Chapter 1
Another few minutes khushi thought as she let the fresh breeze hit her face.. this place was magical. it helped her relax and she wanted to so just sit there all day and if possible spend the rest of her life like this. She took another deep breath and again fell into thoughts, She could feel the magic inside her, outside in those slight rufflings of her hair where the wind moved it, her dupatta flying and falling at intervals.
She wondered what it would be like to go back to that place. The place that was her.. home? it sounded funny to her. how can a place you have barely remember, forget stay, be home?
She flinched as voices that she desperately wanted to forget but kept hiding in her memories rushed back again.
"please mat jao! Please!!"
"Enough Raj! That is enough! i am leaving and I am taking khushi with me. you have been a pathetic husband and father. I have no intention of ruining khushis life like I did with mine by staying back with you .."
"please meera.. "
"I don't care. . . I don't give a damn!.. just one request. Khushi is now barely 8, I beg of you, unless khushi is a bit older and wishes to meet you or wants to return to you, please do not come after us. I promise you that will be the last you see of me if you try."
"please meera..i.."
And her mother had kept her promise, getting weaker and weaker day by day, she had given up on life the day he returned. But it took little khushi a few years that the truth had been different.
Khushi smiled as she remembered the little khushi. meera, her mother had returned to her home and pushed her into the arms of her ever smiling mama, shashi gupta and his wife garima gupta. Little khushi was loved and pampered like no other. Two little sisters, payal, a few months younger and pari a four year old looked after her, calling her jeeji. And payal insisted she call shashi dad. And garima became amma.
Khushi silently thanked her stars that her mother had thought of doing that, otherwise she had no idea of what she must have become today.
After her mothers demise, khushi, under garimas influence turned out into a beautiful, confidant and loving girl. When she was 14 years old, raj, her father had come to gupta haveli to talk to her. and that was when she was informed. Her mother had died of a fatal disease. She did not commit suicide.
Khushi still remembered the way in which shashi had explained to her about her mother.
Meera was like you khushi. she loved one and all. She was our titli. Raj had arrived for vacations with our family friend and he was smitten. I was the one who saw meeras heart when the proposal arrived. She loved him and I was sure she would always be happy.
But god had other plans. Nine years into the marriage, she arrived back on the doorstep with you. I did not question her, because I knew like you, she would always try to smile and make others smile. But I could not believe raj was wrong, because I could see she still loved him. Then after a few days of indirect probing, the truth came out. She was dying. Nothing could be done. So she created a scene before leaving him so that he could go on with his life without remorse. I scolded her and told her off. And I immediately informed raj. Now, I don't know, if it was a moment too late, because when raj came out of the hospital room, she had left us forever.
Khushi tried bonding with papa, but she could not. She had the memories of her mother always with the three of them together and everytime he visited, she cried until finally shashi requested raj to let him adopt her. But it was very difficult not just for her, but for raj too. Because khushi was too much like meera. And everything she did reminded him of her. Finally after a few attempts, he relented. Both adjusted to a few meets a year and keeping in touch by mail. Khushi got back to her happy life as a gupta
But the happiness around khushi was again shortlived. Garima died barely a year later, leaving her and her sisters to a heartbroken shashi. It took shashi several months to get himself together and then he was a man with a mission. The only prayer he had was that he could see them happily married.
And that is why Khushi was in a dilemma. The prospective groom and his mother were arriving tomorrow. She could not refuse shashi. But she did not want to leave. She was happy here. Who knows how she would be at the Raizadas?
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You know what to do!đ
Health and Fitness
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