Unravelling You l ✓

Chapter 43 - Humans are stupid

🎶 Wakt Ki Baatein

Published on 10.12.2021

● A U T H O R ●

Some things in life make you question if you really deserve them. But why does most often this question arises when life slaps us with something harsh? It's said that joys and sorrows are two sides of the same coin but then why is it so easy to repulse the latter as easy it is to embrace the former? Even when you're bestowed with immense happiness, it feels like snowflakes melting on your skin, cold and soft yet filling you with warmth but when grief engulfs you, it feels as if someone is poking an open wound repeatedly, waiting for you to just go numb. If life is fair then why does it feel unfair? If happiness and sadness are present in equal quantities then why at times does it feel as if happiness are like stars scattered in the sky of sadness?

If Vihaan thought that the pain couldn't get heavier, if the sky couldn't get darker, if the stars couldn't shrink more then he was wrong because as he sat across his parents and glanced at them, he felt the knife that had already been stabbed in his heart twisting. He looked back at his clasped hands that hung between his knees and swallowed the lump formed in his throat. They aren't his parents, they never were, he reminded himself.

Aakash and Sandhya had come to pick Aarohi and Vihaan from the airport. On their way back to home, they tried to initiate small conversations but Vihaan had zoned himself out or atleast pretended to and Aarohi responded just with a nod or shake of her head at times. Now, the four of them sat in the living room with thick silence gnawing at their skin.

Sandhya felt her heart crack a little when Vihaan averted his gaze and Aakash felt himself tearing up. Aarohi brought water for all. As she was giving the glass to Vihaan, her fingertips brushed against his and a part of her screamed to grab his hand, pull him close to her chest and tell him to let out the thoughts that he was trying so hard to bury deep within, allowing them to suffocate him because she was here to listen to him, stay with him no matter what.

"Vihaan, we're- " Sandhya tried but was cut off.

"Mo- " Vihaan paused and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. She wasn't his mom, she never was. He has no right to call her mom. He kept the filled glass of water on the table and stood up. "I'm sorry." Mumbling, he left for his room and Sandhya's heart broke. The tears she had tried to hold back started streaming down her cheeks uninhibitedly.

Aarohi sure was disappointed in Sandhya and Aakash but she wasn't blind. She had seen their efforts in these months to make up for the wrong they did to Vihaan in the past. Those efforts weren't forced, the concern and care was genuine and she knew it. The agony that reflected on Aakash's face and the tears that left Rachna's eyes weren't fake. They did love Vihaan since always even if it was not in a way how parents love their kid, unconditionally and selflessly.

We often underestimate the power of negative feelings. We never realise until it's too late that these emotions do us more harm than they do to others. Sandhya had been so busy in grieving for her loss and blaming an innocent that she couldn't see that although Vedika left them, Vihaan was still there. He was a blessing in disguise and not a burden. Maybe life had gifted her Vihaan for this purpose, like a second chance but bitterness had made a home inside her, pulling her with it and making her see only blackness for years when beyond that still lain a palette of colours.

Aarohi could see that at the end of the day they were still humans and humans are stupid. As Sandhya sobbed in Aakash's arms and as he held her with eyes closed shut trying to console her and in return seek some comfort, Aarohi saw the parent in them that longed to pour their love. Regret, guilt, pain every emotion was etched on their face and all they wanted was a second chance, an honest start and maybe that was the reason that they were ready to risk their budding relationship with Vihaan and let him know the truth, fully aware of what the consequences could've been.