CHAPTER 5
“All aunties are very bad; I don't want to stay with anyone; please fire everyone."
Aashi is complaining to her father, who is smiling and listening to her on a video call. He is very happy to see his daughter, but the tiara worn on her forehead is attracting his attention.
“You are wearing this tiara; it is very beautiful. Where did you get it from?”
Sandhya, who is sitting nearby, has her eyes very wide because she knows that if, even by mistake, Aashi tells her father something that he will not like, then the situation can escalate to a wrong turn as she knows his temper. She starts looking at Aashi. Aashi seems to be looking at her father innocently, and she doesn't want to lie to him under any circumstances, so she immediately tells him.
"From the flower seller.”
“Oh wow, beautiful... Keep buying them."
Sandhya heaves a sigh of relief because, till now, she has not told him about Avi at all, because Prakram does not like any unnecessary person to come close to his daughter, even to the extent of becoming his daughter's nanny. Anyone has to go through a lot of tests for this, so here a girl selling flowers has suddenly started handling Aashi very easily; this is nothing but increasing suspicion for her in his view. Because she knows very well that he can go to any limit in his doubt. That's why she wants to keep the poor girl out of his sight. Because of this, she has given strict instructions to all the bodyguards that no one should tell Prakram about Avi.
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She starts moving forward smilingly with slow steps. She is sure that nothing can happen to her now; she just wants to quickly hide herself in her mother's embrace, which is the safest place for anyone. Wiping her tears with the back of her hand, she starts moving while increasing her speed. But suddenly she hears a loud bullet shot, and her eyes become stuck towards the front as if they were like stones. Suddenly everything turns into ash with an explosion, and a shadow turns towards her, and suddenly tears start flowing from her eyes to see him.
She is breathing rapidly and appears to be making an effort to open her eyes, but she is unable to do so. Padma, who was sleeping outside, suddenly realizes that Avi is in some kind of trouble because she can hear loud breathing outside. She immediately comes inside and sees that Avi is suffering greatly in her sleep and is unable to open her eyes, even if she wants to.
"Avi…"
She sits beside her and places her head in her lap in an attempt to wake her from her sleep, but she discovers that her entire body is burning like fire.
“Avi….”
Hearing her shouting, Vishnu also comes inside and sees that she is trying to wake her up, but Avi is not awake at all, which is the cause of worry. He immediately approaches her and examines her, finding it surprising that she has such a high fever. Seeing all this, Padma starts crying profusely, and Vishnu scolds her.
“Instead of sitting here and crying like crazy, hurry up and get cold water so that we can put cold strips on her head.”
Hearing Vishnu's words, Padma immediately starts doing everything; both of them start placing strips on Avi's head one after another over a time interval. After a long time, her fever starts to subside, and both of them feel that there is a smile on her lips. After witnessing her smile, they both began to smile as well. They sign with relief.
There is a smile on Avi's face because she feels that her parents are sitting near her, loving her very much, like every time she is sick and every time she takes advantage of their love, exactly the same. In a way, just to keep both of them close to her, she is feeling them close to her with her eyes closed. There is not much life in her body due to a high fever, and she starts moving her hands. Padma suddenly holds her hand; she is still moving her other hand in search of something. Vishnu quickly grabs her hand. The smile on her face immediately increases to a huge extent. She smiles and opens her eyes, which is very difficult for her, but she definitely wants to see her parents. As soon as she opens her eyes, she sees Vishnu and Padma in front. After seeing both of them, tears start flowing from her eyes continuously, but the smile remains the same. Vishnu smiles and tells her.
“You have a little fever; go to sleep; you will be fine soon."
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“Please… I will come soon.”
She is sitting wrapped in a sheet because she is still feeling cold. But she is insisting that she has to go out. Padma is fully aware that she wants to go out and personally pick flowers for Aashi, so she can make a fresh tiara for her. However, due to her overnight illness, she is reluctant to send her out into the cold. After a while, it will be time for Aashi to arrive. She states it strictly.
“I've made a hotchpotch for you. Eat it, then rest here. If one day you don't meet that girl, nothing will happen. You are not a small girl who has to be explained so much that it is not right for you to go into the cold air. Just stay here and rest.”
She does not want to say anything to Padma at all because she knows that both the husband and wife have taken great care of her throughout the night, and because of them, her fever has gone down a lot, but the yearning to meet Aashi is troubling her a lot. However, she finds herself unable to ignore Padma's words under any circumstances. She sat there disheartened.
Like every time, Aashi's eyes are fixed outside the car, but like every day, Avi is not standing there waiting for her, due to which she starts looking at her grandmother. Sandhya says this to her granddaughter, smiling at her innocent eyes.
“Maybe she will be standing somewhere else; we will go out and see now.”
Hearing this, Aashi smiles, and her grandmother hugs her because she is about to go out in her lap. Both of them go out, and like every day, Padma and Vishnu are standing with lots of flowers and garlands, but Avi is not seen there.
“Avi is not here today.”
“She had a very high fever throughout the night; she wanted to come but I prevented her because of weakness with great difficulty.”
As soon as Aashi hears that Avi could not come to meet her because she had a fever throughout the night, she immediately starts grizzling to get off her grandmother's lap.
“Aashi…”
“I must go to Avu."
"No, princess, we cannot do this; I will be too late for the prayer just leave your desire to meet her today.”
“No, I want to meet her.”
“Aashi, this stubbornness is not right.”
Aashi knows very well how to get any of her wishes fulfilled; that's why she starts crying loudly. Sandhya starts looking around because she is crying very loudly, and even she can't see her crying like this.
"Okay, okay, let's go to your Avu."
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Hotchpotch is kept in front of Avi, but she does not want to eat it at all because she is missing Aashi. She is sitting silently with disappointment when suddenly she starts hearing Ashi's voice loudly.
"Avu…"
Avi smiles and immediately looks towards the door, where she sees her standing and smiling. As soon as she sees her, she spreads her arms, and Aashi runs into them. Both of them are hugging each other as if they are meeting after many years. Sandhya gives a gentle smile to both of them before turning her gaze to the bodyguards and saying,
“I have to go to the temple, so send some bodyguards with me; everyone else should stay here to take care of Aashi, and neither Digvijay nor Prakram should know about this... Got it.”
They silently nod without any other option, looking towards Aashi, who is very happy after coming to her favorite person, and immediately feeding hotchpotch to Avi with her small hands, seeing that everyone is forced to smile because she still doesn't eat food with her own hands. Usually Sandhya or Nanny feeds her, and here she herself is feeding Avi with her small hands.