After past came back for Vivan, will he accept it or just leave?
“Why did you do this?” Nikki said. She was sitting on the couch with a cushion in her lap. Heer said, “He wanted to know the father’s name”
Nikki said in loud voice, “…and you told him. Heer, have you lost your mind? You could have said someone else’s name.”
Heer buried her face in her hands, “Niks try to understand… Samar always wanted to meet his dad and one day the truth had to be told to him.”
Nikki asked, “What if he files for custody?”
Heer said, “No, he can’t. He gets irritated by kids. Plus, he is irresponsible and homeless.”
Nikki asked, “How do you know he is homeless?”
Heer said, “He lives with Rishi in his flat…and Samar has lived with me for 8 years and he will choose me and I am the parent who is financially stable and I am the mother. So there is no chance that he will get his custody”
Nikki asked, “Are you sure?”
Heer started crying. She said, “I know I did a mistake nine years ago. I regret that I believed that idiot, moron Vivan. But I know what I am doing right now and it is for Samar’s good.”
Nikki asked again, “What is Samar’s good in this?”
Heer said, “At least Samar will know why I kept him away from his dad”
Nikki said, “Fine, after all he is your kid and you know what is best for him”
Nikki threw the cushion down on floor and went to her room. Heer shouted, “I am going to get Samar from Mrs. Carter’s house.”
Nikki shouted, “I don’t care”
Heer went to Mrs. Carter’s apartment.
Next day, Vivan could not gather courage to talk to Heer. He saw her working in her room. He took a step towards her room but took two steps backwards. Nikki came up to him. She said, “I told you Vivan to stay away. We don’t want more trouble now”
He asked, “Why didn’t she say anything in high school. I am sure I would have helped her”
She said, “How… and why would she do that? So you could insult her like you previously did”
He asked, “I never insulted her”
Nikki raised her eyebrows. She said, “So who was the one who spread the rumor in school that she slept with you in camp and made her look like a whore in front of whole school”
He said, “I was just…”
She said, “Don’t do this Vivan. We all knew that you were the bad boy of school and you would never ever take the responsibility of your actions. So stop acting like you care and just go on with your life as you used to be”
He asked, “How can I move on when I know I have a kid”
She said, “Don’t pretend you care for kids. It is better for you and the kid that you both don’t meet”
Nikki went back to her work. Heer came out of the room. All of a sudden, Vivan collided with Samar. He asked, “Hey champ, what are you doing here? Modeling”
Samar shook his head. He said, “I am here to have lunch with my mom”
Vivan said, “So go to your mom before my boss sees you”
To Vivan’s surprise Samar ran to Heer and hugged her. She asked, “Hey honey, how come you are early?”
Samar replied, “I want to go to park”
She said, “Baby, mom is really busy. We’ll go to park on weekend”
Samar said, “Mom, I really want to go to park”
Vivan interrupted, “I can take him”
She said, “No need”
Samar jumped in, “Mom, he is the guy who helped me buy you that gift and he is the one who will be teaching me football”
Heer glared at Samar, “Football?”
Samar bit his lip. He said, “Umm…mom I was going to tell you”
Heer tilted her head with her hands on her waist. She said, “Sam I told you…”
Samar completed rolling his eyes, “Football is dangerous. I know that mom. But I am big boy. You always say that. So why can’t I play football?”
She said, “Samar Singhania, don’t you roll eyes at me. I don’t have time for this argument. We’ll talk about it at home. Now go to Mr. Barton and tell him to drop you at home”
Vivan interrupted, “I can take him. My work is done for the day”
She asked, “Vivan can I talk to you for a second in my room?”
Vivan nodded. She said to Samar, “Sam, go to Niks till I talk with him”
Samar ran out the studio. Vivan followed her to her room. She closed the door and said, “I don’t want you near Sam. I don’t want you to take him to park or teach him football or do any other activity with him. I want you to stay ten…t-e-n…ten kilometers away from him.”
He said, “Heer, he is my kid too. I have a right on him. I can’t just stay away from him.”
