Chapter 45 "Raman!" she rushed to him as he walked through the door. His face showed his anger and sadness telling her things didn't go as she had been hoping they did. She asked him what happened there...
"Nothing! Where's Ruhi?" he asked with his face softening from his cold expressions he had to hide his emotions to more sadness as he asked for his daughter.
"Inside, she..." her words were left incomplete as he almost ran inside to their room. She followed him as he entered with eyes only looking for his angel. He saw her engrossed in trying to escape the blanket she was wrapped in and rushed to her picking her up. The infant seemed happy to be out of the blanket that had been bothering her for a while now and looked at her dad's teary smile. Out of curiosity she touched his face making his smile grew wider and so she squealed loudly waving her arms. He smiled through his tears and brought her closer to him placing her head on his chest as he held her tightly, he whispered to her...
"I love you so much Ruhi..."
She watched from the door as he clutched onto his daughter like his life depended on it. He knew he was hurt again. She had once since him in this state the day before he revealed his past to her. He had bee trying to find solace in Ruhi back then and was reliving moment from her birth back then as well. She could see anything but his hurt and knew it was something Mihir did or said.
"Tell me what Mihir said to you." She walked over and said in an authoritative yet scared voice worried about his answer.
"Why are you stressing over other people?!" He looked away holding onto Ruhi tightly.
"Raman what's happened to you?"
"Nothing."
"You know you can't hide the truth, so don't try to! Is this behavior because of Mihir?"
"Yes it's him!"
"What happened? Did he say something again Raman? Speak up! Raman..." her tone changed from anger to fear over the whole sentence.
"I went, he apologized for the accusations. I said I wasn't upset about that anyways. I told him what really upset me was about Ruhi. He told him it was just his concern for her since she was his only family... "
"And so you two sorted it out right..."
He wanted to tell her all Mihir said, but he couldn't tell her about the doubts on her love for Ruhi. She was way too sensitive at this point to know about what others were thinking of her. She would be hurt due to others again and even before him she had bonded with Ruhi, so he couldn't tell her what Mihir said. But also knew he couldn't hide his feelings from her as she would find out in a moment, so...
"He's not sure I can raise Ruhi properly. He doesn't trust me with my own daughter. But I couldn't bear it and in my anger, I asked him to..."
"To what Raman?! What did you say?"
"I asked him to come and see for himself...at dinner tomorrow."
"Oh thank God. I got so worried. Don't worry Raman, tomorrow he will see how a loving dad is like with his daughter and he'll never raise any doubts on you raising Ruhi again." She put up a smile for him.
"I hope so...I want him gone once and for all." She hardly his that sentence of his as she became worried as to what would happen the next day, she didn't have any doubts on Raman's love for Ruhi and how visible it was, but something scared her as she remembered Mihir's words on wanting to take Ruhi away...
"Raman...will he take Ruhi from us..."
"Ishita..."
"Please Raman...I can't stay away from her! Please don't let her go anywhere!"
"Of course not! Ruhi is with us and always will be. He could have fought for her before we got married because I was a single parent. If he proved me to be a bad father then it was possible, but not anymore. Ruhi has you now and that means no one will take her away. She has her mother with her and no one can ever separate a mother from its child."
"She's my daughter, my baby..."
She was horrified at the thought of having her Ruhi taken from her. This child was the reason behind her happiness nowadays. She was the reason she met and married Raman. She was her pumpkin. And she could so anything but part with the child who had given her so much love and happiness and the acceptance that meant everything to her. When Raman had been so worried about their baby accepting, she had realized how lucky she was Ruhi had gotten attached to her so quickly and she could do anything but live without her. She wanted him to say it would be okay and if hearing her silent wish, he spoke up...
"I know and I also know you're scared. But you trust me right?" she nodded positively as he continued...
"Then I won't let you and Ruhi be separated no matter what. You know how much I trust you with Ruhi. I was always so worried about how she would grow up without a mom, but you just filled in that void so easily. You and Ruhi had a bond before we did and that bond became the foundation of the relationship we have today. So I won't ever let you two suffer because of me and my past. I know what Ruhi is to you and what you are to her. And believe me the love you two have for each other is the purest I've seen. And I'm sure others will see it too. They will see how this child who can't even speak will express her love for you, and how a real mother can love her child."
