Holding on and letting go:TS

Part one

'Ammi' amidst the low voices of dignatories inside the board meeting she was jolted by the sudden voice. Her concentration was disjunctured and across the room she could see her father gazing at her with a concerned look. She tried to convince I'm with a smile but inside her there was a storm brewing to explode.

Wasim Siddiqui quickly walked past people after the meeting ended towards his daughter only to find her in a state of utter shock. He stared at the screen of her mobile to that displayed around fifty missed calls from her relatives including his wife and younger daughter.

"Abbu..." She clasped her father's hands, that panic stricken face of his daughter always gave Wasim that chill in the spine.

Zoya did not know how she was taken to Mumbai with her father handling all the phone calls, throughout the journey she felt like she blacked out. It was only when their car reached Hooda house that she rushed towards him.

A tight painful grip on her arms stopped her track,

'Where do you think your going? Don't you think it is a little too late for all this dramatics.

"Mom, this is neither the time nor place for all this", Arjun interfered with gritted teeth.

Zoya rushed towards the bedroom to see him lying peacefully with Noor sitting beside him. Her steps automatically slowed down whereas her heart pounded violently, it almost felt like she was choking.

'Appi' her sister's voice returned some sanity to her as she weakly patted Noor's cheek. She finally knelt down next to him, her trembling hands pushed back the hair from his forehead.

"Ammi, don't cry I missed you too". Her son's voice was like a faint light in the darkest caverns to her ears. She clasped her four year old to her chest and tears bust out with her entire body shaking. Noor softly carressed her sister's hair pleading her appi to stop crying.

'What kind of mother are you leaving your child for a business trip when you knew he was unwell?'

Her mother-in-laws sharp tone had never mellowed down in all these years. She clasped Noor's hand for she knew her sister was about to reply back to their mother-in-law.

'Hooda house can never be a happy place till you are here.' Anjana threw daggers through her words that pierced through Zoya's very being.

"I think that will be enough for today." Zoya clutched her son tighter as she heard a deep masculine voice from behind.

"We all should relax now, doctor said that Meer had a slight fever which is gone now besides Zoya will take it from here, mother's knows best". Her husband's calm voice soothed the raging storm within her but she refused to turn back and hold his eyes with hers, she knew he was desperately longing for a glimpse of her. But a part of Zoya was plain exhausted, she knew if she turned her back she will be in Aditya's arms all undone. Why could not she handle things on her own? Why could not for once Aditya depend upon her? Why was it always the other way round? Her heart sank at the thought of being a delicate flower that Aditya protected all the time, for once she did not want to burden him.

Aditya stared at his wife with clenched jaws hoping she would look at him but to no avail. Her long hair cascaded till her back while she gently rocked their son to sleep. For once he just wanted to act on his impulse, stride two steps crush her in his arms and break past through all the invisible barriers she had created. But he did what was sensible at the moment, to reason out with his mother who had stormed out of the room deeply hurt. Aditya took a deep breath and left the room after exchanging a warm smile with his sister in law.

"I am so sorry Tim for not being there when you needed me the most" her eyes flooded with tears as she held him closer to her.

'I was a good boy ammi, you can ask Pa also' her little Tim replied.