It's been two days since Raghav and Tanya left and I am missing them like crazy. This house feels lonely without their funny banters and not so smart comments.

This loneliness is not going to last for more as Mom would be arriving anytime soon.

These two days were filled with regret. I was stupid to not pay heed to Shanaya's warning. I am still cursing myself for going to shopping with Maitri while still nursing my foot who had to take the brunt of my stupid decision.

Atleast not all of my choices were bad.  All of them rebelled a bit but later agreed to my decision of stopping the healing process for the time being. There were two reasons behind this- First: There was no way I was going to try any method when my Mom was here. Secondly, I wanted my friends to enjoy the festival without worrying about me.

Fortunately my nightmares had become a rare case and my other problem was not that visible for Mom to detect it. Now, all I have to do was to pray that my nightmares didn't select these few days to grant their presence.

                           ~~~•~~~

The doorbell rang and I went excitedly to open the door knowing that Mom was outside.

There she was standing with a tired smile with a sleeping Jay in her arms.

I forwarded my arms to take him, knowing that holding a 5 year old was too much for her old bones but she swatted my hands and moved inside.

I kept looking out of the door as neither Rishi nor Nikhil came with her.

"Why are you still standing there? Close the door and come inside", Mom hollered from the living room.

"I was waiting for either Rishi or Nikhil to come", I told her after coming inside.

"We came alone. One of the Raghav's employee was going to his hometown so he dropped us on his way", Mom informed me still carrying Jay in her arms, the only difference was that she was now sitting on the couch.

"Firstly lay him down. Your arms are going to hurt and secondly how is he going to stay here without his parents?", I asked in worry.

"How would I know? I didn't ask him to come, he forcefully came with me. If he misses them then his fathers would travel here to take him back", Mom said shrugging.

I sighed in frustration. What should I do with this woman? If he cries for them, what are we going do for the three hours that would take for his fathers to come here?

"I don't know what to say at your behaviour. Why are you still holding him?", I asked in annoyance.

"He wakes up if I even try to shift him. Let him sleep for a while and I am not too old for not being able to carry a child", Mom said apparently insulted by the fact that I would even think of her being weak.

"And what is all this? Festival starts tomorrow and there is no preparation. Where are the decorations, artificial lightings and latterns, Rangoli? What are you even wearing? It's Diwali, you should atleast wear traditional dresses for festivals", Mom scolded me.

"Well I am going to wear traditional dress tomorrow and for the decorations- I thought we would do it together as my mind doesn't work in all this stuff", I spoke with a mixture of guilt and hopefulness.

"What should I do with this girl?", Mom asked looking at the ceiling as if she would be granted any answer.

"You can love her", I said cheekily and received a eye roll in response.

Jay soon woke up and greeted me with a smile but his usual cheerfulness was nowhere to be seen.

"Is something wrong?", I asked while squatting down to match his height.

He shook his head but looked down at his feet, not meeting my eyes.

"I remember someone saying that he doesn't lie", I said softly coaxing him to tell me his problem.

"No one wants to celebrate diwali with me. Everyone teases me for having two fathers instead of having a mother and a father", Jay said with teary eyes.

His sentence caught me off guard while simultaneously breaking my heart. How can someone be so cruel to a child?

"Who...who said that to you?", I asked clenching my fists.

"All my classmates", Jay answered, his head still bowed down.

Who the hell puts this thoughts in the mind of 5 year olds? How should I help? My mind was at a loss on what to do.

"So this was the reason, you came here with me instead of celebrating your first Diwali with your dads", Mom commented calling him to sit with her on the couch as she could not kneel down on the floor.

Jay nodded hesitantly.

"People only make fun of you when they are jealous of you or they don't understand something. They don't understand that love of parents is not limited to any gender. A father can act as your mother and a mother can become a father figure if a situation arises.

Now Tell me one thing- What is more important? Your fathers love and care for you or the people who don't even try to understand you", Mom asked after explaining him.

Thank God! She was here as I was totally useless. I couldn't think of anything that would have helped to pacify the kid.

Jay thought for a while and then answered, "Love from Dad and Papa".

"Then why did you hurt them by coming here with me and leaving them alone? They had brought so many clothes, toys, fire crackers and so many things to make you happy. Won't they feel sad that you ignored them and didn't even tell them the reason behind it?", Mom asked in a soft voice, letting him know his mistake but not scolding him.

"I hurt them. I very bad", Jay muttered to himself in his usual broken language with guilt clear on his face.

"No no, you are not bad", I tried to console him but his tears didn't stop.

"I was so bad. Would they send me back to orphanage for not being good? I don't want to go back. I love them, I want to always be with them", Jay cried falling into my arms.

I rubbed his back and tried consoling him, "They love you too. You are not going back to orphanage".

He still cried for some more time not taking my words into consideration but Mom took him from my arms and managed to console him and still kept whispering comforting words even though he had calmed down.

I had never imagined that such a small soul would have been burdened with so many insecurities.