FADING DARKNESS

CHAPTER 30: SHIELDS OF LOVE

"Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness."
Steve Maraboli

"The operation was a success."
"She'll be Ok."
" We'll be keeping her under observation for now in the ICU, and you can visit her after a couple of days when we'll shift her back to the cabin, but rest assured, things are positive."
As the doctors' words sank in, Piya sagged against the wall in relief, impatiently swiping away the wetness in her eyes. Haseena aunty was going to be okay. The operation had gone all right.
She looked around to see that Abhay had sunk onto one of the chairs, relief and wonder in his eyes. He looked up at Piya and ran a hand over his face. "She'll be all right." he almost whispered to her, as though he could hardly believe it.
Piya nodded, unable to speak as she went over to sit by him, taking her hands in his. She badly wished the doctors would let them see Haseena aunty now, but other than just a glimpse of her when they had shifted her to the ICU, they were not allowed to meet her now.
She leaned her hands against his shoulders, feeling glad when he rested his head on top of hers, their hands still intertwined. Just then, they heard footsteps and looked up to see Misha approaching them, a broad grin on her face. Piya stood up to hug her as soon as she reached.
"Yeah, I heard from Dr.Seth." Misha said, beaming, as she hugged Piya back. "Oh, this is so wonderful news." She added, as she pulled back, looking first at her and then at Abhay, who was still sitting.
"Did either of you eat anything since the morning? While the operation was going on?"
Piya shook her head, while Abhay looked away not answering.
"I knew it." Misha put her hands on her hips, glaring at her friend. "Go on, go to the canteen and grab something to it. You too, Abhay." she smiled down at him. She had considerably mellowed down towards him as she had slowly come to know him and even respected him now.
Abhay stood up. "No, I'll just-"
"Yeah, we'll go have a sandwich or something." Piya said, cutting him off and taking a hold of his hand. "Haseena aunty wouldn't want you starving would she?" she asked, smiling up at him softly. "And we need our strength to look after her, right?"
Abhay sighed, then nodded. "All right then. And then I'll-"
"And then you'll come with me to the orphanage. We need to give the kids the good news." Piya said, cutting off his protests with a no-nonsense look. "Mish, can you come with us?" she added, turning to Misha who had been watching the exchange with a fond smile on her face.
"Afraid I can't, Piyu. Have lots of work."
"Oh, all right then. And I'll stay the night with the children, OK?" Piya said.
Misha nodded.
"That's a good idea. I'll go then. Gotta call Kabir, let him know how things went. See you Piya, Abhay."
"Well, come on then." said Piya, pulling Abhay towards the direction of the canteen, a smile on her face.
*********
"Where are you going?" Madhu asked, noticing her son heading towards the door.
"Just for a walk. I'll be back soon." Arjun answered, continuing to tie on his shoelaces.
"But-" Madhu's eyes widened as she hurried forward. "You-you just got out of hospital a couple of days ago. Arjun, don't-"
Arjun straightened, making an impatient noise, before turning to his Mother. "I'll be fine. I'll be careful, I promise." he said, putting a hand on her shoulders. "I'll be back by dinner, OK?"
Without waiting for his mother to answer, he walked out.
******
Chand Raichand let out a deep sigh as he watched daylight fade, the relief in his veins still making him light-headed. Haseena would be okay. She was going to be all right. He wouldn't have realized how worried he really had been until he had heard the doctor confirm that she would be okay. And the look on Abhay's face- the relief, the slowly dawning happiness- Chand sighed again. How could he have even thought that keeping him away from his mother would be better for him in the long run. He had thought he had been doing the right thing sure, but it had been a wrong decision, a blunder. It had been a foolish step Haseena and he had taken when they had decided to separate.
At least, Abhay had found his mother back. And he had Piya-
The ghost of a grin flitted across his face. It was ironic that the girl they had set out to destroy had been the girl holding his son together. Holding him together with love and care. Chand ran a hand over his face. Deep down, he was glad that someone was there to hold his son's hand in a way he couldn't.
******
Arjun walked with purposeful strides as night fell quickly over Dehradoon. He knew where he was going. It had been on his mind for a long time, and he had finally gathered up his courage to go. Yes, he had needed to gather up his courage. He had battled with his demons for so long, that it had been difficult to silence them. But after his talk to Piya, he knew he could no longer remain the coward that he was. He had to- needed to- face his past, accept it and move on rather than being stuck in this vortex of nightmares.
