Heartless

Heartless

The children sat around the fire thinking about the events that had led them all to gather at their hangout. Last time they were here was to come up with a counter-plan to take down Ajabde, and now, they were wondering how they could reach out, to comfort and be her support. Jagmal and Maan had shared with them details of the meeting at the office and the decision was taken- they were going to live with their father, Rao Surtan Singh of Bundi; Chand was coming back from her boarding to join a prestigious academy nearby and will stay them as well. As far as their mother was concerned, she was to move into her apartment in Delhi where the children would visit her as per the decided schedule. A stipend would be transferred to her account on the first day of the month, and her credit card would have a limit agreed by the heads.

“They let her go easy especially after her latest stunt,” Jagmal murmured but seeing his sister’s glare he quietened down. Maan knew her mother had caused a lot of problems, but she was still their mother. Others stayed silent because temperatures were already running high. Patta had lost it back at home and acted in an undignified manner, his sister’s word still resounding in his ears,

Ajabde glared at Patta as he touched the cheek that held her hand’s imprint. Patta looked at his mother who was surrounded by the other ladies; Jiwa, Jagmal and Chand were in the corner. He turned to look back at his elder sister who stood like a wall between him and the woman who had destroyed everything.

“She wronged us all. She wronged you more than anyone,” Patta’s voice filled with emotion, “yet you stand between us as a shield for her.”

“I will not allow you to become the reason for people raising a finger on Hansabai Puwar’s parenting.” Her voice was calm, composed and there was no sign of remorse for stopping her younger brother. 

Pratap sat in his cabin going through his emails ignoring the fact that it was way beyond his office hours and that he was the only one in the building. The news he had received had shocked him to the core- not only they had discovered the identity of the person behind the whole secret baby gossip but also that Ajabde had handed over the baby to her maternal grandparents.

The child’s grandparents were brought in by her to the Punwar mansion where she introduced them to everybody, gave them their grandchild along with their new title as well as a partnership. He had met with the grandparents and taken on the responsibility of the child’s education. He opened up the gallery, scrolled through the album titled Khetu. Images and videos of the child popped up, and it made him remember all the moments he had spent with his Ajabde because of the child. If things had gone the way he had imagined, they would be married with a  little one of their own; it would be their small family.

The door of his office opened as a guy stepped inside, “I had a feeling I would find you here.”

Rao Ramrakh sat in the rocking chair that belonged to his great-grandfather in the dark room. He could hear his wife’s melodious voice as she sang the lullaby to their first born.

“Their..no…not their but her firstborn”,  he thought, “ he did not treat Ajabde the way he treated the other children. Not once did he approach her and when he took the step, it was too late for she had closed not only her doors to him but everyone else as well. People had started calling her heartless for taking the hard steps but it was not her fault; she did what she had seen him doing. It was not her fault for protecting herself by pushing everyone away but it was his for never openly saying things that were hidden inside his heart. 

“Did he even have a heart or was he like her a heartless monster?” recalling the sobs that had come out from behind the doors he had his answer.