Heeriye

Thirty Five.

Shehnaaz

"'Emergency custody hearing'?" Ishanvi Chahal's face doesn't change when I echo her words back to her. "What on earth does that mean?"

I'm hoping that she doesn't take my tone personally. I'm not shouting at her; more like, I'm shouting around her.

She purses her lips. "It seems your parents have decided to push the hearing forward after discovering that your brother-in-law has skipped town. They want to sue for custody."

I jump to my feet and shove the papers away from me. "I have custody of those kids. Bhavan signed away his rights to me."

Ishanvi adjusts her green-rimmed glasses and nods. "It may be that your parents are unaware of that. Or maybe they just don't care. Either way, we will need to attend this hearing so that we can clear things up."

I'm hearing footsteps down the hall, coming towards the living room. "Be straight with me, Ishanvi. Do I stand a chance of losing custody of the kids? Even with Bhavan's signed consent?"

"It's highly unlikely—"

My heart stops for a beat. "'Highly unlikely'?That implies that there's a chance of a yes!"

"There's no chance," Sidharth snarls as he storms into the living room. "Not a fucking chance in hell they're taking those kids away from you."

Ishanvi looks extremely uncomfortable. "Sidharth... I'm not sure giving Shehnaaz guarantees is necessarily the best idea. We need to be realistic. The fact is that Shehnaaz is young. She's also struggled with providing for the children in past years. If her parents can make the case that she's an unfit guardian, then—"

"Ishanvi." Sidharth's voice is clipped and blunt and leaves absolutely no room for argument. "We are not losing custody of those kids. When's the hearing?"

She sighs and picks up the papers I want nothing to do with. "Three days from now."

Sidharth nods. "We'll be ready."

Honestly, I'm this close to bursting into tears. The only thing that stops me is Sidharth. When he hears my terrified sniffle, he grabs both my hands and forces me to face him. "Shehnaaz, look at me."

I can't bring myself to do it, though. I just shake my head and stare at the floor as I do my damndest not to picture how it would feel to have the kids ripped away from me. "I thought this was over."

He squeezes my hands hard. "It will be soon. I didn't expect your parents to be quite so stubborn—but unfortunately for them, I'm the definition of the fucking word. You have nothing to worry about. They're not getting their hands on those kids."

I finally look up at him, willing myself to have the kind of confidence he seems to have been born with. "But—"

"No buts," he interrupts firmly. "We're going to go to this hearing and you're going to show your parents exactly what you're made of."

My bottom lip trembles as he pulls me into the circle of his arms. It's hard to believe anything can go wrong when he's holding me like this.

"I'm gonna be with you every step of the way, okay?" he murmurs, his voice a rumble that reverberates through me.

I nod against his chest.

There's nothing else I can do but trust him.

* * *

I've been trying to breathe for the past half an hour, but the oxygen seems to be getting stuck somewhere north of my lungs. Air passes my lips, but my body feels starved and desperate for more, more, more of it.