” Lily exclaimed.

“Well, Lily. See, I know he is my biological father, I belong to the Royal family blah blah blah. But tell me one thing, a man who did abandon us, what is he supposed to expect? I ran towards him by calling dad. No right? And secondly, I do not know what the situation was there. On a single phone call three people were talking to me. Mr. Rana Pratap himself, his wife and his son. I believe if I would have continued a bit the entire Jaipur would have arrived to talk.” Clearing her thought, Myra huffed.

“So, now. What did they say?”

“Oh, they have said many things. How I am. Where I am right now. What had happened to my mother etc? I simply ignored most of the questions. It was mother’s last wish to convey her news to her husband and I did. But believe me, I have nothing to do with their dynasty. I am happy being Myra Moretti rather than Myra Singh Solanki.”

“Myra, sometimes we do not choose the path. Sometimes destiny chooses us to follow some path. It might be harsh, hard or full of struggles, but you never know what would be the reward at the end until you reach the destination. We do not know where our fate got already tangled. We do not know with whom our fingers got already intertwined.”

“That doesn’t mean that we have to accept everything that would come in front of us. I am the creator of my own destiny and I would not follow the path that would be chosen by somebody.”

“We can hurt only those whom we love. Sometimes we must choose the path not for us, but to save whom we love. And I know you have a bigger and better heart than anyone else.”

“Come on Lily. This is bullshit. I don’t want to keep any link with that family, where my mom was not given a proper place.”

“Maybe that was not the right time. But now you might claim what is yours. You cannot deny the Royal blood that flows inside you.”

“I am no longer interested to claim anything there. I was born and brought up here and this is my country. My life is perfect here.”

“How can you say it is perfect when you have not seen the other half? Anyway, if you ever get a chance please visit them. Maybe if your mom were here, she would have advised the same.”

“No, I know nothing about their culture or tradition. Visiting them would be a headache. I have a blurred vision of the last time I had to use sign language to communicate. Thank god my mom was there.”

“Now, I believe you won’t face that. Well. Did they ask to come?”

“No, but if they ask, I won’t go. I do not want to start a new story of all this family drama.”

“Tell me truly Myra. No matter how hard you try, don’t you crave for a family from your heart? A caring person beside you? A loving hand on her head. A happy family. I am sure you do. You are just afraid to ask for it. That’s it.”

Lily could see the glossy eyes of Myra. Lily just wanted to make her believe that she deserves the happiness. She must not ignore the upcoming endeavours.

In the meantime, Myra’s phone started buzzing and she looked at the screen. Some unknown caller Id flashed on the screen but one thing made her eyebrows frowned: that was the country code of the caller ID.

“Damn, not this time. India again.”

Myra spoke when Lily noticed the call and told her to put it on speaker just the same way Myra’s father did. Myra already told her that her father put the call on speaker. Lily wanted to help Myra as she knew that Myra would never accept any friendly gesture from those people.

“Hello, who is this?” Myra spoke.

“Arjun here. Your brother.”

“Wow, now my contact no is getting shared everywhere and this man is even acknowledging himself as my brother. Who is technically my half-brother? Should I clap?”

Lily could read the entire sentence just by looking at her friend’s face but tapped on her palm to react in a normal way.

“Yes, Arjun. Please tell me how I may help you.” If Arjun was in front, he would have died seeing Myra’s rage.

“Myra. We would like to come to your place. I know you might be thinking why we are bothering you. But Myra if we would request you to come here you won’t. My father cannot die with this regret. My mother wanted him to apologize. I know for you accepting my father is very hard. But let us give one chance to meet you and talk to you. If you decide not to pursue any more communication, you may end it up. But let us visit you at least once.”

“Arjun. Do you think it is a good idea? I have nothing to do with your sorry or apologies. I do not have any grief or any hard feelings for all of you. Please let me live a peaceful life. Do not bother me.”

“Myra please, listen to me. I know what was done cannot be undone. But at least let us sit together once. I know even if we do request you to come back here you won’t. Let us meet you once.”

“Fine. Will let you know later.” Myra dropped the call immediately.

“What did you do Myra? So rude of you.”

“What do you expect from Lily? I would sing the lullaby. Please. If my mom wanted him to trace her whereabouts, then he might have found us before. My mom kept us away from them. There must be some reason behind it right? How can I just let them come into my life again?”

“Yes, your mom kept you away. But your mom herself told you to contact your father. Myra when a human dies all his or her rages, hatred, anger dies. Aunt Minerva left for a peaceful world. I believe she wanted you to be in good hands and she wanted you to be with a family too. Maybe you should accept what is yours now.”

“Lily, are you telling me to join the circus?” Myra spoke with a harsh tone.

“No. I am telling you to claim what is yours.” Lily spoke with a strong confidence.

On the other hand, in India Arjun looked at the cell phone. He did not get enough courage to ring her back. She is indeed a strong woman. She had never seen such a strong personality. She is indeed something.

He looked at her mother’s pale face and replied, “She might call back Maa. We can’t force her, we can only request her.’

“I do not know what to do. I have made equally punishable mistakes along with your dad. I kept the truth hidden just to save this marriage and his reputation. I had a fear of losing everything. I had a fear that your father might do some wrong. Now see where I stand. I am equally guilty like your father in front of another girl who is just like my daughter. May god forgive me for such sins?”

Mayabati broke into tears when Rana Pratap entered the room.

“Did you talk to her? She must not stay there alone any longer. She must be here with us.” Rana spoke with a different tone.

“Why do you want her now papa? Tell me. You had abandoned her long back and now you want her in your family? Why dad? Do you think she would accept?” Arjun spat with venom.

“I know my mistake. I want to fix everything. I want to give her everything that she deserves. She is none other than my daughter. She is a Solanki. And she would be showered with everything that a Solanki deserves.” Rana spoke as he had everything printed in his mind since he got her call. In this one week he thought about every possible way to bring her back.

“Only if she wants papa. We won’t force her.” Arjun warned his father.

“Prepare yourself to fly to Italy.” Rana said to his son who seemed nowadays giving a hard time to him. Rana could feel that Myra’s aura is reaching this Royal mansion though she is far away from here.