Hey everyone, well a few of you have been questioning Nikki's actions in telling Abhi the truth about her and Sid, and now I am wishing I had elaborated more on it in the actual ff. I honestly never imagined she would come across as selfish and I apologise to those of you who felt it took away from her eventual union with Sid. I had originally written into it that when Sid asked her why she told Abhi she mentioned a promise she had made to her father and I wrote a flashback scene, but because it was getting quite long I cut it out. I'm now gonna post the scene (luckily I had saved some of my rough drafts to a different text document) here in the hope will provide some further context to Nikki's actions. I want to stress too that she did repent for what she had done. If you read her dialogues again you will see that she admits to Sid that she should never have told Abhi. She got her punishment for it in the forms of his beatings and being left alone with nothing. She also stayed away from Sid when she did have the chance to go and find him after her divorce. Also, when they meet here she is prepared to walk away from him because she feels she isn't worthy of him after all the hurt she caused his family. So she did see the error of her ways. But it is also important to stress that she had to tell Abhi. She was living a lie and it was impacting on their married life. Abhi was suspecting that something was amiss and he was drifting apart from her. Moreover, isn't it better that she told him and freed him, even though he suffered initially, so that he could go and find someone who truly did love him? I sound a bit defensive here, but I am hoping to make you all see where I was coming from with that decision. I am so glad you all brought it up though because otherwise I would never have thought of it in that light, and I have enjoyed the debates that have arisen out of it. Also, as my one tutor always used to say, there is no one right interpretation of a story, so all of your points are as valid. I hope though that this will provide some context for my writing it that way.
Okay, no more waffling. Here is the scene I cut out. Hopefully it will also help explain Nikki's actions. Although extremely ill and weak, Sumeet Malhotra had sensed his daughter's unhappiness. He had watched her with the concerned eyes of a doting parent, observing her ashen skin, the darkness in her eyes, and the anxious way she couldn't sit still when she visited him. For months he kept it all to himself, until that day when he felt his strength was leaving him never to return and he had known the time had come to speak to her.
"Nikki, promise me something."
His voice rung in her ears now and staring through the rain she could still visualise him lying there in the hospital bed, barely able to open his eyes to look at her.
"Anything, Papa," she had answered, squeezing his hand.
"When I am gone you will put yourself first. You will do whatever make you happy."
"Papa, I would never do something that didn't make me happy. You know that!" she had exclaimed, shaking her head at him.
"You are doing it now."
The seriousness of his voice had sent chills down her spine and all the humour had vanished from her face as she looked down at him.
"Papa?" she has asked, stomach tying itself in knots.
"I can tell, Nikki, that you are not happy with Abhi. You do not love him. I didn't want to see it at first, but I cannot avoid the truth now, when I am dying. You still love Sid."
"Sid is married, Papa." She had dropped his hand and turned her face away, feeling shame creep over her.
"It does not stop you loving him," Sumeet had told her. "Promise me you will tell Abhi one day. Be honest with him, sweetheart. All these lies are not fair to either of you. Promise me."
Edited by DulceAmor - 14 years ago
Anupamaa
Cricket
