Ummeed (Raichand Siblings Saga-Book 1)

19- Chocolates & Meals

Meher finally came out of the closet after making sure that her eyes were no longer red and puffy. As she opened the door, she found Vansh sitting on the loveseat kept in the corner. She hung her head and went towards her study table.

"I am sorry, Meher."  Vansh called out meekly.

"It's ok." she said without turning back but her emotionless voice clearly screamed that it was still not ok.

Vansh walked towards her and took the chair before she could plan to sit in it. He sat down effectively coming to her level and gave her a soulful look. One look at him and tears rushed to Meher's eyes. She looked away and said,

"You don't have to be sorry, dadu. I said na, you can scold me." 

"I am not sorry for scolding you, Mehu" he stated, "I am sorry for scolding you without listening to your point of view."

Meher closed her eyes against the fresh batch of tears that rushed to her eyes.

"I am sorry for shouting at you in the name of scolding you. "

Meher looked at him with tear-filled eyes. Vansh gently cupped her face and wiped her tears.

"I am sorry for lashing out at you infront of a person you didn't know." he finally said and the dam of tears broke. Meher started crying bitterly. Something which she never did infront of anyone except the three men whom she referred to as her brothers. Less than a month back, she would have been mortified at such an idea but now it felt so natural. Now it felt like having a 'family'.

Vansh felt extremely guilty at sight of her tears. He hugged her tightly and started crying himself. 

"I am so so sorry, Meher. Please aise mat ro." 

"Toh aap kyun ro rhe ho?" she managed to say admist tears.

"Kyunki Bhaiyu ne kaha tha ki agar Maine tujhe aur rulaya toh woh mujhe bohot maarenge." he told her, exaggerating his 'crying voice'.

Meher frowned while crying and smacked him. "Har time mazak! Jao yaha se." she said trying to pull back but Vansh was more stronger than her. He hugged her even more tightly and mumbled a gentle sorry in her ears.

Meher nodded. "I want a chocolate." she said casually.

Vansh frowned and pulled back. That was unexpected!

"What?"

"You heard me. Agar maafi chahiye toh chocolate Deni padegi." she said and shrugged her shoulders. She had already forgiven Vansh. Whatever she felt a few minutes felt stupid at this point. She had such a beautiful family and such caring brothers. She didn't need to worry about her past. Especially when she knew that no one would ever know about it unless she opened her mouth. 

She was finally coming out of the shell of guilt and insecurity that she had buried herself in. Some bad things have a damn good impact. It was one of those. When Vansh accepted his fault, he made Meher feel worthy enough to be careful about, to be grovelled and to forgive someone. He made her feel the importance she held in the family. He unknowingly became the ray of hope Meher had always been looking for. 

__________________________________________________________________________

At the dinner table, Arjun held grave silence. Arjun had always been the silent one. He preferred to not speak much. Yet even his silence never held graveness. It had always been a comfortable silence. But today was different. 

Vansh was constantly giving Arjun nervous glances but none of them were acknowledged. Meher was silently noticing all that.

She looked at Vansh and gave him a questioning look. He just shook his head and continued playing with his food. Meher frowned. She wanted to know what was wrong but now Vansh was not looking at her. So she kicked his leg under the table.