APRICITY [Completed]

15. VIHAAN

She's cleaning the gas stove when I step into the kitchen.

"Ahm Mrs. Khurana, I was-"

"No," she cuts me.

"At Least give me-"

"No,"

"Surbhi-"

"I said NO. I am not handing my daughter over to you again," she says and the intensity of her gaze steals my words for a minute.

"There hasn't been a day in the past months when I didn't regret what I did," I tell her.

She starts rubbing the cloth vigorously on the stove.

"Does your regret take away her trauma? The scars on her body? Her fear of dark? Tell me. Does it bring back her voice?" She accidentally touches the hot portion of the stove.

"Let me," I say and take her hand. She resists but I pull her to the basin nonetheless. I put her hand under running cold water.

When I see that no serious damage has occurred, I bring her colgate from the bathroom and leave her to it.

I sink into the sofa in the living room.

Do I really not deserve her? She said that she loves me. But she still sleeps with her lights on. And her voice ain't coming back. I've talked to all the doctors. Muskaan passes by the room.

"Ask me anything about her," I say. My voice is so low that it's a miracle she heard it. She stops and gives me the benefit of the doubt.

"Her favourite colour?"

"Green."

"Singer?"

"Shreya Ghoshal."

"Food?"

"Burgers."

"Ice cream?"

"Butterscotch."

"Beverage?"

"Tea."

"Author?"

"Keeps changing. Currently- Elle Kennedy."

Muskaan looks impressed, as if she did not expect me to know all this.

"Stop trying to manipulate didi," Surbhi's aunt stands on the threshold. And the look on her face tells me that she's up to no good.

"No. I'm telling her how I feel," I clarify.

"It was your mother, who could not stay where she was told to be and it is our daughter Surbhi who paid the price," she states mercilessly.

"Please don't bring mom in this," I say through clenched teeth.

"What are you gonna do? Hit me with a belt?"

Her arrow hits the mark and I flinch. "I wouldn't do that."

"Mind you, a bullet will be right through your skull before you even remove that belt. The men in our house still polish their guns. But they don't raise their hands on women to look strong and respectable," she goes on as if I hadn't spoken.

"That's exactly how I plan on treating Surbhi."

"You'll walk out of this house alone."

"With all due respect, that's not your decision to make," I clear the boundary.

"See how he talks," she says to Muskaan.

My eyes meet Muskaan's stony ones. A shudder goes down my spine. I have to win her somehow.