An hour's walk from his house took him to the park where he had not set foot for a decade. With a deep breath, he stepped inside the gates. Now that it was dark, the park was deserted, looking quite eerie as the shadows of trees growing there fell on the ground. It was lit from the light from the streets, and Arjun could see that the park had changed since he had last set foot here. But the river was still there, running through the park in the middle, a bridge over it.
With a deep breath, he started walking towards it, willing the memories not to surface.
He did not know when he reached the bridge, and he clutched on to the railings, not stopping as the tears flowed down his face.
"Alisha, help me..." he murmured out loud to the night, wishing, desperately hoping that she was here in the flesh, to love him, to forgive him, to free him.
He had promised Piya that he would move on, and he knew that Piya would help him, but if he was honest, he did not know how. Before coming to the park, he had received a call from Piya, asking about his health, promising she would meet him soon. She had spoken in an ecstatic voice, telling him that Haseena aunty's operation had gone well, that she would be okay soon. Arjun clutched the railings tighter.
"Your mother is fine, Alisha. And once she is discharged, I'm going to meet her. I'm going to confess all that I did to her daughter..." The tears were now blurring his vision. "I wish I could see your face now Alisha. You would have been so happy to know your mother was alive...to see her again..."
Just then, a boy's scream pierced the night, jolting him out of his thoughts. He turned hurriedly, wiping his tears. Who was here? The park was deserted; no one was in visible sight. And at this time, it wasn't safe for kids...
He spotted movement behind one of the shorter clump of trees nearby and he walked towards it, a frown marring his face. Low voices became clearer as he approached.
"You're hurting me, Papa..." a child's whimper.
A sound of a slap, a muffled scream and a slurred whisper.. "You ran away from home, do you know what I did to your Mumma when she ran away?"
Arjun quickened his face, dread rising in his chest. As he turned around the clump, his face whitened in horror. A boy, no older than four or five was standing there, trying to wrench his arm free, which was being twisted behind his back by a large bulkier man..
"Hey!" he yelled out, anger surging to him. "Leave him alone."
In momentary surprise, the man turned and his grip on the boy slackened. The boy took advantage of the opportunity, pulling himself free of the man's grip with a cry. Then he ran up to Arjun, his face filled with tears and terror, and Arjun moved in front of him, automatically shielding him, while the other man stood, tottering drunkenly on his feet.
"Listennn mister, you are disturbing family mattersss...No one interferes Ranvijay Khanna when he talks with his sonnn... " His voice slurred even more as he pointed a finger at them , leaning onto the tree for support.
"Family, yeah, right." Arjun's voice was strong. He could feel the child clutch on the shirt from behind with trembling hands, feel his whole little body shake. White-hot rage coursed through him. "What the hell do you think you are doing, treating a kid like that?"
"Rudra beta...come here...to Papa..." the man said, taking a step towards Arjun, leering at the younger boy hiding behind.
Arjun's hand went behind him, holding the boy to himself. "He is going nowhere. And if you take a step forward, I'm going to call the police." He saw the man halt, fear flickering in his eyes.
"Rudraaa..." his yelled out, his voice rougher this time. "Come. We are going home."
Arjun chanced a glance at the boy. His eyes were wide in terror, and he was shaking his head.
"Did you not hear me?" Arjun voice was low and deadly. "Get out of here or I will call the police."
"Fineee..." The man held up a hand, his eyes now wide with visible fear. He feared the police more than normal, Arjun realized. Why was that? Why did their mere mention make him back off?
"Come homeee, Rudra. I'll be waiting thereee." With a last leer at his son, he tottered away, muttering curses, laughing.
Arjun waited until he was completely out of sight before turning to the boy and kneeling before him. The boy was still crying, and Arjun could see fingerprints on his cheek and swelling in his arm where that bas***d had twisted it. Arjun took a deep breath to calm down his anger.
"Rudra...is it?"
The boy nodded, wincing and taking a step back as Arjun raised his hand. Arjun sighed and smiled at him, a small comforting smile. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I'll just wipe your tears, see?"
Rudra scrunched his face tightly as Arjun touched his cheeks, wiping out the tear stains from there. He opened his eyes when he realized that this man was not going to hit him.
"You're-not going to take me to P-Papa, are you?" his voice was barely audible, but he started to shake again the moment he voiced the question.
