AAROHI

Shadows of the house

Plot : where neil give more importance to akshara than his own relationship.

The first time she realized she was invisible, it wasn’t during a fight.
It was on a random Wednesday morning.

Aarohi sat at the edge of the bed, sunlight spilling across the sheets. Neil walked out of the shower, ruffling his hair, phone already in hand.

She looked at him — really looked.
Not as her husband. But as someone she used to believe in.

He didn’t glance up. Didn’t ask how she slept.
Didn’t notice the stack of sonography reports on the nightstand.
Didn’t see the faint cramp in her gait. Or the hollowness behind her soft - good morning.

Because he was reading Akshara’s texts.

Again.

Bhai is upset with bhabhi . She didn’t eat. I’ll drop her some food.

Akshu sounded low. She didn’t call bhai or maa also . I will once go and check on her .

And Aarohi — his wife — was right there, bleeding slowly from a miscarriage they hadn’t even talked about.

Later in the day :

It wasn’t a dramatic moment.

No ambulance. No screaming.

Just her, in the bathroom, hunched over, whispering to herself — It’s too early. It’s okay. It’s too early.....

It had been eight weeks.

She hadn’t told anyone. Not because she didn’t want to…
But because she wanted the reveal to be beautiful. A surprise. A promise.

Instead, she flushed away clots of life while Neil argued over speakerphone with Abhimanyu about Akshara’s mental health.

Later that night, she lay beside Neil in silence.

He rubbed his temple.

I feel like bhai is slipping away and it's creating disturbance among them and bhabhi health is also getting effected.

She whispered, “I lost the baby today.”

He blinked.

Froze.

And then said the most unforgivable words:

You should’ve told me sooner - that's it . No other details asked .

After 2 days ............

The Goenka-Birla home was loud with voices that never said the right thing.

Aarohi served dinner. Bade Maa praised Akshara for donating to a charity. Bade Papa told Neil to drive Akshu to her therapy session as abhi is busy and Abhi gave his opinion about Akshara’s stress patterns.

No one noticed Aarohi hadn’t served herself.

Or that she hadn’t spoken a word.

Or that her eyes looked pale ,  dry, tired, and falling.

Ruhi sat on her lap, softly tugging her earring Mumma, do you miss baby?

Aarohi froze.

Neil dropped his spoon.

The table went still.

Ruhi said it again. I heard you tell baby sorry. Who’s baby?

No one answered.

Because truth, in that house, was too inconvenient.

Akshara never meant to take up so much space.