Abhiya SS: Magnetic Dipoles Epilogue(+NOTE) page 168 - Page 114

Fourteen year old Anisha Raichand was having trouble with her homework. Or more precisely, her Physics assignment. She glanced up at the clock. Usually, she would simply ask her father to help, but he had gone out-of-country for one of his conferences.He was due to arrive that night, though-his flight was supposed to land soon..about an hour or so from now. But it was only 6 o' clock.

Giving up, she wandered over to the library. Her mother was there, busily typing away on a laptop. "Finished yet,Mom?" she asked. Her mother turned to her, looking extremely sad. "Oh-no, Anisha," she said. "I'm just so tired. What's the time?"

"Six-five," she replied. Her mother suddenly looked horrified. "I didn't give you your milk! Why didn't you come before?"

"Maasi sent me a batch of sweets made today, so I'm full anyway. Can I have a look at what you're writing now?"

Her mother looked hesitant. "Anisha-I don't know if you should read this. I mean, please don't be angry, sweetheart, but you're a bit young, you know..."

"Oh, come on, Mom, I read all those old books you have in your restricted section," said Anisha, rolling her eyes. Her mother frowned. "Those were by other people , Anisha. This one is by your mom. She switched off her laptop. "Why aren't you studying?"

"I can't do my Physics assignment," grumbled Anisha. "And Dad got delayed in Hong Kong, so I'm loitering.."

"Why didn't you ask me then?" asked her mother. Anisha goggled at her. "But you- oh, right, sorry! I forgot you studied Science too."

Her mother laughed and tucked a curl behind her ear. "Come on then. We'll go tackle Physics," she said, getting up and following Anisha to her room.

It was surprisingly easy once her mother began to explain the entire process. At the end of it, Anisha said,"Mom, thanks- I can do it now."But her mother was busy drawing out some magnetic fields for her. Anisha let her do it. Her mother had once been a very good artist, but these days, the only time she drew was when she was illustrating her book covers. Just then her mother's phone rang. Anisha went over to pick it up and squealed in joy. "Dad!" she trilled,answering the call.

"Hello there," she heard her father's warm voice. "How're you doing? Where's your mom? Writing?"

"I'm okay, Dad," she said, giggling as she saw her mother wearing the star struck expression she always did when speaking to her father. She'd seen that same expression so many times, even when they weren't married".

Abhay heard Piya admonish her daughter. "You go finish your assignment, Anisha. Hi, Abhay," she added, coming out of the rom.

"Hey, TR," he said, getting into the car they had sent for him. Both Piya and Anisha had wanted to come, but Abhay wouldn't have them waiting alone for him."What's up?

Piya sighed. "I killed him off."

Abhay waited for an appropriate amount of time before continuing. "That's okay, you know. He was stressing you out."

"The readers liked him," said Piya. "But I couldn't...it was better this way, but you know I feel so awful."

"Don't worry about them,they'll love it anyway," said Abhay. "Besides, you're the writer, right? They have their own fanfictions to make him live."

"I know, but I nearly pulled my hair off writing his death," sighed Piya.

"What?" he replied in mock horror. "What did the poor hair ever do to you?"

"Abhay!"

"Kidding," he said, grinning.

"Well, I have to go fix dinner," she said. "Yeah, okay, see you soon," he said. "And, Piya?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Those simple words still accelerated her heartbeat. "Same to you," she replied playfully, cutting the call.

About an hour later,Anisha heard her mother call for dinner, she settled her books and went over. "Mom, aren't you eating?" she asked, noting that dinner was only set for one.

"Not right now, honey, I have to wait up for your dad," said Piya. "It'll be quite late by the time he reaches, and you have to wake up early tomorrow, don't you?"

"But Mom," she whined."I want to meet Dad-"

"You'll see him tomorrow, Anisha," said Piya. "You can't wait up that late. Now don't look like that- we'll go over to Nikhil's tomorrow, okay?"

Anisha brightened up considerably, and said no more.

As Anisha ate, she and Piya chatted about inane things, like whether the male lead was good looking or not in Anisha's favourite show. Piya disagreed, and thought he was rather stupid-looking, while Anisha had the absolute opposite opinion, so they bantered back and forth.

Then suddenly, out of the blue, Anisha blurted ,"Mom, did you miss me?"

Piya's eyebrows rose. "What?"

Anisha looked hesitant. "Did you miss me?"

"When?" said Piya, confused.

"I mean," she clarified, "When I left...did you me miss me?"

Piya turned to face her, understanding jolting through her. She marshalled her thoughts.

Right from her childhood, Anisha had been a very strange child.

She was mortally afraid of cars, and though Abhay had done his best to cajole her out of it, she still remained uneasy. Then once, she had punched a boy in her class. Abhay had laughed it off, but Piya had given her a long lecture about values and principles and how violence is not an answer. At the end of it all, Anisha simply asked in a bemused manner, "Then why did you push Dad when you were seventeen?" Piya had been shocked into silence. They had never discussed their childhood in front of their daughter- at least, not much, anyway.

And some months ago, Anisha had come across some old morphed pictures of them , and she had said, "These used to be in Dad's house, weren't they?When I had thought you were married?"

Neither Piya nor Abhay had directly confronted Anisha about it, even though they had talked about it to each other.

Now, Piya smiled at Anisha. "Of course we did, Anisha,"she said sincerely. "We missed you very, very much. "

"But you didn't think I was bad?" she asked hesitantly. "No," said her mother firmly. " We were just very sad , because we loved you very much. Your father, too. But it wasn't your fault, Anisha."

