Patience is not simply the ability to wait - it's how we behave while we're waiting.
Daisaku Ikeda once said that "with Love and patience, nothing is impossible". Slowly Shlok started to believe in this quotation. After all the time spent with Aastha and them waiting for the right time nothing seemed impossible. It is true that patience is a virtue, Shlok thought.
With each passing day he and Aastha gathered more proofs then needed to expose his father and to make him pay for his sins. These days it was getting harder to pretend to love him and to care for him.
At least he had his mother on his side. He spent the evenings resting his head on her lap and talking to her about senseless stuff. He didn't care whether the topic was food or foreign countries he just wanted to listen to her voice, wanted to see and hear her smile, her laughter.
In these moments he realized how much he had needed a mother in his life and how much he had missed her. He thanked God for giving him back his mother and for having back her love.
He had changed, completely. He wasn't that angry young man anymore he finally became his true self. He became the Shlok he always wanted to be: loving, caring and most importantly calmly.
After Swati's Exit from his live he hated everything that made him happy, because he had been afraid that it won't last. But Aastha taught him every day how easy it was to find joy even in the smallest things. She made him a happier man and made him thank God every day.
"Sir..?" A knock in the Door brought him back to reality.
"Yes Anand?" Shlok asked smiling. Anand was surprise to see his boss smiling but was smart enough not to say anything.
"Your dad wants to see you. He said it is important."
Shlok thanked Anand and told he would come in a minute. What did his Father want?
Shlok knocked on the door of his Fathers Cabin and entered.
"You called for me." Shlok said and tried to look as innocent as he was before. But after having seen his truth he wasn't innocent anymore.
"Shlok sit down first. It is about your Mother and Aastha." He looked at his son.
"What about them?!" Shlok had a hard time to control his anger.
"Well... I think they haven't been completely honest with you." Niranjan sighed and stood up. He knew his Son was changing and he needed to find out what the reason for his change was.
"What do you mean?" Shlok was honestly confused by now. What was his father talking about? He had better things to do like planning his Exposure with his wife and Mother. They had a risky plan and they knew that the right time to react was approaching and if anything would go wrong he would pay for it his whole life. While looking at his father tensed face he remembered the conversation he had a few days earlier with Aastha.
One evening after Aastha's monthly check up, they were sitting on the swing in the garden and were enjoying the night and the moon when Aastha suddenly had an idea. After listening to her plans Shlok had been very angry and had told her how crazy she was and that she couldn't be that reckless being in the last trimester of her Pregnancy. He had tried his best to change her mind; but in vain.
"You need to slow down you stupid Girl! YOU ARE PREGNANT FOR GODS SAKE. Just for once think about me and the baby! Why would you do something that stupid?" Shlok was really angry and not in the mood to comprise about her safety.
"Shlok... Nothing will happen to me! Believe me. I will expose Father but only if we do it my way else we won't succeed and even if something might happen it won't be the worst possible scenario."
She had cupped his face with her little hands and tried calming him down.
"It is too dangerous Baby."
"I know but we will have to try."
In that instant he knew she wouldn't back down so he had to accept her plan even though knowing she was getting weaker day by day. She had told him it was because of the medication but somehow he felt it had something to do with her pregnancy and the accident.
"Shlok?"
Shlok came back to reality and looked at his father. "What were you saying?"
"I said did Aastha inform you about the complications of her pregnancy? That the doctor told her she would die while giving birth?" Niranjan said and played the role of a concerned father and father in law. If he was honest he did not care for this bloody bitch but he had to act sweetly to make his Son against her. Looking at Shlok's expression he felt like he was one step closer to erase Aastha from Shlok's life.
"What? That is nonsense. Would she really be in danger she would have told me...I know her...She wouldn't keep something like that from me...There has to be a misunderstanding..." Shlok stammered. He was confused; was his father saying the truth? Could he believe him?
"I know Son but maybe she did it, so you would not ask her to abort the baby in order to save her life...she wanted to bless our family, bless me with a grandson..." Niranjan sighed again and sat on his desk. He stroke Shlok's hair and smiled at him. Immediately Shlok stood up and left the room.
