Part 4 : Who is she?

The rain had finally bid farewell by the evening.

Armaan drove back home slowly through the wet roads, one hand resting lazily against the steering wheel while Shilpa’s earlier words lingered in his mind.

Come home early today.

A faint smile tugged at his lips and just as the signal ahead turned green, he drove forward slowly.

Meanwhile, only a few streets away from him, the bus finally came to a halt.

The woman stepped down slowly, clutching the folded newspaper cutting tightly against her chest as the unfamiliar yet strangely familiar streets stretched ahead of her.

Rainwater clung to the loose strands of her hair while her tired eyes remained fixed on the haunting streets ahead, her heart drumming against her chest.

The folded newspaper cutting stayed pressed tightly against her chest.

For one brief moment, Armaan’s car passed directly beside her through the rain.

Close enough, yet not enough closer and neither of them looked up as the distance between them widened again.

~

Armaan pulled into the driveway, a few minutes later.

Before he could even step out properly, the front door flew open and a tiny figure came running.

"Papaaaa!"

Armaan barely had enough time to put down the shopping bag before Nikki crashed straight into him.

"Wait-"

He stumbled back dramatically.

"Nikita Malik! you're going to break my bones one day." The little girl just giggled shamelessly.

"You came early!" She clung onto his legs and looked up at him, her eyes twinkling.

"I know, It's very shocking."

"Did you bring any chocolates?"

His expression immediately shifted into a mock-offense one. "Wow...So this is all I am to you?"

Nikki looked at him cheekily before dragging him along inside the house while Armaan followed along, smiling helplessly at her antics.

The moment Armaan stepped inside, the familiar scent of home wrapped around him instantly.

Nikki's crayons scattered somewhere they definitely weren't supposed to be and the delicious aroma coming from the kitchen.

Home. The word settled warmly inside his chest.

He slipped off his shoes near the entrance before his eyes immediately searched for one person. "Where's your Mama?"

Nikki pointed dramatically towards the kitchen. "Being angry."

Armaan raised an eyebrow.

"Again?"

"Again."

He found Shilpa exactly where Nikki had predicted. Standing near the stove while stirring something absent-mindedly. Her hair was tied up loosely and she didn't even turn when she heard him enter. A purely sure sign she was still sulking about something.

Armaan smiled knowingly.

He quietly walked up behind her and snaked his arms around her waist as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Hello."

"No."

"I haven't even said anything." He pressed a kiss on her neck.

"Still no."

"That's unfair."

Shilpa fought the smile threatening to appear but failed miserably.

"How was the work?" she finally asked.

"It was tolerable." Shilpa raised a brow at his words.

"What do you mean by tolerable?"

"Because you weren't there."

A pause. Then,

"Oh God." She immediately elbowed him, not that hard. "Can you ever be normal?"

"No." Came a straight reply and Armaan added playfully. "At least I am being honest."

Then came a excited shout from the living room.

"Mamaaaa....Papaaaaa....come here! I want to show you something!"

A few minutes later, all three were gathered in the living room.

Nikki handed Armaan a paper as the television played quietly in the background.

As he looked at it, it was a family drawing.

"Who's this?" he asks.

"Me."

"And this?"

"Mama."

"And this?"

"You." Armaan nods smiling fondly and then points at a tiny spot on the corner. "And this tiny thing?"

"My cat!" Nikki said proudly. "You don't have one" He narrowed his eyes.

"I will have soon." Nikki looked at them hopefully.

"You are very ambitious." Shilpa commented due to which all of them laughed.

Nikki sat on the carpet surrounded by crayons while Armaan stretched out across the sofa like a man who had finally breathed freedom.

His head rested comfortably in Shilpa's lap.

"Don't move." He looked up at her.

"I wasn't." She frowned at him.

"You are."

"I just breathed c'mon."

"Exactly." Armaan looked at her offended.

Shilpa just sighed at him "Of course! How dare I." She said teasingly.

Shilpa rolled her eyes and continued running her fingers through his hair absent-mindedly. The tension she'd felt all day had eased considerably, not completely but enough.

Armaan closed his eyes relaxing into her soothing touch.

~

She has reached the old locality but everything feels different now.

The grocery shop changed, the road had widened, there were numerous new buildings, new trees etc.

She keeps looking around, trying to find pieces of memory, trying to match feelings to places but turned frustrated as she was not fully succeeding.

The newspaper clipping is becoming less useful than she'd hoped because memory isn't returning in a quick way but was returning in fragments.

She passes by a small shop without a second glance, most probably because she couldn't recognise the small space which had changed through time with obvious renovation and the changing neighbourhood.

As she walked past, an elderly shopkeeper looks up expecting a new customer but freezes, completely freezes.

The pen slips from his fingers and for a moment he genuinely thinks he's imagining things because some faces become memories and memories don't walk back into the city unannounced and unpredicted.

The old man slowly rises from his chair. His eyes never left her retreating figure. Shock, disbelief, confusion and fear...all at once appeared on his face.

His lips part slightly and a name escapes before he can stop it. It came out barely as a whisper.

"Riddhima...?"

But she didn't seem to hear him.

The shopkeeper stares after her fading figure because if what he just saw was real...then a story that ended years ago had suddenly begun again.

~

She kept walking determined towards a particular direction, taking in the surroundings and the obvious changes all around.

A bittersweet feeling spread across her heart.

The deeper she walked into the neighborhood, the heavier her chest became as fragments of memory surfaced unexpectedly.

She paused beside a familiar-looking gate. No, not this one. Her fingers brushed against the cold metal absent-mindedly before she moved on a little further ahead. Her heart was gwaning with uncertainty or perhaps it was simply fear.

Because for the first time since beginning this journey, the possibility felt real.

What if she was wrong? What if nobody cared enough? What if she had come all this way only to discover there was nothing waiting for her at the end of it? Her throat tightened yet she continued forward.

One step, then another like some invisible thread was pulling her along. Closer and closer...before it came into a pause.

Her gaze slowly lifted as the house in the front stood quietly beneath the evening sky.

For a moment she forgot how to breathe. Emotions crashed into her so violently that she had to grip the bag she was carrying tighter to steady herself. She couldn't explain why and how.

She walked closer and raised her hand tremblingly while flinching slightly as the sound echoed like a final verdict when she finally rang the bell.

~

A loud ring echoed, breaking the peaceful atmosphere inside the house.

Armaan's eyes shot open at the sound while Shilpa looked towards the door. "Someone's here I think."

"I will go and see," He straightened up and walked towards the door.

Each echoing footsteps of his unknowingly sent a sense of dread in Shilpa's heart.

Armaan's hand shot out as he finally pulled open the door.

Shilpa froze as she felt a loud thud at the bottom of her heart.

______________________________________

Here's the update how is it? and I will tryyyyyy to update one more chapter before becoming inactive due to all my exams coming up then I will be back directly in July