She said, “No, he is not your kid. He is my kid. I raised him for last eight years. You were never part of his life and you never will be…”
He asked, “Why did you this? Why did you keep him away from me? Why didn’t you tell me about him? Is it because of that rumor that I spread? Or is it because of something else? Because I know this stupid reason will not be one and only reason to keep a father away from his kid”
She said in loud voice, “I never wanted him to love you. I never wanted him to be like you. You were never a person who would take a responsibility of a kid. You were immature, careless, egoistic and worst person. You were not ready to be a father”
He said, “Like you were ready to be a mother”
She said, “Of course not. I was just sixteen. I was not at all ready.”
He said, “So how can you think that I will not be a good father. If you can turn out to be an excellent mother, I would have been an average father too”
Heer said, “You hated kids. You always got irritated with kids”
Vivan said, “…that was nine years ago. I am changed. Kids are irritating but I would never get irritated from my kid.”
Heer said, “He is not your kid. He is my kid. If I have to take him to a farthest part of the world just to be away from you, I will do that.”
He said, “You will not do that”
She folded her arms and said, “I will do that if you don’t stay away from him”
He said, “You know I can take you to court. I am Vivan Ahuja. I can take away my son.”
She laughed, “Fine, you can challenge his custody in court. But let me tell you something, Mr. Vivan Ahuja I am mother of the child, that is the biggest advantage. I have been taking care of him for last eight years. I earn more than you that means that I can provide financial stability and can pay for his college too. My character certificate is clean whereas in your case that is…you know it better.”
He left the room in anger.
Some days passed. Vivan tried to meet Samar but Heer would never let Samar out of her sight. One day, Vivan called Heer at his apartment. When she entered the apartment, she saw a middle-aged couple sitting on the couch. He said, “These are my parents”
Mrs. Ahuja stood up and said, “Heer why don’t you come and sit with us?”
She sat on a bean bag. Mr. Ahuja said, “Heer we would like to talk with you about our grandson, Samar”
She asked, “What do you all want to talk about?”
Mr. Ahuja said, “Look Heer, I am big businessman.”
She asked, “So what?”
Mrs. Ahuja said, “We would not be able to love Samar as much as you love him but we will try to give him a brighter future and love him. He is part of our family.”
She said, “What are you all trying to say? I can’t understand what your point here is”
Mr. Ahuja said, “Let’s get to point. I have an earning which can provide Samar a better future”
She stood up saying, “Okay, I get it. You are trying to buy my kid?”
She started clapping and turned to Vivan continuing, “Wow Vivan, amazing. You are trying to buy a kid from his mother… you are unbelievable. And Mr. Ahuja for your kind information let me tell you something about myself. I am Heer Singhania, daughter of Mr. Anil Singhania. He is one of the billionaires of India. So if you think you can buy my kid because I need money or anything then you have mistaken. I have not asked for money for raising Sam even from my dad so I would not be taking money from you too. I am not after your son’s money or anything. And if you are worried about what society will say then please don’t worry. I will not say anything about him being Samar’s dad. Society had said so many things about me and there is so much gossip about me now that I don’t care”
She paused and then said, “Don’t you ever try this again”
Saying this she left. Vivan turned to his dad, “Dad I thought we were to talk… not buy a project”
Vivan followed her. He met her in parking lot. He caught her by her wrist. He said, “Heer, just listen to me”
She jerked his hand off saying, “I don’t want to listen to anything”
He said, “Look I know you are angry now. Let’s just talk tomorrow. You just calm down please”
She said, “Vivan, thank your god that I am not taking him away from here.”
He said, “I know…I am sorry. I am really sorry”
She left.
Vivan was sitting with Rishi in his car. They were having booze in parking lot while Vivan’s parents were sitting in their apartment. Rishi asked, “Why are you so worried about that kid?”
Vivan said, “He is my kid. I am supposed to love him.”
Rishi said, “No dude, you are not supposed to love. You form a connection. Unless you develop that connection, you don’t care. So do you have that connection?”
Vivan said, “Dude you are drunk. I don’t know what you are talking about”
Suddenly, they heard a voice, “Do you love that girl? Or do you love that kid?”
