Chapter 2- In the courtroom
There he was, his back facing her. She could say his arms were crossed and he had that khadoos face on. She stepped in the room given to them by the judge and closed the door.
"Raman?"
He turned, and he was exactly how she had guessed. Arms still cross with that annoyed face of his that she always finds so cute.
"You are never leaving your Raavan Kumar mode haan?", she said chuckling. Ishita took a step forward and cupped his face with her both hands. She locked her eyes with his and he could never look away. They stood like this for a while, absorbing each other...after a whole year. He could say her smile was fake, that she was acting in front of him and everyone, showing him how strong she can be for him. Just like his typical Jhansi ki Rani who would always be his strength. And he knew, better than anyone else that she is close to breaking down, she can't handle it anymore yet she is trying...for him. He can't let her ruin herself like this, she cannot continue to love him like this. He has decided!
"Raman" she whispered breaking his thoughts. They were standing dangerously close. An intimacy they've never shared before. He could feel her breath, her hands in his hair and she touched her lips with his. A kiss of love, assurance, but at the same time one of pain and separation. Her first kiss and their last kiss. They broke apart, Ishita was looking at his lips and he was looking at her down casted face. She brushed his lips with her thumb and smiled looking up.
"Goodbye Raman", another whisper. Silence.
She was turning to go when Raman held her wrist and said authoritatively "Ishita!". He turned her and held her shoulders tight, his teeth clenching. He was hurting her he knew and she was struggling to get out of his hold.
"Raman, you..."
"If only you could conceive Ishita"
She stopped moving. With unshed tears in her eyes she stood still and looked at him.
"If only you could...toh yeh sab nahi ho raha hota" he said aggressively and pushed her away. She was still blankly looking at him when he walked pass her, brushing his shoulder with hers, making her stumble and turn to his retreating figure.
He had crumpled the broken pieces of an already shattered Ishita today!
She didn't react. All her emotions were sucked away. In one blow. Gone. She tried to bring that smile on but it had become next to impossible for her. She couldn't do it, she just couldn't. She wanted to cry but she couldn't also, she knew, it wasn't the right place.
She walked back to the courtroom devoid of all emotions. She was making her way back to her chair when her eyes fell on her kids. She didn't know if they were still hers or if she still had any right on them but she'd like to believe she does. Ishita knelt in front of Ruhi. "Ishima" she heard Ruhi say and she couldn't help but smile between her tearful eyes. She saw her daughter crying as well. Ishita gently cupped her face and wiped, with her thumb, the tears of her little one.
"Don't go Ishima, please" Ruhi uttered in a broken voice.
"Rooh...you are my good girl, right?" to which she nodded.
"Then always be my nice baccha, Ishima ko points score karne hai haina? Don't bother Papa much and make me proud, ok? And remember! One call Rooh, one call, one message, one sign, and your Ishima will come running to you, hmm?" she stared at her little girl and added "Love you"
"I love you too Ishima".
Ishita couldn't see the angel of her life crying so much. It was hurting her. She kissed her forehead with all her love. Seeing her mother breaking away, Ruhi hugged her tightly and cried.
"Ishima will always loves you Rooh" she whispered in Ruhi's ears before she got up to leave.
Adi was standing beside...she touched his cheeks and softly said "Love you Adi". The unfamiliarity of their relationship had stopped her from doing anything more. He was her son but she wasn't his mother.
Raman was aware of the trauma Ishita was going through but he could do nothing about it. He had signed the divorce papers before she came. He knew he wouldn't have been able to do so in front of her. She is his only love and signing the papers that were putting an end to his rights on her in her presence, was just impossible for him. He was pretending to be unaffected and was looking away. But he had kept an eye on her from the corner of his eyes. There she came sitting next to him.
"Bhabhi...sign" he heard Neel saying and he saw her trembling. Each time he saw Ishita in so much pain Raman felt as if he was being stabbed again and again.
She took the pen and opened the papers. He had signed. Already. She hadn't realised when a tear had made its way down until she saw the wetness on the paper...on his name.
She was writing her name. Ishita Iyer or Ishita Bhalla? She didn't know. She kept on glancing at him. The one she called husband wouldn't be hers anymore, the children she loved to death would grow apart, and the family she accepted as her own would become strangers. She had signed.
"Wait for a while please. Both of you will receive a copy of the papers" came the strong voice of the judge. They waited. The copies handed to them and she walked away without a word.
He opened his copy, Ishita R Bhalla he read. He looked up to her retreating figure and he knew. He had lost the most precious gem he had.
End?
Chapter 3
10