Frenemy Companions

Chapter -41

                    ☆ Numbness ☆                   
                          
                             ****                          

"Call back Annika maa. This wedding will not happen with out her. I know only you can bring her back."

His words rung in her ears as she stared at the photo frame. She was numb from the moment he said those words to her. Only she knew how she performed her duties.

The wedding had kept Adhiraj from confronting Annika but now it was over and she knew Adhiraj would question Annika. Once things get back to normal and the numbness in the air subsides he would try to find the root cause of everything. The only saving grace was to get Annika married soon. But Aditya wouldn't let it happen until he is sure about Sameer.

She was frustrated about all of this. She was not used to things not going her way. She was used to see Annika losing. This time too Annika chose her brother, then how everything turned out to be like this.

Madhuri wasn't aware that this time their was a certain someone backing Annika. Their was someone who had everything planned to get her out of the mirage of lies.

She didn't know that know the trump card she had been using against Annika stood in her support.

Her trance was broken when Adhiraj opened the door and got in. Just like that his gaze stopped on the photo frame in her hand.

He stared at it for a moment before questioningly looking at Madhuri.

"I just miss her." She lied without even thinking for once.

He took a seat beside her looking at the picture in her hands. He still was not over the woman in the photo.

"She would have been happy looking at Aditya!" She added to her words.

He released a breath "she would have been able to find out what went wrong with Niku! "

Madhuri snapped her gaze to him taken aback by his words. She wanted for him to speak more.

"You have done a great job in raising Adi but I think you failed as a mother to Annika! "

She felt a stinging pain in heart as if someone just pulled out a stabbed knife from her heart which was there from a long time.

"I failed as a mother?" She asked to herself

"No , you failed to fulfill your responsibilities towards Annika"

Unknown to Adhiraj he was counting her misdeeds.

"Madhuri , you know I married you for the sake of kids. I never told them that Mamta is their mother because you would have been tagged as step mother. I never doubted you and until yesterday I thought that I did the right thing! "

Madhuri was not prepared to listen all this. She was getting anxious, was suddenly again feeling the void of being no one to him.

"Annika was just born when I lost my wife and she lost her mother. Her mother who was waiting to hold her in her arms. " Adhiraj took the frame from the hands brushed his fingers on the picture.

"She always knew it was going to be a girl, she just knew even though you were the one carrying Annika. When you took up their responsibilities I was unsure but I took the risk for my kids. " he finally looked up to her still holding the frame.

"Looking at Aditya growing up in what he is now I was happy but yesterday I realized that in taking care of Aditya and the family you and I both neglected Annika. We failed to be the parents she deserves." his grief-stricken and disappointed voice hurt Madhuri in a way nothing did.