Delhi
Garden

" Where did I fail, Ma? How can she act in such a way?" he cried in his mother's embrace, the garden where his mother's warmth is present. Hoping to find solace in there. True, he got the warmth he needed. The feel he wanted. The comfort he is greedy for.

"I told her that my relationship was nothing but platonic. If she had her doubts, she could have asked me, better she could have directly blamed me. DNA Test? How can she do that? Is it that easy for her? How can she? My Khushi will never do such a thing. Where is my Khushi, Ma? How..? " he cried in his mother's garden sitting under the tree he planted with his mother. The tree is giving enough shelter to save him from evening sun rays.

" Khushi!!" he continued to cry with her name on his lips. The pain was evident in his orbs, his voice was vulnerable. He checked on his tears as his throat dried up, tears rolling down his eyes. His cheeks are wet with his tears. His eyes became red, more burdened. Uncontrollable sobs shook him back and forth. He's not in his senses to even have a look at his surroundings. He's in too much pain that his wife didn't trust him, she didn't confront him, that she hurt him; to notice the blooming flowers around him. That's when a bird fell on his lap, he got out of his daze sensing the birds move in his lap, he looked at the bird and took the bird in his hand. It was a tiny bird that could have possibly fallen down from the tree. But, how could it have fallen down by itself? Must have been slipped, he thought. And then, he heard the squealing of a bird. The squeal he heard looked like an angry squeal, with the pressure it was howling. He looked up to gaze at the angry bird. A clear picture of two birds, probably a couple; reflected its picture on his iris.

Looking at them howling, the bird in his hand opened its wings to fly. He noticed the tiny bird reaching the couple. As the third bird came in between the two, one of them kicked the third bird out, as if kicking everyone out from their small world of two who tried to separate them. The couple bird looked so beautiful. The bond between them looked more sacred as the other tiny bird tried to comfort its partner, by simply opening its wings as if to hide them, their bond behind the wing from evils. It looked so pure, words were not enough to name their bond.

As he looked at them, he can frame himself and Khushi in its place. How perfect it is! Just like a dream, so pure. Dream? Isn't it their "Choti si Duniya"? When did it become a dream? Is it even a dream? Or is it just a mirage, a mirage of the perfect couple? Isn't it? He realized it is as he closed his eyes in pain at the realization, probably late. They are not what it looks like. They are not a couple even, the perfect couple can go to hell. When was the last time they acted as a couple? When was the last time he spends his time with her? When was the last time he looked at her in the eye? Where has that gone? How did he not notice all that? Every time, there was an interruption. The bird is more clever than any human, it just kicked out the third wheel between them. He let the third wheel enter their life. And when she asked him about Sheetal, he told her that there is nothing to worry about his relationships or regarding Sheetal. Told her! But, is telling enough? Is a single line of five to six words enough? Couldn't he assure her? Where was he when she needs assurance? He was not there because he didn't realize her need for assurance. When he didn't assure her of his relationship, could he blame her when she thought he was the father of Aarav? Was he not responsible for erasing her insecurities? When he didn't even realize his wife's insecurity, how could he possibly ensure her? Where was he when their family members kept comparing that kid with him, how similar they were? Was it not his duty to protect his wife from such senseless words? Duty? When did the love he had for his wife become a duty? Was he that ignorant? Where did his love fade away? Did it fade away, really? Or he ignored his love?
And he not only ignored his wife's feelings, but he also didn't care about the fact that he was spending his time with his ex. Did Sheetal and Aarav become so important that he didn't even notice what was happening around him? How can he not notice it? How can he ignore the facts? He opened his eyes wide at the realization, the truth is in front of him, the truth which is hiding behind the layer. He ignored it. It's his fault. He deserves what Khushi did, a DNA test. He deserves it all. Yet, he couldn't help but hope, a hope where there was no DNA test, instead of that, a slap, a confrontation, a terrible fight, and a heart-wrenching scream were better to open his eyes.

Alas! He was the one who drove her to the threshold point. He has himself to blame for his actions. He took her for granted. It's his fault. He loves her, and married her too, then why did he not show her the same? Because he thought his wife would understand him, as always. But how can she understand him when she was drowning in a pool of insecurities? He should have realized it and he didn't. The consequences are here, now. Broken trust or maybe a mirage of a perfect couple who has understanding, trust, communication, and love between each other. The understanding, trust, and communication got drowned in her insecurity while his in ignorance. Trust without communication and understanding is a trifle, just a broken piece of love. The broken piece of love isn't enough to have a successful love-filled life, after all.

