Chapter 27: 𝟐𝟓. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐦

Yuvaani

I was having Pihu and Ansh in my arms, feeding them, and suddenly my phone rang. I looked up to the caller and it showed Tara.

"Hello sanoritaaa!" she chirped enthusiastically.

"Hey! Wassup?"

"Nothing much, aise hi call kiya" she said

[ I just called for no reason, just to hear you ]

"Okay"

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Nothing much, breastfeeding. What about you?" I asked

"I sent my son to school, and I’ll go to pick him up in some time." she replied.

"Accha, tell me one thing, how do you feel while feeding babies?" she asked out of nowhere.

"I feel- I don’t know how to explain it. I feel good having two mini lives in my arms, and feeding them to the fullest and my reward is their toothy smile! You know they are growing teeth! Sometimes they even bite me!" I left out a warm giggle at the end, looking down at them both. Those two pairs of doe eyes! Ah! My heart melts seeing them every time!

"I know, it feels really good to be a mother. I love being Ishaan’s mom. You know how he shares his mini things with me- may it be his little school gossips, or his mini food bites! He always feeds me at least once a day, because he tries to copy his dad" she chirped. I can sense how pridely her heart must’ve swollen by mentioning her family.

"Yeah, your Ishu is really cute, I love him too!"

"He is waiting to play with your babies, you know!" she laughed

"What?"

"Yeah, when I brought him to Vihaan's birthday, I showed him your kids and he wanted to play with them. He loves little babies!"

"It is a clear indication, ma'am" I smirked

"Huh?"

"Come on, don’t act fool" the smirk was still dancing on my lips

"I-" she tried to continue but I knew she got my point and I interrupted her saying

"Okay, if you want to hear it from me, so I’m saying it. Try for your second baby, Ishu will get extremely happy hearing you’ll bring him a baby"

"I’ll see-"

"I know you’ll" I smirked again

"Vaanniiiiii!!!" and I laughed.

“By the way, you too have two kids” she mentioned

“Yeah,”

“How are they? Are they still biting you?” she laughed shortly

“Sometimes,” I replied and added

“You know,  the day Aarush came to know about this, he apologized me because his kids were biting” I uttered

“What a gentleman he is,” she said between her laughs!

“I mean, Reyansh didn’t apologise to me when he came to know about this” she mentioned her husband, relating to the incident.

“That is because he isn’t Aarush Nair” I said proudly

“Someone is falling, I see” she giggled

“Hey! It’s not that!”

“Yeah, yeah, keep saying that”

“Why do you think I fell for him?”

“Because I know what a husband means to you. We are on the same boat in this”

“You know na, he has hurt me so damn much-”

“Still you don’t eat before him” my eyes widened when her words registered in my brain.

How does she know?

“How do you know? Are you spying me by some means, hm?” my eyebrows scrunched together involuntarily.

“I told ya, we are on the same boat, about being a wife” I can imagine she smirked just by her mere tone.

I heard a knock on the door and I cut the call, bidding her bye. And I adjusted my dress, looking in the mirror before unlocking the door.

“Yeah?” I asked as I saw Aarush there.

He just smiled and came in. Moving towards the bed, he hugged both of his babies and grabbed the nearest napkin on the table to wipe their lips, as they were pouring out a bit of milk from their mouth.

“Bbye baccho” and he kissed them deeply on the cheeks and they too, held him lovingly. It was a sight to see. A father showing his love to his children. The babies are so lucky to have a father like him. He looks after them, no matter what. He always has them as his priority. He can turn down the whole world for them. And I believe, the babies will also love him the way he does. He’ll give all the gentleman traits to Ansh, and and treat both of them right.

He takes care of every minute thing, may it be monthly bills or their diapers. From his parents to his elder sister, he wont turn anyone down. That’s what I know of him.

This reminded me of my old me. Independent. Self sufficient. He never turned me down, but instead encouraged me to continue my professional life. Which was against the whole typical Indian mentality. I remembered, I had chosen two jobs for such work from home fit and later I forgot to apply. I think it’s high time, I should now.

“Hey, where are you lost?” he asked, standing right in front of me holding Ansh and Pihu.

“Uh- nothing. I just had a random thought of you know- resuming my work-”

“That’s a great idea!!” He interrupted.

I smiled at him.

“Papa mummaa” Pihu chirped as she tried jumping from his arms into mine, and I caught her.

“Aaram se baby” I spoke in my baby voice for her to sound familiar.

[ Easy there, baby ]

“So, where are you planning to work?” he asked.

“I’ve shortlisted two websites, I’ll select one of them and apply for it”

“Hmm, but be careful. Aaj kal ye online frauds zyada ho rahe hai.” He put a cautionary sign board in my mind.

“Yes,”

“Okay then, I’m leaving for the office. If anything is needed let me know” He said to which I nodded and he left after handing Ansh to me.