Arjun sighed, shook his head. "No. "
"You are a good man." Rudra said. "You don't hit me. Papa hits me. So I r-ran away."
Arjun shuddered to think what he must have gone through. For a moment, the memories of his own kidnapping surfaced to his mind. The helplessness of it. And then that fateful night when Alisha had died. He had not been able to save her from himself...
"Will you come with me?" he asked, holding out a hand. He watched the fear come into the boy's eyes.
"I-I don't know who you are."
"I'm Arjun. I can be your friend, if you like."
For a moment, the fear was gone from Rudra's eyes, replaced by curiosity. "Really?
Arjun nodded.
"If you are my friend, will you let me go to school? Papa never lets me." The boy said in a rush, and then took a step back, afraid of his reaction.
How much damage had that brute inflicted on this boy?
"Yes, of course." he heard himself saying.
"And Papa won't hurt me if you are my friend?"
Arjun nodded again.
"And if we are friends, we can eat chocolates together, too. You like chocolates right?" he added.
That seemed to seal the deal. A smile broke out on the boy's face, a genuine smile that washed away all traces of terror. He slid his little hands into Arjun's larger ones, his eyes sparkling suddenly.
"I love chocolates! I haven't had any since Mumma died."
Arjun stood up, lifting the little boy in his arms. His heart was breaking at Rudra's words, and this time, he vowed, as he started walking, he would protect this sunshine of innocence with all he had.
*******
"Who is this?" Madhu enquired, looking shocked as Arjun stepped in, carrying a sleeping Rudra in his arms. The boy had fallen asleep on their way here, and Arjun hadn't woken him up.
"Mom, could you warm some milk for him? And make some food for him too." Arjun said, not answering his mother immediately, as he kicked off his shoes, careful not to wake Rudra up.
"But who is he, Arjun? I've never seen him before. You can't just bring a boy without telling me anything about him." Madhu's voice was stern.
Arjun sighed, turning to face her. "Mom, keep your voice down. You'll wake him up. His name is Rudra and..." Keeping his own voice low, he quickly told her about how he had met Rudra in the park.
Madhu looked even more shocked, if possible. "And you brought him here?"
"So, what? I couldn't just leave him!" Arjun whispered back, his tone angry. "Or should I have let him be?"
"No, not that, but-" Madhu looked a little doubtful, frowning a little.
Arjun sighed. "Mom, please. We'll talk about this later, kay? Let-let Dad come back as well. I'm going to put him on my bed. Let him sleep till dinner's ready."
Still frowning, Madhu nodded. "All right, then." She turned and walked away.
Arjun carried Rudra to his room, and laid him down gently on his bed, careful not to wake him. He then dimmed the lights and then made a call to his assistant at the office.
"Yes, sir?" the voice on the other end said.
"Ajay,I want you to email me the pictures of every Ranvijay Khanna in Dehradoon by tomorrow evening." Arjun spoke. "There's one Ranvijay whose information I need. I'll tell you which when I get the pictures. Got it?"
"Will do right away, sir."
"Good." Arjun answered, cutting the call.
******
Surprisingly enough, Abhay found that he quite enjoyed being with the kids. As soon as they had arrived, Piya had broken the news to the children that Haseena aunty was going to be fit and fine, and they were all going mad with joy.
The children had made a huge get well card for Haseena. They had nagged and nagged Seema, the cook who also looked after the kids now that Haseena wasn't here, and she had bought them a set of watercolours. They had used those to put their handprints on the card, "To make sure Mommy knows each of us contributed to making it." Manish, a ten-year-old, informed Piya.
"You put your handprints on it too." he added to Piya and Abhay and the children all nodded, grinning enthusiastically and chanting, "Yes yes, Bhaiyya and Didi both must do it!"
Piya wasn't able to refuse them, and even Abhay suddenly found himself sitting on the floor, his palms smeared with green paint from the watercolor tubes, while Piya had her hands colored blue. Together they both pressed their hands onto the empty spaces on the white card, their handprints looking huge compared to the children's.
"Wow, you have big hands. Especially you, Bhaiyya. You are not the Big Bad Wolf from Red Riding Hood, are you?" Asha asked, her eyes going wide as she stared at the handprints. All the children chuckled and Abhay felt himself flush.
"I-erm-I'll go wash my hands." he said, exiting the room hurriedly and making his way towards the wash basins.
