Unkept Promises

We will heal

Abhiram's POV

Avyukt was beautiful tiny baby. Pratik's child.

I had become an uncle, and that was so fascinating. Pure joy emanated from each person's face when the nurse had handed over little Avyukt to his dad.

Pratik was spell-bound seeing the tiny baby in his arms. Fortunately, the tiny baby boy was a little over 32 weeks, and considering his weight and overall health, there wasn't actually a need for him to be kept in the incubator for a longer duration. Just a few hours were going to suffice.

The look of disbelief on Pratik's face when he held his own angel in his arms reminded me of the time Avi had delivered our Aaru, and I had cut the umbilical cord. Its something out of the world, something which you cannot really describe in words - unreal.

"I will protect you from every evil, my precious baby, and will always love you - endlessly, unconditionally, the way angels are to be loved."

Pratik had whispered these very words to his son, a stream of happy tears flowing down his cheeks.

The hours prior to Avyukt's birth were too mentally taxing. All of us were quite concerned about his safety considering her pre-mature labor. Pratik seemed to be on the verge of tears, and was getting increasingly vulnerable as the time passed. We had all consoled him individually, and together, but no one could stop him from being restless even for a moment.

Amidst all of this chaos, and trepidation - so as to put it, I was equally concerned for my Avi. That's because, what I was apprehensive about primarily was, if her negative emotions would be triggered by this situation in the hospital. Kinjal and all of us being present there. Before we got down from the car, I had pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead as an assurance for the both of us.

When we had entered the hospital, mummy glanced at Avi, and with an apologetic expression had held her hand whispering a quick, but sincere 'sorry beta (child)'.

Every other moment, I would glance at Avi to check up on her, and much to my relief, she was fine. She wasn't pretending to be fine, but she in fact was. And whatever lines of concern were etched on her face, they were only for the safety of the baby and for Pratik.

Somewhere deep down, I had hoped, a tiny part of my heart had dared to hope that perhaps I could see a little bit of softness on Kinjal's face after seeing her son. But she refused to even glance at him for even once, and even in her exhausted state had uttered, "Finally this brat is out for good."

I still cannot fathom the pure heartlessness her face and her entire demeanour beheld in those moments.

Presently, we were on our way to give Pratik the custody papers for Avyukt. Avi had immediately drafted them on Pratik's request. The good part was that Kinjal was all ready to sign the custody papers - that's because, she clearly and very vocally wasn't interested in caring for Pratik's 'brat', even in the slightest. It pained my heart seeing little Avyukt not receiving the love he deserved from his mother. However, we all knew better than to have Kinjal near him, lest she were to have some twisted thoughts in that evil mind of hers.

Had Kinjal not been accepting of granting complete custody without any contest to Pratik, we would have needed to approach the court. Yes, in the end, Pratik would have won Avyukt's custody rightfully, considering Kinjal's purposeful abortion of a girl child for her malicious schemes and the evidences we had with us, also that doctor's ongoing case in the court, and the statements of her own family members - but in all of that chaos, little Avyukt would have suffered the most.

Kinjal had already been served divorce papers by Pratik, and the case was to yet commence in the court. Despite of being an employed person with earnings nearly comparable to Pratik, she had still demanded for an alimony. She must have gotten that information from her lawyer - about hers not being eligible for alimony ideally, but her evil mind still wanted to create nuisance in our lives.