Recap:
Prem nods his head. Rads smiles and lies down on her hospital bed. Prem gets up and stands beside Rads face and kisses his little Heer on her forehead. Rads smiles seeing Prem and Heer and finally gives up her last breath. Prem cries, holding Heer as close to his chest as possible.
"Heer." Prem says as he keeps staring at Rads burning body. "My daughter."
Chapter 1 -
Prem's Point Of View
9 Years Later
"Heer! Heer! Wake up Heer! School nahin jaana hai kya?" I exclaim, seeing that Heer was still asleep, in her cozy little, fruit coloured room.
"What is it papa? Let me sleep!" she says, sleepily and turns around to face the other way
I sigh. "Heer! Yummy ice-cream!...with a cherry ontop."
She doesn't reply. I bite my lip. "Heer! Mama ka 9th letter!" I exclaim, enthusiastically.
Heer wakes up with a jolt and looks around."Where? Papa! Where is the 9th letter?" she asks, looking around her pillow, under her bedsheets, and after not finding it anywhere, she looks up at me, in a 'I-knew-this-was-a-joke' manner.I giggle.
"Sorry, but that was the only way to wake you up." I say, shrugging my shoulders, and holding my ears.
Heer crosses her arms and turns to look the other way. I stop giggling and place my hand on her chin.
"Aaay Heer, Papa se ghussa ho?" I ask. Heer doesn't reply but just nods her head.
"What do you want me to do?" I ask, hopefull that she will give me some answer, this time.
"Letter." she says, finally breaking her silence.
"Tomorrow. Birthday kal hai na." I say, smiling back at her.
"Toh phir, you go! I am not gonna talk to you." she states.
"Where should I go Heer?" I ask, sarcastically, asking for some pro advice.
"Mama ke paas!" she replies, but suddenly holds her tongue and looks sadly at me. I turn my face to the other side, and get up to walk away, when she holds my hands.
"Dard hua?" she asks, politely, and trying her best to make amends.
"Haan." I reply, quietly.
"Sorry Papa." she says, realising her mistake.
It was always like that between Heer and me. We never talked about Rads. We both missed her so much, that it even hurt even thinking about her. But I knew one thing, as much as Heer tried to hide it, she really did miss having a mom. Dadi is not enough for her. Main uska Papa toh ban gaya, but I could never become her mother. I could never even come close to what Rads would have done if she were alive.
"It's okay Heer." I say, hugging her tightly. "Now let's go. School se chutti okay? We will go to something more fun...akhir, you birthday is tomorrow na?
"Haan papa!" she replies back, enthusiastically.
The rest of the day was spent in entertainment. Movies, games, rides. That was today's life. At last, Heer, ma and I went out for dinner, and when we came home, it was already 12am. April 6th. Heer's birthday. Heer looks at me for permission, and I finally nod my head, smiling. Heer runs up to her room, moving all the presents out of the way, to come up with a pink envelop, with Aradhna's handwriting saying Happy 9th Birthday Heer.
Heer quickly opens the letter to find her mothers note, saying....
~End of Chapter 1~
Kumkum Bhagya