Abhay came back inside the room, a smile lighting up his face as he watched Piya laughing as she tried to tickle a giggling Asha with her paint-smeared hands. The day had been exhausting, but Abhay felt far from tired as he watched them. Contentment washed over him, washing away the fatigue from his body.
"What's the matter?" Abhay blinked at Piya's voice and realized that he had been caught staring. Piya was looking at him with a small quizzical smile on her face.
Abhay shook his head quickly.
"I'll-er-I should get going." he told Piya, as she stood up. "It's getting late."
"Why?" Asha demanded, looking up from where she was sitting. "Why won't you stay? Why won't you have dinner with us?"
"I-er-I have some work left pending." Abhay said, not really used to a five-year-old interrogating him.
"What work?"
"Er-" Abhay could see Piya's lips twitching as she tried to keep herself from smiling. He did not know what answer to give Asha, for he was sure that the explanation that he had some business accounts to pore over would sound very boring to the kid.
"Is it homework?" Asha demanded, standing up, her eyes wide and curious.
Abhay sighed. "Sort-of-homework, yeah."
"What's sort-of homework? Is it homework for adults?"
"Well, yes." Abhay felt rather weird having this conversation.
"Is it interesting?" Asha asked, frowning a little.
"Not interesting, no. Sort-of-homework is more boring than homework." Abhay said, almost feeling himself smile. "But it has to be done."
"Ew.." said Asha scrunching up her nose. "Wouldn't want to be an adult then."
Abhay smiled. "You're wonderful as you are."
"Really?" Asha's eyes sparkled as Abhay nodded. She walked up to him, beckoning him to lean down, and as he obeyed, she pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"Now it's your turn to give me a goodnight kiss." she told him, turning her cheek towards him. Abhay pressed his lips to her warm, baby cheeks, a happy feeling coursing through him.
The other children had come to surround Abhay, giggling and claiming their goodnight kisses and Abhay kissed them all in turn, unable to keep the small, fond smile forming on his face.
"Piya didi, too." Asha claimed, holding on his hand and jumping up and down as he finally straightened. "Give a goodnight kiss to Piya didi too."
Abhay turned to look at Piya then, his eyes warm as he took in the slight blush on her cheeks and the startled look in her eyes as she looked back at him. Giving her a crooked smile that made her breath hitch, he walked over to her, kissing her heated cheeks.
"Goodnight Piya." he said, and with a final wave at the children, he started to walk away.
He had almost reached his car when he heard footsteps behind him and he turned to see Piya jogging towards him. A warm glow flared inside him at the sight of her.
As she drew near, he caught sight of the mischievous look in her eyes.
"Well, I guess I forgot to give you your goodnight kiss." she said, and his heart sped up a little at her words. She had washed her hands as well, he absently noted, as she placed them on his shoulders and leaned up on her tiptoes to press her soft lips against his cheek.
"There. Done." she said, smiling as she pulled back to look at him.
The warm glow inside him spread as he met her eyes. It seemed so incredible that this girl- this wonderful, flawed yet perfect, forgiving strong girl- loved him and allowed him in her life. He would never cease to be amazed by her. His feelings for her were increasing each passing moment- when he witnessed her mature ways, her smiles, her laughter or the way she gelled in with the children.
Piya was speaking again, her voice soft.
"You were wonderful with the kids. And they loved you as well."
"Yeah, I have to agree on both facts, surprisingly enough." He said, his voice holding something akin to wonder in it.
"Not surprising, no." Piya's hands had not left his shoulders yet and he felt their hold tighten. "Children have an inner radar you know. They are drawn towards good hearts."
Abhay did not answer. Could not, in fact. His voice was caught up and lost somewhere amidst the overwhelming rush of feelings he felt towards her. His right hand rose, of his own volition, to her cheeks, and his thumb tried to swipe away a little smudge of blue paint there. Her eyes closed. She trembled.
"Piya." Something in his voice made her eyes snap open again, and the look in his blue, ocean-deep eyes made her knees weak, made her feel breathless and alive all at once. And then he spoke again, in that same chocolate-rich, warm, husky voice. "I love you."
Piya's eyes widened at his words and the world seemed to recede and disappear and she barely had time to process them, to allow them to fill her to the core of her being, before he leaned in, his lips touching hers, as if he needed more than words to show her and make her comprehend, the depth of his feelings for her.