AVENGING LOVE

Chapter 9 : Painful Past

Abhimanyu flinched when his mother tried to touch his cheek. Involuntarily taking a step back.

“Abhi...” - she whispered, her tone desperate.

“Abhimanyu! My name's Abhimanyu! Only those can call me Abhi, who are close to my heart!”

He was not shouting. Infact, his voice was low. As if, drained of all the energy.

“Abhi I'm-”

“Didn't you hear what I just said ?!”

He paused then. A painful smile taking over his face.

“Who I'm asking this. My voice didn't reach your ears 12 years ago, when you were leaving home, so why will it now...”

His eyes welled up with tears, looking out of the window, lost in his thoughts.

“I'm sorry...” - came his mother's whisper as the tears fell from her eyes, witnessing the state of her son.

He chuckled. But there was no humour in his tone.

“You're sorry...” - he said, now laughing.

His laugh slowly increased and within seconds, he was holding his stomach, dissolved in peels of laughter.

But the irony was, apparently looking in the state of ecstasy, the sound of his laughter was heart wrenching!

“YOU'RE SORRY!” - he exclaimed, instantly sobering up. His eyes burning.

“Sorry for what ? For ignoring my cries of ‘Maa don't leave me!’ ? For freeing yourself from my hold when I was grabbing your pallu to stop you ? For all the nights where I craved your lap to sleep but slept alone ? For daily seeing my schoolmates coming to school with their mothers ? For making every achievement of my life absolutely painful because like my friends, I had not my mother at home to run to and show her my medals and trophies excitedly ? For growing up without a mother's love ? For making me hate my father because he doesn't tell me why his beloved wife left ?”

His mother had nothing to say. She just stayed silent. Tears freely flowing from her eyes.

“Do you have ANY idea how much it hurt ? All those years without you ?” - his voice had dropped down to a whisper and he looked SO LOST that any person looking at him at that moment, would have gotten their hearts broken into tiny million pieces.

“A person somehow understands if his mother dies. But what to do when your mother leaves you, without even giving a reason ?” - he continued, as if in a trance.

“Was I so bad that you didn't want to stay with me ?”

His whisper was barely audible. A haunted look on his face as his eyes started shedding tears. Falling on the marbled floor.

Drop after drop.

She shook her head frantically and moved forward to cup his face in her hands but he stepped back again. Shaking his head ‘no’.

“I must have been. Otherwise, you wouldn't have left. And see, I still am that ‘bad guy’ who was so bad that even his mother left him!” - he said, motioning towards himself, a humourless smile on his face.

“And for your information, I'm even worse than childhood now. So why are you here Miss Manjiri ?” - he asked, his voice thick due to non stop tears.

“Please forgive me...” - she said, now sobbing. “Just once. I promise, I won't do such a thing again ever!”

“It's too late now...” - he whispered, looking out of the window again.

“Don't say this please. I'm your mother!” - she pleaded making him chuckle again.

“Mother ?” - he laughed, the pain evident in his eyes.

“Do you really think that a woman is called a ‘mother’ by just giving birth ?”

Manjiri fell silent once again. Realizing, that she had lost the right to be called a ‘mother’.

He shook his head. A bitter smile on his face.

“You won't understand. Neither I want you to now. Nor have the energy to.” - he said, taking a step back, nearing towards the door.

“I don't want to meet you again EVER. So please, respect that.” - looking at her for one last time, he turned around and left.

Wiping the tears from his cheeks that just kept flowing.

~

“Neil... it's been a while. He hasn't returned.” - Akshara said as the trio waited for Abhimanyu's return in the cafeteria.

For some reason, she was feeling restless. A sharp pain in her heart had started just five minutes after he had left. And she didn't know how, but she knew, it was related to him.

The bell rang, alerting everyone that the recess was over and bringing Akshara back to present.

“Let's head to class. If he didn't return even then. I'll go to check on him. ” - Neil said getting up and she nodded.

But her heart had started to beat irregularly. Telling her, that something was not right.

~

Abhimanyu stepped out of DU on his bike. His blood pressure on the verge of shooting. Driving at an insanely high speed.

“Maa please... don't go. Don't leave me please...” - 11 years old Abhimanyu cried, holding his mother's pallu in his little hands tightly.

“Abhi leave! Don't come after me! I have to go!” - Manjiri shouted, roughly pulling him away, causing him to fall on the floor.

But he stood up even then and ran towards her. All the way to the gate, ignoring the shouts of his father that he'll get hurt.

“Maa please! I'll drink milk regularly without bothering you! I'll eat all the vegies! I won't fight with anyone in the class! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!!!”

But she was gone.

The pallu of her saree flowing behind her, was the last thing he saw before falling unconscious.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't realize the direction until it was too late when he saw a car coming from the front.

Trying to save the collide, thinking why should others suffer due to his misery, he turned at the last moment and his bike harshly collided with a tree, throwing him in the air.

He fell on the ground with a thud. Blood rapidly oozing from his head and he felt his vision blurring.

The cries of people around him was the last thing he heard before everything blacked out.

~

Author's Note : My precious Abhi... 😭💘