My Unrequited Love Thread 2 [The End]

"I need my husband back", her cries filled the air and Rishabh could do nothing more than curse himself. If the reports were true, if Simon was in fact gunned down in the Israel, he didn't have the heart to meet her eye. This woman in his arms was slowly turning into a shell and her daughter with her two hopeful eyes was calling for daddy.

"Neshama", he started with the story of Simon's death but caught himself just in time. No speculations before he'd done a thorough fact check.

"Word has it Sy might be in the Israeli occupancy. I booked the first flight out tomorrow". He opted for a bandage solution.

"Then let me come with you", she commanded.

"The way things are going, if you step a foot out of Riyadh, you'll be dead by the hour. If not by the militants then by Israeli airstrikes. Both sides have it out for tv journalists and you do not want Neshama to be left with no parents".

He had a slip of tongue and Madhu sure as hell caught him.

"What do you mean?" she tugged on his sleeve. "Don't you dare bring that thought into your consciousness. My Simon is alive and well".

"My Simon", the way his name appeared on her lips so naturally, it was a part of her, Rishabh couldn't help turn jealous. He'd thought she would forever be his wife. Forever the girl he left alone in Vegas. But she was not. She was someone else's woman, carrying someone else's daughter who looked terrifyingly like her mirror image. Neshama wasn't his soul, she was her father's soul with the same black curls and the glassy button eyes. She looked at Madhu exactly the way Simon did all those years ago, with pure, unconditional love. And he was just an outsider.

He couldn't blame anyone, he'd banished himself the day he left her alone in a stranger town. Heck, he even stole her cab fare. So what right did he have now to turn her world upside down? If anyone should shatter her heart into a million pieces for the second time, it shouldn't be him. He could not bring himself to drive her to the morgue where her husband rested in a bodybag.

But he did.

Because he was heartless.

Just like all those years ago.

Madhubala insisted on bringing Neshama along. She couldn't believe Simon was dead but she had to show her daughter what those people had done to her soul.

She ran her fingers over his frozen corpse and kissed him a warm goodbye.

"Never stop fighting", she whispered to little Neshama.

Rishabh would never forget the horrified look on the child's face when she finally recognized her warrior father was slain.

Her daddy was Omar but even Omar was dead. As if there was no more hope left in the world, Rishabh watched the family grieve for months in silence. Then, he took them out for fresh air.

Neshama was a resilient kid, she'd grown out of her sadness and warmed up to her mother's old friend. She called him RK and he smiled every time he heard that name. It had been almost two years since he last made a movie. First a divorce and now Madhubala had been keeping him away from work. But in his rival's daughter he'd found his biggest fan. Even though she would never rank him higher than her father, Neshama would praise RK's acting with flowery words. "Brilliant", she would announce as she recited her favourite dialogue alongside the characters on screen.

As usual, Madhubala watched silently from behind her grey tinted sunglasses as Rishabh and her daughter ran circles in the grass bursting soap bubbles. Once upon a time, this man made her so happy she wanted nothing more a day like today. But when today had finally come, she was too consumed by mourning to cherish his presence. She could never love Simon the way she did Rishabh. But with time, she had come to respect him for the man he was- kind, respectful, strong, brave, and a dotting father. When Neshama was born, Madhu finally immersed herself fully into family life. She let him inside her heart where Rishabh no longer held a place. When things were finally looking up, when she'd found happiness without Rishabh, this had to happen. In the blink of an eye, Simon was gone. And she had his daughter and a very long, lonely life to live.

She didn't know who to hate anymore. Simon was gone and her biggest mistake, Rishabh was back to "save" her. She was too rotten to be saved.

Suddenly, she felt his skin soft against hers. He leaned on her side and whispered, "isn't she beautiful?"

Neshama was still occupied with her play.

"She asked me if I could her 'papa'. She said daddy was with God so she couldn't leave mummy alone. Daddy said so before leaving".

Madhubala did not answer.

"I am not asking you to marry me".

"I won't".

"Just come back".

"Neshama, let's go beta".

"There's nothing left in Saudi for you".

"I know".

"Come back to Mumbai with me".

"Neshama, come back to mum before I count down to ten. Ten, nine,.."

"We'll buy a house. You can take your time to grieve. I won' interrupt".

"Eight, seven, six,.."

"Neshama can still go to Hebrew school".

"Five, four,..."

"Heck, I can even move to Kolkata if you want to raise her Jewish".

"How will you work?"

Rishabh smiled a faint smile, she was interested.

"I can commute. Mumbai isn't that far. Plus, I hear the Bengali film industry is critically acclaimed".

"Your acting isn't good enough to do critically acclaimed".

There it was, the honest and so judgmental sass he his Madhu once had.

"I'll take acting lessons", he coughed, too ashamed to admit he was lesser than Simon in the talent department.

"Even Simon couldn't help you and he's a three time national award winner".

She used Sy's name with a present tense. Rishabh chose to ignore her obvious attachment.

"I will stick to commercial cinema then. Airfares are cheap okay!" he fake stomped his feet on the ground and Madhubala's joyous laughter filled the air. What he wouldn't give to watch her happy every day.

Neshama soon joined in and he knew he'd fulfilled the family dream every man wanted- his two beautiful girls clutching on to either arm.

THE END.