Chapter 1
'I love you Kripa. I always will.' She woke up
with a jolt sweating and beautifully disheveled. That dream again. He haunted
her dreams and plagued her days. She watched cautiously with her brown large
eyes around the room and saw the pictures of her love. She smiled. Although it
was deep in the night, a steady light flowed in the room. The moonlight. She
saw her computer near the huge window which she had left open for the night.
Wind blew in and her messy brown hair flew all over. She went to the connecting
room to see her love.
She thought love happened only once. It took her
to fall in love again to realize that statement was untrue. She was very much
in love; with her son. He was sleeping with a sweet look on his face. Kunal
looked so like him. She closed her eyes and clutched herself remembering him;
the hazel eyes and the dark hair that she died to put her hands on. Kunal had
his look; the same hazel eyes and that height. Kripa was a small woman of
height of 5'2 and he had been 6'2. Her son's height was stretching like his.
Kunal had the dark hair he had. Every bit of Kunal reminded her of him. And now
her baby was sleeping peacefully with the moonlight streaming on his face. He
looked very much like the angel he was. Her angel.
Once she was satisfied, she left his room quietly
and sneaked back in bed. She sighed. She would never be able to put him out of
her mind. She fell back asleep as quickly dreaming about him again.
It was six o'clock in the morning and the birds
had already begun chirping. Kripa woke up with a smile. The smile was there
because she did not remember the dream or what happened at night. She tied a
pony tail and went for a quick shower. Her mom Gayatri was up and about getting
ready too. Kripa looked very much like her mother Gayatri who had a petite
build as well and was just as beautiful as she was three decades ago.
Kripa then woke her Kunal up and got him ready.
They then went downstairs to the prayer room and all sang Arti together. Kunal
sang with such enthusiasm that Kripa smiled over his head and remembered him.
They all had breakfast and Kunal had his usual
tantrums. 'Mama, I don't want cereal today, please make me toast!'
Kripa sighed in frustration. 'Kunal, just five
minutes ago you had asked for cereal!'
'I know mama but now I want toast.' He pouted and Kripa did not have the
heart to refuse her only son. Who could be able to refuse when Kunal employed
that look? 'OK, but no change of mind again, OK!'
'OK mama,' he chirped happily
about his and Kripa's birthday which was tomorrow. 'Mama, I'm so excited! We
can go for a picnic tomorrow! You can get an off from work yah?'
Gayatri then spoke, 'When there's mama who needs a
nani, right?'
'No nani! Obviously we'll be going together and
have fun! I do love you nani and you know that nani!'
'Yes, yes, I do. I was just pulling your leg!'
with that all of them laughed since this was Kunal's favorite phrase. He
couldn't understand how this phrase came into being when one's leg was not even
involved in anything! 'Yes baba,' Kripa said, 'I've got a break from work
tomorrow but you know if there's any emergency I'll be called back.'
'Yes I know Dr. Kripa Sharma!' As soon as he was
done with breakfast, his school bus arrived and he ran to his mom and hugged
her with a huge, noisy kiss on her cheek. In turn, Kripa gave her son a loud,
sloppy kiss too. He then turned to his nani and touched her feet and ran off to
the bus.
Then Gayatri started, 'Kripa beta, I'm so proud of
what you've done to Kunal. He's such a sweetheart. I guess we have faced
similar cirumstances in life, haven't we?'
'Yes mom. I never got my father's name and neither
will he.'
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