PART 11
Milind knew what he had to do. He walked out of the kitchen and took his breakfast. He could feel Prachi's eyes burning into him and left for the office.
He later returned home carrying a large envelope, he didn't know how Prachi would react to this, but he knew what he was doing was the right thing.
He went to her room, the terrace and the kitchen, he even asked Premlata, but no on knew where she was. Unexpectedly he saw Prachi on the bed, playing with Ritwik, he smiled to himself.
Prachi looked towards the door as if she sensed his presence there; she smiled warmly up at him, forgetting herself for a moment. Quickly her smile turned into a frown and she turned her attention back to the child.
Milind suppressed a smile; he didn't want her to think he was laughing at her. He strode slowly towards them on the bed and put down the envelope, Prachi traced his movements with her eyes. Milind picked Ritwik up and started to spin him around
"Beta…" he spoke to Ritwik, "aap yahaan kya kar rahe ho?"
Prachi interrupted "woh main…maa muje pooch rahi thi…aap akela kyun soote hai…"
"Beta…" he said again, pretending to ignore her, "aap ki mama se kaho, main unse baat nahi kar raha tha…"
"Mama?" Prachi asked simply, Milind merely nodded towards the envelope on the bed.
Prachi reached over and picked up the envelope. She looked through questioning eyes towards Milind, he simply turned and continued to throw Ritwik up in the air and spin him around, prompting delighted giggles from the boy.
Prachi opened the envelope and her heart plummeted, seeing the stamped paper. "Divorce papers?" she whispered, tears flowing freely now, she dropped the papers on the floor and sat on the bed. When she had given him an ultimatum, she hadn't expected to lose, to lose him.
Milind looked at her strangely, she had become pale, this wasn't what he was expecting, putting Ritwik down, he walked towards Prachi. He sat on the bed.
"To? Kya socha tumne?" he asked…
"Divorce…" Prachi stated, "agar divorce dena hi tha, to phir yeh sab dikava kyun kiya? Muje itni umeed kyun di?"
"Divorce?" he said "Kya?"
"Aur kya Milind, yeh papers?" she cried harder.
Milind laughed softly, she looked up at him, hurt in her eyes, he held her face in his hands. She tried to break free, but his hold was strong. He wiped her tears with the pad of his thumb and kissed the salty dampness at the corner of her mouth.
"Are Pagal, tumne papers dekhe teek se?"
She shook her head and hid her face in her hands, her head spinning and Milind bent down to retrieve the fallen pages, he read out aloud "Mr. Milind and Mrs. Prachi Mishra hereby adopt Ritwik Shah and are henceforth considered the Legal Guardians…."
"Milind maine socha hi nahi" she said dumbly, she was so touched by his actions she had no words.
"Prachi main jaanta hoon, maine tuj pe bauhat ilzaam lagaye, tuje khabhi apni baat kehne ka mauka nahi diya, lekin jub meri bari aayi to muje bilkul aacha nahi laga, tujpe bauhat gussa bhi aaya…lekin Prachi, yeh bardaast nahi hota ke tu mujse door ho," he held her hands, "Yeh mera parivaar hai Prachi" he said pointing at the papers," aur muje kisi ki zaroorat nahi"
"Milind…aap…thank you." She lowered her eyes, still overwhelmed, he knew exactly what she wanted from him and he had given her that, a family, his trust, his love.
"Tu nahi chahati ke meh Ayesha se baat karu, us se milu, us ke saat kaam karu? To theek hai…" he assured her. Prachi thought of Ayesha...she had not seen her since that night, Ayesha having left for a meeting in Delhi the next day.
"Milind…shayad aap nahi jaante mere liye bhi yeh kitna mushkil tha aap se yeh saab kehna…lekin aap samaj the hai na? yeh saab kyun zaroori hai?"
"Prachi, tu mere paas hai, mere liya yeh zaroori hai…aur kuch meh nahin jaan na chahata…"
😊
Edited by zcbcc34 - 17 years ago
Cricket
