After nine months abroad, Arjun finally returned home to his wife, Meera, and their newborn daughter, Aanya. Everything seemed perfect until their loyal Labrador, Rocky, began acting strangely around the baby’s crib. His desperate barking compelled Arjun to investigate, uncovering a secret that would shatter their family forever.
Arjun couldn’t stop staring at Aanya’s sleeping face, memorizing every detail, as if he was afraid she’d disappear if he blinked. She was his little girl, and the weight of her in his arms felt like an anchor, grounding him after months of floating through life in a foreign land.
“She has your eyes,” Meera whispered beside him, leaning in for a hug. “I kept telling my mom that during our video calls. Look at those tiny fingers… she’s so much like you.”
Arjun turned to kiss her, inhaling the familiar scent of her jasmine shampoo, feeling the warmth of home envelop him. “I missed you both so much. The apartment in Dubai was just a place to sleep, but being here with you two… this is home.”
“We missed you too,” Meera replied, her voice filled with warmth. “It was tough going through this without you.”
Rocky, their faithful Labrador, sat quietly at Arjun’s feet, his tail thumping softly against the floor. He hadn’t left Arjun’s side since he walked through the door six hours ago, only checking on Aanya whenever she made the slightest sound.
“He’s already the best big brother,” Meera said, scratching behind Rocky’s ears. “He sleeps right by her crib every night, keeping watch.”
“Just like he used to do with my shoes,” Arjun chuckled, reminiscing about how Rocky would guard his slippers before he left. “Remember that, boy?”
Those first few days felt like a dream. They settled into a rhythm of diaper changes and midnight feedings, sharing soft kisses in between baby duties. Rocky watched over them, his brown eyes alert yet calm.
Arjun cherished every moment he had missed with Aanya: her first smile, the way she scrunched her nose before crying, how she would grip Meera’s finger while nursing. Everything felt perfect. Too perfect.
The first crack appeared during a late-night feeding.
Arjun had gotten up to warm a bottle when he heard Meera’s hushed voice coming from the living room. The soft light from her phone cast shadows across her face, making her look worn and anxious.
“I can’t keep doing this,” she was saying, her voice shaky. “He’s home now, and—” She stopped abruptly, her eyes widening as she saw Arjun, quickly ending the call.
But it wasn’t her mother on the other end.
Concern gnawed at Arjun’s gut. “Everything okay?” he asked, trying to keep his tone light, though his heart raced.
“Just my mom being her usual self,” Meera replied, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “You know how she worries. Especially with Aanya.”
Arjun wanted to push further, to ask why she needed to take these calls at such odd hours, but Aanya’s cries cut through the tension.
Meera hurried to the nursery, leaving Arjun alone with a growing sense of unease.
More calls followed, always whispered, always ending when Arjun entered the room. Meera began taking her phone into the bathroom, something she had never done before. She also started spending long hours in the nursery, just staring at Aanya’s crib. Then came the bank statement.
“Fifteen thousand rupees, Meera?” Arjun exclaimed, holding up the paper, his hands trembling. “What baby supplies cost this much? The nursery is already overflowing."
“We needed— I needed to be prepared,” she stammered, gesturing at the piles of diapers and clothes stacked around them. “You were gone so long, and I just… panicked a little. First-time mom stuff, you know?”
“Panicked? Meera, this is a huge chunk of our savings. And these receipts…” He shuffled through them, his stomach churning. “Baby clothes in size 2 years? She won’t wear these for ages.”
“I got carried away with the sales, okay?” she snapped, snatching the receipts from his hands. “Why are you making such a big deal about this? Don’t you trust me?”
Arjun wanted to trust her. God, how he wanted to. But Rocky knew better. Rocky had started camping out in the nursery whenever Meera sat there. When she wasn’t holding Aanya, he would nudge her with his nose. He began whining in the crib, a behavior that had changed drastically.
“He’s just being protective,” Meera insisted, though her voice trembled. “Dogs get weird sometimes with new babies. The internet says it’s normal.”
But this didn’t feel normal. Arjun sensed that Rocky was trying to tell them something important. Deep down, he feared he already knew what it was but wasn’t ready to face it.
One night, after another of Rocky’s anxious episodes, Arjun waited until Meera fell asleep and quietly slipped into the nursery. Rocky followed, rushing ahead as Arjun approached the crib. Moonlight streamed through the window, casting strange shadows on the floor.
“What is it, boy?” Arjun whispered, running his hand along the crib’s wooden frame. “What are you trying to tell me?”
Rocky whined, nosing at the mattress. With shaking hands, Arjun lifted it and found a pregnancy test.
A positive pregnancy test. The date on the display felt like a slap in the face.
Aanya was only three months old. He’d been home for two weeks. There was no way…
“Arjun?” Meera’s voice echoed from the doorway, sending chills down his spine. He turned slowly, the test clutched tightly in his hand.
“When?” was all he could manage to say, a thousand other questions swirling in his mind.
She crumpled against the doorframe, tears streaming down her face. “It was one night. Just one stupid night when I was at my mom’s. Vikram— you remember him from college? He reached out, and I was so lonely… Aanya was colicky, and you were so far away…”
It felt as if she had ripped his heart from his chest.
Rocky pressed against Arjun’s leg, whimpering softly.
“He saw me hide it,” she continued, gesturing at Rocky. “I think he’s been trying to tell you. Dogs always know when something’s wrong…”
Arjun let out a harsh, broken laugh that scared even him. “So our dog has more loyalty than my wife? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Please,” she begged, reaching out for him. “We can work through this. I love you. It was a mistake, one terrible mistake.”
He stepped back. “Love? You’ve been lying to my face for weeks. God knows what with that money. Were you going to run? Take my daughter and disappear?”
Her silence was an answer in itself. Aanya’s cries suddenly filled the air, her wails slicing through the thick tension.
“Go to her,” Arjun said, his voice hollow. “At least one of us should comfort her.”
That night, he packed a bag, his vision blurred with tears as he threw clothes into a duffel. Rocky watched from the doorway, ready to follow. Each item felt like another nail in the coffin of their marriage.
“Take care of Aanya,” Arjun told Meera as he headed for the door, Rocky at his heels. “I’ll have my lawyer contact you about custody.”
She called every day for a week, then every other day. Finally, they met at a café to discuss divorce proceedings.
Seeing her, pale and drawn, still made Arjun’s heartache despite everything.
“I never stopped loving you,” she said, her eyes red-rimmed. “I know you probably don’t believe that anymore, but it’s true.”
“Love isn’t enough if it doesn’t include trust,” he replied, standing up. “You broke something that can’t be fixed. Trust isn’t like a vase you can glue back together. Once it’s shattered, the cracks always show.”
In the end, it was Rocky who showed Arjun the truth and remained loyal when his world fell apart. Some might call it ironic— a dog being more honest than a human. Arjun just called it love, the real kind.
Looking down at his faithful companion that evening, he managed a small smile. “Just you and me now, Rocky.”
The dog wagged his tail once, and somehow, Arjun knew they would be okay. Not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually.
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