Arnav Singh Raizada was sitting in his office, working on his laptop as usual. His fingers were moving furiously on the keypad. Sparkling brown orbs were all fixed on the screen ahead with utmost concentration when the shrill ring tone of his cell phone startled him. Tearing away his gaze from the laptop screen, he looked at his cell phone only to fine Khushi's land-line number blinking on it.

"What the! Why isn't she calling from her phone?" Muttering under his breath, Arnav picked up the phone and swiped the screen to right, putting it on his ear.

"Hello!"

"Arnav bitwa!"

Arnav straightened on his seat a bit, hearing the unexpected yet soft voice. His eyes had frowned in confusion.

"Aunty!? Oh..Namaste!" He greeted politely, pondering upon the reason of this sudden call.

"Namaste bitwa! How are you?" Garima asked in a soft voice.

"I am absolutely fine Aunty. How are you? Is everything fine? Uncle? Is Khushi fine?"

Garima smiled fondly at his concern and nodded her head a little. "Everything is fine bitwa. No need to worry. I..actually...wanted to talk with you... about something."

"Yeah Aunty. Please say. I am listening."

"Not on phone bitwa. I want to speak with you face to face. If you don't mind can we meet please?" Garima asked.

Arnav's brows knitted in confusion. This was the first time Garima had called him directly like this and was demanding a meeting. His heart thudded in his chest anticipating something big.

"Yeah sure aunty. I will come to your house within half an hour." Arnav replied.

"No bitwa. Not at home." Garima denied instantly. "I don't want anyone to know about this, not even Khushi."

Now that was something which alerted Arnav instantly. His confusion increasing to a notch higher.

"Aunty, everything is fine right? You are scaring me. If there is some problem, you can tell me. I am like your son. No need to hide things from me." Arnav spoke.

Garima felt her eyes filling up. Biting her lower lip, she tried to push back the sobs which were threatening to escape. "Please bitwa, meet me somewhere!" She pleaded.

"Ok! Ok Aunty. No need to request. I will meet you within half an hour. Tell me the place."

"Laxmi-Nagar Temple. I will wait for you there. I hope you will be fine there, if not than we can meet somewhere else as well. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable." Garima said in a concern filled voice.

"No Aunty! I will be fine. I am coming. See you soon there."

"Ok bitwa! Will be waiting for you." Garima replied and hung up the call.

Pocketing his cell phone, Arnav stood up from the chair and picked up his blazer from the stand. Rubbing his face, he sighed deeply before moving out of his cabin.

*************

Exactly half an hour later, both Arnav and Garima were sitting on a bench in the premises of the temple. Garima was nervously fidgeting with her fingers, trying to form some words to start the conversation while Arnav was patiently waiting for her to start speaking. His sharp sixth sense was hinting him of something big coming of.

"Arnav bitwa!"

Garima's soft voice made him look up at her. He glanced at her face only to find her misted eyes and depressed face. Her lower lip was quivering as if she was trying to stop herself from crying. Her face had turned red with the over-flowing emotions and fear.

Arnav felt a tug at his heart seeing Garima's tensed posture. He immediately slipped closer to her and held her soft old hands in his rough young ones, squeezing them fondly.

"Aunty please talk to me. You don't need to be scared. I know you are trying to say something to me. Please say. You have always addressed me as your son, right? Than you should treat me as one too. Trust me with whatever is bothering you aunty. I will try my best to help you." Arnav said in a soft voice.

Garima's old, wary eyes filled up with fresh tears. She kept her trembling, wrinkled hand on Arnav's and pressed it tightly.

"Arnav bitwa, whatever I am going to say, is surely going to hurt you, but you have to listen me and believe me. I tried a lot to suppress everything inside me but I can't hold it anymore. I have to let it out. I am going to trust you with the biggest secret of my life." Garima cried.

Arnav kept mum, waiting for her to speak further. His heart was thumping in his chest loudly. A strange kind of uneasiness had gripped his heart.

