A Part, Yet Apart

Chapter 117- Miracles and Mistakes

Nandini's POV:

Aryaman and Mukti came along that night as Manik told them the good news. None of them looked at me and either of them didn't look surprised as they saw me here at this time. "Tum dono aa gaye?" Manik asked casually. "Ghar pe sab aana chahte the but we just came here" Mukti said to Manik. "Par discharge kal subah hai, I know you guys couldn't stay at home, but yaha par bhi kuch nahi hai karne ko, just see him through this glass door. Chotu Malhotra ne sab dhoodh pee liya. Kal se ye hospital ke chakkar bandh" Manik said. "Ye chotu Malhotra kya hai? Aryaman tumhe jaldi se iska naam rakhna hoga" Mukti said. "Aarav hai iska naam! Aarav Malhotra" Aryaman surprised us with the name. "Aryaman se A, Tara se ara and V is for being the veer fighter he is!" he said. "Tum tho bade fast nikla, I like the name" Mukti said. "Aarav Malhotra ko hum kal ghar le jayenge" Manik said hugging his brother. "2 Weeks! Me and Tara, we've thought more than 2 thousand names and we've decided on this" he said, his voice trembling and eyes glistened. 

"Thank god, you've finalized it soon. Ab se sirf khushiya hi baaki hai" Mukti said hugging him too. It was one of the rare moments to witness the Malhotra siblings hug each other. Manik made sure to hold my hand while he hugged them. Manik has send them home and insisted I should also go home. Tara will be too happy to hold her baby tomorrow. Maybe no one could sleep tonight waiting for the baby to come. Tomorrow, not just home but everyone's heart would be full. I wish I had been there with Tara now. I would have made plans with Mukti to welcome Aarav home tomorrow morning, only if everything was alright. 

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Next morning, I reached hospital by 7 am. "Itni jaldi aa gayi?" Manik asked. Unlike other mornings, Manik looked happy and cheerful despite of the sleepless nights before. Aarav ko ghar le jaane ki Khushi. "I'm excited to see him in person" I said unable to hold it back. "Tara Aryaman bhi aa rahe hai na" I asked him. "Ha" he said. "Finally, Tara is going to see her son today" I was as excited as Tara. Manik handled the discharged formalities by the time Tara and Aryaman came. Aryaman bought a huge supplies of baby care products when he arrived. A carrier bag like thing to carry the baby, a stroller, a few soft plush dolls and others which I don't even know Aarav would use.

"This isn't the age for the babies to use a stroller" the words escaped my mouth as I saw Aryaman getting the stroller ready. "Hai na main isse already bol diya ki ye sab abhi kaam nahi aayega" Tara said. "Kya matlab ab stroller use nahi karenge" Manik asked me, his expression same as Aryaman. "You can use, but not now, he is just 2 weeks old" I explained that the baby's age is not appropriate to put him in baby stroller. Jahnavi came there to wish Tara. "Lagta hai baby ke recovery ka naam sunte hi tum theek ho gayi ho" Jahnavi said on seeing Tara. "Ha I couldn't stay back home, I'm waiting to hold him in my arms" Tara said with happy tears.

Tara went inside the sterile NICU chamber, finally allowed past that glass barrier that had separated her from her son for these 14 agonizing days. She wore a hospital gown over her clothes and had scrubbed her hands and arms according to the strict protocols. Her hands trembled as a nurse carefully, so carefully, lifted the baby from his incubator—the plastic capsule that had been his entire world since birth. "Are you ready, Mumma?" the nurse asked gently, and even through the glass we could see Tara nod, tears already streaming down her face. The nurse placed the baby in Tara's arms for the first time. The sound Tara made—part sob, part laugh, part prayer—echoed through the observation window and straight into all our hearts. Her knees buckled slightly, and a nurse steadied her, guiding her to the rocking chair they'd positioned nearby.

"Hi, baby," Tara whispered, her voice breaking on every word. "Hi, my beautiful, Aarav. It's Mama. I've been waiting so long to hold you". The baby—no longer connected to any tubes or wires, dressed in a tiny blue onesie that Tara had bought months ago when he was still safely inside her—stirred slightly in her arms. His eyes, which had opened for good two weeks ago, blinked up at his mother's face as if trying to make sense of this new closeness. "You're so warm," Tara marveled, adjusting her hold with the careful nervousness of a first-time mother finally getting to practice all the things she'd only been able to imagine. "And you smell like... like everything good in the world. How are you so perfect?" Beside Manik, Aryaman pressed his fist to his mouth, trying to maintain composure and failing completely. Tara handed him over to Aryaman. Tara adjusted the baby's positioning until he was secure. Then she stepped back, and Aryaman held this tiny person, his son, who depended on him for everything.