A loud cry echoed through the hospital corridor, catching the attention of a man in his thirties sitting with a little boy, around four years old, in his arms. A middle-aged couple sat beside them.

He immediately stood up, joy lighting up his face as the little boy squealed excitedly in his arms.

“Ma, Papa, I became a father again,” the man said, looking at the middle-aged couple who stood beside him.

His father patted his shoulder.

“Congratulations, Rajiv.”

Rajiv’s mother hugged him and his son.

“Shivansh, you’re an elder brother now,” Rajiv said to his son with a wide smile, tears slipping down his cheeks.

Their sweet moment of celebration was interrupted by a voice.

“Mr. Kumar.”

They turned to find a nurse holding a newborn wrapped carefully in a white cloth. Rajiv walked toward her with Shivansh still in his arms.

“It’s a girl,” the nurse said softly.

The Kumar family’s eyes filled with emotion.

The first daughter of the family.

“My princess… my Avnika,” Rajiv whispered, taking the baby carefully as if one wrong move would break her. He gently kissed her forehead.

“Ma, look at her.”

Rajiv’s mother, Mayadevi, looked at her granddaughter gently, pecking her head. Rajiv’s father, Raghuveer, caressed Avnika’s head.

“Shiv, look at your little sister, Avnika,” Rajiv said, showing him the baby.

“Dadda, she’s my little sister?” Shivansh asked, staring at the tiny baby in fascination.

He gently poked her cheek.

“She’s so small, dadda,” he murmured.

“And we have to protect her,” Rajiv replied.

Then he turned toward the nurse.

“How’s my wife? Can we see her?” he asked softly, a hint of desperation slipping into his voice.

The nurse stayed silent.

A strange unease settled in the air.

Then a voice came from behind her.

“We couldn’t save your wife, Mr. Kumar.”

The doctor stepped forward, his expression heavy with sympathy.

For a moment, Rajiv almost lost his balance, but his arms instinctively tightened around his daughter protectively.

“What…?” his voice broke. “How? Everything was fine until now.”

The doctor lowered his gaze slightly.

“There were severe complications during childbirth, Mr. Kumar. She lost a lot of blood, and despite our efforts, the bleeding couldn’t be controlled.”

Silence followed.

Cold.

Unbearable.

The newborn shifted slightly in his arms, completely unaware that the woman who brought her into the world was gone.

Rajiv handed the baby to the nurse before walking away. Shivansh looked at his father.

“Dadda, where are you going? We have to take my sister and Mumma home, right?” he shouted innocently.

“Dadu, Dadi, why did Dadda leave alone?”

he asked his grandparents, who looked at him with teary eyes. Raghuveer picked Shivansh up in his arms while Mayadevi took Avnika in hers.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” the doctor said before leaving with the nurse.

Mayadevi hugged her husband, sobbing hard.

“My daughter left us, Veer ji,” she cried.

Raghuveer held his broken family together while internally falling apart. The daughter-in-law they had loved and adored like their own daughter was no more. Their son’s love had left him alone with two innocent souls behind.

“Dadi, why are you crying?” Shivansh asked softly.

Mayadevi silently hugged him and Avnika closer.

The Kumar family sat in the huge hall of their mansion while the lifeless body of their daughter-in-law, Manvi, lay on the floor covered with a white sheet. Rajiv sat in a corner away from his family, his eyes red and puffy from crying. He stared at her body blankly.

A cry echoed through the mansion. Mayadevi rocked Avnika gently, but she refused to calm down. Rajiv didn’t flinch or move. His attention remained fixed on his dead wife.

“Rajiv!” Mayadevi called out to him.

“I don’t want to see her face, Ma,” Rajiv said coldly. “Take her away from my sight.”

“She is your daughter, Raju,” Mayadevi said. “The only daughter of our family.”

“She is nothing but the reason my love died,” Rajiv replied bitterly.

“Rajiv!” Raghuveer’s voice turned cold and firm. “She’s a child. She needs you, her father.”

“I died the day my Manvi died, Papa,” Rajiv said.

He walked closer to Manvi’s lifeless body, his tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

“Mumma!”

A voice echoed through the hall along with Avnika’s cries. Everyone turned to find Shivansh rushing downstairs.

He was about to run toward Manvi’s body, but Mayadevi quickly stopped him.

“Dadi, I want to go to Mumma,” he said, struggling in his grandmother’s hold.

Raghuveer picked him up in his arms.

“Bacche, Mumma is resting. Let her sleep,” he said softly. “She has to go a long way alone.”

“Why, Dadu? I want to go with her too,” Shivansh said innocently.

“She needs a break, beta,” Mayadevi said gently. “She trusted us to take care of our Avnika in her absence.”

Shivansh nodded immediately.

“I will take care of my Avu.”

He said proudly, holding Avnika’s tiny palm in his. Avnika stopped crying the moment he touched her hand.

Mayadevi gently bumped her forehead against Shivansh’s before kissing both his and Avnika’s foreheads. Raghuveer looked at his wife and silently nodded.

Mayadevi called one of the maids and sent Shivansh and Avnika to the nursery with her.

“You have to be strong for your children, Rajiv,” Raghuveer said, placing a hand on his son’s head.

Mayadevi sat beside him, pulling him into a warm embrace.

“Shivansh is four and can understand things, but Avnika needs someone—”

“I don’t care,” Rajiv cut her off coldly.