Unkept Promises

Why Avantika?

Abhiram's POV

I felt her twisting and turning and longing for sleep alongside me. Had it been the days of normalcy, I would have immediately gathered her within my arms and given her a long sweet kiss to ease out whatever would be perturbing her. Or better yet, made sweet passionate love with her. But long gone were those days. Now it seemed like, we were just two strangers or rather co-parents staying together in a semblance of a marriage.

How had we come to this? How did we come from those Avi and Abhi who were still in the honeymoon phase of their marriage even after six years and a kid, to the present strangers who only had unresolved issues amongst each other.

Sometimes, I felt like perhaps I was the one at fault. She tried speaking with me a couple of times since that incident, but how could I listen to the woman who accuses a grieving mother.

Kinjal had not been a perfect sister in law for her, hell, she had always been the most difficult person in our family. Even before I got married, Kinjal and I did not really share the best of the siblings relationship. She was prone to acting out and I loved silence and no drama. But we loved each other being siblings, being family.

I always knew she had her set of issues with Avantika after we got married, rather from the time we were introduced to each other. Avantika tried including her, making her feel involved, but Kinjal being Kinjal often thwarted all of those efforts. When Avi used to speak with me about Kinjal after our marriage, I tried to explain her about that being her behaviour. It was just the way she was - pappa, mummy and I had come to terms with that and I hoped Avi would too.

In fact, that day while I lashed out at Avi after Kinjal had those cramps before rushing her to the hospital, I felt so f*cking guilty later. Avi was not at fault, not at all, it was an argument and I knew Kinjal was the first to raise her voice. She always would do this while starting an argument. Yes, somewhere I do feel that Avi should have simply ignored her since she was pregnant, but then again, this was not Avi's fault. I had made up my mind to apologize to her. But the sheer callousness with which Avantika later accused a sobbing and weeping and grieving Kinjal, that too just after she had lost her baby made me lose my mind. How could my Avi be so vindictive? How could she accuse a grieving mother of something so heinous? Kinjal was difficult, but my sister, she was not evil. She could never do such a thing - faking a miscarriage.

How could Avantika even think of such a thing? Had her rage for Kinjal been so intense that she did not even think for a moment before fabricating such a thing? I sometimes wonder if she had always been this - her vindictive and plotting self? Was all of what I had even seen of her a pretense, a sham?

What have you reduced us to Avantika?

That day I screamed aloud of me hating her - such a liar I was, even after all of what had transpired, I could not bring myself to hate her. Hell, leave alone hate, I cannot even bring myself to unlove her.

I just do not understand one thing. Even after all these days, these six months, I do not even see a hint of regret on her face. Its as though, she was nowhere at fault. As though the entire world is blaming her and she's the victim.

When Kinju told Pratik bhai and mummy about the accusations hurled by Avantika, they were angered, yes, but more of what they felt was pure agony and pain - as though they had loved the wrong person. Before this incident, mummy and Pratik bhai were sort of really good friends with Avantika, so much that sometimes, Kinjal would act out against their wonderful bonding.

Avantika, with her schemes unknown to me, had single-handedly destroyed a lot of wonderful relations. Aaru now had his parents, always with him. We could never do injustice to our baby, but I had lost my life partner or maybe the person who I believed was my life partner.