"Arnav bitwa, promise me that whatever I am going to say won't effect your relationship with Khushi bitiya, promise me please. My daughter is very innocent. She has nothing to do with anything. She has faced a lot, right from her childhood. I can't give her any more pain. After her parents death, for the first time I have seen her so happy. You have come like a ray of hope in her life. You are like a gust of spring wind in her dolor filled life. She loves you very much bitwa. She won't be able to live without you. Promise me you won't leave her Arnav bitwa, please promise me." Garima implored, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Arnav bowed his head down and sighed loudly, before he looked up and gazed right in the eyes of the woman sitting in front of him.

"I can never ever leave Khushi, aunty. Never Ever! She is my life. My reason to breath. No matter what happens, I won't leave her. I can't leave her, to be honest. I love her too much to look pass every other thing. You say that she can't live without me! But the thruth is, it is me who can't even breath without her. I am nothing if Khushi isn't beside me. You can trust me in this matter aunty, i won't ever do any such thing which would hurt my Khushi." Arnav spoke in a solid and determined voice.

Nodding her head vigorously, Garima smiled affectionately at him with teary eyes. She patted his head endearingly and kissed his forehead with all the motherly love she had in herself.

Arnav felt his throat clogged up with overwhelming emotions. He blinked his eyes several times, trying hard to not let his tears flow out. This kiss on his forehead had reminded him of his own mother. After such a long time, he had felt as if his own mother had came back. The love shining in the eyes of the woman, sitting in front of him was extremely pure. He could never doubt on it. Arnav was feeling like to throw his arms around her and hug her tight, just like he used to do with his mother. He wanted her to caress his hairs softly and lovingly, just like his mother used to do.

"Bitwa.." Garima started gaining Arnav's attention. He immediately nodded his head asking her to speak further.

"Arnav Bitwa, I am..the woman because...of whom you and Anjali bitiya are...orphan today." Garima mumbled in a low voice.

Arnav took a sharp intake of breath and fisted his hand tightly. His eyes had turned red with raging emotions.

Garima continued with tears still flowing down her eyes. "Yes bitwa, I am...the woman because of whom you Amma committed suicide. Your father....was in an extra marital relation with me. I...won't lie beta, I loved Arvind very much. Even more than.... my life but the bigger truth is that....I.... didn't know that he was married. He hid this fact with me. After a long time, I got to.... know about his marriage and him being a father but till than, Ratna-ji had also learned the truth. I immediately broke up....with him and confronted him for lying to me. He said that he loved....me and wanted to marry me. His audacity....made me so angry. I broke all....the ties with him, hoping that now he would be loyal to his wife and children but....but after few days I got to know about....your mother's suicide and Arvind.... killing himself. The news was....a very big shock for...me. I couldn't help....but blame myself for the incident. I felt like....I am the murderer....of your Amma. I just couldn't forgive myself. Just the thought of...an innocent and...loyal woman....dying because of me was enough to kill me. I am so sorry bitwa. Please forgive me. All the miseries which you...and Anjali bitiya faced were because of me. I was the reason behind you both loosing every thing in your life. Because of me....Anjali bitiya's marriage broke. Because of me....both of you....were thrown out of Sheesh Mahal. Please forgive me bitwa.... please!!!" Garima confessed, choking on her tears.

For few moments, there was complete silence around them. Except Garima's sobs, which were echoing time to time, none of them said anything. Arnav was sitting like a statue, not reacting at all. Garima felt like her heart would come out any minute. Fear was eating her insides, leaving her breathless. Just the thought of Arnav leaving Khushi after knowing the truth was enough to rip her breath out.

"Ar-Arnav bitwa..." Garima cried more, trying to get a reaction out of him.

Sighing tiredly, Arnav looked up from the floor to her face and smiled faintly.

"I know this truth from a very long time Aunty."

Garima frooz on her place. Shock would be an understatement for what she felt. Her eyes had indurate with astonishment.