I took both of them to the living room and handed them to papa. And moved to the kitchen to cook lunch. Maa also joined me saying she’ll help me so that we can finish the kitchen chores faster. And she made me promise that we’ll work together in the kitchen, I don’t have to do it all alone. And then, I shared my idea of working from home with his parents and they showed full support, and asked me to grab the opportunity.

This was the thing I was looking for.

A supportive family.

Involuntarily a smile made its way on my lips and I grabbed my laptop for the same and sat along with parents in the living room. Maa was serving herself and dad as they were getting ready for lunch. I opened my laptop and read again the terms and conditions and I found the second one better and I applied for it, filling all the necessary details it was asking for.

Maybe approximately ten minutes later, my phone pinged with a notification sound.

Who is texting me at this hour?

I quickly grabbed my phone and opened the text.

It was a text from the bank.

My eyes clouded with tears as all my hard earned money showed zero balance! I am fucking scammed by them! My brain went blank and I sobbed hard. I quickly saw papa and maa coming in my view, and having babies in their hands asking me what had happened. In reply all I could do was just sobbed!

How else would you feel when you’ve saved your hard earned money for months, for fulfilling your dream, and others just snatch it away from you!

“Papa- mere paise-” These were the only words I could utter.

“Kya hua beta? Mujhe batao, hum sath imilkar hal nikal lenge, ro nahi beta” he tried consoling me, but I didn’t find it consoling. My heart was racing and my brain was getting numb every passing second.

[ What happened kid? ]

I couldn’t reply to Papa and I just passed him my phone, showing him the text message from the bank. His expressions changed and he got to know what had happened.

“Bank account hack ho gaya hai!” Papa turned to maa to let her know what this is all about. I closed my eyes, regretting my stupidity.

[ Bank account has been hacked! ]

“Hello Aaru, beta-” I didn’t know when Papa dialed Aarush and was talking to him.

Here I tried to control my sobs, pressing my lips tightly. That was when Pihu made her presence on my lap. I hugged her fully and cried again.

“He wants to talk to you,” Papa said, forwarding his cell phone to me.

How should I face him, when he himself warned me about the same?

I should have paid heed to his words, and should’ve waited a little for this fucking online job!

“Hello, Yuvaani?” I heard him say. For the very first time I felt his voice softening for me.

“Aarush, my bank- it got hacked- I don’t know what to do-” I tried not to sob in front of him, on the phone, but my emotions betrayed me willingly.

“Shhh, don’t cry. I’ll be there in a few minutes. First, call your bank and ask them to block your bank account, Hm?”

“O-okay”

“Yes, main nikal raha hu, aata hu, you don’t worry” saying this he cut the call and I speedily called my bank and asked them to block my account and told them my account got hacked.

[ I’m just leaving from here ]

Within no time, Aarush was here and he was sitting beside me, not uttering a single word.

“What was the amount in the bank?” he asked

I snapped my head towards him and unknowingly my eyes teared up again.

“Almost 62K”

“You called the bank?” he asked again.

“Yes, they said they will block now” I replied to which he nodded.

“Call them again” he asked me to do so and I grabbed my phone with sweaty hands and called them. When they recieved it, Aarush took it from me.

“Hello, is the account blocked?” he asked directly.

This was followed by silence for a few seconds and he again said “Okay” and cut the call.

“Your account has been blocked” he said and I nodded to him looking down at my laps.

“I-It was my hard earned money- Aarush- how can it just-” and I gave up, I couldn’t control any more, I put my face in my palm and began sobbing.

And I found myself engulfed in a warmth, which said it’ll protect me.  His hands caressing my hair, but he didn’t utter any word and continued stroking and I heard him say “You’re not alone, we’re here Yuvaani '' and I felt him pulling me closer.

I guess I needed to hear those words.

I too encircled my arms around his torso and said “I worked so hard- you know- still all bad happens with me-” unknowingly my cheeks were brimmed with a fresh set of tears. I closed my eyes and tried to hide them in his shoulders, not wanting to see any further bad happening to me.

“Shh, I’m there na, nothing bad will happen to you, to any of us Vaani. Trust me” he chirped and caressed my back to soothe me. In the next few minutes I finally stopped sobbing and I broke our hug.

“Are you fine?” he asked in a low voice.

I just nodded positively.

“I think we should file a case, whoever it is will get caught,” he recommended.

I looked at him hoarse. What will they say? I am the stupid woman who falled in this trap!

“Do you want to?” he asked me.

“I want to, but- I don’t know- I-”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be with you. Also take your identity proofs, we’ll go to your bank too”

I just nodded at him and collected everything which was needed.

First we went to the Police Station and told them about the scam, my heartbeats were raised as I never thought in my entire life I'd need to come here. The officers asked me questions, and I replied to them, being a little hesitant in the beginning. It was when Aarush held my hand and assured his presence and asked me to continue. I replied to them honestly and they assured us that if they find anything, they’ll let us know.

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Next update - 1 or 2 days later