Flaws| ✔️

Chapter 6

Jaaniya couldn't help but compare the night with her own state of mind . Just like those clouds , her insides were in a chaos .Something ached inside her .

Just then Kabir came towards her running . A thin layer of sweat covered the nape of his neck .

"Jaani , Where is Neha ?", his breath came in short grasps.

That is when she became aware of her surroundings and realised Neha was not with her neither Kabir. Her heart started beating so fast and she blinked rapidly .

Her mind was blank and she couldn't remember where she left Neha .

" I don't know ", Jaaniya whispered in panic .

"What do you mean by that? ", he spoke as rage quickened his blood .

Anger spiked him as he received Jaaniya's silence as answer.

Kabir turned back in order to find his daughter when Jaaniya followed him .

"Why are you coming with me ?" , he yelled.

Jaaniya felt a flicker of irritation. Neha was missing and here he was asking pointless questions . "She is my kid too . I will come along with you to find her ".

That's when Kabir held her  shoulders and said "You will never be her mother because you weren't the one who gave birth to her . She is only my daughter .And you wouldn't have left her alone if you loved her truly".

Rage was searing through him and Jaaniya was able to see it but his words stung her like a sharp blade. She didn't understand why people had to belong from the same bloodline to love unconditionally . Back in her childhood days , Suben believed that Jaaniya would never love them whole heartedly and would betray them if she had a chance as she didn't belong to their blood and now Kabir was indicating the same .

"Papa" , Just then they heard Neha calling Kabir out. They both followed the voice to find Neha in the arms of Suben. Anaya was behind them too.

"She was with me the whole time Kabir . You didn't have to worry man . You should have just called me !" ,Suben said shaking his head in amusement .

Relief washed over Kabir as he found Neha safe and fine . He took her from Suben's clutches and marched his way out of there without looking back .

"You did this purposely didn't you ?" , Anaya turned to Suben.

It didn't take long enough for her to figure out that Suben did something to irk Jaani which made her dash her way out of the party . In the meantime , he took Neha away from the eyes of everyone to a create a mess between Jaani and Kabir .

Anaya was sick of Suben . He always played dirty with the people he wasn't fond of and the relationship he had with Jaani didn't really matter to him . If it wasn't for the Goenka's to invest in their company , Anaya really wouldn't have hung out with him .

Jaaniya stared at Suben with a questioning glance .

"Just so you can know that you can never take Shubhu's place in Kabir and Neha's life ", With that Suben left the place too .

****

"Thank you for taking me home ", Jaaniya said to Anaya as Anaya was the only one kind enough to do that.

Anaya sighed . "It's high time that you spoke up for yourself Jaani".

" I can't . I can't open up to people so easily or speak up for myself Anaya ".

"If you don't , then people are gonna assume you are fine with everything and take you for granted ."

Anaya was mentioning about Kabir and Jaaniya knew that .But there was no point in arguing with Anaya , she would retort back with something or the other . But the thing was Anaya understood her silent cries when no one else was really ready to figure her out .

***

Jaaniya was sipping her coffee from the balcony . She really needed a distraction from her thoughts but she was unable to find one . She was tired of bottling things up .

" I didn't mean the things which I said earlier . I'm really sorry Jaani . I say things like that when I am angry ." , She felt Kabir's presence behind her .

An apology couldn't take back what Kabir said but she knew if Kabir Verma did come to apologise her , she means something to him a little or else he wouldn't even care to give an explanation for his actions .

And she was that simple girl . Even a small sorry could melt her off easily , she couldn't carry grudges or anger in her heart to anyone which was why she often considered herself weak.

"I know I didn't give birth to her but that doesn't mean I don't love her enough . I love her more than anything in this world and she is the only kid I would ever have in my life .",Jaaniya said glancing at him .

Jaaniya's statement left Kabir in guilt as well as confusion. He didn't understand why she mentioned that Neha would be the only kid she would ever have .

It was as if she  read his mind and she answered "There is something you should know ."

Flashback (4 years ago):

Jaaniya didn't know what to do after seeing the pregnancy test showing postive . She stared at herself blankly in the washroom mirror.

She knew Ananth wouldn't be happy with this news.

She was terrified of the man called her husband .

All Jaani wanted was to be a less of a burden to her family and she agreed to the marriage as part of a deal with the Shrenals.

If she had known Ananth Shrenal was abusive , she would have never agreed to that as he brought her childhood horrors back .

She couldn't tell her family the problem , it would be a great deal of trouble for them and she didn't want to burden them anymore .

But a part of her hoped that the news of a child would change Ananth for good.

But she was wrong .

That's what she realised when he ruthlessly beat her and pushed her off the stairs killing the little part of herself inside her .

**

" And as soon as he heard about Shubhu being pregnant , he wanted a heir who could get a share of my family's shares but I couldn't conceive after that , I became infertile due to the physical and emotional damage caused .He was angry at me and took his car out and went ." Jaaniya spoke as tears brimmed her face .

" And he never returned . He was drunk and got into a accident .",She said wiping away her tears.

Kabir was horrified as to how a person could hide such a big thing from everyone and act normally . He found it stupid that she didn't reveal this to her family but kept it all to herself as she didn't want to burden them.

But that's when he realised she was that insecure and scared .

"He didn't deserve to live Jaani." , Kabir said wrapping her in his arms .

****