Vafaa (Book 3- Goinka Brothers Saga)

Chapter 6- "It is not Love"!

The room was dark and gloomy. The occasional flashes of lightning cast eerie shadows on the walls. The pelting rain intensified Abhay's restlessness. The storm outside echoed the turmoil within him.

Abhay paced back and forth across the room, his footsteps echoing in the silence. His hazel eyes, reflected the storm raging within his heart. He glanced at the clock on the wall; It was 3 in the morning. No matter how hard he tried. He could not sleep. With each passing minute, his concern for the child intensified.

He wanted to go back and check on the baby again. His heart refused to listen to reason. He had almost been caught. That had never happened before. He was a trained fighter. He knew how to blend in darkness, and yet he got caught. If luck had not favored him, he would have been unmasked.

Abhay forced himself to lay down, as his emotions churned within him like a turbulent sea. The weight of worry hung heavy on his heart. His mind replayed the close call, the moment when the shadows had almost betrayed him. He was a seasoned fighter. Darkness was his strength, and yet he almost got caught.

As he stared at the ceiling blankly, he was an army man. Domestic life was not for him. Closing his eyes, he tried to summon the discipline that had defined his career. He was torn between duty and love. Life had been uncomplicated when he had no one to worry about. Now, the well-being of the child outweighed everything else. He could not waltz back to his life, playing the hero again when the child was suffering. He never thought that a tiny being could hold so much power. He had held him all but once, and yet he found himself bound to the child.

The baby needed Adarsh. He needed a father. Though he knew that Adarsh would never walk away from Harsh, he could not curb his worry. Adarsh was behaving very differently. Though he still loved Harsh, there was a difference in his behavior that could not be overlooked. A man who lost his memories could be very dangerous. Adarsh could choose not to acknowledge Harsha as his own when the truth came out. That was a complication that worried him the most. The baby had no one. If Adarsh turned away, he would end up with Dhiren Rana. He would not curse any child with a guardian like Rana. His hands fisted as he thought about the vile old man.

The man who had sired Abha was nothing short of a monster. He always claimed to love Abha, and yet he had never understood her pain. He had forced her into a marriage that she did not want, compelled her to stay married to a man she could not love, and what he could not forgive was that he had forced her to have a child she did not want.

He could not understand how Abha loved him despite what he did to her. Till the very end, she loved the man. It was that love alone that prevented him from going after Dhiren. He would have taught the man a lesson he deserved, but he could not malign Abha's memories by doing that. He respected her enough to honor her choices.

His phone beeped. He saw the message and sighed. He was due to leave for Kuwait in three days. His team was waiting for him. It was a very important mission. His country needed him. He was honor-bound to return to his duty, but his heart refused to go. Six years ago, he had been forced to make a decision. He was forced to choose between his country or love. He chose his country without hesitation. For a 23-year-old Abhay Rajpoot, his country was his priority. He realized with a start that he was no longer the same man. He was at a crossroads yet again, but this time he could not ignore his responsibility towards the child.

He texted his superior to let him know that he would not be coming to Kuwait for the mission. His phone buzzed, but he turned it off with a determined glint. A child's well-being outweighed every emotion. He would not go anywhere until Harsh got back his father. If Adarsh could not be the father he had been once, he would have to step in and take the baby away. Harsh deserved the best; if Adarsh couldn't be that for Harsh, he would find someone better. That was the least he could do for the child of the woman he had loved all his life. He was determined.