Sharon woke up to find swayam missing from beside her... she frowned as she felt swayam's warmth from last night... he had caressed her face and took her in his arms... they had accepted each other back in their lives ... Her dream felt so real that she refused to believe it to be a dream ... without her knowledge her eyes ahs brimmed... she knew that if she would believe in her dream it would come true someday... she hoped swayam would understand her , he would be able to listen to each one of her unsaid wishes ...
Since it was a Sunday , everyone had gather together for breakfast... aru was sitting on sharon's lap and was watching Chota Bheem... during the advertisement , she had seen a kid wearing a cute tiara and she immediately looked at Sharon...
"mumma... mujhe bhi chahiye waisa..." She pointed at the tiara...
"okay baby.. I'll get you one..." Sharon pinched her cheeks... aru shook her head and frowned...
"nahi mujhe abhi chahiye..." Aru pouted and demanded...
"aru don't act stubborn... Maine bola nuh lake dungi..." Sharon glared at aru who frowned back getting upset... Sharon being the typical mother didn't want aru to be stubborn and get spoilt...
Aru looked at the table to find swayam sittign and shuffling through his phone... she quickly got gown from sharon's lap and ran towards swayam in her small unsteady steps... she pulled swayam track pants as usual to make him look down... Swayam kept his phone aside and picked her up on his lap...
"mujhe woh crown chahiye..." She didn't know it was called tiara... Swayam smiled at her and asked... "tiara????" aru nodded quickly...
"okay no issues... I'll get you one..." Aru got the same answer which Sharon had given her...
"per mujhe abhi chahiye..." Aru said cutely... swayam thought for a moment and nodded...
"okay... let me go to the mall then.. I'll get you one right now..." Swayam kissed her hair and aru screamed in joy... Sharon who was listening to them was not at all shocked.. she had expected swayam to say the exact same thing.. she looked at his mom in helplessness... even she was worried with the way wayam used tot treat aru... listening and fulfilling all her demands would spoil her...
Sharon stood up and went towards his mother...
"mumma... dekha nuh apne swayam bigar raha hai aru ko..." she complained...
"kuch bolne jayegi toh fayda nahi hoga... ek kaam kar.. swayam mall ja raha hai.. tub hi saath mein ja... kyunki pata nahi who aur kya kya lake dega aru ko... make sure he doesn't buy the entire place for her..." his mother just gave a stupid excuse... actually she wanted swayam and Sharon to go out together... Sharon nodded ...
As swayam was coming down with his wallet and keys his mom called out to him... "swayam.. Sharon ko bhi le ja... woh curtains lena hai..." swayam nodded obediently and walked out of the house while Sharon followed him...
*********************
Swayam was staring at the bunch of tiaras in the kid's accessory section of the story.. he really loved a tiara which had pink stones studded on it... but still he wanted the best for his daughter... he knew Sharon would have helped him select the best but he didn't want to ask her anything... He continued to look at the tiaras trying hard to select one...
"do you freaking understand ?? tum use bigaar rahe ho..."Sharon till now was standing behind him quietly but she needed to say something to break the silence... Swayam decided to ignore her...
"swayam I am talking to you..." Sharon said in irritation...
"why do you always say that keep spoiling aru???" swayam continued to look through the tiaras as he spoke... "she is my kid... I'll give her whatever I want..." he continued...
"excuse me??? My kid??? What do you mean by that?? Aru meri bhi beti hai?? do you get that???" Sharon snapped at him...
"yeah exactly... toh tum jab usse danti ho toh mai kuch bolta hoon?? So tum kyun bolti reheti ho I am spoiling her???" he questioned her calmly...
"oh?? Toh I am coming in between you two?? Huh???" Sharon was getting angry now...
"intelligent..." swayam muttered under his breath but Sharon had already heard him...
"fine.. so I am going from here..." she expected swayam would ask her to stop...
"yeah carry on.. when did I stop you????" swayam for a second looked at her and then continued to look at the tiaras... Sharon felt like chopping swayam's head off... she waited there for sometime for him to realize that he was being rude to her but when she found that he was no where interested in having any conversation she went out of the shop in anger...
Swayam hadn't notice that Sharon was not behind him... he had finally chosen a tiara and bought it , when he got startled hearing the loud noise of the fire alarm... in an instinct he looked sideways and said... " Sharon jaldi bahar chalo..." Before he could understand what was happening and notice that Sharon was not there with him , there was a rush of crowd trying to move out and he almost pushed out with them...
After coming out of the mall , he looked behind to find half of the 2nd floor was into fire... that was the first time , he noticed that Sharon was not there with him... he suddenly remembered that Sharon must have gone to buy the curtain and immediately felt his breath getting struck in his throat... the dcor store was in the 2nd floor where the rescue team had just now headed to...
