A NEW MORNING

PART 2

Present day

Sanyu made herself a cup of green tea as she pulled her robe closer to her body; the december chill making her shiver despite of the central heating in full force...she went outside in the living room and looked out from floor to ceiling glass walls of their apartment in New York...if someone had told her a year ago that she would be relocating to New York, she would have laughed it off

She sat down on the comfy settee near the window and gazed down at the beautiful sight that Central Park made in winter...with the Christmas lights on and stars twinkling delightfully on the tall christmas trees, her thoughts went back to the day that had changed everything in her life...the day that had started with being a joyous one only to end up being the saddest of their lives.

She looked at the large portrait of her sister that hung on one of the walls in the living room...her smiling face, dimpled cheeks and twinkling eyes looking down at Sanyu who sat with tears welling in her eyes...she missed her sister...missed her more than anything! And if it wasn't for her sister's baby...she probably would not have been sitting here today...in her new life...as Mrs Randhir Singh Shekhawat...a name that was rightfully her sisters...not her's.

One Year ago...

It had been nearly six months since the accident and Sanaya's demise...Randhir and Advait and their driver had survived the ill-fated accident with minor injuries since they had been sitting in the front...but Sanaya had left them all on that day...Randhir had turned into a shell of a man from who he once was...he had left Advait with his parents and sister and had left for the US to get things in order there...he had come back a few weeks later, taking indefinite leave from work as he had to decide on what was best for Advait...

The first thing everyone told him was to come back to India...but he had refused to even think about that...he had told everyone that he was capable of taking care of his son and would not be coming back anytime soon...he had even discussed working from home so that he could be a full time father for Advait...his company had agreed on his request, since he was one of their highly respected and senior employee...so this was the best solution for them.

During his time in India, Sanyu had visited the Shekhawat house regularly...she had been so taken with Advait that she felt as if he were her own son instead of her sister's...Advait too looked forward to his maasi's visit as she probably reminded him of his mother...this was truly appreciated by Randhir who was indebted to Sanyu for her involvement in his son's life...he knew that Advait missed his mother's warmth and Sanyu provided the same to him whenever she came to their house...he also enjoyed her company as she always tried to engage him in something or the other to keep him occupied...to keep him from falling into that abject depression that had come over him after Sanaya's death

No one had probed Randhir after that day about his plans and had agreed with his solution of working from home...but looking at Advait's growing bond with Sanyu had brought about a thought in everyone's mind...of Randhir's remarriage... Advait needed a mother and who better than Sanyukta who understood both the father and son so well? Even Kishore and Anju had thought that this was good idea and looking at the way Sanyu adored Advait, they thought it would be for the best...as it is, they could not see anyone else taking their Sanaya's place in their grandson's life.

It was on one of those days, when Sanyu had come to play with Advait...she was going to take him along with her for the weekend, when loud noises from the bedroom upstairs caught her attention...she could hear Randhir's mother and his sister talking to him...she inched a few feet closer to hear the only sentence that caused her to gasp in surprise "No ma...I will not marry Sanyukta....period...I do not want anymore discussion after this." he had said in such an enraged voice that it had shook her to the core