Roohdaariyan - Abhira OS and short stories

Holding on and letting go

Birla house, Udaipur

"Enough Manjiri ! If Abhimanyu can get a second chance despite his deplorable actions towards Akshara, then my son deserves a second chance too."

Abhir peeked through the door only to find his Dida and Tayji yelling at each other, he took a step backwards, his grand-aunts words echoing in his head - what did she mean by Docman getting a second chance ? And what exactly had went wrong with his mumma & docman ? Had docman hurt mumma ?

Abhir clenched his fists, if Docman had hurt his mumma, then he wouldn't stay in this house for even a minute. No he needs to know, he needs to talk to his mumma, he has to make sure his mumma is okay. Mumma was his everything, his best friend, his safe haven.

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"Rooh! Rooh !" Abhimanyu called out from the living room of the Birla house.

"Yes Poppy" Ruhi giggled as she hopped down the stairs.

"Princess, where's Abhir?"

"In his room like always" Ruhi replied her smile dimming. She knew Abhir would have a hard time adjusting without his parents, but her brother had turned into a shell ever since he came to the Birla house.

"No bacha, he's not - that's why I'm asking, when did you last see him?" Abhimanyu could feel his heart racing, his instincts screaming at him.

By that time, the entire family had gathered around the living room on hearing the commotion.

"Abhi, Beta what's wrong?" Manjiri asked, clutching at her saree, she couldn't help but feel frustrated - her grandson was finally where he belonged, with them, in his house, but then why were things not settling into place. Why was there a sense of foreboding looming all over them.

"Dida, you didn't see Abhir ? He was heading towards your room only" Ruhi asked.

"Maa, did you see him ? I have looked everywhere, he's not in the house, I don't have a good feeling about this Maa, something's not right" Abhimanyu choked out, running his fingers through his hair, yanking at them, trying to stay grounded, trying to stay focused for his son.

"Hey Bhagwan, Didi what if he overheard us !" Manjiri cried out recalling the bitter words her sister and her at spewed at each other.

"What do you mean overheard us ?" Abhimanyu asked sternly, his eyes narrowing.

"Woh, matlab beta..." Manjri stuttered.

"There is a possibility Abhir overheard us talking about you and Parth, about what happened 6 years ago between you and Akshara."

Abhimanyu stumbled back, that day, that wretched godforsaken day was still haunting him, still looming over his neck like an executioner's axe. That one day had snatched everyone he loved away from him - Neil, his unborn baby, the first 6 years of Abhir's life, Akshu
And now it was going to snatch away the budding relationship he had built with his son too.

"Abhi beta please, it's going to be okay, we'll find him and bring him back to his home, this is where he belongs." Manjiri cried out.

"I was six. When Sir first raised his hand at you, and I remember feeling so mad, so angry. I had wanted to protect you, wanted to keep my mother safe.
From that day onwards, I hated him, couldn't stand the idea that the same blood that ran through his veins ran through mine.
I never gave him the position or respect of a father because of how he treated you,my mother. I was so sure I was nothing like him, that I wouldn't ever stoop so low b-but that's not true is it ?" Abhimanyu whispered, his eyes downcast.

"What I did was worse, I was cruel and callous to my wife, my wife who had just miscarried, I threw divorce papers at m-my Akshu who was pregnant, I b-blamed her for the death of our babies and Neil. She was alone, and weak and in pain - she could have died, Abhir could have died and I wouldn't have even known about it."

"Abhi beta please no sambhalo khudko its not your fault."

"H-he's going to hate me, m-my son's going to hate me, and he's not wrong in it, I ended up being the very person I despised, I- I don't deserve him." Abhimanyu said gasping for breath- the shame, the self loathing was choking him,he felt like his soul was getting ripped apart.

"Abhimanyu you need to calm yourself down, what matters right now is finding Abhir" Aarohi interjected, "I'm going to call Akshu and see if Abhir made it home, if he overheard Maa and Tayji, I'm sure his first instinct was to go to Akshu."

"Yes and in the meantime, Parth and I will search nearby." Anand Birla said as he grabbed the car keys.

Soon the entire family dispersed, searching for Abhir while the pit in Abhimanyu's stomach grew.

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Goenka house, Udaipur

"Wh-what Abhir's missing ?" Akshara gasped out, while the rest of the Goenka's stood up in shock. "No no he hasn't come here, what's going on Aarohi ? Where's my son?"

As Aarohi reiterated the events that took place in Birla house, Akshara grew paler - her baby must be so confused, so lost right now. While it was true that Akshara had fought for sole custody, and believed that Abhinav & her were the best choices for Abhir, she had never wanted for the truth of that godforsaken day to ever come out infront of her child. Had never wanted his bond, his opinion about Abhimanyu to be marred by the events of that day.

When she herself was still not able to process, not able to accept the grief, the brutality of what she had faced, how could her baby even begin wrap his head around all of it ?

"Bade Papa, Abhinav and I are going to go search for Abhir - please stay here incase he comes home." And with that Akshara rushed off not realising that in her hurry she had knocked down a photo frame of Abhir, Abhinav and Akshara. A frame which had cracked right through the middle.

A/n :
So if my attempts at foreshadowing have worked, you guys know what this short story is going to be about - it's what I hope the show is heading towards 😭🤞🏼

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