The Scars ✓

One

Kiara sat upright, wiped her face and listened intently to what her mother was saying.

Her mother began to tell her the story in third person narrative so that she could tell it to her as bluntly as possible.

"There was a girl. Kiara Kaushik was what people used to call her. She was very happy and content in her life. She believed that she had the most perfect family that one could ever ask for.

She had a few friends, who were genuine with her and who had been with her through her ups and downs.

Her life had so much to offer to her which she was willing to accept. What she didn't know was that along with happy times, there will be sad ones too, so sad, that she might be left scarred for life.

***

"The child is not in the correct position to come out normally. She'll have to be operated!" The doctor said to her crew when she examined Vrinda.

"What? My wife will not have a bloody blade cutting her stomach. Are you insane?" Arjun yelled at the doctor.

"Mr. Kaushik, I request you to-" the doctor was cut off when Vrinda spoke, chuckling.

"Babe, you don't need to worry about anything. Everything is going to be fine. We'll be fine." She said, caressing her now swollen belly to refer to herself and their child.

"Are you sure? I mean we could go to a better doctor, a better hospital. Say the word and we'll-" Arjun was rambling when she said,

"Relax baby. The doctor knows what's good for the baby and me. She is a highly qualified gynaecologist and she'll do her work. You need to calm down." Vrinda held out her hand for Arjun to hold and he did. Then she continued, "Just be with me. By my side, okay?"

"Always. Just like I had promised, sweetheart." Arjun spoke and then bent down to kiss his wife's forehead.

Vrinda smiled with a tint of red on her cheeks and thought, "Even after all these years this man still manages to make my heart race."

"I'm glad I still have that effect on you." Arjun said and laughed when he saw Vrinda's expressions.

"Did I say that aloud?" Vrinda asked.

"No, but by the look I could tell. Besides, your answer confirmed that I was right. I love you." He said, expecting the cheeks to turn a darker shade of red which they did.

"I love you too." Vrinda said and then scrunched her face and hissed.

"What? What is it? Did I do something?" Arjun asked, his face showing concern.

"No, it's just that my contractions are coming at sooner intervals now." Vrinda said.

"Wait. I'll call the doctor." Arjun said and then rushed out to find the doctor.

"Looks like it's time. Let's get the show on the road, shall we?" Asked the doctor.

"Yes." Vrinda said simply and then chuckled when she saw Arjun's faced tensed.

"It'll be okay, don't worry. We'll both be absolutely okay." Vrinda said holding his hand as they were taking her to the operation theatre.

"Make sure you bring them both back to me, I don't know what I'll do without either of them." Arjun said, his eyes glistening with tears.

"Don't worry Mr. Kaushik, I'll make sure these guys get back to you very soon and in perfect health." The doctor replied.

"I love you, Vrinda." Arjun said as the doors opened.

"I love you, Arjun." Vrinda spoke as the doors shut and the light above it turned red.

Arjun along with both the families waited patiently, outside the theatre with different emotions like concern, worry and above all, excitement. He paced the hallway constantly and prayed for everything to be okay. Soon, he heard a cry from thr room, followed by a nurse coming out of the room.

"What is it?" Arjun asked in anticipation.

"Well, you tell me, what gender do you want?" The nurse probed.

"Well, let's just say that if it is a boy, I'll give you a box of sweets to distribute."

"And if it's a girl?" She asked again.

"Then I will gift you whatever you want." He said.

"Well, I think you should go get me a box of chocolates instead because you just got your wish. You are blessed with a baby girl who's perfectly healthy, along with her mother. You are a very lucky man, Mr. Kaushik." The nurse said and then went back to the room where she came from.

Kiara was born on a rainy winter night at four minutes past one and was brought to Vrinda in a pink cloth. She weighed three kilograms and was the size of a small doll. Arjun too was very happy to finally hold her baby girl in his arms.

She was put in a warm, cushioned crib, just beside her mother which had a lot of toys and other things with which Kiara could play.

***

Children are loved by all because of the sweet innocence that they have in their nature. Kiara was very unlucky as she couldn't enjoy her innocence for a long period of time. Her childhood was a bit different from the other children of her age.

As she started growing, many truths were revealed to her in the worst ways possible.

Kiara was very young to be acquainted with all these horrible things. Seeing all the truths revealing one after the other, she just couldn't handle it. Because she was small, she didn't know how to express what she felt. She didn't know how to voice her opinion and fathom her thoughts.

So the next best alternative she found was to gather her thoughts and write them down. Therefore, she started writing all her feelings in the form of words in a notebook. She started reading novels and story books that she thought were related to her life story. All this time, her mother kept silently observing her child grow much beyond her years, helpless.

Kiara was in pain and Vrinda could sense it. She just couldn't put a finger on the exact reason for her pain.

When kiara was away at school one day, Vrinda took out her diary and read it, unable to control the urge of knowing what exactly had been bothering the little mind of Kiara. When she went through her writing, she found out that her daughter may have been very young, but understood her surroundings very well.

Vrinda pretended to not know about any of this for a few more days until she thought of confronting her daughter and answering all her unanswered questions.

So, after a long wait, she went to Kiara and asked,

"Kiara, what is all this?"

"What mom? What are you talking about?" Kiara asked, clearly confused at the vague question being thrown at her.

"I know that you know almost everything now. Why didn't you tell me anything?" her mother asked her curiously.

Kiara had a very sympathising expression on her face. And what came out of the mouth of a child of five years was very astonishing,

She said,

"You've already suffered a lot mom,

I thought I'll not trouble you more..."

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