23. Card

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Raghav decided to leave as he felt staying back would hurt her more. She shut the door. He did not want to take any step further in a direction that would increase the distance between them but it seemed like the call of the hour.

Somehow, Raghav couldn't convince himself to leave her alone. He wanted to take all her pain on himself. He was engulfed by guilt and remorse. He wanted to take her into his warm embrace and not leave her for eternity.

He sat in his car thinking about the baby he never had the fortitude to have a glimpse of. Her words "He's dead" echoed in his ears and tore his heart apart. He couldn't bear the words she spoke few minutes ago and wondered how she had been living with the reality of it for all these years.

Shriya on the other end felt extremely breathless. She moved towards the kitchen and took a knife to slit her wrist. She had made up her mind that there was no point of her survival.

For one last time she spoke to the empty space around her " I have been an absolute mess! I don't deserve to live".

She drew the knife on her vein when she heard a knock on the door. She started getting anxious as she was torn between opening the door or dying.

Dr. Alba's words echoed in her ears "there's always hope". She decided to give her life one last chance and moved forward to open the door.

She threw the knife away, adjusted her hair and opened the door.

"Surpriseeee! Happy Birthday Shriyaaaaa" shouted Aadhik , Shreya and Laxman in unison.

" I wanted to wish hel filst" pouted Arihan and emerged between all the tall people before him and looked up on Shriya.

Shriya had completely forgotten that it was her birthday. The last time her birthday was celebrated was in tenth grade by her family and Raghav. That was her most memorable birthday.

She never mentioned it to anyone ever. She wondered how they knew it. Realisation knocked her brain that Raghav must have told them.

She was brought back to reality when Arihan pulled her hand to look at him and said " Happy Bil...Blid....no no Bild...no...Bday Suplwoman" looking up at her with a thousand watt smile.

Shriya burst out into laughter at his wrong pronunciation. Laxman slightly slapped his head and teased him saying " I want to wish first!! Mojo you don't even know how to wish".

Aadhik said " Oh! Look at his height! Our tiny baby can't speak beyond that".

Serah shared a smile with Aadhik on that statement.

Arihan got furious as anger spread across his innocent face. Shriya looked at this and bent down on her knees to maintain an eye contact with Arihan and questioned "Should I tell you a secret?"

The anger on Arihan's face turned into curiosity.

She wispered in his ears " Do you know, my brother did not know to pronounce r as well. He is elder than me. You are such an intelligent boy and doing a great job".

She got up not realising that the thought of her brother brought a smile on her face.

She got up not realising that the thought of her brother brought a smile on her face

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