A/N: Thank you for all the votes and comments on the previous chapter.

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"Get Away! What are you trying to do?" She asked trying to push him away to which he held her hands and said," Please Maya! Don't ignore me anymore. I know that the mistake I made is the reason why you are suffering now but please Maya. If you have decided to grow this baby, please let me also be your friend.."

"Do you know what a friend means Rudra? Do you have any idea? Do you know how much I had felt betrayed when you said that you didn't see me being raped in court? Do you know how much I suffered after that? Do you know how much I had to control myself not to jump and fly my souls up! You won't ever know it. And today marks 7 years to our friendship which has no Base now. It's all about hatred and the feeling of being disgusted!"

Maya shouted her feeling holding his shirt. She had her helplessness and past written over her face while his face depicted his guilt.

"Please...." He bowed his head down in shame as her hands remained on his shirt. He cried while her eyes were also teary. She could never justify Rudra but if the same person wasn't there, she wouldn't have been found by anyone else since the storeroom where she had been mercilessly raped was a few meters away from the original house.

"I hate you for putting me into this helplessness Rudra!" She said with her tears flowing out. But a person couldn't help it as the baby inside her responded to her cries with kicks.

Breathing out & in with a rapid pace, her hold on his shirt fell off. She heard him asked in a concerned voice," Are you okay?"

"Yes... The baby is kicking me!" She replied caressing her belly. The next request he asked was something that made her feel a different emotion,

"Can I feel it?"

She froze at the voice which was used after several months. She froze at the statement. Before she could put her words to him, his hand was against her bump.

"I am really sorry Baby! I.. I... Please forgive -- me Baby for giving you-- a life like this. Please forgive me -- (hiccups) for being the worst person in your mother's life.."

His words created a deep emotion inside her. She couldnt help remember the days where she had screamed for the first time and when he had saved her in the nick of time when she was suicidal after meeting his brother and the friends who mercilessly...

Her trance was broken by the kiss on her belly which was followed by a kick. She knew that he had felt it too when he had raised his teary eyes in happiness and surprise.

"Even if I forgive you, will you be able to reverse anything? I will forgive you Rudra and I know that you got scared when you saw that but I still can't come to terms with it. You got scared but how could you just.."

She trailed her words and released a sigh. His hands and face moved away from the bump and she shifted...

"I know that these months -- have been difficult but... For me also, these months have been nothing other than -- guilt and pure---torture. I won't argue because what you lost is something precious. If you lost something, you had got a baby whom you have accepted gratefully after 5 months."

The trauma was healed with time but some part of it still stayed there. Her trance was broken by his words,

" I know living with someone's baby (hiccups) due to their lust is difficult-- but haven't you noticed you being happy when you caress the baby? I don't know if I have smiled peacefully. "

Saying that he pressed his lips on her forehead like old times and walked away leaving Maya under a few thoughts.  With a hand on her bump, she closed her eyes as she arched her head to lean against the wall. 

He tried to reason himself!  He was guilty! He was the reason behind her breakdown but hadn't she moved on? Wasn't her sweet conversations with the baby an important factor? Wasn't she happy?  Well, she knew that he hasn't moved on! Those puffy eyes said many things she knew as a friend.

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He didn't know how long he had been against the cold floor of his room. The sun rays merging through the curtain broke his sleep. Squinting his eyes open, he knew that his neck was paining and he had slept on the floor. His eyes fell on the frame which he caressed.

Hearing a few people's noises, Rudra got scared if it was someone who would harm Maya. Rushing out of the door, he heard sounds from Maya's room. Opening the door in a swift, he couldn't help but sigh and smile involuntarily.

Her friends were making her ready for the Baby Shower which would start in a few hours from now. He could feel someone calling him and that was when he took his eyes off her.

He could hear whistles and claps. In front of others, Rudra was the father of the baby. As he took steps forward, Maya got up.

"All ready Maya?" He asked to which she nodded slowly. This time the answer she gave was due to something which he had planted yesterday. Putting his hand over her shoulder, she looked at her colleagues who were admiring the fake couple.

As they had to do a photoshoot before Baby Shower, he stayed away from the pictures. He had different thoughts when she held her bump like a mother without any grudge.

She was carefree after he had betrayed her. He knew that she had hidden her emotions very tactfully. She never spoke to him other than fighting. The smile was an important element during this time. When Rudra gave his part, Maya didn't reciprocate.

As she posed for photos even with the colleagues, he was asked to stand with her. When he couldn't avoid others, he posed in the way the photographer had asked them to.

With his and her hand resting on her bump, he had to place his lips on her forehead. As he placed his lips, Maya closed her eyes in bliss as a few tears had come out.

When they felt the flash over of their closed eyes, he pecked her cheek before leaving her hand. Slipping out of there without anyone's notice or questions, he left the place too.

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Maya was happy with the baby she was nurturing inside her womb. She had forgotten the rape part until she was triggered and even Rudra knew that. As he saw her posing in different poses through the camera, he knew she was happy but somewhere in the sense, she felt suicidal months back.

