Rooh (Book 2 - Singhania Brothers)

Part 22 : Love and acknowledgements

Aniket held onto her. He awfully needed that warmth to calm down himself. The truth had been buried for so long that it's reemergence had left him shaken. His mind flashed the visions in front of him.

"Tumhe mere paas vapas aana hoga!"

Aniket was horrified to even hear that. He took a step back. "Nhi, kabhi nhi..."

"Soch lo, Aniket," Mittal leaned back on his chair and smirked looking at Aniket. "Agar tum nhi toh Aryan hoga tumhari jagah..."

"Shut up!" Aniket yelled. "Aru ko kuch nhi kar sakte tum. Woh humare saath rahega..."

"I've his legal custody. I can snatch him the moment I want to." Mittal gave him a wicked smile.

Aniket gasped.

"But I've an offer for you. Agar tum mere saath aa jaoge, mai Aryan ko haath nhi lagaunga.."

Aniket shook his head. "Bhaiya wouldn't let you touch Aryan. Neither me. You cannot hurt our family..."

"Family?" Mittal snickered. "Kon si family? Kuch nhi lagta..."

"Shut the hell up, Mittal." Aniket glared at him. There was only so much he could listen calmly. "I don't want your knowledge over family's definition. Let me go."

Aniket used his anger to mask up the fear he was feeling. He was returning from school when Mittal blocked his way. He had been shocked beyond words. They had relocated to Mumbai just to make sure they never crossed paths with that man again but the fate always had its own plans.

Mittal rose from the chair and walked towards Aniket. "You need to think calmly, Aniket. I've Aryan's legal custody. The moment I file the case, he will be mine. Do you want that?"

"Kya bakwas hai yeh?" Aniket looked at him angrily. "No court will give a child's custody to you. Go and file the case."

"Court proofs par chalte hai. And you've already seen I've Aryan's legal custody papers."

"Aru will never want to leave us," Aniket retorted fiercely.

"The court doesn't listen to kids," Mittal smiled evilly. "Arnav is too young to be a child's guardian. He can't compete with me even for a second."

"Bhaiya doesn't even need to compete with you." Aniket snapped back. "A person like you can never be any child's guardian...."

"Why don't you have a look at this?" Mittal slid a file across Aniket's side.

Aniket looked at him suspiciously before he picked up the file. Mittal's smirk deepened.

Aniket took a step back in shock as he went through the file. His head reeled with what he was reading. For a moment, his surroundings blurred. Mittal was speaking but he couldn't listen anything. He was too stunned to process anything.

"You're making this up, are you not?" He muttered. This couldn't be true. It just couldn't.

"Now what do you think, Aniket?" Mittal sat back on the chair and crossed his arms.

"This is not possible," Aniket yelled. How could it be the truth? He looked at Mittal who was wearing a victorious smirk on his face and bubbled up in anger. He tore the files in fury and threw it away.

Angry tears rushed to his eyes. "Mai nhi maanta... You can't take Aryan from us. Court will not grant you his custody. Yeh sab jhooth hai.. Arey Tum jaise aadmi ko toh..."