I wrote this OS on what would happen in my mind (duh! this is fan-fiction) when Ahaan finds out Daadi's truth. This one has been nagging at me a LOT. For days actually. So here we go.
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#3: What about us
Daadi did this. The one who had taught him, all of them, to hold a family together, was the one reason this family had ever been broken. Nobody had come out of their stupor yet. She was the one who always said “Nothing is bigger than family. Family should be your priority.” And yet, that priority vanished when it came to standing up for what was right.
She chose the coward’s way out. She chose to let a human being suffer. She chose to torture a human being. Her family.
“Nafrat kisi ka khoon karne ka license nahin deti.” Ishqi knew about it. She hid the truth from him.
Would you have believed her? Every time. Every damn time, she’s had to give you proof. She’s had to prove herself and her truth. Would you have willingly accepted it if she had revealed that your Daadi, the woman you nurtured you, brought you up, gave you love, the one who you value above all others, was the woman who broke your family? That she was the reason you had to listen to society taunting your family. That your mother had to live in an asylum for 20 years? That she was desperate to see her children and would have died several times trying, if it wasn’t for Ishqi? Would you have listened?
Well, when it was put like that…
He trudged up to his room, the last one to move from the congregation that had gathered earlier in the day. Ishqi would have questions. She would implore him to talk about his feelings. But- what did he feel? What was he supposed to feel? Was numb an emotion? Was drained something he could feel?
Entering silently, minding the late hour, he closed the door with a soft snick behind him. But he worried needlessly. She sat on her side of the bed, exuding a calm that betrayed the happenings of the day.
“Aap jaake fresh ho jaayiye. Raat bohot ho gayi hai.”
Nothing. Not even a mention of what had happened. No questions about his emotions. No questions about daadi. Nothing about maa or letting her back into their lives. Just - routine. He had never been more thankful for her gentle soul or for just existing at the same time as her. But he was afraid.
So afraid.
Afraid that the pieces of himself that he was so precariously balancing today would burst at the lightest touch.
And when the touch did come, later, when they were both laying side by side, sleep evading both, he couldn’t help himself.
He crumbled.
“Why? Kyun Ishqi? Daadi humesha kehti thi ki main unki aankhon ka taara hoon. Main hoon jo humari family uss shame ke daldal she nikalega. Aur maine vo sab kiya jo unhone ne kaha. Sacrifices pe sacrifices karta raha. Aur ab yeh...d-din dekhne ko mil raha hai. Wo apni hi family ke saa-” the rest of his statement may have been lost in his sobs, but the pain shone through more vividly than before.
“What about us Ishqi? Maine aur Sonu ne kya galti kari thi ki humko bhi theek se nahin bataya? Humko hamesha lagta tha ki daadi ke paas saare answers hain. Wo sab sambhal lengi. Par jis cheez ke liye- jis harkat ke liye wo aaj tak maa ko blame karti aa rahi thi, unhone khud hi- kaise Ishqi? KAISE?! Unke ek raaz ne aaj kitni families ko barbaad karke rakh diya hai. Sonu aur Raj ko Sarla aunty ke taane sunne pad rahe hain. Ek maa ne apne bachchon ke liye itna sab saha, 20 saal door rahi, aur uska result kya tha? Wo maa apne bachchon ko chahte huye bhi nahi jaanti. Aur-”
“Aur aap AVM. Do bachchon se unki maa cheen lee gayi. Un bachchon ne unse nafrat karna seekha. Maa shabd se nafrat kari. Aur aaj, wohi bachche kahi se bahar aa rahe hain. Unka dard ab nikal raha hai. Maa ko bula raha hai. Aapke ghav kabhi bhare hi nahin Ahaan. Unhe sirf bandage karke, aapko bol diya gay ki ‘jao, jeelo apni zindagi.’ Lekin har insaan ko iss duniya mein apni mummy ki zarrorat hoti hai Ahaan. Aur aapko ek doosra chance mil raha hai, apni mummy ko phir se jaanane ka. Unko apni family banane ka. Sab itne lucky nahin hote AVM.”
His cries never relented through the night, recounting everything, second-guessing every action he had ever taken at the behest of his grandmother after she had methodically and carefully torn his family apart. She hated the older woman for this version of AVM. She loved every part of him, every side of him equally. But she hated the circumstances that had been manipulated to keep him vulnerable and beholden to his daadi.
“Ek baat batao Ishqi. Uhnone humein, mujhe- manipulate kiya, humari lives ko manipulate kiya aur sab kuch apne control mein rakha. Was there even one day, even one, jab hum unke liye koi pawns nahin the? Jab unhone humein apno mohron ki tarah nahin, family ki tarah dekha ho? Ek bhi din?” There was a desperation shining in his eyes, the hope of a young boy whose world was crashing down around him and he was trying to cling to the last bit of familiarity.
Damn that woman. As the daughter-in-law of the house, she shouldn’t even be thinking that, but as a wife she couldn’t help it. Her husband was in pain, and the source of that pain was daadi. Some wounds take time to heal, but this one would scar. The most she could do was make sure that love overshadowed that scar a million times over.
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Done! This is also posted under my "Ishqaan on shuffle" OS collection. But this makes for a really nice independent piece which I'm super proud to say I hammered out in less than 40 minutes (Thank you plot bunny! He's back from vacation and ready to take over my brain)
Love Friendship Dating and Relationships
Hindi TV Shows
Indian Mythology
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
Marathi TV
Cricket
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