It felt unreal for both Viren and Jeevika that a moment like this came in their life. In their hearts they both couldn't believe that one day they would be in a situation like this. For Jeevika it was a matter of having a partner to share the responsibility of parenting a child. For Viren, he did not even have a single person to share his pain with. His idea and dream of having a family was here, and that too mainly because of Riva. The beautiful moment fell short when Riva's phone call came. Jeevika picked it up and was scared for a moment listening to her daughter. She held onto Viren's hand and they both rushed to get into a taxi. Even though Viren's apartment was not too far, he knew he had to get home within the next few minutes. He couldn't tell what was going on, but all he knew was the fact that Riva was panicked over something. As soon as they reached, Viren and Jeevika went upstairs opening the apartment. Riva was there seeming to be drowning in her own tears in a way. Viren and Jeevika both kneeled down near her to comfort her. While Jeevika hugged her tightly, Viren just tried getting both of them to quiet down so he could find out what was happening. When Jeevika broke away from her daughter, Riva looked at Viren. He took her to the couch and sat down with her.
v - "Okay tell me now what happened?"
r - "I was sleeping, and then I heard my cell phone ringing. I picked it up even though I was asleep thinking it was you or mom. And then..." she said starting to cry.
She was having a hard time completing her sentence, but Viren at least now knew someone called and was the reason behind this. When Riva was a little calm again Viren asked her more questions.
v - "Do you know who was talking?"
r - "No, I had never heard his voce before"
v - "What did he say?"
r - "He said tell your mom to open the door or she will regret it. He wanted to hurt my mom" she said starting to cry again.
Viren was so confused at what was happening. Who was calling and for what purpose?
Riva was scared, but more than scared drained out from crying. She was holding onto Viren's coat so tightly while Viren and Jeevika both tried to figure out what was going on. When Riva had fallen asleep on the couch, Viren got up and got Riva's phone. He saw there were three missed calls in the past half hour and all from an unknown number. When he went to voicemail to hear the messages, he could understand why Riva was so panicked. A deep manly voice threatening to kill Jeevika and take away Riva from her. Jeevika was standing at the door probably more freaked out now than Riva was. She didn't say anything, but she couldn't hold still. The fact that someone was calling and threatening to hurt her was bad, but blackmailing to take away her daughter was even worst. At the back of her head she knew who this was, but was too scared to admit it.
v - "I need to go to the police and lodge a complaint. We need to track this number down and find out the whole truth" he said angrily.
Now that the three were a "family", Jeevika and Riva were his responsibility and he was doing only what the man of the house would be doing. Viren was about to call the police when Jeevika went up to him and took the phone out of his hands ending the call.
j - "There's no point Viren"
v - "What do you mean? You want Riva to keep getting phone calls like this? We need to find out who is behind this"
j - "I know already"
v - "Who is it then?"
j - "Viren I don't think we should be together" she said staring down breaking down.
After more than ten years Jeevika found a man who she could say those three words to, and within an hour she had to emit those words and that beautiful memory for the future.
Anupamaa
206