Part 12:
Aditya walked back into the kitchen sometime later, rocking Emmaline in his arms. He found Imlie quietly sweeping up the beads of her mangalsutra as tears rolled down her face. Aditya felt a tremor in his heart as regret washed over him. He shouldn't have done that...knowing how much she believed in these things. But she had made him pine for 10 years and would let him go on living like that for the rest of their lives if they had never met.
Aditya growled: Whose child is this then?
Imlie looked up. The sight she had day dreamed about for longer than Emmy's life was right before her. A baby daughter in Aditya's arms. She had relived this fantasy every night as she fell asleep and every morning when she woke up. Just him, without Malini Didi or their unfortunate child, or anyone else. Just him and a baby girl sleeping against his broad shoulders.
Aditya: Well?
Imlie placed the beads in a container and spoke in a post-cry voice: Mine.
Aditya was silent for a bit: Who is the father?
Imlie glared at him: She doesn't have a father. She's mine and only mine.
Aditya, sarcastically: I see. So you turned into Mother Mary in the interim?
Imlie wanted to throw something at him: She's an orphaned refugee baby from Syria. Alex found her at a neglected camp in Hungary and brought her back when she was 2 months old. He knew how much I wanted a baby and she was only going to face a life of neglect at such an age, so...
Aditya: So he adopted one for you and fulfilled your dream. What does that make Alex?
Imlie, sternly: He's her guardian and I am her mother.
Aditya wanted to say something more about Alex and Imlie, but stopped himself. He remembered his regret after he had an outburst about Prakash and by this point he knew Imlie's view of marriage well enough to know that she couldn't have considered anyone as long as he, himself, was alive.
He looked at the baby sleeping in his arms, her glowing honey hair, her little hand clutching at his collar and felt a real yearning wash over him.
Aditya, quietly: We could have had a daughter like this if you didn't throw it all away.
Imlie shot back: If I recall correctly, you were having a baby when I left and it was not with (Aditya turned away and left for Emmy's room without letting her finish).
Imlie sighed. He was not going to listen to her. Not now. She knew it.
Aditya put Emmy down in her crib and placed her small blanket rabbit next to her. In her sleep, she snuggled it contentedly and mumbled something incomprehensive in her baby voice.
Aditya blinked back the tears blurring his vision.
"2 times 2 is equal to...Babusaheb."
Imlie spoke in her sleep too. He knew this from their Pakdandiya all-nighter study session, even if he was not lucky enough to see it every day as a husband would see his wife. They had missed so much of each other. They had missed everything.
Aditya went back into his room fully aware that Imlie was observing him warily. He knew she had locked every way out of the house. This was a secured space as she had warned him. But he could not stay here any longer. He came out of his room, dressed in his own clothes of white t-shirt, jeans and a black blazer.
Aditya: I want to be transferred to a different facility if I have to be in witness protection any longer.
Imlie was in the living room stringing her beads together, she did not look up: I will call Alex.
Aditya: I will wait in the room until he's here.
He went back in and shut the door, unable to see the fat tears dropping on the black and gold beads.
There was a knock on the door a little while later. Imlie spoke in a soft voice through it.
Imlie: Alex cannot come this evening. He has the date. He will come in the morning at 11 am. I have put some coffee and snacks for you on the side table by your door.
He heard small footsteps fade away.
She was not going to even try to stop him. Why would she, he had told her he hated her with every fiber of his being. Aditya could have hit himself for those cruel words. He didn't know what he would do if she had said those words to him.
He stepped out of the room, got the coffee and went into the living room. Imlie had left her beading half-done.
That evening, Imlie dreaded coming down and facing him again, but Emmy needed her. She snuck about, making dinner and put some food outside Aditya's room before going into Emmy's.
Emmy was being very fussy this evening - as if she knew something was very wrong. Imlie tried her best to calm the baby and get her ready.
Aditya knocked on the door: Will you come outside for a moment?
Imlie's heart skipped a beat. She didn't have it in her to take more tongue lashings from him. She could not take it.
Imlie came out with Emmy, hoping the baby will make him a little more civil.
He had put everyone's dinner on the table.
Imlie quietly put Emmy in her high chair and started feeding her.
Imlie was throwing anxious looks in his direction as she came out.
Aditya could not forgive everything, but he did wish some words unsaid.
He placed the finished mangal sutra in front of Imlie on the table: It wasn't my place to tear this off, I am sorry.
Imlie just fed Emmy quietly. She did not look at him after the one look at the beads.
Imlie: On the contrary, it is in your name; so if you don't want me to have it, you are the only one who can take it back, tear it off, or destroy it.
Aditya bit his bottom lip as the weight on his chest grew: I don't want us to part on such a note.
Imlie shot him an angry, tearful look and went back to looking at Emmy - who in turn burst into tears at the sight of her mother's face.
Imlie wiped her tears and soothed the baby in a hollow voice: That's the problem with babies, they mirror everything on your face. I am sorry, I am sorry Emmy. Look (she forced a smile) mummy's happy. So happy.
Aditya sighed: I am having a negative impact on her. I will go to my room.
Imlie sighed and held back her sobs for her daughter's sake as Aditya closed the door behind him. The silences between them now was as long as a decade.
The next morning...
Alex told Imlie over the phone he would wait in the car.
Alex: He found out, I gather?
Imlie: Yes, he doesn't want to stay here another minute.
Alex: He's a fool.
Imlie: I will tell him you are outside. Thank you, Alex, for doing this. He will want to go back to India soon. Let's talk about his options once you drop him off at Yang's.
Alex: Very well.
Imlie went to knock on Aditya's door only to have it open under her knock.
They had both not slept.
Imlie: Alex is outside.
Aditya nodded: I am ready. I guess, this is goodbye.
He walked away.
Imlie: I want to say something before you go.
Aditya stopped, but he did not look around.
Imlie stepped closer taking a deep breath to gather her strength one last time.
What is left to be said?
Edited by Marybarton - 3 years ago
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
