THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE !

THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE !

In the middle of the flight, Kiara woke up to go to the washroom. When she returned, she was too lazy to push her way into the middle seat. And with Rishaan readily offering to shift seats, the seating arrangement changed. With twenty minutes still remaining for the flight to land, a sleep starved Kiara took another power nap, this time holding Rishaan’s right hand more firmly. Rishaan’s other hand, though, nervously moved to touch Diya’s. Her heart skipped a beat. Diya pulled her hand away. But a defiant Rishaan’s held her wrist again, this time firmly and more reassuringly. The changing behavior dynamics between the three perhaps gave out a foreboding of what was to come in Goa.

When the flight landed at the Dabolin Airport, Rishaan felt uncanny……his excitement seemed replaced by an unknown fear that he found very difficult to decipher.

He was standing at the portal deciding between his past and present. His past had Kiara, the girl he once loved, when he was nothing more than a regular college guy. There love crossed all levels of intimacy and it seemed certain that both of them were each other soul mate. But then suddenly equations drastically changed. Kiara over ambition drifted her away from him. She was not ready to give him enough time to establish himself. She just went away.

Rishaan was left broken. It was that time Diya entered his life. It took him long to trust another individual and even longer to love her. Diya stood like a wall in every high and low tide of his life. It’s been seven years since Kiara left him and Diya became part and parcel of his life. He was not a fresh out of college anymore but today he was a rich affluent famous writer now with four best sellers and two of them already adopted as scripts in the movies which turned out to be blockbusters.

This painful past had started to fade away in the spring of presence. Life seemed pretty much settled that suddenly another blow of strong wind destroyed his house of cards yet again. Diya had a fatal accident though her life was saved but at a great expense. She was pregnant that time. She not only lost her baby but her uterus was removed. She could never be a mother again.

This time it was Rishaan’s turn to be her pillar of strength. Time is a great healer and Rishaan’s love was slowly and gradually pulling Diya out her depression. Taking their relationship a step ahead, Rishaan planned this Goa trip, he was supposed to surprise Diya with a proposal of marrige. But he was unaware of the fact that life was waiting to go summersault again.

Like a flash, his past entered his life. Kaira was back that too with breaking news of him having a six year old son and that she having an ovarian cancer. She was dying and wanted to him to take the liability of their son that studied in the hostel in Delhi.

Life can never be more complicated for him than it was now. He stood as the tug of war between the two women in his life and the twist of the fate was he couldn’t ignore both their needs. Kaira came along as the added burden of the much anticipated Goa trip.

“You are going to stay in her room…why did you bring me along?” Diya was disappointed.

“You know everything…I can’t leave her alone.” Rishaan tried to explain.

“Yes of course she bore you a child, the endeavor I completely fail at….”

“Shut up, just shut up. Do you realize what state of mind I am in? I can’t keep repeating the same record over and over again. You need to rest and think calmly. I will talk to you in the morning.”

Rishaan left. He knew she would be crying behind the closed doors but there was nothing much he could do. He too needed to clear his head and get things straight. Kaira was too vulnerable and could not be left alone. Though he was with Kiara in her room but he preferred lying on the couch though sleep was miles away from his eyes.

Next morning too he could find the hostility being carried at the breakfast table. It was Kaira who broke the ice and just straight away came to the point, “I know I am unwanted burden in your fairytale life but seriously, Diya I have not come to take Rishaan away from you. I have long lost the right over him. I am just worried about our son.”

“I don’t understand Kaira, why it took you six years to break the news that Rishaan have a six year old boy…Oh! Wait, it was cancer that made you sing like a canary.”

“Diya, watch your words!” Rishaan intervened.

“Come on Rishaan she ditched you earlier and now she came up with another game. All she is doing is playing a dying woman card and a progeny….she very well know our painful nerve….”

“Shut up Diya, if you can’t be civil, you should leave the table.” Rishaan immediately realized his mistake as soon as he uttered those words. But it was too late, Diya was long gone. He wished to follow her but the overflow from Kiara’s eyes glued him to his chair.

Once he settled Kiara, he rushed behind Diya to her room. She was packing all her stuff.

“What are you doing, Diya?”

“I am leaving. I am clearing your path after all that’s what you want.”