Who could know it better than himself?

A Series of Events

~The day when Maya was discharged, she felt burdened and heavy. She knew she had to get out of it. She tried to forget it but every time she saw a scar, all she knew was to hurt herself through the old wounds. It was one month since she had gone to school and since it was the summer holidays, no one cared to check on her.

It was the time of pandemic too. He stayed with her so that she won't feel lonely or haunted. Sometimes, she would recite how it all had.

" I was walking to my room and someone came opposite to me. As I turned to open the room, he tried to touch me appropriately but I retorted it. Soon, I felt someone grabbing me. I tried to hit him but there were 3-4 people who manhandled me. They beat me in the room and when I couldn't retort, they dragged me along the corner.

I tried to run but they grabbed a part of my dress which tore midway. My legs froze but when I decided to run, they had already pinned me down and they.... "

She would just break down. The brave girl whose used to break others noses would be sniffing without any limit. She just broke down and she felt very bad. Rudra soothed her on whatever basis he could but when he saw that her nightmares and suicidal tendencies were increasing, he decided to be with her since he too was a reason.

~ Since she wanted to teach them a lesson, she proceeded with a case and she trusted Rudra a lot when she saw through the CCTV visuals that I had seen it. She was sure that he would be a witness and help her out.

But NO! She was wrong as he said a 'No'. There, she was accused of many terms she couldn't come to terms with. She didn't even question their bond of trust they had in between. She tried to leave the apartment they shared but the contract in which they had bought this house didn't allow her to move out that easily.

Ask if why he said a 'No' in court, he would have answered to the court about the matter he was threatened with.

"My parents trusted my brother and they didn't like Maya. They felt she was a bit too over... When I was about to take her to the hospital, my dad said that it would affect their reputation. He was simply blaming Maya, accusing her to be a person who loved it. If I would have said the truth, they threatened that he would die.  "

He was courageous but he was more sensitive than Maya. He thought he could convince her but she never stood for his so called 'convincing words'. He couldn't think of losing his mom and dad. He knew that his dad wouldn't believe unless he had perfect evidence. But since Rudra himself had deleted the footage so that he could stop such a video from being leaked somehow,  everything fell off his hands.  

~ Maya was turning back to normal but that is when the news of her pregnancy came in front of her eyes! She was pregnant with someone's lust and she drove the car fast that day and shouted at Rudra for being the whole reason.

She neither went for any check-ups nor any care. She didn't speak of the baby. It was as if she had forgotten that part of her life. 

But when the same people who raped her came in front of her eyes, the courage and strength which she was building slowly collapsed. Trying to make herself understand that suicide was the last resort and it would be a good lesson to Rudra, she pressed the knife to her veins.

She was shocked to have woken up in the hospital the next day but that is when she was asked to make a decision.  That is when she felt something surreal. That was when the whole idea of the bonding started. That was when she saw her baby on the ultrasound monitor.

As she felt and saw the baby's movements, her tears flew silently. She had to shed more tears when her first sonography was done. The baby was a bit weak and she had to decide for herself and the baby.

Grow it or Abort it! Even though terminating pregnancy was one of the riskiest procedures during the second trimester, the doctors tried their maximum to abort it since they knew the fake couple. But Maya had already made up her mind to choose the baby which she had been gifted.

She tried her maximum to adjust her timings for the better growth of the baby. It worked halfway and she knew she had to do it.

Her thoughts worked in another tangent as she thought what if she wouldn't have got married. According to her behaviour of exposing everything and voicing out her opinions, she wouldn't have got married at all
So, what if the baby was a cue?  

Starting from walking to a few meters to eating more for a healthy generation, she finally felt like a mother after ignoring the life inside her for five months. 

....

Playing with the pendant, she couldn't help but feel excited about what was going to happen. The baby did remind her of the horrendous past but it was also the gift for her bravery. She didn't know if she made sense but she didn't want to abort the baby whom she had carried for five months.

Soon enough, the car stopped and Manyata, her colleague on the driver seat groaned. She remarked,

"I think it's an accident. We will take another route!" She spoke through her ask and tried looking back to find a way to which I said,

"Let's go and check! It's a matter of a life right?"

"Maya, these sentiments are foolish, and what if the person had already died? And even the baby shower..." Manyata stopped as 3 of their phones beeped with a message.

"The Baby Shower for Maya has been cancelled as the District Collector has imposed a few rules due to the surging cases of COVID-19. We will host the Baby Shower some other time."

"We'll go back!" Manyata remarked while Maya said,

"Let's go and check! What if he is alive?"

Maya was advised to sit inside but being the adamant one, she passed through the thick crowd to see a familiar car. It was the car of Rudra.

Feeling the surge of her heartbeats, she tried to bend down to which she failed. As the other people helped in opening the car, Rudra's body fell out of the car.

Being numbed at the moment, she didn't know when she had started feeling the kicks against the wall of her uterus. 

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-To Be Continued -