Fanaa

1.4 Nanha Mehman

With Aaira tucked safely in her arms, Akshara turned to face the woman and swallowed a silent gasp.
The young woman sitting in front of her, was a dead ringer of her Naira mumma.
"I'm sorry, have we met before, you seem very familiar to me."

Kaira took a deep breath, and with a hesitant smile replied "My name is Kaira, Kaira Kartik Goenka, though I go by Singhania these days."

Kaira was nervous, she didn't know what Akshara's reaction was going to be - would she be angry at Kaira for abandoning her? Indifferent ? or could she perhaps hope that her sister might just be happy to see her.

Akshara POV

Kaira Goenka was an enigma to Akshara growing up. Her grandparents and Mimi didn't like talking about her, they felt that Kaira di had betrayed the family by choosing to leave but Akshara could never bring herself to hate her older sister, flashes of a mischievous smile and eyes that held too much pain crossed her mind.

Akshara had wanted to reach out to her older sister, she had wanted to know more about her Naira mumma and her maternal family, but then everything with Aarohi happened and she herself had left home and before she knew it, life had gotten in the way.

Akshara was jolted out of her thoughts by a knock on the door, the doctor who had treated her entered holding a medical chart in his hands.

"Ahh yes, Ms. Kaira, I was just going to ask a nurse to fetch you"
"Is everything okay doctor?"

"Yes, yes everything is good, Ms. Akshara's reports are back and she can be discharged today, however her body has gone through a lot of trauma and still needs time to heal completely therefore it is important that she should be on complete bed rest, I would suggest appointing a home nurse."
"As for the baby, her reports suggest vast improvement and we have complete faith that she will recover soon but as she is premature she still needs to be kept in the NICU."

Akshara could feel the anxiety inside her bubbling, God she was such a horrible mother - how was she going to afford all this, her baby needed care and Akshara barely had enough money to keep them afloat. Her baby deserved better than this. Better than her.

She started gasping for breath, she was alone - how was she always so alone, maybe Abhimanyu was right, maybe all she did was bring destruction.

"Akshara breathe, focus on my voice, everything is going to be okay" Kaira held her sister's arms trying to calm her down.

Slowly, the color returned to Akshara's face "I'm okay, I'm okay now"

Akshara steadied herself, there had to be a way, maybe she could ask the hospital if she could cover the medical bills in increments.
"Is there any one I can speak to regarding the payme- "

"Oh no no, you don't have to worry about all that, your sister has cleared all the medical bills and even funded our new hospital wing, I must thank you Ms. Kaira once again" and with that the doctor left the two sisters alone.

Kaira had a terrible feeling, she had started getting an inkling as to what exactly had triggered Akshara's panic attack.

"I don't even know where to begin thanking you, but I promise I will pay you back"

"Akshara please", Kaira interrupted her " I know I have no right to say this, I haven't exactly been the best sister, I haven't been any kind of sister to you and you have no idea how much I regret that, but you are my family, you and Aaira both are"
She continued, " and I don't know why your here alone, I'm not going to ask, but please let us help you, atleast till you can get back on your feet.

"Us ?" Akshara choked out, she could feel her throat clogging up with her tears.
She had tried so hard to prepare everything for her Aaira's arrival, months of working odd- jobs and saving every penny she could.  
But it wasn't enough,she didn't want her daughter to suffer because of her mistakes.