Akshnav - Tales on Track

14. Moonlit miracle

She was feeling giddy. The butterflies in her stomach were proof of that.

"Abhinav aur kitni der. Aapne meri aankhein band kar rakhi hai. Me patti kholu kya?"

"Akshara kitni impatient hai aap." Abhinav muttered slowly.

"Kya kaha aapne?" Akshara growled slowly.

"Kuch bhi toh nahi kaha maine. Aap bhi na. Lagta hai aapke kaan baj rahe hai." Abhinav muttered not wanting to feel the wrath of his lovely lioness.

"Abhinav. Me ab patti hata Rahi hu." Akshara said after not being able to control herself.

Akshara removed the blind fold and saw only darkness. She felt utterly disappointed and said sadly,

"Yeh kya Abhinav. Yeh andhera aapka surprise hai. Sharmaji. Not done at all."

She turned to scold him but gasped loudly seeing the sight in front of her. It was beautiful. A beautifully decorated swing was suddenly in the backyard of her home. A swing she desired as a child.

Akshara felt two arms wrapping around her waist. She leaned back on his chest tightening her hold on his arms feeling emotional looking at the swing,

"Once you told me how much you loved being on swings. I know you have been a palace princess. But I am a simple man. I might not be able to gift you a large palace, but I can definitely try and fulfill all your small wishes. Your desires. This swing is just the start. Slowly someday we will build our aashiyana. Chand taare na sahi, par aasman ka ek tukda is khubsurat apsara ke liye is chote se aadmi ki taraf se." Abhinav said slowly to Akshara.

With tears in her eyes, Akshara hugged Abhinav and started crying. Abhinav in return only hugged her tightly knowing she was feeling overwhelmed.

After her sobs reduced, she started speaking almost like in a trance,

"On my eighth birthday I got to know about my real mumma, naira mumma. I used to miss her. But Sirat mumma loved me so much ki mujhe apni mumma ki kami kabhi mehsoos hi nahi huyi. Sirat mumma's death changed everything. Aur ek hi raat me saare rishte badal gaye. I was shipped to boarding school. It was so lonely there Abhinav. I used to eagerly wait for holidays to begin, thinking I would be able to go home and be with my family. But Aisa kabhi hua hi nahi. Kairav bhaiya used to say that I should stay at hostel only taaki aarohi ko problem na ho. Dil se bohot bura lagta tha. Mumma ki family shifted back to Cape Town. Gayu maasi bhi Samarth chachu ke saath Ghar chod kar chali gayi after I was shifted to hostel. She wanted to take me away from here but couldn't. On holidays I used to stay at her place. Because Aarohi hated me. Never tried to understand me. It wasn't even my fault to begin with. I spent my entire childhood lonely. Itni badi family hokar bhi apna koi nahi tha Abhinav. Har baar they have chosen Aarohi over me. And it was okay. I never said anything. I accepted.

Goenka house ke paas ek bohot beautiful playground hua karta tha. Aur us playground me ek big swing tha. Papa used to make me sit on that swing and push it. I used to enjoy it so much. He used to say that I am his beautiful butterfly who should always fly to heights cause a beautiful princess like me deserves it. And he will always stand at my back to protect me if I stumble. But ek din papa chod kar chale gaye. Then there was no one supporting me. No one stood behind my back to protect me from falling. Everyone of them stood infront and pointed fingers. Boarding school me bhi koi swing nahi tha. Where I could try to fly. People used to make fun of me because I took music as a subject for graduation. Because I had intelligent siblings, one who became a doctor and another who did MBA. Singing was a way to honor my dad. He used to sing all the lullabies as a kid for me. And then it became my coping mechanism. The loneliness of boarding school used to haunt me so much that I used to sing myself to sleep. To make myself believe that I still have papa with me.