Perhaps some of the still-remaining guilt showed on her face, because Anisha said, "it wasn't your fault, either."

PIya smiled sadly. "Yes , it was. But I'm glad you came back to us. We love you very much. We always have."

"Thanks," said Anisha, looking relieved. "I love you too."

Piya had finished tucking Anisha in bed and Anisha had fallen asleep quite quickly. She closed her bedroom door softly and waited in the living room for Abhay to arrive.

Should she call him? Ask him where he was? Perhaps he was in a traffic jam. She bit her lip and began to pace.

It seemed an eternity before the doorbell rang, although a quick glance at the clock showed her it was only 34 minutes.

Abhay entered the threshold looking pale and exhausted, dragging his suitcase. He turned to Piya, but she was locking the door. "Anisha's sleeping in her room, so don't make too much noise," said Piya. "And what took you so long? Better get a shower as soon as you can. Dinner's waiting."

She began to move away, but it a movement practiced and perfected, he caught her waist and pulled her against him.

She opened her moth to protest, then closed it again as he pulled her close in an embrace, his forehead resting against hers. "I've missed you," he whispered . "I missed you so much." Piya closed her eyes. "I missed you too," she whispered. "So much."

His hold tightened over her, his mouth claiming hers in a kiss that left her breathless when they broke apart. "You should change" she said, but her hands were still clutching his blazer."No-I want my dinner now," he murmured, lips grazing her cheek, then moving to the curve of her neck, nipping her lightly. "Why are you wearing eau-de-cologne?Missed me that much?" he teased, his hands at her waist, slipping under her flannel shirt. She responded by pulling his head down and nipping his ear. "Don't get a swelled head.Maybe I'm having an affair with some guy," she retorted, voice husky. "Hmm.." he murmured, pushing away the cloth from her shoulder. "Maybe we should go to the bedroom so I can beat him up for stealing my cologne."

With a Herculean effort Piya pushed him away. "And maybe," she replied, "You should go get a shower and have dinner before Anisha wakes up."

"Not my fault," he protested, searing her with his gaze. "You're the one who doesn't keep her voice down-"

She pushed him. "Go!"

In the morning,Anisha was surprised when she saw her mother removing the leftovers of last night's meal. "Mom?" she said uncertainly. "Did you..forget to clean it yesterday?"

Her mother sighed.."I was just too tired, sweetheart. I was so sleepy- you know it is when I'm writing something sad-"

Anisha considered this, then nodded. "You should have told Dad to do it, then."

"I would have," said her mother, looking very tired,"But he was tired , too, and he'd only just come."

Anisha looked worried. "Will he be okay?"

"Of course he'll be fine," said her mother, handing her a glass of milk.

"You look exhausted, mom. Were you writing in the night again?"

"I'll rest today, Anisha," said her mother, smiling. "You stop worrying, all right?"

She put two slices of break in the toaster. "You should talk to Dad," said Anisha wisely. "He always cheers you up when you're sad, doesn't he?"

The doorbell rang, and Alina Mishra walked in. "Hi," she said."How're you two doing, Piya, Anisha? Did your father arrive yet?"

"Oh,yes," said Anisha. Her mother looked slightly pink. "He came yesterday night."

"Oh, I see," said Anisha. "You look tired, Piya. Rough night?" Her mother glared at her best friend. "Shut up, Alina."

"Mom's a bit tired," said Anisha, trying to smooth things over. She knew her mother had some nasty tempers at times, though she rarely ever directed it at her. "She was up late writing."

Mrs Mishra's eyebrows rose, her lips twitching. "No wonder she's tired. Piya, you really shouldn't stay up so late." Midway through buttering Anisha's toast, Piya glared at Alina. She said nothing, however, till Anisha went over to dress.

When Anisha had gone, Alina grinned. "Kids these days. I bet she knows everything that's going on. No wonder she was so defensive of you." "Oh, shut up," snapped Piya. "That's no reason to come and make such comments. Honestly, ever since you got married-"

"Later, sweetie, I gotta go back," said Alina, getting up. "I just came to see how you were doing." She winked and left. Piya groaned, internally cursing Abhay for having the excuse of jetlag to sleep in in the morning. After keeping her awake all night. Oh, you wait, Abhay Raichand, just you wait...

Shortly after Alina left, Anisha entered the living room, followed by Abhay, completely dressed and looking extremely relaxed. She ignored him , taking the comb from Anisha and braiding her hair. She leant over to straighten Anisha's collar, and Anisha gasped. "Mom! What is that on your neck?"Piya looked down at herself, and groaned internally as she hiked up the collars of her shirt again, covering the reddish mark. She flushed furiously, knowing Abhay was smirking. Studiously ignoring him, she said, "Just a mosquito, Anisha. Don't worry, it'll go away soon." Anisha looked doubtful, but stayed silent.

"I'll drop you off at the bus stand, Valerie," said Abhay, grinning. He always liked to call Anisha by the name of the heroine of the book she was currently reading. Anisha grinned happily. "Okay, bye, Mom. See you soon!"

"Yeah, see you soon." Said Abhay grinning mischievously at her. Piya glared at him. "Come on, Val. We need to go, right?"

"Right. Bye!" called Anisha. "Bye, Anisha!"

Ten minutes later, when Abhay came back, he found Piya glaring at herself in the mirror as she frantically applied makeup on the marks on her neck. She saw his reflected and scowled fiercely at him. He swallowed.

It was going to be a long day...

THE END.