"Bitwa? You--"

"Yes Aunty." Arnav cut her off. "I got to know about it during Aakash and Payal's wedding. It was the same time, I started realizing my feelings for Khushi. When I learned the truth, I didn't know what to do. I was stuck in between the truth and my feelings. On one side, it was my mother who was punished with no mistake of hers and on the other side, it was Khushi who bring colors, happiness and smiles in my otherwise gloomy world. She taught me to live again. I tried aunty, I tried a lot to shoo her thoughts away but every time, my efforts went in vain. Her smiling face, her twinkling eyes, her cute childish antics and her mischiefs didn't allow me to forget her. I couldn't erase her memories from my heart, I just couldn't! That was the most toughest phase of my life. There was a continuous battle between my heart and brain and eventually, my heart won. My love for Khushi won over my hatred. You know aunty, my maa had once advised me that i should never, never ever punish flowers for the mistakes done by thrones. I couldn't punish my flower. I couldn't punish Khushi for the mistakes committed by someone else." Arnav spoke in a low voice.

Garima put a fist of her hand on her mouth, trying to push back the sobs. She was feeling as if someone was choking the life out of her. The man sitting in front of her appeared to her like a teenage boy, craving for love and affection.

"Arnav bitwa, please forgive me. Because of me you--"

"No Aunty!" Arnav interrupted her. "You don't need to apologize. You were as innocent as my mother. The real culprit was my father who played with two naive women at the same. He hurted my both mothers aunty."

Garima felt like as if her heart would burst out any minute. Did he just....just accepted her as his mother?? Tears rolled down her cheeks freely. A sudden and very strong wave of motherly love and affection passed through her body for Arnav. She felt like taking him in her embrace and erase every pain, every difficulty, every ache from his life. To protect him from every evil eye and bad omen. To hide him in his arms just like a mother hen do when she find any danger around her chickens.

"Remember aunty?, Khushi once asked me to address you as 'Amma' and I denied, scolding her a lot in the way. It wasn't because I hadn't accepted you as my mother...it was because the splinter of this truth was piercing my heart. I wanted you to trust me and tell me the whole truth yourself. I wanted you to trust me like your own son. I wanted you to have this belief in yourself that I will never leave Khushi because of this reality. It wasn't like I wanted to insult you or something, its just I wanted you to treat me as your own son and trust me with this harsh reality. I wanted to call you 'Amma' that day, when there won't be any hidden truth or secrets between us. I wanted to accept you with all my heart. I didn't want to call you 'Amma' just for namesake, I wanted you to be one in all possible ways." Arnav said with misted eyes and a faint smile playing on his lips.

Garima couldn't hold herself anymore. She lunged forward and hugged Arnav tightly, taking him into her motherly embrace. Her one hand went up to his hairs, caressing them fondly while the other hand was patting his back. Arnav responded immediately. He too hugged her tightly, seeking the much wanted warmth and amour from her. It was a heavenly feeling. He felt like he was at home after a long time. This was the only thing lacking in his life. A mother and her love! And today, Arnav Singh Raizada had got that too.

"My son!" Garima cried, kissing his head lovingly.

Arnav pulled back at once and looked at her with with some kind of desperateness.

"Will you....will you be my Maa? Will you accept my as your own? Will you love me like a mother loves his son? Please! Please! Can I call you my Maa?" He asked in a fear-filled voice as if he was afraid of rejection. As if he was afraid of loosing his mother again. He was looking like a small boy who was scared that he would be separated from his mother.

Garima smiled widely and nodded her head vigorously. She again pulled him in her arms and patted him endearingly.

"I am your Maa bitwa! I am. You are my son and I love you just like I love Khushi and Payal. You don't need to ask. You are as dear to me as my daughters. You can call me Maa Arnav! I promise to be one for you."

Arnav smiled and closed his eyes in contentment. Finally he was home! Finally he was with his Maa!

****************

That's it!! Hope you guys like it 😊

I really don't know how this OS has come out. I hope it wasn't a piece of crap🙊🙊

Believe me or not, the idea for this OS came in my mind while I was taking bath😂 and that too out of nowhere. And as soon as I came out, I immediately sat down to write it lest the plot flew away from my brain.

Please do vote and comment your thoughts about this piece. I will be waiting for your reviews!!💖

The OS series "Life with a devilishly devious doll" is updated too. Do check it out if you haven't yet;)