What if I was there

Rohit sat hunched in the corner of the hospital room, his hands trembling as he stared at the floor, a deep guilt sinking into his chest. Arman stood beside him, his face filled with concern, yet also a hint of frustration. The tension in the room was thick, and the weight of the silence between the brothers felt unbearable.

"Bhaiyaa," Rohit finally whispered, his voice barely audible, "If I didn't lie to Ruhi... if I had told her the truth that our baby was alive, maybe she wouldn't have fallen into this state... She wouldn't have been in so much pain, and she wouldn't have—" His voice cracked, the words getting stuck in his throat. "It's all because of me, bhaiyaa. All of this... It's my fault."

Arman’s expression hardened. He had known what Rohit did, but hearing him speak those words aloud, the truth of it, felt like a punch to his gut. He placed a firm hand on his brother’s shoulder, trying to comfort him, though his own guilt and anger were bubbling to the surface.

"Rohit, listen to me," Arman said, his voice low but firm. "Only if you didn't give your  baby to us ... This wouldn't have happened. If you hadn't made that choice, things would have been different. You didn’t protect Ruhi, and now... now look at the mess we’re in. Ruhi is broken, and we’re the ones who tore her apart."

Rohit looked up at his brother, tears welling in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but the words didn’t come. He couldn’t deny it. He had made a decision that ruined everything. And now, it was too late to undo the damage.

Just as the weight of the situation sank deeper, the door to the room creaked open. Abhira, with a frown on her face, and Abhir, his hands clenched into fists, stepped into the room. Their eyes scanned the scene before them, and then, almost in unison, they locked eyes on Rohit and Arman.

"What's going on here?" Abhira asked, her voice trembling with anger and confusion.

Abhir stood next to her, his jaw tightening as he realized the conversation he had just overheard. "What do you mean by giving our baby to them?" he demanded, his voice sharp and full of disbelief.

Rohit froze, his breath caught in his throat. Arman shot a glance at him, his face pale as he realized they had been caught.

Abhira's eyes widened, a wave of shock washing over her. She couldn’t comprehend what she had just heard. "What do you mean? You... you gave our baby away? To them?" She pointed to Abhir and herself, her voice breaking as the realization hit her like a cold wave. "That baby... that baby I loved as my own... wasn't even mine?" Her voice was a mixture of hurt and rage, and it was clear she was struggling to accept the truth.

Abhir stepped forward, his expression hardening as the reality of the situation began to settle. "I don't care about the reasons anymore, Rohit. You took our happiness away. You took that child from us and gave it to someone else. How could you do that to us? To her?" He pointed at Abhira, his sister, the one who had carried the burden of loving a child that wasn’t hers. "You had no right to do this to us."

Rohit’s heart pounded in his chest as he saw the fury and heartbreak in Abhira and Abhir's eyes. He could see the pain in Abhira’s face, the betrayal she felt as she realized the baby she had held in her arms, the one she had poured all her love into, was not even hers to begin with. And Abhir... he could see the anger burning in his eyes, a deep, consuming fury that was now focused entirely on him.

"I—I'm sorry," Rohit stammered, but the words felt hollow, useless. "I didn’t know what else to do. I just... I thought it would be better for everyone, but I never imagined it would end up like this."

Abhira stepped back, her hands shaking as she fought to keep her emotions in check. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The baby she had taken care of, loved as her own, was taken away from her, and she had been kept in the dark all this time.

Abhir’s voice was filled with a cold rage as he added, "You don’t get to apologize now. You don’t get to take back what you did. You’ve hurt her, and you’ve hurt us. You should have told us the truth from the start, but you didn’t. You lied, and you let her think the worst."

Abhira’s voice trembled as she spoke again, the hurt in her words clear. "Why didn’t you tell me, Rohit? Why didn’t you tell me the truth? Why did I have to live with a lie all this time? You robbed me of the chance to be a mother to my own child."

Rohit could barely look them in the eye. His mind was reeling, and his own guilt was suffocating him. "I never meant to hurt you. I... I just didn’t want Ruhi to suffer. But I see now... I see what I’ve done."

Abhir’s glare was unrelenting. "And now Ruhi is suffering more than ever. We all are. But you, Rohit, you should have thought about the consequences before you made that decision. Because now, we have to live with the fallout."

The weight of their words hung in the air, and for a long moment, none of them spoke. The truth had been laid bare, and there was no going back. The damage had been done. And now, all they could do was face the consequences of Rohit’s choices.