Without thinking twice about anything , he rushed towards the gate where the guards stopped him...
"sorry sir , you can't go in..." he was stopped by a couple of them...
"my wife is inside.. look I have to go in..." he patiently tried to explain...
" don't worry sir... rescue team ander hai.. apki wife ko kuch nahi hoga... we will make sure of that..." the guard politely told him...
"god damn , she is claustrophobic... Waha aag lagi hai ... she must be so scared... Mujhe andar jane dijiye..." He literally screamed his lungs out at them...
"I am sorry sir... we can't risk your life... aap pls yaha baithiye and relax..." They pulled a chair for him and made him sit there forcefully...
By the time swayam had tears streaming down his cheeks.. he was frantically trying to call sharon , but she was not picking up the phone... The mere thought that something can happen to Sharon made him feel light headed...
He didn't even know how much time has passed , all he could feel was dazed out... He got startled by someone's hand on his shoulder... he needn't have to be told that it was sharon's touch... In a jiffy he jumped up and turned around pulling her into his arms...
To say that , Sharon was startled would be an understatement... All she knew was she was being crushed in his arms... Swayam had hugged her so tightly burying his face into her neck ... he didn't care about all their fights at that point of time.. all he could think was sharon was there in front of him... Sharon could feel the sleeves of her kurti getting wet with his tears as he was breathing roughly against her skin.. she closed her eyes taking in the moment they were having after four long years... she couldn't help but move her hands on his back to calm him down... she loved him too much to not soothe his pain...
"swayam ... shhh... chup ..." she kept rubbing her hand on his back...
Swayam broke the hug and looked at her with red , swollen eyes...
"how could you do this???? Aise kaise koi jate hai kya??? Pata hai what I went through???? I thought something..." he couldn't complete what he was saying...
"accha relax... chalo..." Sharon held his hands and pulled him to the car... She could feel him shivering ... she squeezed his palm and made him stand beside the car... she took a bottle from inside the car , and gave it to swayam... he took a sip ...
"chalo baitho... I'll drive..." As he heard Sharon say this , without any further discussion he nodded...
As he sat in the car and Sharon started, he remembered what had happened in the last one hour... He closed his eyes and bit his tongue as he realised that he had over reacted in front of Sharon.. he shouldn't have showed all that to her...
In order to strike a conversation , he spoke up... " umm.. kaha chale gaye the???"
"tumne hi toh kaha chale jao... parking mein thi..." she frowned at him... " maine kab bola???" swayam snapped at him...
Sharon just glared at him... " fine..." she stopped the car... " get out..." She told him... swayam knew if he says anything else , Sharon would surely throw him out of his own car...
"okay fine I am quiet... Chalo..." He looked away from her...
*****************************
Both of them entered the house and got shocked to see Vicky and neha there... Sharon's face automatically broke into a smile... aru was sitting on vicky's lap and playing with his hair and everyone along with his mom and taani were chatting... swayam didn't feel anything seeing them...
In allt he confusion , the packet of tiara wa still in his hands and he immediately made aru wear it... Aru immediately shifted to swayam hugging him tightly... They all had their normal conversation but swayam kept sitting there quietly.. he knew sharon was with them all these years and thus he was feeling weird from inside him.. he was hurt as well as angry with himself as well as on everyone and he didn't know why was he behaving like that...
Soon it was time for dinner and as everyone settled at the table , swayam excused himself and went upstairs ... Everyone preferred not to probe him much so they quietly let them go...
Swayam was quietly working , sitting on the couch when he heard the door knock... he knew kaka was about to come to give his washed clothes ...
"haa khula hai..." he said still not looking away from the laptop...
"busy hai.???" Vicky peeped in... swayam immediately looked upto him and stood up...
"nahi yaar.. aaaja..." He gave a small smile and stood up... Vicky and neha entered the room...
"chalo.. yaar toh kaha..." Vicky said with a sad smile... swayam was taken aback but still tried to divert the topic... "aise kyun bol raha hai...baith.. sit neha..." They all settled on the couch and bed...
"aur nahi toh kya??? Neeche toh baat tak nahi kiya..." Vicky said looking at him...
"aisa nahi hai.. tum log busy the..." He looked away... Everyone was busy talking and he had felt no one needed him to speak while everyone else was waiting for him to speak...
"hum wait kar rahe the kab tum comfortable hoke baat karo..." Neha said softly... Swayam looked away...
"swayam ek baar bhi in 4 saal mein call bhi nahi kiya... nahi laga tujhe Sharon humare saath ho sakti hai???" Vicky came directly to the point while deep down he knew that he was wrong in hiding it from swayam...
"if I ask the same thing??? Tum logon ko nahi laga mujhe batana zaruri hai... since taani ko bhi misunderstanding thi mujhe laga tum sabko usne bataya hoga and you people don't want to keep in touch with me ... so I stayed away..." Swayam confessed honestly...
