Hope

FOOL

Kaveri's POV

I ignored his presence and started searching in the room but I found none. He didn't say anything and left the room and my aunt came to the room and said that she has all my belongings in her room.

I followed her to the room and collected all my belongings. As I was trying to take my belongings, my aunt stopped me and said that our maid would help me as they were too heavy for me.

As she went to call our maid who was working in the kitchen, I started observing the house. Even though, I came here sometimes on functions and birthday parties, I didn't observe the changes in the house. The interior was completely changed. The house looked more beautiful than before. I walked towards my old room which I shared with my mother before my marriage.

My brother in-law's daughter, Nithya was reading a story book in my old room. I concluded that my old room is now Nithya's room. She is the first daughter of our family in this generation and we all love her a lot. As we were all living together, I thought that it was possible for me to always stay close to her.

As a toddler, Nithya loved playing with me and spent a lot of time with me. She also loved her brother, Shiva and when the other kids were laughing at Shiva seeing his malformed limbs, she played with him and consoled me saying that she would one day become a doctor and cure him.

But, after Shiva's death, I ignored everyone including Nithya. As the years passed, she got busy in her school and after I left this house, we had little to no contact.

But seeing her gave me a little joy. I felt happy seeing her growing up. She was the only person who played with my Shiva. She treated him like her brother even when he was born with disorders.

I wanted to silently leave but she saw me and said, "Aunt! Are you really here!" I smiled at her excitement and went near her and kissed her forehead. She gave me a bright smile and hugged me. Her one hug made me emotional and tears started to fill in my eyes but I remembered promising my children that I would never cry and immediately blinked my eyes to stop the tears from rolling down.

She excitedly showed me all her drawings and toys which made me smile. When she was talking, Krishna's children came to the room which made me very uncomfortable. I know that they are little kids but they always remind me of his betrayal.

Not wanting to stay in their presence anymore, I said that I would meet Nithya later and walked out of the room but his children stopped me and said, "Sorry aunt! Grandma said that you didn't hit our father. We are sorry. You are not a bad aunt."

I was startled listening to them and smiled at them saying, "It's ok." I know that my aunt never wanted anything bad to happen to me. I know she has good intentions but I couldn't forget how she was fine with Krishna's second marriage. I couldn't forget how she supported her son when I needed her the most. But she proved that blood is thicker than water.

I left Krishna's house and went to my house to see all my belongings in the living room. I'm glad that they are atleast in a good condition. I was not expecting Krishna to actually take care of my belongings. I know that if he could ruthlessly kick me out of his life, he could very well throw away my things.

But I was surprised seeing that my aunt kept all my belongings safely. I don't know how to react seeing her. I have mixed feelings for her.

First I want a job to survive for that I need my certificates and after seeing my memos and certificates I don't know if I should feel happy or cry. My marks are always very good and no one would expect a student with such high marks to become as useless as me. Seeing my certificates, trophies and medals in different competitions, I felt like slapping myself. Why did I even marry at such a young age when I could have done better things?

Later, I saw an album filled with my photos. It also has a picture of me with both my parents. My dad was holding me in his arms while my mom stood beside him.

I traced my father's photo. I always wonder how my life would have been if he was alive. Maybe we would have been living seperately and not with my uncle's family. Maybe I would have had few siblings. Maybe I would have a little more freedom to live like I truly wanted.

My uncle always made sure that I had everything and my mother never forgot to remind me that I should never disobey my uncle. I was also afraid that I would upset him knowing that he was doing so much for me even though it was not his responsibility. If my father was alive and forced me to marry, I would have rebelled against him.

Even though, I loved Krishna I was not sure about marriage. It was a huge responsibility. But as I didn't want to seem like an ungrateful person, I did whatever I was expected to do.

I gave up my dream of becoming a doctor which is not something I would have done if I had my father with me. Even today when I see Cherry with stethoscope, I feel my inner voice mocking me for the poor choices I made in my life.

I should have fought against everyone and pursued my dream. It's not like now everyone are happy because of my obedience. Cherry was right to call me a fool. I was indeed a fool back then but now I no longer intend to be a fool.

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