He opened his red eyes wide, his jaw clenched in fury with fury at his own foolishness. He is shaking in pain at the realization, fury at his foolishness, and, a little bit of disappointment at not having this confrontation way before.

It has been two hours he has been sitting in the park under the tree, the sun has disappeared from the west of the sky. The moon is peeking down at him, little twinkling stars all over the sky looking down at him.

He realized it is too late in the night. He got up with difficulty as sitting in the same position for more than two hours made him ideal. Hopefully, it's not too late. He has to fix the mess that was created. He has to mend his relationship. He has to talk to his Khushi. He cannot do the same mistake, again.

Delhi
Trust Orphanage

" I told you, right? Aarav is my son. You cannot say that he is not mine. Understood?" Sheetal screamed at the woman in front of him.

"Is it, Sheetal?" a woman's voice came from the other end of the Cabin.

It's the orphanage where hundreds of children were abandoned, daily. The orphanage is run by Aasha Mehra who is a warden of the orphanage. Aasha and Sheetal are sitting in front of each other, arguing with each other. That's when they heard a woman's voice.

Sheetal turned towards the woman and gasped in shock.

"Sneha?" Sheetal whispered.

"What? Shocked, are we? What do you think, I won't come ever?" Sneha retorted at Sheetal.

"Excuse us, please." Sheetal looked at the warden and dragged her outside the cabin, unaware that someone is following her.

Sheetal dragged Sneha to the garden while Sneha kept screaming at her.

" What the hell, Sheetal? Is it how you behave with your friend?" Sneha snorted at her. Then, she made a face, as if thinking about something.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. You never considered me a friend, did you? That's why you are using my son for your selfishness, aren't you?" she screamed at Sheetal while Sheetal smirked at her in return.

" Whose son? Aarav is your son? Is that why you left your one-day-old son in this orphanage? Telling me to visit him now and then when I just came to Mumbai for my career. You will come now and I'll hand over him to you?" Sheetal mocked her. Yes, Sheetal used to visit Aarav every now and then. And now, she is using him for her own selfishness. Until then, no one can snatch her toy, Aarav from her. Even his mother. She needs Aarav to play her game.

"Who gave you permission to adopt him? Huh? You are arguing with me for my own son? I can lodge a complaint against you. You are a bloody cheater." Sheetal fumed at Sneha's words. Her fury touched the top of her head as she frowned at her.

"Aarav's bloody father! He gave me permission to use Aarav. When his father allowed me to use his son, why can't I use him?" Sheetal shouted at Sneha in fury.

" I don't expect anything good from him, anyway. I want my son. I will not let you or that bastard play games using my son." Sneha threatened Sheetal. How dare they use her son? She did a mistake by leaving her born baby, and she is ready to rectify it, shower her love on him and they are using him? They are hurting him. She will not let it happen. She thought.

"How will you stop? Do you even know where is your son? " Sheetal sneered at the girl in front of her. The girl she called her friend once.

Sheetal went away leaving Sneha in the garden. Too confident that she wouldn't come to know about Aarav's location.

How dare you, Shyam Manohar Jha? I know you never considered Aarav as your own Kid. Then how the hell did you dare to give permission for using my son?

It has been 7 years since she had contact with him. Aarav was the result of their no-strings-attached affair. Not always the protection can work, after all. Owing to the fact, when she became pregnant, he acted like a good father. Neither she nor Shyam wanted the Kid. But, she is not too cruel to kill her kid, to abort it. If God has given her the kid, she will accept it. That's what she did. She accepted it. She gave birth to the baby only to leave him in the orphanage, hurt by his betrayal of Shyam. She put an option in front of Shyam as well. He could have walked out from her life owing to on-strings-attached-affair but he didn't. He stopped for her money. She didn't realize it then. Being an only heir of thousands of crores, he couldn't have missed the chance to have a lavish life. She thought they came out of the affair and are entering into Love. But all was fake. She got to know about it during her delivery. She left her kid. She was too hurt by the betrayal by him. She regrets her decision of leaving her son who is Shyam's blood. After all, he is her son. And when she came back to redeem, she got to know what was happening with her son.

All the while, neither Sheetal nor Sneha noticed a camera that was recording their conversation.

To be continued...

Khushi's PoV will be up by tomorrow.

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