Paakhi

T E N

"I've had enough, Sir!"

Aritro paced the terrace furiously, his hands running through his hair with anxiety.

"I've had enough of letting you victimize that selfish woman! I am a fool! She wanted to get rid of the child! I walked right into her trap and now I'm stuck with a kid that is not mine!"

Shantanu hadn't said anything this entire time, his mind in a state of utter frenzy. He didn't understand, he didn't understand anything.

"I don't know any more than this Shaan." He recalled Nishant's words from the phone, "I'm telling you the truth. She was miserable that day and she begged me to pretend to be her husband for that one day when we visited that hospital. Once she was certain they did pre-natal sex determinations without any ID she asked me to leave."

His palms rolled into fists by his side, confusion, anger, hostility brewing inside of him. What right did she have to drag him into her mess of a life?

He had loved her, he had loved her with every fibre of his being.

"I tried asking her what this was all about but she insisted that the lesser I knew, the better."

How many more men had she used to get what she wanted? How could she do this to him?

"You're a cop, Shaan! What she and I did is illegal, I...I didn't know if I could trust you. That's why I made that whole thing up about...about Shashi and I..."

"Urgh what am I supposed to do with the baby?" Aritro continued to yell. Shaan pressed his forehead; sensing a headache shoot up from all the shouting.

"Believe me Shaan, I tried to ask her what the deal was numerous times but she simply wouldn't say. She kept saying she didn't want to mess my life along with hers. She sounded so lost..."

"I have to get back to Mumbai and join my office this Monday! I don't believe this! I wasted my time taking care of this child when I should've simply reported the Mother and dropped the kid off at an orphanage-"

"-WILL YOU SHUT UP DEEP?"

Shantanu looked up, Mili was livid, her shoulders rising and falling from the uneven breaths she took.

"How is this the child's fault?" she demanded angrily.

Aritro rolled his eyes, a breath of disbelief escaping his lips. "Sure, it isn't. But how is this my fault Mili? I was supposed to use this trip for myself, for something that meant something to me and-" He stopped short, his eyes falling upon Shantanu.

Shaan gulped, he didn't understand the look on Aritro's face.

"-and what?" Mili insisted, her eyes following Aritro's gaze that remained on Shantanu. It took her a total of two seconds to sum two and two. She couldn't help but let out a breath of disbelief.

"Whatever you're thinking Deep, is childish-"

"-you don't know what I'm thinking Mili." His voice was stern, dejected. "But I give you this, taking care of a new born child was not somewhere on my priority list. I actually wanted to fix-"

"-and you thought you could fix every mess you created for years in a span of a week?"

Shantanu had never felt more confused, he could feel his head throbbing with a fierce intensity now. It didn't help that the pandal downstairs continued to play loud, Durga Pujo themed songs as people chatted away.

"Isn't it enough that I was trying, Mili?" Aritro's voice was so down, Mili could feel a lump form in her own throat.

Shaan got up from his spot, announcing, "I'll help with the formalities of the child, you won't have to take care of her any longer. I'll call you tomorrow."