Heeriye

Three.

Shehnaaz

"What happened?" Sidharth asks gruffly. His eyes track every bruise on my face, every cut on my skin.
I so want to be aloof and detached. I want to be the grownup here. But my anger gets in the way of my better instincts.

"Do you even care?"

His jaw tightens. "I suppose I shouldn't." He glances back over his shoulder, probably just to prove how little he cares.

"Right. Anyway, like I said, thank you for intervening. I swear, this will not be a regular thing. In fact, it won't be a thing at all." I back up towards the car. "I'm just gonna take the kids and—"

Those eyes flash to mine. "As much as I would like to send you off right now, I need to make sure the situation is contained."

I frown. "What do you—"

"We don't know if those man were working in isolation or if there's another team they're coordinating with. Letting you drive off right now would be foolish."

If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was trying to keep me here. Keep me close. The problem is, I do better.

I glance back at the car. "Sidharth, the kids are exhausted. Not to mention terrified. I need to get them away from here."

He looks unsympathetic, but before he can argue with me, the car jiggles from side to side and all three kids emerge from the back seat.

"Guys! Get back in—"

My protests are drowned out in a throng of "Sidharth! Sidharth!"

Chaya and Ruhi both tackle him at the waist.Hope they knee him in the balls while they're at it,I think viciously.

"You saved the day!" Chaya cries.

"You're like the knight in shining silver."

"Armor ruhi" caroline says

"I can't say that word." Ruhi scowls, jutting her tongue out at Chaya.

Sidharth chuckles and something jolts through me when I hear that sound. A part of me genuinely believed I'd never hear it again. It's nice to know that it still exists at all. I wondered if perhaps I'd stolen it from him for good.

It strikes me that that's a pretty egotistical thought. Someone, someday, is gonna make him chuckle the way I used to, the way the kids are making him chuckle right now.

Whoever she is, I already hate her.

"Girls, come on. Give Sidharth some space."

I'm struck by this overwhelming sense of déjà vu. I feel like I've said something similar to the girls before. I have; I definitely have. Except that was during one of his first visits to the apartment. We were right on the cusp of a glorious few months.

That was the beginning.

This is the end.

None of the children are even looking at me. All three are focused on Sidharth. All three are looking at him as though he's some kind of sainted savior. And it makes the pain in my chest all the more piercing.

What have I done? Unintentionally or not, I gave them a father figure, another male role model who ended up disappearing from their lives without so much as an explanation or a goodbye. I exposed them to a world that was too dangerous for any of them. I made the mistake of believing that Sidharth would protect us, that he would always be around to protect us.

He was so larger than life in my eyes that I forgot the crucial lesson I learned when Shruti died: it doesn't matter how bright a person shines; it doesn't matter how invincible they seem or how perennial they may appear...