They turned to see that Mr. Ahuja was standing by the window. He sat in backseat and said, “Because if you love that kid, we will do anything to bring that kid to you and if you love that girl then we can’t do anything”
Vivan said, “I don’t love her. And no I don’t want to separate her from Sam. I love Sam and Sam loves his mom. She was right, dad. You can’t buy a kid from his mother. That is wrong. You could get arrested for this.”
Mr. Ahuja asked, “What do you want to do?”
Vivan said, “I don’t know. I want to get to know Sam. I want to be part of his life. I want to be father he never had.”
Mr. Ahuja said, “Don’t think that you are father so you have to take care of his needs. You know, when I saw glimpse of Heer, I can say that she is capable of taking care of Samar by herself. You know, when your mom was pregnant, I was nervous. I thought I would be a terrible father because I have never held a baby in my arms. But when I took you in my arms, I knew that no matter what happens I will be your back. And if I didn’t get to be best dad, I will be your best friend. You don’t have to be parent of his because he has that. Be his friend.”
Vivan smiled and said, “You are best dad, dad”
Mr. Ahuja said, “So don’t think you are supposed to do anything. Because a mother can be both mother and father for a kid but dad no matter how much he tries, he can’t match the love and affection of a mother. So just try to be his friend. Let Heer be his parent, you be his friend. And just say sorry from our side to Heer. She is really nice girl. When you hear people gossip about you behind your back, you get hurt. You can’t imagine how much she would have tolerated being a teenage mother.”
He said, “Dad, do you think I should say sorry to her?”
Mr. Ahuja nodded. Rishi said, “Okay so when you go to her house, please talk about me to Nikki. Dude, I miss her.”
Vivan said, “No chance”
Rishi asked, “Why?”
Vivan said, “She is done with guys”
Rishi said, “No… she had turned gay?”
Vivan said, “No dude, she does not want to date anyone”
Rishi said, “Well, I would make her fall in love with me”
Vivan said, “But don’t make her pregnant or else she will kill you. My girl didn’t get a chance to do that”
They all laughed. Mr. Ahuja said, “You know she could do that now”
Vivan said, “Dad, she said she had forgiven me for the biggest mistake”
Rishi asked, “When”
Vivan answered, “The day I met with her in coffee shop”
Rishi got confused. Vivan said, “Now you are seriously drunk. You don’t even remember our conversation”
Rishi thought for moment. He said, “Oh, when the girl at bar…”
Vivan said, “Yeah, Rishi”
Mr. Ahuja said, “I should head back to apartment before your mom comes down”
While going, Mr. Ahuja said, “You know I got to thinking that I should apologize to her”
Vivan said, “You don’t have to do that. I will handle her”
Mr. Ahuja patted his shoulder and said, “I saw that today. You can’t handle this girl”
He smiled and left the car. Vivan turned to Rishi and said, “I can handle her”
Rishi shook his head. Vivan drank beer in one sip. He said, “I can”
Next day, Heer came out of her building. She was about to sit in her car while Mr. Burton was holding the door for her, when she saw Vivan sitting on his car’s bonnet with his knees crossed.
She walked to him. He jumped down. He looked a bit messed up and little sleepless. She asked, “What are you doing here?”
She observed him from head to toe. He said, “I wanted to talk”
She folded her arms and said, “You look like a tramp”
He shrugged his shoulder, “I know but I am really sorry about yesterday and I really…really need to talk”
She said, “Who knew you would want to talk about your kid. Vivan, I’m late. I need to get to office.”
He said, “Just forget office for one day. I really need to talk about our son”
She took a deep breath and said, “My son”
He was about to yell but said in low voice, “It was my sperm, damn it”
She said, “Nine months with eight years…don’t ever play this card again”
He said, “Look Heer, I really need to talk. I have slept for only four hours and I am cranky, and if you want to fight, this is not a right time”
She said, “Okay, where do you want to go?”
He wore his jacket back and said, “Wherever you find convenient”
She walked back to her car and informed Mr. Burton about the situation. He nodded and sat back in his car. Vivan watched this. She came back to him and sat in his car. She lowered her window and asked, “Are you coming?”
He jumped in the driver’s seat and they drove away. Vivan asked, “So where is Nikki?”
