the door to kavin's cabin opened, as it was hard to find him in the pile of files, papers and oddly enough, parenting books. 

"kavin?" asked dushyant, as he entered the room, walked around to find kavin in what appeared to be an empty cabin. 

"here..." raised kavin his hand, which creepily appeared from the top of a paper pile, as dushyant just shook his head, choosing to ignore this disconcerting event altogether. 

"uhh, ghar nahi jaana?" asked dushyant, trying to sound casual, as kavin got up from his seat. 

"6 baj gaye!" exclaimed kavin, completely surprised, as dushyant nodded, looking over to his wrist watch, which was still, left with ten minutes before it would struck 6. 

"but i have so much work...i mean...yeh hr department se papers aaye hain, sign karke bhejne hain aaj raat tak..." pointed kavin to the loaded paperwork on his desk, as dushyant looked sympathetically at the poor guy, who really needed to just lie down at home. 

"main kardunga..." offered dushyant instantaneously, as kavin was a bit surprised. 

"par aaj toh audit hua hai...aapko toh abhi woh waala paperwork bhi khatam karwana hai accountant ke saath..." countered kavin his suggestion, as dushyant nodded, realizing he has to come up with an argument in proposition of his suggestion for this to work. 

"haan, aur uske liye main late kaam kar hi raha hoon, saath-saath yeh bhi karwa dunga...it's not that big of a deal, main toh late hi jaata hoon...aur waise bhi tu kisliye subha jaldi aata hai, taaki time pe ghar pahaunch sake na? toh bas, ab baitha toh hai subha se, jaa!" exclaimed dushyant, making his voice sound more stern in order to make kavin comply. 

"are you sure?" raised kavin his brow, still uncertain. 

"abe chal yaar, itna bura accountant bhi nahi hai ankit, ho jayega! ghar jaa!" assured dushyant, as kavin, knowing very well there was nothing further he had to be against the proposition, picked up his bag and left in a jiffy. 

dushyant, sighed as he looked at the mountainload of paperwork on his desk. he walked over to kavin's desk, his hands in his pockets, as he let one out, to pick up a piece of paper, looking at it with such seriousness, before uttering his next sentence. 

"tumse nahi darr lagta humein paperwork, ghar mein gusse mein baithi biwi se lagta hai...." remarked dushyant, in an exaggeratedly disconcerting tone, as if he was discussing some important worldly matters, like of war. 

he kept the paper back, before looking at all of the work he had just gotten himself into. 

"aur mera dimaag kharab nahi hua itna ki jab ishita gusse mein ghar baithi hai do bachon ke saath, ki tab ghar jaon....toh yeh hi sahi.." added dushyant, as he started to collect all the papers and files. 

                                                                 ***

purvi gave a tiny knock on ishita's door, as she upon noticing, signaled her to come in. purvi took tiny, baby steps to ishita, only to realize upon reaching her, that both the little girls, were peacefully asleep already in their respective cradles, placed adjoined to each other. 

"seriously, how are you so good at this?" remarked purvi, just amazed to see that she had handled two babies at once in the matter of half an hour. 

"i have no idea...." replied ishita, literally meaning her words, which made purvi chuckle. 

"anyways, kavin aata hi hoga...you should be in your room...." suggested ishita, as purvi nodded, realizing see had to be there. 

"bye...wish me luck.." whispered purvi, taking her goodbyes,  as she rushed out of the room. 

"uhhm....well, i guess i'm free..." muttered ishita to herself, only for her words to really dawn on her. 

"i'm free!" exclaimed ishita excitedly, she realized that for the first time in months, she has all the time in the world to do whatever she wants....but what?

                                                                             ***

kavin entered his bedroom, looking for his daughter, in quite a haste, when his glance fell on purvi, sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, dressed in a light sky blue chiffon saree, with a simple white blouse, her hair let down, in messy waves, all tied together with her luminating smile. the room lit up more, as if the lighting by the candles wasn't bright enough. kavin was awestruck. 

"surprise!" exclaimed purvi giddily, only for kavin to take another look around the room. 

"purvi....yeh sab...kya, kya chal raha hai?" questioned kavin, not the response purvi was hoping for, clearly. 

"woh, main bas..." fumbled purvi, not knowing what to respond at his unexpected reaction. 

