The Exchange

Bade Papa

Akshu sat behind him on his bike, her hair still wet from the waterfall, the wind blowing lightly on her face. She closed her eyes to take in the sun shining softly upon her, the heat radiating delicately off of his back. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that they were going in the opposite direction from the Birla Mansion. "Abhi, yeh hum kaha jaa rahe hain?" 

"Akshu, mujhe kisiko sorry bolna hai." 

"Kisko?" 

Before he could respond, they pulled onto the road that marked the entry to the Goenka Mansion. She looked at him, her eyes tearing up...he had done nothing wrong...all he had done was defend her happiness, defend her wellbeing...but he was still going to apologize to her family...he was still going to make amends with her bade papa. 

He parked his bike and slowly helped her off, taking her hand in his and shaking his head, telling her not to even try saying thank you...her family was his family...and he knew how much she had missed them over the past year...how much they had yearned for her...he was not going to keep her away from them...never would he ever dream of doing so. 

He rang the doorbell, ready to face whatever reaction he got from the Goenkas. He knew they loved their daughter...he knew they adored her...and everything they said to him, he would take as their adoration for his Akshu...and to him, that was the greatest present of all. Manish opened the door, his face immediately turning bright with shock. But, before he could utter a single word, Abhi grabbed his ears and bowed his head as an expression of his apology. 

"Bade papa...." 

Overwhelmed seeing Akshu at the door, overwhelmed seeing that Abhi had brought her here, Manish immediately forgot what had happened the day before. He took them both into his arms and sobbed, releasing all of his pain from the past year. Both of his kids reached for his glasses as if it was their most natural instinct, wanting to wipe away the tears, wanting to wipe away his pain....he laughed through his agony seeing Abhi and Akshu being mirror images of each other...both of them having the purest hearts of all...they both took turns cleaning his glasses and giggling in utter joy with him.... 

Mimi came rushing to the door, next in line to embrace them...she told Abhi how grateful she was to have a son-in-law like him...that as long as Akshu had him, she knew nothing could happen to her...Akshu looked up at her husband in utter awe, in utter pride...all of the love he got from the Goenkas was nothing in comparison to what he deserved...he deserved this and so so much more....he deserved the entire world. 

"Abhimaniyu, beta...hum sab tum se maafi manga chate hain..." Mimi began.

Abhi grabbed her folded hands into his and stopped her, telling her not to embarrass him...telling her that he understood...telling her that this was all for Akshu and he knew why they reacted the way they did...

Manish hesitantly asked Abhi if he would be willing to spend the night with them along with Akshu so that they could take in her presence, make up for lost time...without thinking twice, Abhi agreed, taking Akshu to sit down on the couch, asking his in laws how they were going to pamper their daughter...

They spent hours eating, talking, smiling..they spent hours living, hours breathing....after what felt like ages...