***************
Laxman's house;
London
***************
Laxman was preparing sandwich when he heard the doorbell ring. He was greeted by Serah and Aadhik.
Serah said " How about lunch at your place??"
Lucky replied " The love birds can have one sandwich and I can have another as there are only two sandwiches".
Aadhik questioned " What about Arihan baby?"
Arihan just woke up after his disturbed sleep. He was not used to staying awake late at nights. So he was given a permission to skip school by his Spiderman Lucky.
He walked in to the hall half asleep saying " I want my amma"
Laxman's smile disappeared. His eyes showed growing concern. He looked at Serah and Aadhik and spoke " I did not consider this point seriously when I adopted him. I thought I could manage. All I thought was I will never let an orphan feel alone. He is my son. But he needs a mother. I haven't found love yet and I am not sure if any girl I choose can be his mother"
Serah spoke " You are the best father Lucky. I am sure you will give him everything he wants. You cannot go wrong with the choices you make for him. Where did you first meet him?"
" I was very young when I first saw this two days old bub in Ravinder Uncle's house. It was during my summer vacation when I went to India to meet my dad for the second time. Ravinder uncle was my dad's teacher and was a cancer patient. I always wondered why he chose to adopt a child at that age. The moment I saw this cupcake I knew I wanted to adopt him. But dad asked me to wait till I attained the legal age for adoption. So the legally adopted father of this child is my dad but I kind of kept him with me which is a grave mistake in the eyes of law but he is mine" Lucky spoke rubbing his forehead.
Aadhik placed a hand on his shoulder and said " He is indeed yours and nobody can take him away from you Lucky".
The door bell rang and Aadhik opened the door to welcome Neeranjana.
"What brings you here?" questioned Laxman.
"Well! Aadhik invited me here" replied Neeranjana.
Laxman shook his head and continued preparing sandwich.
Aadhik began to speak " Neeru Aunty! Me and Serah wanted to speak to you about something" before he could continue Neeranjana raised a hand in a gesture to stop.
"How can you be heartless Aadu? All you are concerned is about your wedding but what about your sister? Isn't Avni your sister? Do you even realise how broken she is? "
Laxman interfered and spoke " Mom! Why don't you realise she would be more heartbroken being an unwanted wife. Doesn't she deserve better?"
Raghav just entered Laxman's house.
" Lucky! You should be the last person to speak about Avni. Especially after being so harsh while you rejected her. Please do me a favour and sort your life. It's high time you stop being the care taker of your father's illegitimate child and sort your life".
Laxman lost his last bit of composure and spoke " HE. IS. MY. SON. I am not a care taker. I am his father. You should get that straight into your brain Mrs. Neeranjana. From where is all this coming? I bloody don't give a damn whoever his biological father maybe infact I don't care even if he is dad's son. Why does it bother you anyway. You have divorced him right?"
Neeranjana slapped Laxman and said " It's high time you learn to behave".
Raghav interfered and stopped Neeranjana from speaking further. He took her away from Laxman and spoke " Why are you doing this mom? Why are you creating a scene and from where did you come up with this new drama about Arihan? Is this a new conspiracy theory to defame dad?"
" Oh! Shut up Raghav! I thought you were better than Lucky. But the way you have broken Avni, I cannot expect the least from you too. You both are just like your dad. I have no one and look at Arihan he looks just like your dad. All this while I have been wondering why Lucky had come up with philanthropic ideas like adoption but it's only now did I realise that your father has tricked him to adopt his "mistake" to maintain the good politician image. I will not let Lucky be the scape goat. He is a fool but I am not" spat Neeranjana.
Serah held Aadhik's hand listening to furious Neeranjana. Aadhik said in a low tone " Rose! Don't bother about her. She always behaves this way".
Raghav held his head and spoke " Mom! Why don't you just let me and Lucky live in peace?"
Raghav felt his head getting heavy with whatever was happening. Last one week was really difficult for him with so much going on and especially after whatever happened in office this morning.
He left to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water and Shriya's words echoed in his ears.
"Be a gentleman to your lady sir! Not to me!"
**************
Few hours ago;
Law firm
**************
Raghav held a meeting with his new staff. He asked all of them to introduce themselves and the work they would like to take up.
After Nina who was one of his staff members spoke, it was Shriya's turn. Shriya spoke " I am Shriya Shetty everyone. I have previously worked as Charted legal executive and would conduct advocacy in County's and Magistrates. I would want to continue that further in the current assignment as well".
Raghav inturuppted saying "No! Miss Shetty! You will be handling advising clients on complex legal matters".
Shriya responded by saying "Sure sir"
Raghav expected her to speak about why she wanted to continue with her previous work but she merely responded in two words. He understood that she wanted him to stay away from her professionally as well.
The conference was completed and Raghav headed back to his cabin and saw Avni waiting for him. Avni ran up to him and was a crying mess by then.
Raghav spoke "Avni! I don't think I can help you"
"Only you can help me Raghav" spoke Avni and hugged him tightly.
Shriya who wanted to submit the printouts was about to to enter Raghav's cabin but stopped when she saw Raghav and Avni together and walked back to her cubicle.
Shriya said to herself " I am glad you are moving on Mr.Reddy".
They were all leaving for the lunch and Raghav and Shriya bumped into each other in the parking area.
Raghav waited and gestured Shriya to take the lead when she spoke " Be a gentleman to your lady sir! Not to me!"
Raghav was shocked and was broken by the fact that Shriya could think he would move on from her.
******************
A/N:
Hey guys!
Thank you for all the love for previous chapter.
Do share your thoughts on this chapter as well.
What's going to happen now?
BINABASA MO ANG
A secret treasure of the past
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