"bani kahan hai? uska nap time abhi over hota hai phir usse khilaana hota hai..." looked around kavin, completely baffled. 

"kavin...woh di ke paas hai...everything's alright...she's asleep already...." attempted purvi to calm him down, only for things to escalate. 

"what is wrong with you! yeh uske sone ka time nahi hai! khaana khilane ke baad you have to play with her a little, brain ke stimulation ke liye zaroori hota hai...that puts her to natural sleep...she'll wake up again! jab kuch pata nahi hai tumhe, toh kyun bewakoofiyan karti ho!" yelled kavin, as purvi was visibly hurt. 

"kavin, i just wanted to..." spoke purvi with tears in her eyes.

"sab tumhari man pe toh depend nahi karta na purvi!" shut down kavin, any attempts of her to make a comment. 

that's when she knew, her marriage had quietly, finished...

                                                                      ***

dushyant, yawning, ready to doze off at any point, if he only got his bed placed in front of him, entered his room. the room was dark, all lights shut down for the night, as he noticed ishita was lying there on the bed, probably asleep, while jasmine too was peacefully drowsing away to sleep in her little cradle. 

he didn't want to disturb them, and was too tired to change, so he just kept his bag aside, took off his shoes and socks, and crashed on his bed. 

it was only when he lied down, when he started to realize that the room wasn't drop dead silent, there were voices, voices of sobs and cries, not loud, so low that they could have easily gone unnoticed, if it wasn't the midnight's silence. 

dushyant rolled over to ishita's side, as he covered his arms around hers, trying to see if it was true, if she had been crying to sleep, hiding away by showing her back to him. 

"ishita..." called dushyant gently, as she realized her attempts to hide the tears were in vain. 

"hey, kya hua?" asked dushyant, concerned, completely unaware of what was going on, as she just shook her head in no. 

"come on ishita...just tell me..." insisted dushyant, still polite with his request. 

"bahar se sabko lagta hai, that, that you know i'm this perfect mother...but...i'm not...kabhi-kabhi jasmine roo rahi hoti hai kyunki usse bhook lag rahi hoti hai, par mujhe nahi samajh aata....jab woh khaana giraadeti hai jab main khilaati hoon, mujhe gussa nahi aana chahiye uspe, usse pyaar se khilana chahiye...par mujhe gussa aata hai....main jitna koshish karti hoon woh perfect maa banne ki joh main lagti hoon, i fail even more...and i feel so bad, that i'm lying to everyone, because i'm such a terrible mother...." cried out ishita her pain, chocking through her words, as dushyant made her turn, such that, she was lying on her back now. 

he gently used his thumb to brush off her tears, cupping her face, after they all dried, he gave her a small peck on the forehead. 

"pata hai, jab bhi main kavin ko dekhta tha na, yahi sochta tha...isse dekh lo, sab apne aap hi seekh gaya...diaper badalna ho, chahe, bache ko khilana, nahalana, uske saath khelna...sab mein, he's so good....and i'm not...mujhe ek diaper badalna seekhne mein mahine lag gaye....and main aaj tak panic ho jaata hoon agar kabhi jasmine ko khilane lekar jaana hota hai....kahi usse lag gayi, kahi woh mujhse kho gayi...pata nahi kya-kya...par, aaj usko dekha na office mein...maine usmein, ek thakawat dekhi...woh darr dekhe, joh mujhe lagta tha bas mujh mein hai....bache ke liye ghar time pe na pahaunch paana, kuch gadbad hojana....made me realise ki, main kitna stupid tha ki mujhe laga ki koi bhi ek perfect parent ho sakta hai...truth is, humein se kisiko bhi nahi pata ki apne bache ke liye ache parents kaise banne...isliye, ho jaati hai galtiyaan hum sab se...iska matlab yeh nahi hai ki hum bure parents hain...it just means, hum koshish kar rahe hain, and shayad, wahi hamare bache ke liye sabse achi baat hai..." stated dushyant his observations, as ishita turned to her left, burying her head into dushyant's chest, as he embraced her with his arms. 

"we will be ok..." stated ishita, an assured smile on her face, as dushyant too nodded, reciprocating with a calm smile on his face too. 

                                                                   ***