FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN

Will you be my father?

Neel silently groaned to himself when he saw the queue. There was no way he wanted to stand in yet another line to meet yet one more 'princess'. 

"Please Neel uncle, please", pleaded Amaira. "Merida is my favorite"! 

Neel looked at Amaira. She sure had a long list of favorite princesses. They had already had pictures with Snow White, candela, Ariel, Sophia, Ana and Elsa, Rapunzel, and Beauty. He looked at Amaira. She was dressed in a Princess Sophia outfit with matching crowns and a necklace. It was their third day in Disney World, and he was done. Sure, Disney land was pretty and some of the rides were amazing, but the long queues were killing him, especially the queues to meet the 'princesses. He groaned to himself again and turned to Manjari for help. She was fairing no better than him. She was sipping a cup of coffee and massaging her toes. Amaira looked at him again with her puppy dog expression and Neel found himself giving in." Sure," he said and Amaira's face lit up like the sun on the brightest day. She hogged his leas and then looked up at him with a dazzling smile on her face. And just like that Neel fell in love with her more. He never thought that it would be possible for him to love someone more than Manjari's. But he was proved wrong. Amaira was his life. He hoisted Amaira on her shoulders and went on to join the queue to meet Princess Merida. Amaira squealed with joy and started telling him all about Merida. Merida was a princess who was being forced to marry against her will. She accidentally turns her mother into which to escape the marriage. After meeting an elderly witch, as she journeys to reverse the curse, she discovers the real meaning of bravery. Neel oohed and aahed at all the right places and let Amaira blab to her heart's content. Who knew a kid could talk so much? He nodded and smiled and nodded some more as Amaira continued to rattle off information. He felt a familiar hand around his waist. He did not have to look to know who it was. Manjari. In the past three days, there had been a lot of times when Manjari had initiated physical contact and he saw this as a sign of her growing trust in him.

He had noticed other things about her too. The tightness around her eyes was gradually fading and she smiled more. She worshipped the ground her daughter walked on and she never refused her daughter anything which surprisingly had not backfired on her. Amaira was not a spoilt child, always demanding more toys or candy. When Manjari said "no", Amaira accepted the answer, never once throwing a tantrum. Neel did not know how she did it. His own nieces and nephews were taxing on his wallet.

Manjari's feet were killing her and she wanted to sit for a minute. She also wanted a good cup of coffee! Again. Not that her daughter and Neel were stopping for either any time soon! They were on a Disney high. And were behaving like 6 years old.... (alright, alright, Amaira had just crossed her the sixth year and Neel was indulging her every whim!). They had checked in the Disneyland hotel day before yesterday. They had been arriving about an hour before the park opened daily. Manjari had made sure that everyone had an early breakfast at the so that they could hit the ground running when we got to the park. And then it was a mad scramble to cover as much of the ground as possible. Manjari looked at Amaira sitting on Neel's shoulders and her heart lurched. The hope in her heart grew slightly bigger and her love for him, deeper. Oh! she knew she loved him. When and how she did not know. Maybe, just maybe she could have it all- a loving partner, a companion, and a father for Amaira. She crossed her fingers behind her back hoping that nothing went wrong this time.

After getting pictures clicked with Merida, they decided to stop for some lunch. Amaira insisted on sitting next to Neel and shared all her food with him. She was chattering incessantly, and she had Neels full attention. Manjari just shook her head and looked fondly at the picture the two painted.

"You have a lovely daughter", she heard someone say. She raised her head to say thank you to only realize that they were speaking o Neel. Before she could correct them, she heard Neel say, "I know. Thank you," and turned back to listen to whatever Amaira was sharing with him. Manjari was a bit shaken by the encounter. She looked at the two of them again. The love between them was very apparent. One could easily mistake Amaira for Neel's biological daughter. She had the same jet-black hair as him and was talel compared to kids of her age. She sent out a silent prayer in the universe for everything to be fine.