Mumma, Do You Love Me?

Chapter 2 - Good or worse

"You sneak into his bedroom, that too every night?" Shivaay asked sternly. His nostrils were flaring in anger, yet he had to control his emotions. He doesn't want his son to witness another transformation of him into the beastly monster.

"Yes, Papa! I told you it wasn't monster and it as guardian Angel!" Ansh beamed in excitement as he hugged his mother and cuddled into her embrace on the sofa. Anika just awkwardly avoided Shivaay's gaze and looked at her son.

Shivaay was sitting right opposite them in the single seater while Ansh and Anika were cuddled up together. After the most unexpected meeting of the spouses, Shivaay and Anika mutually decided to keep the conversation and deal the issue like a grown-up would do. They settled themselves down in the living room after a silent family lunch. Their very first meal together.

Ansh had insisted that Anika feed him his lunch. Initially, Shivaay tried to stop him from being adamant, but he had to relent in the end as Ansh just wouldn't listen. Anika then made Ansh sit on the table and sat on the chair opposite him as she fed him. Shivaay was just a silent spectator amidst all this. He tried to focus on his food alone, but, failed miserably. He had always wanted his whole family, his complete family to be just the way it was right now. She and their son, being happy together. It's not just his wish, it's his only wish at the moment. He would give up anything to have that perfect family life with them. But, was it worth it? Does Anika deserves a second chance? The husband in him might forgive her, but he's no longer just a husband. He's being a father now and he's been a father for five long years that he had literally forgot what it was being her husband.

"You didn't answer me, Anika!"

"Yes, I did. I snuck into his room every night!" Anika answered in a monotonous tone.

She really hadn't expected to meet Shivaay this soon. At least, not the way they met today. It wasn't even in the plan. The plan was entirely different and she botched it up. If there was an award for 'The Best Person To Ruin Everything', Anika was so damn sure that it belonged to her and no one else can claim it. What was going to happen now, only God knows. The best part of all, even Om and Rudra weren't there to help her out. Can things get even worse? The only bright side is that Ansh is there else, she knows how viciously Shivaay could behave with her.

"Okay!" That was all the reply that Shivaay gave before averting his gaze towards the TV which was playing Spongebob Squarepants, his son's favourite cartoon. That was something that his son, surprisingly inherited from him. Shivaay tried to cool his brain down and decided to watch the show for a while. If not anything else, then at least this would keep him calm. Then, it as just silent in there for quite a long time, with just the TV show's sound in the background.

"Ansh, do you love Spongebob so much?" Anika asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes, Mumma! It's so funny and I just like watching it!" Ansh answered truthfully as his focus stayed still on the TV.

"Who's your favourite character in the show?" She asked yet again.

"I like Spongebob!" Ansh giggled.

"Why is it Spongebob?"

Shivaay was beginning to get irritated at that. Why can't people just simply watch a show without chatting? Well, how can he expect that from his wife and son who are just way too talkative.

Ansh then began explaining as to why he likes Spongebob a lot and even went to the extent of imitating Spongebob's weird laughter. Anika was quite amused by the way her son was animatedly telling about his favourite character. How much of his early childhood she had missed just because she was too afraid to come back.

Soon, Ansh fell asleep in Anika's arms while watching the show. Anika hadn't realized it as she was also somewhat struggling to stay awake. Cartoons were never something that she would enjoy. To her, cartoon shows are stupid. They do stupid things and show stupid things to kid which makes the kids stupid. Well, that was what she thought until she Ansh proved her wrong. His explanations on why he likes Spongebob the most left her mesmerized. He had told her that Spongebob depicts a true friend. He never left any of his friends alone and always cared for them. He is a very sincere and hard-working person at his workplace. Spongebob was also very persistent. Even if his driving school teacher, Mrs.Puff had given up on him, Spongebob still goes to the driving school to get his driver's license. He was also always there when someone is in trouble. He does causes trouble once in a while, but he solves them as well. He never runs away from his problems!