Part 4: I feel you in my heart:
"My Ruhi is in Delhi" that was all that Raman could think of during his flight from Srinagar to his home town Delhi. The two hour flight seemed to him like two years, he took a look at his little angel's photos on his mobile phone and a shadow of a smile formed on his lips.
"I will find you Ruhi," he held his mobile close to his heart "Papa will find you," His eyes weremoist with tears "Ruhi promise."
"Kiya baat hai beta? Are you okay" asked the lovely old lady sitting next to him who noticed his tears.
"Kuch nahi, bas aisa hai" he said wiping away the sole tear that escaped his eyes. He had promised himself, that he would not cry but find his daughter no matter what.
"Is that your daughter?" She asked pointing to his phone's screen saver. It was Ruhi and him wearing those little birthday hats hugging and smiling to the camera, they took this selfi at his last birthday. He nodded positively as the lady admired his little angle "Bahut pyaari hai aapki beti" she said with a big smile and he smiled as well "Yes she is, meri jaan jai who." He said as he caressed her face on the photo.
"You miss her?" She asked and he turned to her, the smile bringing out his dimples and nodded again "you haven't seen her for a long time have you?" He looked back at Ruhi's smiling photo "more than a year" he muttered as his smile faded away. The old lady tapped on his hand in empathy as if telling him "you will see soon."
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking I hope you enjoyed your trip with us. We are about to land in Delhi airport so please fasten your seat belts"
Raman took a deep breath having a mixture of feelings; anxious, optimistic, excited, worried and scared.
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"Where are the two of you?" He asked Mihir, who was suppose to be waiting for him at the airport with Neil. His plane had just landed in Delhi airport.
"I'm sorry Bhai, we got caught in traffic. But we are not far away, just ten minutes" said Mihir
"I can't believe this," muttered Raman angrily "Come soon I don't want to waste any time every second is important to me."
Yes every second was crucial in finding his little girl. As soon as he saw that picture this morning he took the first flight to Delhi. He was not going to sit around waiting for someone to find his daughter. He has to take matters into his own hands. Suddenly he had a feeling in his heart he could not explain it but he could feel Ruhi's presence, he could hear her laughter. He looked around in hope.
"Don't be crazy Raman; it's just your imagination." He told himself and decided to take a taxi when he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him "Aree beta what are you doing here?" He turned around and it was the nice old lady from the plane.
"Go meet you the person you were dying to see." She continued and Raman gave her a confused look so she added explaining "Aree aapki pyaari beti " now he understood what she meant. He smiled sadly and said heavy heartedly "My daughter is not here."
The lady smiled at him and said "Aree beta she is here waiting for you I just saw her a minute ago."
Raman's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. He held the old lady by her shoulders and asked with a shaking voice "Kaha? Where did you see her?" The old lady was surprised by his action "Beta what is wrong with you? Didn't you come to Delhi to see her?"
"Aunty ji, my daughter was kidnapped a year ago and I came looking for her," he explained to her and asked her with all the hop of the world in his eyes "are you sure it was her you saw?" The old lady was shocked and did not answer right away so he shook her slightly and asked again "I'm begging you please tell me was it really her?" The lady nodded her head and said as she finally found her voice "yes I'm sure it was her." Raman sighed in relief for a moment "where did you see her?" He asked quickly.
"There!" Pointed the old lady and continued "she was wearing a pink T-shirt with a picture of a cat and a short jeans skirt; there was a woman with her wearing a green kurta a blue tights." Raman moved to the direction the old lady gave him as she shouted "go look for her I will help you as well."
"Ruhi" he shouted looking through the faces of the crowd, he stopped to look at the face of every little girl regardless of what she was wearing. He showed people Ruhi's picture, and one guy told him that he saw her and pointed him to another direction. He kept moving around looking for his daughter like a crazy man. He saw a little girl wearing a pink T-shirt and a blue jeans skirt, "Ruhi" He shouted but she couldn't hear him. He didn't see her face but his heart told him that it was her. He saw her on the escalator a minute later heading to the second floor holding some woman's hand so he rushed up the stairs.
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What Raman didn't know was that the first time he shouted Ruhi's name she was not far away and heard his voice. She had come to the airport with Mihika to pick up a friend of hers. She heard her name being called and wandered off looking for the person calling her. She heard her name again and this time she saw the man calling her, he was a couple of feet away. She couldn't see his face clearly at first, because people kept moving in front of her blocking her sight "Papa!" She muttered in a very low voice as she caught a glimpse of his full face before she fell to the floor knocked down by an old man. At that precise moment Raman had turned towards the direction where she was standing, but didn't see. When Ruhi got up she saw him moving towards the exit doors. "Papa!" She shouted and followed him outside the airport and finally grabbed his hand as he was about to get into a taxi. He turned to her and she realized that he was not her father it was another man wearing the same suit "Are you okay beta?" Asked the man as he saw the sad, defeated look on her face. She turned around looking for her father but he was no were to be seen.
"Ruhi" Mihika shouted at her as she finally caught her "what is wrong with you baby?" She scolded her "you could have gotten lost, and Akka would have killed me." Seeing the sad look on Ruhi's face she knelt and hugged her "don't ever do that again, you really scared me."
She kissed her then carried her and they left taking a taxi, as they got into the taxi Mihir and Neil stepped out of their car a few feet away, looking for Raman. They missed her by a second.
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Raman saw the little girl on the escalator just when Ruhi saw him before she was knocked down. He followed the little girl until he reached her "Ruhi" he called as he turned the girl towards him. The smile on his face instantly faded away as he saw her face, because she was not his baby girl. "Kiya problem hai tumhari?" Yelled the little girl's mother holding tight to her child. "I'm sorry" he muttered looking around with a broken heart. His phone rang and it was Neil "Bhai where are you? We have arrived." He quickly told him what had happened and Neil acted fast informing the airport security whom locked down the entire place and in the next few hours the airport was turned upside down, all leaving flights where searched, all the shops and toilets every inch of the place was checked, but Ruhi was nowhere to be found. Raman was devastated he was so close he was to be united with his daughter, but lost her again. What a cruel game is faith playing with him, he thought as tears rolled down his cheeks looking at her innocent face. "Papa will not give." He whispered as if reinsuring her "never!"
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At the Iyer house Ruhi was very quiet and seemed lost in her thought "Ru baby are you okay?" Asked Ishita as she tucked her in bed. She was concerned to see her daughter so quiet, but Ruhi did not say anything "baby are you upset because I scolded you for wandering away in the airport." Again Ruhi did not say anything "I was only scared to lose you beta. Remember how I told you to always stay close to your family and never speak to strangers, you should never play around like that. If anything had happened to you Ishimaa would be very sad." She said hugging her daughter so tight "Ishimaa loves you so much." Ruhi hugged her back "I love you too Ishima" she said in her sweet little voice "but I was not playing around" said the little girl after a moment "I was trying to get to him." Ishita gently broke their hug and looked into her daughter's eyes "get to who beta?" She asked surprised and Ruhi answered "My Papa!" Ishita's eyes widened in shock while Ruhi added with sad teary eyes "I miss my Papa Ishimaa."
That night Ruhi dreamed of her father for the first time in months..
Edited by AllezJustine - 10 years ago
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