"I can't lose her...she's my first child...she's too special..." a tear fell from her eye and his anger for Mihir grew. Here he was trying to give this woman happiness she deserved and because of Mihir, she was crying again. He looked back at her as another tear rolled down her cheek as she looked at him. He pulled her closer to him and she put one arm around him while her other hand caressed Ruhi who was resting on her dad's shoulder like her mother was. Holding the girls in his arms, he wished this moment would stop here would always stay like this and assured her of the same.
"I won't ever let you two go away from me. I know you two won't be able to live without each other and I can't live without you two either."
"I can't live without you and Ruhi... I don't want any to take..."
"No one will. And even if anyone tried to take our Ruhi away, she will annoy them so much, they will back off themselves." He heard her giggle and a faint smile made its way onto his face as he heard his daughter's squeal moments later and looked down at the two to find Ruhi grabbing Ishita's finger.
He felt horrible for hiding that fact that it was her love that was being doubted on, but he knew after what she had said that she would be shattered on knowing Mihir's words. She was so frightened the thought of being separated from Ruhi that if he told her that it was hers and Ruhi's relationship that will be looked at tomorrow, she would be so stressed out about everything. And he stopped himself from telling her the truth. He found it too much for her to handle and knowing her delicate condition in these past days, he couldn't bring himself to tell her and could only hold onto her and Ruhi tighter s if they would disappear if he let go...
~~~~~
After much debate, she had let him go to work since she also wanted some time alone to think over what had happened and he also needed to think. He suggested calling Mihir and cancelling the whole thing since it wasn't necessary to prove to him that they could raise Ruhi. And now he realized that Mihir couldn't do much anyways, but she again tried to understand what Mihir must be feeling. She told him he had his own set of issues and concerns. Though he had noticed that fear in her eyes as she talked about Mihir's feelings being justified. He told her all the doubts and concerns would be soon and they wouldn't even have to worry about him again. Looking somewhat satisfied with his repeated attempts to tell her no one could separate her and Ruhi, she let him go to work.
But even then all day her thoughts kept wondering off to what would happen the next day, she found herself a mess considering her already emotional state. Mihika also noticed something off with her and texted Raman about the same. She watched as Ishita lost in her thoughts all day and insisted on being with Ruhi no matter what and when she asked Raman, he let her do the same. She saw him with that same lost look when he came back home. She wondered what had gotten into her sister and brother-in-law as they both were just not happy today. She wanted to question Ishita when she refused to let anyone hold Ruhi and Raman didn't say anything to her and instead let Ishita be with Ruhi. He was the most worried about Ishita, so their behavior today definitely meant something serious had happened. In all this she just hoped everything would be fine.
She tried to do anything and everything she could to cheer them up, but they didn't seem affected by her presence at all. It was just Ruhi for them. She watched him sit together at the table as Raman had Ruhi on his lap the whole time instead of letting her down on her play rug, they both slept with Ruhi in between them holding one hand of hers in their hand instead of the crib, and her sister chose to ditch their shopping plans the next day because she didn't want to tire out Ruhi. Something was terribly wrong and it had to do with Ruhi.
Mihika had shared the same with her friend over the phone who had called to let her know about a great news at least for him. She shared her worry over her Akka's and Jiju's condition since yesterday. They had never seemed so lost in their own little world with Ruhi. It was like something had happened in one day that changed them and their world. As she told how scared she was about something going terribly wrong that had something to do with Ruhi since they had been only engrossed with her since yesterday after her Jiju came back from some meeting. And as she mentioned the meeting, Mihir knew it was because of what he had said that Ishita and Raman had been so hurt ...
~~~~~
Parking into the society's parking lot, he found his way up to his sister's home that was now home to Raman and his new wife Ishita. When Raman had told him he loved his sister, he believed it blindly but today he couldn't say the same. He couldn't after hearing from Ishita that she was now Mrs. Raman Bhalla the same name that his sister had...well legally had just less than 5 months ago. He hurt him that his friend, brother, and sister's love had moved on so quickly.
It hurt to see someone else take his sister's spot, yet he tried to keep that aside and think only for Ruhi. His niece was the memory of his sister. The sister that had raised him and he wanted Ruhi with him, but knew it was wrong to take her from Raman who was so attached to her. After all he was the father...but what worried him was Ishita. Raman said she was a great mother to Ruhi, but she was a step mother no matter what. The word stepmom had such a negative impact on people that he couldn't help but have doubts and so he was here today. He wanted to trust Raman and his words, but it was so hard to trust when his own sister had hid so much from him. He wanted Ishita to the right mother like Raman said, he really hoped she was the mom that Ruhi deserved...