She turned to him. She giggled. He asked, “What”
She said, “You look funny”
Vivan checked in his rear view mirror and laughed. He said, “I am sorry. I was just up all night with thoughts about you”
She gave him a confused look. He said, “No not like that. It was about you and Samar”
She turned to see outside the window. He said, “I can’t imagine how much you have gone through.”
She said, “Don’t sympathize. I have had many sympathies”
There was silence. She broke the silence, “What do you want to talk about there is nothing to talk”
They stopped in front a small park. They stepped out and went in. Vivan was feeling a little tensed. He sat on a bench with Heer beside him. He asked, “So, how it all did started?”
Heer said, “Isn’t it obvious camping trip”
He said, “No, when did you get to know that you are pregnant”
She said, “Like every girl knows when I missed…”
He asked, “So you were not with anyone other than me?”
She shook her head. He said, “So why didn’t you came to me?”
She said, “Vivan, I was scared. I told my parents a month later. My parents took me to my aunt’s house where I was for nine months. No one knew where I was except for Nikki who kept me calling every day and informed about every gossip of school”
Vivan said, “I searched for you. Believe me. I asked people who went to camp. They had no idea where you were. I had no courage to go to Nikki because then people would have thought we were in relationship.”
Heer questioned, “So who was the one who leaked that I slept with you?”
He replied, “I have no idea. When those rumors started, I thought you left school because of that. I really am sorry. And I am sorry about last night too”
She said, “You don’t have to say sorry. I talked to your parents last night. They seemed nice. They thought I was some blackmailer who was using my son for money. But afterwards when they talked to me, they were polite and were sorry for their behavior.”
He asked, “So, they called you?”
She nodded. He looked up in her eyes saying, “I want to spend time with my son. I want to teach him football, drums, cricket and many more things. I want to be there as his father. Please let me do that”
She looked down and said, “Honestly, Vivan I want him to be like you but I don’t want him to turn out to be like you. He likes playing games and music. He is an excellent writer. You should see his essay on ‘my family’. It will surely make you cry.”
He smiled and said, “Really, I would love to see that. I would really like to know him. Can I have him over this weekend?”
Heer had a soft smile spread on her lips, “Samar would love that. You know even he had started to like you. All he talks is how cool you are and how you helped him to buy me a dress”
He asked, “Yeah, I never got a chance to ask. Did you like that dress?”
She smilingly said, “Yeah, I liked it”
Then an awkward silence surrounded them again. She said softly, “Vivan…”
He looked up in her eyes. She said, “Don’t say anything about you being the dad. He will be devastated. I will tell him when time will come. Please be with him like his friend not his dad.”
He nodding said, “Okay, telling him the truth is your decision. I just want to be with my son.”
He paused for a moment but resumed, “You know I never imagined I will be dad. I thought I will not find a girl with whom I could have kid. I never thought my kid would turn out to be an amazing kid like him. You are an excellent mother.”
Heer looked up, “I’m not. I kept a kid away from his father. He’ll hate me”
Tears started rolling down her cheek. He slid closer to her and hugged her. She said, “I am a very bad mother. He desperately wanted a father and I knew it. I knew his father but I didn’t tell him”
He said still hugging her, “No you are not. Heer, you are the nicest girl I have ever met. And believe me I have met many”
She laughed. He wiped her tears and said, “So I’ll pick him up this weekend”
She sniffed and nodded, “So how are you going to take care of eight year old kid?”
He thought for a moment and said, “I’ll need instructions”
She smilingly said, “I’ll be happy to help”
Suddenly her phone buzzed. She glanced at it. She said, “Your kid”
He corrected, “No, yours and mine”
She gave a laugh and picked up the call. She said, “Yeah Sammy……”
When she ended her call, she said, “There is something you’ll be happy to know”
He asked, “What is that?”
She bit her lip and smiled. She said, “He also wants to be a professional photographer”
He laughed, “Really”
She nodded. He said, “I don’t know what to say”
She said, “Just try to do one thing don’t make him a second version of you. I want him to be a good boy. Teach him stuff a father teaches, spoil him but don’t make him insensitive and heartless”
He said, “I promise I’ll change. I’ll be a good father and a good guy”
She said, “Thank you”
She looked at her watch and asked, “Want to meet your son?”
He smiled and nodded.
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