"swayam humein wohi pata tha jo Sharon ne bataya... usne humein roka tha tumhe batane ke liye... Situation achi nahi thi swayam... humne galat kiya.. agar hum chahte the toh tumhari aur Sharon ki misunderstanding clear kar sakte the... but ... we don't have any explanation swayam... but Sharon ne wada liya tha..." Neha said while looking down...
"tum sabke liye Sharon ki dosti ... uska chahna na chahna bohut important hai na??? aur meri???" swayam was tired of seeing all the people in his life taking sharon's side... He continued... " mujeh expect hi nahi akrna cahiye tah kisise kuch... jab meri ma ne nahi yakeen mani tab koi aur kaise ..." For the first time he had spoken up what he had felt...
"isiliye aye hai swayam... tumse maafi mangne... maaf kardo..." She said with tears brimming her eyes.. even Vicky was teary...
Swayam looked away... " toh fir itna kharcha karne ki kya zarurath thi?? Phone pe hi bol deti..." And swayam chuckled... Vicky and neha also sighed with a huge grin as they realized swayam was not angry with them any more...
Neha looked at the side of the couch where one of swayam's check shirts was left... She smiled seeing it...
"aisi hi ek Sharon ke paas hai.. tumhara ek shirt woh leke gayi thi... haar raat use pakar ke soti thi..." Hearing neha say this swayam was shocked... he has always thought Sharon had hated him all these years...
Without even looking away from that shir neha continued... " I used to sleep with her when she was pregnant... humesha beech raat ko uth jati thi.. shayad cravings ke liye... per woh humein kuch nahi bolti thi... shayad use lagta tha she is a burden to us... but aisa nahi tha... she used to cry silently holding your shirt... That's the worst kind of tears swayam... when everyone is asleep and you can only feel it choking your throat and wetting your pillow..." Neha almost choked and swayam was too shocked to react...
"humesha phone pet ere number dial karti thi... par kabhi call button nahi daba payi.. shayad dar se... use isi baat ka daar tha ki tum agar uski mooh pe ye bol don that you don't love her toh who nahi sambhal payegi..." swayam didn't know what to say...
"when aru was born tab usne tujhe call kiya tha..." Vicky said and swayam looked at him in shock...
"haa... khud nahi nurse se... nursing home mein ek Indian nurse thi... usse call karwayi thi when aru cried for the first time in front of her... the nurse was talking about laundry and you disconnected saying a wrong number..." As Vicky said that swayam recalled that incident.. he wouldn't have remembered it if it was any other wrong number... a girl had called him about laundry but he could hear a baby crying loudly from behind which was kind of weird for him... he smiled thinking he had actually heard aru's voice back then...
"she had never said anything bad about you to aru... she could never ever let anyone think bad about you especially your own daughter... don't even think for a second hum Sharon ki case present kar rahe hai... its just that , Sharon yeh kabhi tumhe khud batayegi nahi... she is too strong to accept that she is weak..." Neha stood up and kept her hand on his shoulder...
"Sharon kabhi tujhse nafrat nahi kar payi.. your love was too strong for her to hate you..." vicky said looking into his eyes... " and we know you still love her... more than anything... So kyun takleef de raha hai.. use aur khudko???? Sab bhulke nayi shuruyat kar... and hum ye tujhe bol rahe hai naki Sharon ko kyunki tu pagal nahi hai..." Vicky chuckled...
"itna asan nahi hai..." swayam looked away...
"koshish toh kar sakte ho???" neha asked him softly... Swayam nodded with a soft smile... They wished each other good night and left for the guest room...
************
Swayam decided to give himself some time before going to sleep with aru and Sharon... he moved to the balcony and looked at the night sky...
"aaj shopping mall mein mujeh aise react karna nahi chahiye tha... Mai kyun humesha apni weakness Sharon ko dikha deta hoon???she must not know that I still care... I still love her..." he looked at the moonless sky covered with clouds with no stars...
"per Sharon ke liye bhi 4 saal assan nahi tha nuh???? And Sharon toh aise hi hai... who kabhi nahi dikhayegi that she is weak..." Another part of him reasoned...
"maine college mein jo bhi kiya uske liye hi Sharon ne mujhpe yakeen nahi kiya... can I really blame her????" he asked himself...
"but then yeh toh har baar hoga... Whats the guarantee that she won't bring that topic up next time if something goes wrong...?? Agar firse kuch hua toh woh fir yakeen nahi karegi..." Another part of reasoned...
"log badalte hai... mai bhi badal gaya... per everyone judged me with my previous deeds...kisine ek baar bhi nahi socha ki ek insaan sach mein badal sakta hai... everyone at the end of the day judges you with the one mistake that you ever made..." and all these years had made him realize that this was the bitter truth on which the entire world works...
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