The blooming Magnolia

Chapter : 20

4 hours ago

"I want mumma....I want to go to mumma..." cried the 5-year-old in a high-pitched insistent voice while clinging to the bed, hiding her face in the pillow. She had been crying for the past one hour. No one in the Arora house could stop her sobs.

"Darling, mumma will be back in no time." said Vanshika while patting her back. She refused to look at anybody.

Mrs Arora entered the room with a glass of milk in her hand. She raised her eyebrows at Vanshika to know if Ahana agreed to eat something. Vanshika upturned her lips and nodded her head sideways. Mrs Arora sighed at their failed attempt yet again. Well, she couldn't blame the child. Everyone was tensed about Anika now. It was nearly 8:30 and she was still out of reach. The terrible weather outside, and her being about 165 km away from Bangalore,all alone, added to their worries.

"Do you think something might have happened?" whispered Mrs Arora in Mr Arora's ears as he stood by the bed.

"I hope not," said Mr Arora,all tense.

"What do we do now?" said Mrs Arora.

"I have made a few phone calls, but I doubt if anything could be done before the morning."

"How do we control Ahana till morning? She's not eating anything. In this way, she'll fall sick." said Mrs Arora.

"Let me see to it. Where's he?" said Mr Arora in a lower voice. Just then Vansh entered the room with his phone still in his ears.

"What do you mean you can't? A woman's missing god damn it!" he shouted at the person over the phone.

"Wait for 24 hours? Are you mad? What if something happens in these 24 hours?" He yelled before disconnecting the call.

"What happened? Why are you shouting, son?" said Mr Arora as he approached his son. Instead of answering him, he stood there for sometime, looking at Ahana who was crying constantly wanting to meet her mother. Then he stormed out of the room. The Aoras looked at each other in confusion about what had gotten into their son's mind.

"He's been constantly trying to reach her over the phone since the evening. I have never seen him this tense in the past five years." said Mrs Arora hinting at the obvious idea that everyone in that room had.

"Do you think he recognized her?" asked Mr Arora with a horrified expression in his face.

"I don't think so otherwise he would have reacted differently." said Mrs Arora. They kept their voices low so that Ahana doesn't hear them.

"But don't you think his behavior is telling otherwise?" said Mr Arora.

Vansh entered the room and went straight towards the bed. He pulled Ahana up and cradled her on his lap. Ahana was still crying furiously. Her eyes and cheeks had turned red from her sobs.

"Hunie, why are you crying? Don't you know that Mumma had gone to work?" He said while bending his head down to her eye level.

She upturned her lips threatening for another round of cry when Vansh stopped her,

"I guess Mumma lied to me." Ahana looked up at him in a confused expression. She sniffled as she tried to stop her sobs now.

"Yes. I am now sure that mumma lied to me when she said something about Ahana."

"What did mumma say about me?"

"Mumma said Ahana is very brave."

She sniffled once more.

"Do you know what else she said?"

"What?" she said as everyone saw her wiping her own tears.

"She said that Ahana was very understanding and a big girl too. She understood the fact that mumma could be late sometimes due to her work. But now I see, Hunie is a cry-baby."