" and someday maybe we would be happy. "
•
Anirudh had announced Mahi was his daughter, the five year old child now knew.
Yet she didn't know how to accept and forget the Papa she had believed was hers.
The father, Vanraj, stood in silence, the mem...
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The nights were bleak and cold here. Almost homelike, Maahi thought, lying on the bed made on the floor in her new home in America.
She lay in between her "niece" and "nephew", if we spoke of it according to the family tree. They were almost her age, but it was the little twisted family background that made her and them more like siblings.
She just couldn't fall asleep. There had been so many such sleepless nights in her hostel, in Ooty. The warden would often notice her sitting on her bed and staring at the wall blankly, at nights. Or maybe, staring at the moon through the tiny window in the dormitory.
As a five year old, hostel was tough. Waking up on time, eating, studying all by yourself and doing all your homework without a parent or choice. It was lonely even in the crowd of other kids.
All from rich and wealthy families. Not that she wasn't.
Daughter of Vanraj Shah, the CEO of the India Branch of Mehta Group of Industries - her father was a known name amongst the Corporate Sector. She had often heard her friends talk about him in hushed tones as well. They would speak to their parents regarding the isolated kid at hostel and her "invisible" father.
She often got an account of her father from their hushed gossips too. "You know.. her father already has three grown up children! They are married also.. Maybe that is why he doesn't come to meet her. She is an unwanted child."
There had been several silent tears in such nights, on her dormitory bed. Her mother was her only person. She would come to meet her often, take her out for holidays and they would have happy times.
Yet, she had never found the will to ask her if she was indeed the 'unwanted' child. She would only want to meet her father. Once she met him, she'd ask him himself.
And she had one more "person". Kanha ji. Her mother had taught her that Kanha ji would help everyone in need. All you had to do was look up and pray to him.
So she had made it a routine.
"Kanha ji.. please let me meet my Papa once. I will not ask for anything else. Pakka!", She would pray after wiping her tears.
Tonight, was different. She had already met her Papa. And he clearly did not want anything to do with her. He wouldn't look at her, or smile, he would get angry whenever she calls him Papa, as if it was a crime.
She sat up, staring at the wall opposite to her. Everyone was asleep, peaceful. But she neither had sleep nor peace.
She carefully stood up and walked towards the room where her Papa was sleeping.