"I need time to think..:" He whispered and literally ran for his life.
Niranjan smirked.
"No Aastha I want to see how you handle this situation..." He laughed deviously and sat down to continue his work.
________________________________________________________________________
She could die
She could die and leave me...
Shlok drove aimlessly through the City not able to adjust to the situation.
Was he saying the truth? Or was his father lying like always? But then Shlok thought about it. It would sound exactly like something Aastha would do...But why? Why didn't she tell him?
Because you would have asked her to abort the baby, an inner voice said and Shlok had to agree. He would have forcefully taken her for abortion not because he did not wanted to have a baby but because he wanted her more and he knew there were many other ways to have a baby.
"What to do now? How to start the conversation?" He asked himself and drove back home. Aastha was sitting in his study and was knitting some clothes for the baby. She looked like a pure and divine Angel.
"Hey Papa Bear." She smiled and showed him what she had already knitted. A scarf with a basket and gloves. It looked so sweet and for a minute he just smiled.
"Hey Honey...I need to talk to you...And I want you to be honest okay?" Shlok finally managed to say and sat down. Aastha came closer and took his hands in hers.
"I am always honest with you."
"Is it true that there is the possibility of you dying during childbirth yes or no?"
Aastha instinctively left his hands and looked away. He knew she tried hiding her tears.
"Why didn't you tell me..?"
"You were so happy about me being pregnant and I too was. I wanted to give birth to this baby since I couldn't save our first one. I knew the minute I would have told you the truth you would have forcefully taken me for abortion but I can't do that. I am a mother...I can't kill my baby in order to save my life...also there is a 49% Chance for me to survive."
He stood up and walked through the room not able to control his emotions.
"Why does that always happen to us Aastha?"
"Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.( Carl Jung)"
Shlok looked at her.
"Stop talking like this would be the most normal thing in the world Aastha! I can't lose you...Not now...Not ever..." He fell on his knees and begged her to stay alive.
"I will live Baby...I will survive...and we will have many more children and we will love them and grow old together. No one can separate me from you. You are my Fate Shlok, my destiny. SO stop worrying about that. Right now we have other things in mind and to take care of."
She kissed his eyes, his forehead and then his lips. For a moment he forgot everything and did just that: Kiss the love of his life.
"So...We won't talk about it till my delivery okay? And If the doctor asks you to choose you will choose our Baby! Did you hear me? You won't choose me! Promise it to me!"
He nodded but couldn't utter these words. He simply couldn't.
"Good." She sat down again and massaged her feet's clumsily.
"Let me..." He said and kneeled down before her to massage her feet. She smiled at him.
"That is not necessary after all you are my husband. You shouldn't do that!" Aastha tried to take her feet away but he simply shook his head and she finally gave in.
All that was witnessed by Niranjan, who was fuming with anger.
"See? How easy it is to treat your wife with respect?" Anjali said and stood beside her husband. He looked at her and for a moment remembered their good old days when they were newlyweds and were romancing every minute of the day. All that had changed the day his Father had asked for a grandson and their relationship broke the minute she gave birth to Jyoti.
"He is a shame for the Agnihotri Family to touch his wife's feet like a servant. Is that what you wanted, your son to be a slave to his wife?" Niranjan turned away from his Wife.
Anjali laughed. "He is not a slave; he is a man in love. You don't know what Love is! And what we could do for our loved ones but I promise you..."She touched his cheek and made him look at her, "One day you will realize that but then it will be too late. I will make everyone see the truth...and then let Shlok decide whether to give you another chance or not."
"Are you threating me woman?" He said and pushed her hand away. She looked at him with a stunned expression on her face and the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.
"Yes I am. But I have hope that you can change one day. It is like Herac***us once said: "Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character." I will wait for the day you will develop a good character Niranjan , prove me and the rest of the world wrong that you are good instead of being a monster!."
With that she left from there and all he could do was to simply stare at his leaving wife.
" Patience was never my strength Anjali."
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