yun hi tu mere saath rehna

Chapter Twenty Four

Manish Goenka was a defeated man. He had been for a lifetime. After all, he had survived both his sons. Which parent ever dreamt of out living their own child? None. But, only now was he realizing that he had not only outlived his sons, he had also outlived both his granddaughters. And that, really, was a fate worse than death. Manish would not wish it on even his worst enemy. 

If that wasn't enough, he hadn't even known that his little Akshu had left this world so many months ago. He was aware of the circumstances under which Abhira had first married Armaan, and it had been more than a year since their wedding. Akshu had been dead for months and he hadn't even known. Because he had hung up on her when she'd called him. 

He remembered how she'd sounded then… As if it was difficult for her to string two words together. The tenor of her voice had belayed the fact that she was struggling to speak. Yet, he had been too worked up to listen, too embroiled in Ruhi's feelings to think about Akshu's. And, he had then hung up on her. Not a day went by when he didn't regret it. One action taken in the heat of the moment and everything had changed.

Later, when he had realized what he'd done, he had reached out, tried calling. After numerous failed tries, a stranger had answered the phone, stating that the number had recently been purchased by him. With no way of finding Akshu without that number, he had given up. He now realized he shouldn't have. Maybe, he should have tried looking for her, if only to know why she'd called him after 22 long years. 

Clearly, she had been trying to tell him about her daughter while she was on her deathbed. Despite everything that had happened between them, she had remembered him, tried to reach out to him, because she trusted him to take care of Abhira. Even though he had never done right by her, Akshu still believed in him. He had shattered that trust once again with his inaction. Akshu had died thinking that he didn't care about her enough to even have a minute long conversation with her. 

Which couldn't be farther from the truth. Akshu was his very heart. Ever since the first day that he had held her, she had carried a piece of him with her. Manish loved all his grandkids, but Akshu had always had a special place in his heart, right from the moment that she had stopped crying when he first picked her up. Neither Kartik nor Naira had been able to soothe her cries, but the moment Manish had held her, she had given him a gummy grin and reached out for his spectacles. Since that very second, Akshu had cemented herself as the favourite grandchild. 

Manish had never done anything to show her that, though. Unknowingly, and many a time, even knowingly, he had chosen Aarohi over Akshu. Aarohi was the younger sibling, and everyone had expected Akshu to be the mature elder sister and put up with Aarohi's tantrums. Even Manish. Mishti's words rang in his ears. Not one word of what she'd said had been false. 

After Sirat's death, they had thought it best to keep Akshu & Aarohi separate. Given the circumstances, they had felt it was better for Akshu to be sent to boarding school. After that, Akshu had spent most of her life away from the family. Despite spending so little time with them, whenever she was home, Aarohi would never miss an opportunity to taunt Akshu, and they had done nothing. They had all felt that it was just a phase and that Aarohi would outgrow it, but she never had. The hatred she felt for Akshu only multiplied as it went unchecked, and things spiralled so far beyond control that it ended in Akshu leaving them forever. 

Manish should have done better. He should have made Aarohi understand that everything was an accident. Just as he should have made Ruhi understand that too. He had repeated his mistakes. Ruhi was Aarohi reborn in every sense of the word. She, too, had grown up with everything handed to her on a silver platter, had never been denied anything, had always been everyone's top priority in their house, much like Aarohi had been. And while spoiling your child was understandable to a certain extent, they had all overdone it.