He walked up to the apartment door and took a few moments before ringing the doorbell which was received by Mihika. Greeting her with a hug, he walked in to the house to be seated on the couch. As he sat in the main living area, he looked around. A huge portion of the floor was take up by Ruhi's play rug that had numerous toys on it. Her small seat with toys hanging was right by the dining table for when they eat he assumed, and he heard faint humming tunes behind him. Slightly turning around, he found the noise coming from outside. He walked to the balcony as Mihika went to fetch water and call Raman out. Standing on the balcony, he turned to find the humming coming from the small balcony that came out from a room. All he saw was Raman resting on her shoulder while her other shoulder had Ruhi sleeping on it. A tear formed in his eye as he realized this was something his sister could have had, but she didn't. He tried to imagine Shagun in that place, but couldn't. It was almost impossible to think of Shagun with a child and Raman like that. Rushing back inside, he sat on the couch as if nothing happened, but his mind had started thinking already. This woman was doing something any mom would do, but he couldn't imagine Shagun doing so and Ishita fit perfectly into that family he saw.
Brought of out his thoughts as Raman came out of the room followed by Ishita who carried Ruhi in her arms, he stood up only to be ignored by Raman and greeted by Ishita. Asking her how she was and getting an equally formal response in return, Raman asked him to take a sit on the dining table as dinner was ready. As he and Mihika sat down, Ruhi started to whimper in her sleep as she was placed in her seat and had grabbed Ishita's dupatta. Before she could be picked up again, she had woken up and started to cry. Calming her down as she was picked up by Ishita, Raman offered to hold her while Ishita ate.
"No let her be."
"Then how will you eat?"
"I'll manage."
"Hand her to me, you need to eat properly first."
"Akka, Jiju's right. Hand Ruhi to me. No compromise with your health." Mihika spoke up.
"What happened? Is everything alright?" Mihir spoke up the first time since diner began.
"It's fine. Just weakness a few days back." Ishita smiled at him.
"Must be hard handling a small child like Ruhi." He tried to get something out of her and got a glare from Raman while she said...
"Sometimes. But good things come with difficulty. Ruhi's one of the best things that happened to me. I mean she's made me a mom. That's the biggest gift to a woman and Ruhi's given me that."
"But sometimes you need help during difficulties, so I'll hold her while you eat." Mihika said.
"Mihika-"
"She's right Ishita."
"Raman-"
"Jiju's right Akka."
"Fine. You two are too much, always teaming against me!"
"We're the best team!" Mihika laughed as she gave Raman a small hi five. And he repeated the same to the whimpering Ruhi who kept on looking at Ishita as she was being taken by Mihika. Out of her arms she started to cry and Mihika rocked her trying to calm her down. A minute into her crying, Mihir looked up to see Ishita seeing helplessly at Ruhi as she ate quickly. Raman also noticed and asked her to slow down as he started to distract Ruhi by talking to her and snapping his fingers fascinating her. As Ruhi seemed okay now, everyone continued dinner silently like before until...
"Yuck!" Everyone looked up as Mihika yelled out loud. They saw Ruhi giggling as Mihika made a disgusted face looking at her juice that was spilt all over her.
"Ru what did you do? Akka...my new shirt!" Mihika complained.
"Chitti ki Dushman come to Papa. And Mihika, don't worry we'll get that dry cleaned for you." Raman got up taking Ruhi into his arms.
Mihika ran inside to change as the couple laughed at their daughter's ways of bothering her aunt. Only the trio knew what was so funny and Mihir could silently watch as Ruhi squealed and gurgled in Ishita's lap while Raman made faces at her. As Raman wanted Ishita to not strain herself again over Ruhi, he took Ruhi and asked her to eat since Ruhi was right next to her. Agreeing with him, she continued to eat and the silent dinner continued. Until Ruhi started to grab Ishita's dupatta again and put it into her mouth. Noticing she was hungry, Ishita immediately got up and went to the kitchen to prepare milk for her. A few minutes later when Ruhi was just starting to act cranky, she had returned to the solution to the problem. Taking her pumpkin, Mihir thought that's what he heard, she walked out to the balcony with Ruhi humming to the infant again.
It was just him and Raman at the table. And he had seen so much in such little time that he wanted to talk to Raman about one important thing...
"Raman..."
"..." Raman didn't say anything and continued to eat while looking back to where his wife and daughter were out on the balcony. He didn't acknowledge Mihir until he spoke up again...
"Ruhi and Ishitaji..."
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That was all for now! Please like and comment, will look forward to your feedback!
Edited by smilesforever98 - 10 years ago
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