The Arranged One | ✔️

Chapter 35

A/N. This is the second last chapter guys! Happy Reading :)

He slowly took his arm off Siya's sleeping form so as to not wake her. Today had been particularly difficult for her, with her nightmares. He had waited for her to fall asleep before he could sneak out. Today, like most days, he had not been able to sleep. He tiptoed out of the suite making sure he didn't make any sound. As he was walking down the hallway to the balcony, he thought he heard something from down the hall.

Climbing down he saw the the door to his father's study was open a smidgen, light pouring out from the slit, and that is where the noise came from.

Peeking though the gap, he saw his father on his knees, shaking as he held something to his chest. He pushed the door open and rushed to his father.

"Papa are you crying?", Abhi asked as he put his little arm around his father's shoulder.

His father jerked as he faced his son, tears still streaking down his face, as he made an attempt to hide his emotions desperately, shocked to see his son at this hour.

"Abhi, why are you awake son? Its way past your bedtime. You shouldn't be here. You have school tomorrow."

Abhi debated whether to tell his father about how Siya had been sneaking into his room and about her nightmares. But he thought better of it. His father seemed upset enough, he didn't think he wanted to make him cry even more.

"But Pa, you are crying!"

"Its fine my sweet boy. Just sometimes I cry when I get hurt. Just like you cry when you scrape your knees real bad." His father said, pulling Abhi in his lap, having wiped his tears on his sleeves. Abhi saw what his father was holding. It was a picture of his mother.

"Are you crying because Momma left us to go to heaven?"

His father stopped a while before answering the question.

"Yes, I miss her sometimes."

"I miss her too Paa. One kid in my class was saying that his grandpa was also on the machines that Mumma was on when we went to say goodbye to her. But his grandpa came back. Are you sure she will never come back to us?"

Another beat of silence. Abhi knew what the answer would be, but he always hoped one of these days his father would say that his mom was coming back home.

"I am afraid she is in a place where she can't come back from."

"What about Siya's mom and dad? She misses them too and I miss them too. Would they also never ever come back."

"No son. They are all in heaven now, they are all angels, who will look upon us and protect us. But we can't see them and they can't come back."

"But I hear you talk to Mumma sometimes."

His father looked stunned at the statement. A lone tear escaped from his father's eye down his cheek before he could stop it.

"I..." his father's voice broke. "Son...you need to go back to sleep okay? We will talk about this tomorrow."

Abhi hugged his father tight. "I love you Papa."

His father patted him on his back.

"I love you so much son."

Pulling back from the embrace, he looked Abhi in the eye and said, "You have to be a brave boy and I have to be a brave father to you and a brave uncle to little Siya. That girl has lost so much more than either of us has. Abhi, we have each other, but Siya has no family left. We will be her family. We will love her for both her mother and father."