Your Heartbeat

Chapter - 38 Your Heartbeat

Author pov ---

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His voice was low, heavy with emotions, yet he kept going. As if those buried memories had waited too long to be set free.

"My mom..." he whispered, eyes fixed somewhere distant, "...was the most beautiful soul I've ever known, Kritika. So gentle. So soft-spoken. The kind of woman who could calm a storm just by her presence."

He looked down at his hands, voice breaking a little.

"But my dad... he never gave her the love she deserved. Half the time, he was buried in work, and the other half... he was arguing with her. Fighting. Blaming. Making her feel like she was never enough."

Tears welled in his eyes, and this time, he didn't wipe them.

"And still," he said with a bitter-sweet smile, "she never spoke ill of him. Not once. Not even when he hurt her."

He paused, a memory hitting him like a wave-too strong, too sharp.

"I still remember... I was six. They had one of their usual fights. Loud. Ugly. And then dad slammed the door and left."

He took a shaky breath, his voice dropping to a whisper, almost as if he could see that night unfolding before him again.

"I walked into her room, rubbing my eyes. I said, 'Maa, I can't sleep.' And she looked at me, her eyes swollen... but she still smiled. She pulled me into her lap, like she always did. And I... I asked her-'Maa, papa is very bad, right?'"

Kritika's eyes stung.

Ayaan's throat tightened.

"She didn't scold me... didn't say a word against him. She just kissed my head and said, 'No, beta... he's not bad. He just doesn't know how to show love.'"

A single tear slipped down his cheek.

"Then she started humming a lori" he continued softly, "the same one she used to sing every time I was scared. She stroked my hair... and kept whispering, 'Mumma is here... nothing will hurt you.'"

His lips trembled.

"That was my safe place, Kritika... her lap, her voice, her arms. No matter how broken the world felt, she made everything okay."

He looked at her, eyes brimming.

"But no one ever did that for her..." he whispered. "No one ever made her feel safe."

Kritika was looking at him with tearful eyes.

Ayaan still sitting beside Kritika, voice soft and steady, eyes gazing into a memory far away...

"One day, everyone was sitting in the living room-Dad, chachu, dadi, dadu and me. I still remember my heart pounding so loud I could hear it in my ears. But I had to speak up. I couldn't hold it in any longer.

I said, 'I'm not interested in business. I don't want to take over Dad's empire. I want to become a doctor.'

Dad got angry. I was his only son, after all. If not me, then who would carry forward the legacy?