Ishq Mein Adhoora Sa - A ShivIka SS

2. 1

"Shivaay, chhot aapko lagti hain likin dard mujhe hota hain."

"Dard mehsoos hone ke liye aapke seene dil hain bhi ya nahi?"

"Ladna toh hum chhod nahi sakte kyoonki wahi humare khidkitod rishte ki khaasiyat hain."

"Ladna tab chahiye jab bachane ke liye kuch ho. Aur mujhe nahi lagta is rishte mein bachane ke liye kuch bacha hain."

"Main aapko chhod ke kabhi nahi jaaoongi, aap mujhe chhodenge toh bhi nahi

"Goodbye Shivaay."

Shivaay's eyes jolted open but when he tried to get up, he felt some weight on his arm.

He looked at his side to find his 10 year old son sleeping holding his hand. Shivaay tried to free his hand but Ansh frowned and stirred a little.

"Shhhh..." Shivaay gently massage his son's scalp and watched him slip back into deep sleep, now clinging on to the hand he was previously holding.

Realising there was no way of getting up without waking up Ansh, Shivaay laid back down and began reflect on his life.

After picking the kids up from their mother's place, Shivaay dropped Shivani to Eden Hotel for her friend Sam's birthday party. Damn! Kids these days have fancy parties. Back in his days they would be lucky if the got to call friends over to play Musical Chairs, eat chips, Chhole Bhature and a cake from Monginis.

As promised, he went out with Ansh to the mall. They first went to the arcade. The duo (mainly Ansh) played for 2 hours and event beat Shivaay at Basketball. With thousands of tickets they won, Ansh got a Magnetic Dart Board, that he planned to challenge his siblings to. Afterwards they had a small snack of Garlic Bread and Lemonade and finished the day out by watching the new Avatar movie and eating a Happy Meal for dinner. When they got home, Ansh was so sleepy that he swayed while walking and his sentences were punctuated with yawns. Yet he insisted Shivaay and he have "more fun time together", which Shivaay couldn't refuse. He took him to his room to first feed him his medicines and get him changed. By the time Shivaay himself freshened up, Ansh had fallen asleep on his bed. Not wanting to disturb him by moving him to his room, Shivaay tucked him properly and slept next to him. Next day was Sunday so neither he nor Ansh needed to wake up early.

The custody arrangement of the kids was an alternating week one. They spent one week with him at Oberoi Mansion and one with their mother. Normally, they switched every Friday. Shivaay would drop them to school in the morning, their mother would pick them up in the evening and they'd stay the weekend and week with her. Vice versa the next week.

Since both he and their mother were at the highest positions in their companies, they had more freedom in scheduling their work commitments. As a norm, they scheduled business trips, long meetings, conferences and other time consuming activities on days their kids were with the other parent.

However, last week Shivaay had to urgently go to London for a week-long conference along with with a few buffer days. Hence the kids were with their mother from Thursday of previous week to Saturday of the present week. Of course it wasn't a problem with her. They were very flexible with schedule, switching days or extending stays as need be. They always informed the kids and ensured they were okay with any changes, which they almost always were.
But this didn't mean Shivaay would not compensate for time lost with his kids, especially Ansh.

Ansh. His little son. A complete replica of him. The same hair. The same eyes. The same smile. And according to Shivani, even the same frown and temper.
However, his nature was completely opposite.
He was spirited, happy-go-lucky, carefree and a little bit clumsy.
Most of all, he had the ability, better yet, the magic to make anyone and everyone smile.