Behind the rigidity

Roothe roothe Samarth

Vedant was doing the homework inside his room with his mother when Samarth came back home.

"Complete this,and the next page
I'll come after giving Papa some snacks okay ? Be a good boy " Bhavani ruffled her boy's hair and exited and went to their room to meet her husband.

"How was your day ?" she asked.
"It was ok" came a curt reply,unlike the other days when they lovingly carry forwarded the conversation
"Come sit in the dining room, I'll bring you food.Eat,then we can talk" Bhavani decided not to prod till the time being and left but not before checking upon Ved.

The couple was having short conversations when Ved peeped out of his room, hearing his father's voice.Samarth saw him,yet didn't say anything and Bhavani followed his gaze.
"Ved,done with the exercise?"

As if caught red handed, Ved immediately hid behind the curtain
"Umm, who's hiding there ,I cannot see anybody" Bhavani said playfully when he moved behind the door
"Aaja ab ! I saw you !"

Ved took baby steps and sided towards his mother while looking at his father from the downcasted eyes.

Bhavani pulled him towards her lap when she saw him making no move
"Did you finish that subject Ved ?"
"Yes mumma"
"Classwork and homework both na ?"
He nodded.
"Good boy.Take 10 mins break then we'll move onto the next one.Sit here, I'm coming. " saying so,she left the room,in order to give the father and son the required space to fill up their existing tussle

Samarth kept on munching on his food,but did not talk;whereas,Ved played with his fingers not knowing what to do.

"Papa,Papa, Papa" after sitting for a few minutes,Ved finally took a step to break the ice and he kept calling him, tugging at his father's kurta sleeve
"Hmm" after a lot of tries, Samarth hummed.
"I'm sorry, please talk to me, please to me, I'll never do such a thing again " Vedant was literally shaking him again and again with his little hands,but no more reply came
His eyes started glistening and he ran away to his room.

Bhavani who was looking at them from the kitchen went after him.And Samarth, disappointed at himself,left the room too and went inside his own.

"Ved ,beta, don't be sad okay,you remember the deal right ? We aren't supposed to give up,haina ?" She immediately took his hand in hers
"I called him so many times,Papa still didn't talk, I'm so bad na "
"Bachcha,who said you're bad.You're the best anybody can have.I,and Papa both loves you.And Papa won't be able to resist his baby for a longer time .Dekh lena"
"Pakka na ?"
"Bilkul Mera bubu,chalo let me now read you the new story,mam taught in class today"

Ved shifted himself to his mumma 's lap as she read and explained the story to him in the most interesting way.

It was soon dinner time when the family had their food in silence.Bhavani fed Ved with her own hands while having her own meal,but Samarth stayed quiet.

Samarth was about to re-enter his room when he felt two little hands encircling his legs from behind.
"Papa , please don't go.I'm sorry" Ved dug his face in his father's back as he apologized innocently.
Samarth neither spoke,nor did he push him away.
"I have understood everything, I'm sorry"
Just as he was about to lose his control and hold his son back,Ved said
"I'll never watch magic tricks again, I've understood. Please talk to me, Papa, I'm sorry"
Bhavani immediately slapped her forehead at her son's words,but came to the rescue anyway
"Samarth what he means- "
But he shook his head in disbelief and went to his room.

"Mumma mumma Papa phirse chale gaye ! I want to talk to him"
"Try tomorrow once again beta, and tell him what all you've learnt okay?" Bhavani comforted,not wanting to upset her son "chalo, let's make you sleep now"

She took him to his room and caressed his hair till he fell asleep and went back to the kitchen to wrap up with her remaining work for the day.

All this was being watched by someone,and as if waiting for Bhavani to leave and Ved to fall asleep,the person went and sat beside Ved's bed

Yes,it was none other than Samarth who couldn't resist himself further and stroked his hands through Ved's head.No words, nothing.But just a yearning father, warming his own restless heart .

He smiled at his sleeping child and left for his room,when a toddler Vedant welcomed him with his hands thrown upwards wanting to be picked up,in the photo .

Papa bear obliged yet again.He just didn't have the heart to sadden him again, because he had already done many a times in real life in a single day,not at all to his liking. So, took the frame in his hands and started caressing it and time travelled to the day,the picture in his hand was taken.

~Flashback~

It was 1+ year of Ved when he started taking very short steps.He started balancing himself on his feet,but would fall soon if not given
That day, Vedant was taken to the nearby studio to click a few picture of him.It was a break time and Ved,upon being left for a few minutes on his own in the carpeted floor,tried standing by taking the support of a prop nearby.After taking hardly two to three steps,he lost his balance and sat with a thump on the ground.

His mother was taking out his bottle sitting on a chair beside him and his father was busy talking to the cameraman. Ved looked side ways and let out a shriek in order to get his parents' attention
"Alle mela bachcha fell down .Ui ui hua ?Na na" their focus immediately went upon him and Samarth cooed, clapped his hands to divert his son's attention from the fall.

Vedant,watching his Papa got fascinated and grinned happily.He forwarded his chubby little hands towards indicating that he wants to be picked up
"Pap goi goi goi" he with his incoherent words told his dad about his demand
That's when the photographer got the most perfect shot of that day, without any additional lights or props.
"Aaja aaja! My baby wants to come to Papa " Samarth kissed his balloon cheeks and took him in his arms.

"Bhaiya ,we want this to be framed ! " An overexcited Bhavani immediately instructed the studio owner how she wants the picture to be delivered.

|•|

A hand on his upper arm jolted him back to the present and knowing who it was,he kept the frame back in its place and let out a long sigh.

"It's already late Bhavani, let's sleep.Good night"
"But will you be able to ?"
he looked everywhere else,but her.

Bhavani gently led her husband to their bed and made him sit on it
"Come,we need to talk"

           ~ ✿⁠ ⁠♡ ✿⁠ ⁠♡ ✿⁠ ⁠♡ ~

The next part is here.
I'm really sorry for the late update.
Going to wrap this chapter up by the next one or two updates,and those would come soon.Pakka ! 🙈

I tried fulfilling one of my dear reader friend's request.
Let me know how you feel about the flashback part and the whole update in general

See y'all soon
Till then stay smiling 💖