"What are you doing up so early?" Rajiv asked in horror.

"Drinking tea", she replied, looking purposefully nonchalant.

"When did you get home?" he asked her.

"11:30. What were you doing?" she asked.

"I.. I just went for a walk", he replied.

"Pretty short walk until the annex", she replied, sipping the tea.

Rajiv had no idea what to reply.

"But you were definitely burning a lot of her calories", she said.

'Well, that was done for', thought Rajiv. He took a cup from the cupboard and poured the rest of the tea in the saucepan into his cup and sat down.

"What do you want to know?" he asked her.

"Rajiv, I know that you were never interested in me. But it kind of hurts that when I put in the effort to know you and the kids, you have ignored me. Then a woman just shows up and you are having sex with her, when clearly you do not sleep around! I shouldn't be offended by it and neither should I compare, but still I am curious; what was wrong with me that you chose her?" she asked him.

"Nothing is wrong with you. I am just madly in love with her", he said.

"Then that settles it. I will leave when there is light". She was about to leave and Rajiv went up to her.

"I am sorry, Indrani" he said, eyes full of remorse.

"Why? Just like I can't force you to fall in love with me, you can't help falling in love with her. I just wished you would have told me before I had emotionally invested in this", she replied.

"I told you, I told everyone about whom I loved, but all of you ignored me", he said.

"Wait! What?" she asked.

"Bye, Indrani", he said and left the room without clearing her confusion.

Unknown to both of them, when Rajiv had made his way to the annex, Ravi had got up for a drink of water. He went to the window to sip it in peace, when he saw his father enter the annex. He was stunned, but quickly went back to sleep so as not to wake up Abhi and Kiran.

The next morning at the dinner table, Gomati was looking upset.

"What's the matter, Achamma?" asked Ravi who joined the others at the table.

"Your Indrani aunty left in the morning. She has rescinded the marriage alliance", said Gomati.

There was a stunned silence at the table.

"Rajiv, is there something that you have to say to me?" she asked Rajiv.

Rajiv who had just taken the plate for eating breakfast kept it back, got his suitcase and left.

Gomati burst into tears and Kiran and Padmanabhan tried to comfort her.

"Its OK Achamma, Achan never liked Indrani aunty in that way", said Kiran.

"I just wanted your father to be settled before Ravi got married", said a sobbing Gomati.

"He is already settled, Gomati. Why are you so worried about him getting married?" asked Padmanabhan.

"Its all because of..." she stopped talking, even Padmanabhan looked uncomfortable.

"Our mother? She is the reason that Achan is not getting married. If you regret Achan marrying our mother, then you regret having us also", said Abhi and got up and left with his bag. He was followed by Ravi and Kiran.

Padmanabhan wanted to stop the boys, but he didn't move. After they left he said to Gomati, "How much ever you try to change their mind about their mother, they won't take it beyond a point".

Don't you understand how upset I am? Indrani left without any explanation" she replied, wiping her tears.

"Because she understood that the marriage was a lost cause. Let us just leave it at that", said Padmanabhan.

"I can't. I will find a way to make him divorce Angel and marry Indrani", said Gomati.

***

There was a cold war going on between Gomati and Rajiv for the next few days. He avoided any meals with his mother and maintained a stony silence whenever she was around. If it was sometime back, both Gomati and Padmanabhan would have gone back to their home. But Leena living in the annex made Gomati stick to the home so that people will not be pointing fingers at Rajiv.

The weeks that followed Indrani's exit was not particularly good for Leena. She felt tired and queasy all the time. One day she woke up and felt nauseous. A fear gripped her! After breakfast which she found difficult to swallow, she went to a medical store and bought several pregnancy test kits. She went to the office bathroom and one by one tested it and all of them came out positive. Leena was shook. After the birth of Kiran, her gynecologist had specifically told her not to get pregnant because of possible complications and they were careful. But when Rajiv and she slept together for the first time after she returned, they hadn't used any protection, they were carried away by the passion of the moment. At 42 years of age, she was getting pregnant again. But this was dangerous for her. Right now she has a second chance to be back in her children's life and she did not want to miss that. She remembered the last time she was with her children. They were all below 5 years of age and Kiran was just six months old. She was breastfeeding him when she had to leave them for their safety. Letting go of her children was a heart wrenching decision she had to take. But she hoped that she will be reunited with them in a few days.

But days turned into months and months turned into years. She finally got to see them when they were practically adults. She missed so many things in their lives; losing baby teeth, first day at school, sports events, late night revisions for exams, hugging and sleeping with them, taking care of them when they were sick... the list was endless. How she wished she could go back in time to be with them for all that. But she can't risk her life to lose the second chance with her boys. But, this was also a second chance for her to raise a child. To see all the milestones she wished to be present in. If science has advanced in the past 15 years, she might have a chance to have another baby. To ascertain that, she should consult Anjali, but before that she had to tell Rajiv.

Because of the cold war with Gomati, Rajiv was spending long hours in the office, even after all the staff had left and he was the only person on the floor. So she waited for all the staff to leave and finally around 9 PM she saw that only Rajiv's cabin had light. So she entered into his office, he looked up hearing her footsteps.

"Is there any work, Leena?" he asked her.

"Rajiv, I have to talk something personal to you", she said to him.

He got up from his chair to check if the other office staff were around.

"We are alone", assured Leena.

Sighing in relief he looked at her with a smile that froze when he saw her scared face.

"What's the matter Leena?" he took her hands and sat on the table to be at the eye level of her.

"Rajiv, please be calm and let me talk until the end", she replied.

Rajiv nodded in confusion.

"I am pregnant", she replied.

"WHAT!" He was in shock.

"Yes, I tested using several pregnancy kits", she said with fear.

"How could you be?" he asked her.

"Rajiv, we had sex without protection", she replied.

"But we had unprotected sex only one time!" he said in anger.

"As if it won't happen like that!" she said, reminding of the conception of Ravi.

Rajiv got up in vexation and walked around the office, he was tensed due to the health implications it will have on her. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration at his own carelessness.

"Fine, its not a big deal. We will go tomorrow to Anjali's clinic and get an abortion", he said to her with reassurance, but her quiet face made him suspicious.

"What's the matter?" he asked her.

"I don't want to get an abortion", she replied.

"Excuse me!" he said in shock.

"Listen, this might be the only child I get to raise. Please don't take it away from me", she pleaded.

"What the hell Leena, you know as well as I that you can't be carrying a child, think about the implications " he asked her in anger.

"Please Rajiv, don't force me" said Leena.

Rajiv strode to her, got hold of her shoulders as Leena tried to push him away, and he towered over her and almost shouted at her "Goddam it, Leena. You are getting an abortion".

Suddenly they felt a presence and looked at the open door to find Ravi, staring in horror at his father savagely holding the woman, trying to coerce her to get an abortion.

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