Serendipitous Saturation ✔ [Completed]

Epilogue

Six months later.

"Look, Riddhima! A crab!" Aadhya screamed, pointing into the water and almost deafening Riddhima. She grinned at the little girl dressed in a purple swimsuit and matching waterproof sandals and looked into the rock pool, her hand clutched tightly in Aadhya's small one.

She peered in closer. "I think there's a starfish in there too."

Excitedly, "Where?! Where?!"

Riddhima laughed and gestured to the orange starfish at the edge of the pool hiding under a rock.

"Yes!"

Aadhya released Riddhima's hand to take out her waterproof camera from the Frozen backpack Riddhima was holding for her in her free hand and lay front down on the sand to get a shot of more of the treasures they'd uncovered on their stroll along the beach. Her brown pigtails shook from side to side as she wriggled to get comfortable on her belly and take the best photographs.

Riddhima took up a position beside her, dressed in an aubergine T-shirt and white shorts. Sitting down, she stretched her legs out in front of her, wiggling her bare toes, and enjoyed the feel of the setting sun on her skin as sunset approached. She watched Aadhya's frown of concentration, her tongue protruding and settling over her top lip, and was reminded of the exact same look the girl's father held when he focused on something too. Riddhima reflected on the past six months of her life and how much it had changed.

Her introduction to Aadhya had gone much easier than she had imagined it would. She'd met her the day after Vansh had secured her affections at a lunch at his home. She'd brought a present of some art materials with her as he had mentioned Aadhya liked to sketch in a blatant attempt to get his daughter to like her from the get-go. Vansh had shot her a knowing look when he'd opened the door to her and saw them, laughing softly as he pecked her lips.

"She'll see right through that bribe," he'd said with another laugh. He'd captured her lips again in the hallway when he noticed her nervousness and told her softly, "Just be yourself and she'll love you like I do in no time at all."

As usual, he'd been right.

Aadhya had obviously been told about the change in her father's relationship status and had acted a little shyly around her at first, noticeably trying to make a good first impression on the stranger in their midst herself. Vansh looked so relaxed he was practically horizontal (or at least had seemed that way, later he'd told her he was more than a little nervous) and had eased any awkwardness with his well practiced and renowned charm.

His daughter hadn't stayed quiet for long and she soon became animated as lunch was served by his mother. She was delighted to be reacquainted with the cop from a few days before, and had asked her question upon question about her job and how many criminals she had put away, and if she had ever fired a gun and so on. Riddhima deduced that if she did decide a career in law enforcement was for her, she'd make quite an excellent interrogator, perhaps turning out even better than Kabir.

She had a sense of the macabre that children that age often did and it wasn't the first time Riddhima had been asked the same questions and found it easy to rattle off her responses once she'd become more comfortable in her presence. Vansh had steered the conversation away to less morbid everyday matters easily when his daughter prodded into darker dealings and his mother had fussed her way through the lunch to ensure it was a roaring success.

Her knowledge of her boyfriend, up until that point, had been in knowing him as a man and not a father. She knew he was a caring and wonderful one but seeing the evidence of it in front of her that day in how he looked at his daughter and how his face lit up every time she spoke had made her heart melt. And she could almost hear her ovaries cry out in response as much as she tried to hush them into silence.