Rishaan forcefully interjected her path, made her leave her chores and made her sit on the bed and he sat on the knees on the floor beside her.

“I love you and I want to spend my entire life with you. But at the same time I could not put a blind eye to my past. Like you, I was too caught unaware by this sudden series of events and I have no idea, how to react to it. And I am trying very hard to find a solution to it. But I can’t do it without you. You are the force that drives me to live. You are air beneath my wings, don’t desert me now.”

“Rishaan….There is no solution to it…” Diya was almost into tears.

“Yes there is, Kaira don’t want to come between us. She was just worried about our son. The cancer is making her frail and her lifespan is being uncertain, she wants me to adopt Rasik.. that’s my son’s name. Our family will be complete Diya. From now onward Rasik will be our son, Diya’s and Rishaan’s son. We will be parents.”

“It doesn’t seem that simple Rishaan. ­And what is the hurry; it’s not that she is dying tomorrow…”

“Diya don’t complicate it.”

“I don’t trust that woman, Rishaan. She is never going to leave. And how we trust her words that you having a son with her…. ”

“Why would she lie? The thing is I want it to get over soon therefore I would be signing the legal papers for the adoption tomorrow and three days later Kiara would be flying off to America for her treatment. She will be gone forever and here we will begin our family fairytale. It’s perfect Diya… It’s just perfect.”

“How could she go to US, she said she is almost bankrupt…wait a minute...are you paying for her treatment…Oh! My God! I knew it; the bitch had an ulterior motive to come into our life…..” Diya’s virtual suspicion started to mutate into reality.

“Why you women have a habit of smelling rat, even when things are crystal clear. It’s just one down payment and she would be out of our lives. Honey, trust me on it…” His calf muscles fatigued in knee bend position therefore he got up and sat beside Diya on the bed. He held her hands in his own.

“How much are you paying him?”

He knew he couldn’t duck that question, “Twenty five lakhs….please…I can afford it. A small token to pay for our happiness…”

Diya was still not convinced but the sincerity in Rishaan’s eyes made her hold her tongue for a while.

One month later…..

As soon as Rishaan got the approval of being legal guardian of Rasik, he immediately flew to Delhi with Diya. Rasik lived here in one of the convent. It’s been more than a week since he talked to Kaira. It doesn’t matter; maybe she was busy with her treatment. Even he was busy collecting bits and pieces of his life. There, at the convent when Rishaan was checking in the legal formalities with the authorities, Diya was utilizing time striking acquaintance with her new son. It had been one hour since Rishaan was butting heads with the legal formalities. And there with every passing minute, Diya was feeling more and more comfortable with Rasik. Everything about him was so magnetic.

As soon as she saw Rishaan walking towards them, she immediately rushed towards him to share her excitement. But instead of being happy Rishaan looked pale.

“You were right Diya, we shouldn’t have trusted Kaira….she conned me, again…”

“What are you saying Rishaan?”

“Rasik is not my son….he is an orphan. Two years back, she and her husband found him on street and probably it was that time they convinced the plan to fool me with a son’s card. After that accident they knew we would be vulnerable and it was right time to strike. Hence, she came in playing a dying woman card. What an imbecile I have been, being fooled twice by the same woman…” He was overwhelmed; he couldn’t say a word more. It took Diya couple of minute to gel in with the breaking news. Once she was through the initial shock wave, she said, “Now what..?”

“I am going to surrender my legal rights over Rasik and get back to our lives. I am sure Kaira would be way out of our reach. It would be futile chasing the ghost….” Rishaan said.

“What about Rasik?” Diya was concerned.

“What about him? He will get back to his life…”

“Becoming an orphan again…. No  Rishaan. That woman may have robbed us but by default she has given us the greatest happiness of life. I don’t care about the lost money, all I care about the stumbled epiphany, our lost found son….”

“Hey Diya…what are you talking?”

“He have your eyes and my nose….come let me show you.” She held Rishaan’s hand and took her near Rasik.

When Rasik’s big puppy dog eyes crossed Rishaan’s, Diya’s words started to make sense to her. He could see his future shaping in those eyes. All the disappointment vanished away in thin air. He could finally see his fairy tale coming true in his better half and his son.

Maybe for a while his dark past clouded his present but soon the bright sun of future diluted away all the darkness from his life. It was the new beginning to their life.