Fanaa

1.16 Memories

Singhania house, Udaipur

A week later

"Would you like some tea?" Aaira asked as she sat on a pink chair, surrounded by various stuffed animals and Abhimanyu who had a tiara on his head.

"Why yes please" Abhimanyu answered, chucking softly, he never thought there would come a day where he would be attending a tea party with unicorns and ponies (not the same thing apparently).

Akshara peeped into the room, stifling a giggle, "How's it going?"

"Well, I was promised biscuits 45 minutes ago, but the server got distracted by paw patrol and now I'm waiting for tea but overall 5 stars for this fine establishment, the server is a cutie." Abhimanyu winked.

"Mumma, would you like some tea" Aaira came back from her miniature kitchen.

"Yes please" Akshara imitated taking a sip from the princess cup.

"Pinky out mumma" Aaira whispered sternly.

"Oh yes of course" Akshara quickly stuck her pinky out while holding the tea cup, Abhimanyu barely managing to hold his laughter in.

It had been a week since Abhimanyu had moved in, and both father and daughter had spent all their time together, getting to know each other. Abhimanyu realised that Aaira was all the best parts of him and Akshara - she was curious, had a wicked sense of humor and loved fiercely.

The Singhania's had made sure he was comfortable but kept their distance, he didn't feel bad but rather understood their stance. Infact he was even happy, Akshu finally had the family she deserved - one that would support her and prioritise her. 

He saw how the entire family trooped together to take care of Aaira and Akshara, mornings were chaos with the entire family cooking breakfast and trying to wake up Aaira and Vatsal while evenings were spent on the veranda with chai and and rounds of rummy, boisterous laughter filling the air.
It felt good, peaceful even to see his two girls happy and thriving.

But he could also see Akshu's facade, her chemo was starting in a few days and Akshara was trying her best to appear normal, but the cracks were starting to appear. Whenever he tried to approach her about it, she shut him down before he could even get a word in.

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Abhimanyu had just tucked Aaira in for the night, when she asked for a bedtime story. He picked the nearest book on the shelf and started reading,

"Once upon a time, there was a princess who belonged to a faraway kingdom. Her father was a mighty and just king. The daughter loved her father very much and never left his side. The end"

"What no" Aaira giggled, "You forgot about the dragon and how the prince came to save the princess and they lived happily ever after."

"No of course not I didn't forget anything, the story goes like this - there's no dummy prince." Abhimanyu responded his ears turning red, who wrote these children book's anyways. There was no way he was letting any frog or prince near his daughter, no one would be worthy of her.

Aaira let out another belt of giggles, before she said "Do you want to see my dance performance? It's on the laptop."

"I'll see it later my love, now it's time for you to sleep. Goodnight" He kissed her forehead before turning off the lights and closing the door gently.

He walked down the stairs, only to find Kaira on the dining table, burning the midnight oil.
"Hey, she went down okay?" Kaira asked without moving her eyes from the screen.

"Yeah, she's asleep, listen she said something about a dance performance on the laptop?"

"Oh yeah" Kaira grinned, "That was her school annual day, they did 'the nutcracker'.
Wait, I'll just go get it."

Kaira returned with the laptop and set it up on the table, "Mind you, its mostly just Vatsal cheering his lungs out, we were almost kicked out by the other parents, but Aaira found it hilarious.Here you go"

"Thank you" Abhimanyu replied before turning his attention onto the screen, he heard Kaira retire for the night before he played the video on.

He watched as his Aaira danced gracefully to the music along with her friends, clad in a pink dress with bows in her hair. He had missed so much, so many moments that he would never get to revisit.

The video ended, and Abhimanyu accidentally pressed another button only for the screen to go black, Abhimanyu rose from the chair only to stop when he heard his name.

"Abhi, I don't even know why I'm making this video, it's not like you are ever going to see it, but she kicked today you know. She kicked for the first time."

It was Akshara, his Akshu - all round with Aaira, 'guppusi' like he had wished for, she smiled sadly at the camera, her eyes filling with tears and Abhimanyu felt his chest ache.

The videos continued -

"I don't know what to do Abhi, the doctors say she's not developing as fast they would like, they want me on bed rest but I still need to work. I promised myself that I would give my daughter all the happiness in the world, I'm so scared I'll mess it up."

" Aaira, come on baby, just one step, come on just one"  It was a younger Kaira on her her knees, Aaira took a few steps before she stumbled into her maasi's arms "Good girl, that's my good girl." Kaira kissed her cheeks while the entire family cheered.

"I'm such an awful mother Abhi, Aaira has a fever and she keeps crying, and I don't know what to do, my baby is hurting and I don't know how to make it better, Abhi" Akshara sobbed.

"Aaira, love say it one more time, one more" Aaira opened her eyes, grinned at the camera and said "Papa". The camera turned again before he saw Akshu, she looked older, more worn out - "Papa - that was her first word, a few tears trailed down her cheeks before she whispered "I should hate you for what you did to me, then why do I want you here so much."

Abhimanyu's tears kept falling, the video's kept going - Aaira's first birthday, her first day at school, her first time riding a bike. Akshara had recorded everything, all the videos addressed to him.

Abhimanyu wiped his tears, inhaling a deep breath, trying to calm down - he was going to make it up to her, he would spend the rest of his life making it up to her, but he needed them - he needed his two girls and for that Akshu had to get better. She couldn't leave him.

A/N - so the video's were something I saw in a clip of a turkish show called sen cal kapimi ig - and it really moved me.

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Also p.s the 2nd part of blood is thicker has been updated on my other book - Roohdaariyan, so please do check it out.