WILDFLOWER

Chapter 7

She had a hard time convincing her father that catching an overnight bus to visit her brother and his family would be good for her.

"Daddy you have to let go, please?" she cried, "You're always trying to stop me from doing the things I want to do alone. Whether it's my dancing or my traveling....look at me - I'm grown up now!"

Her father finally calmed down, dabbing his tears with a handkerchief he fished out of his pocket. "I don't want to lose you," he said, furrows of worry appearing on his forehead.

She hugged him. "Daddy? I've already found out who my real parents are and that has not changed anything. I still love you and you are not going to lose me, okay?"

She understood now why he had always been overprotective and interfering. He had always been afraid of the truth coming between them - of losing the child he had grown to love as his own. She knew now it was why he hadn't wanted her to follow her love for dancing and she loved him more for that.

"Why can't you take a flight tomorrow morning?" he asked while she quickly grabbed her purse.

"I'll be fine. I need to go now, Daddy. Bye."

The bus journey was comfortable and she managed to sleep for the most part of it. When Aditya's number flashed on her phone early morning, she hesitated a while before answering.

"Hey," she breathed into the phone.

"You're running away," he accused his voice gruff and strangely emotional.

"I need to do this Aditya," she began but he cut her off.

"I would have come with you. Why did you run, babe?"

He sounded almost tormented, leaving her feeling dazed.

"Now what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" he barked so loud, she held her phone some distance away from her ear. "I want to be able to see you, to touch you and to damn well kiss you!"

She picked up the slight slurring in his voice. "You're drunk. Where the hell are you?"

"Home. In my bed. Alone," he answered sullenly.

Relieved, she let the tightly held breath escape. "I'll see you when I get back after the weekend."

"Promise?" He sounded like a little boy who had not got the present he had been promised.

"I promise," she said and giggled when she heard his sloppy kiss over the phone. She'd be lying if she told herself she wasn't enjoying his attention.

After getting off the bus, she was walking towards a taxi when she heard Milind shout her name.

Delighted to see him, she hurried her steps to where he stood with a broad grin.

"I told you I'd find my way," she grinned back and pinched his arm.

"Yeah but your Dad called last night and this morning your friend Aditya called so I didn't want the risk of you getting lost in this place."

"Overprotective is what they are," she complained, climbing into his car with a scowl replacing her grin.

"Oh, I don't know," his said, tongue in cheek, "I was told you're kind of accident prone and that while you normally remain safe, you can be considered hazardous to others."

"Hrrrrmph. That sounds more like Aditya than Daddy," she grumbled, making a mental note to let him know it was not appreciated when she got back home.