Originally posted by: Apsvenky
Armaan was running late, and he was pissed already. He missed his morning alarm as he had slept very late helping Maahira prepare for her school elocution competition. Maahira was going to talk about what she wanted to be when she grew up, & his daughter was already very clear that she will be a judge when she grows up – one step ahead of her mother and father. He was helping her prepare her speech & had not seen the profile of the new junior lawyer who would be joining the firm.
Armaan was already feeling overwhelmed. Abhira’s birthday was coming up, and like every year, he wanted to celebrate it alone with only his daughter. Every year in this day, Armaan would take Maahira and go to their Mussoorie resort for 2 days. He would first cook all of Abhira’s favourite dishes & get together with his daughter to reminiscence about her mother through photos & videos. Then at the end of the day, they would go to the nearby orphanage and have a fun party with the kids. This time he spent exclusively with his daughter and his wife’s memories. Maahira reminded him so much of Abhira. The same quirks, the same abbreviations, the same naughtiness and jugaad that his wife used to have, Maahira seems to have inherited all of it.
He always tried to make sure Maahira never missed her mom. Every day he would try his level best to make Maahira feel loved and every day looking at her beautiful face, his heart broke and mended again. Maahira was both his punishment and salvation. She reminded him of what he had lost, but was also the only reason he survived to see this day.
Armaan rued the day he allowed Abhira to go with Rohit & Ruhi to go to the temple for a puja for Manishji. That day he was tied up in court and Ruhi had said that she had arranged for a puja for Manishji’s 6th month death anniversary. The Goenkas family had all passed away and it had been 6 months since the last of them, Manishji passed on. Since the baby was too small, Chachisa & Kiara had said they will take of the baby while Abhira would attend the function and be back soon. Had he understood Ruhi’s intentions, he would have never let his wife go that day. He would have saved her from that terrible accident that Ruhi had caused, which cost him his wife, brother & Ruhi herself.
Bringing himself back to the present, Armaan looked outside at the traffic jam and was even more irritated. He wanted to complete his work quickly, so that he could make it to Maahira’s school for the event on time. He also wanted to make sure they completed everything urgent as he would be leaving for Mussoorie in a week for Abhira’s birthday.
He saw as a lady in front of his car was having a full blown argument with another car for having tried to overtake her. In that argument, she landed up taking that man’s phone and landed up throwing it through Armaan’s windshield. Armaan was pissed, but before he could do anything the matter got resolved as the traffic police took the guy away and the lady drove off, leaving him with a broken windshield, before he could confront her or write her car’s number.
In a foul mood he reached office and went to his cabin steaming mad. He was perusing his files when the people came to let him know about the junior lawyer who had joined the firm to work with him in his team. Just as he was going to the conference room, he gets a call from Maahira’s school asking him to come immediately because there was an issue in school. Armaan dropped everything and after informing Sanjay, rushed to Maahira’s school. There he found out that Maahira had a spat with another child and had put a pencil through that child’s ear. He was stunned to her that and asked Maahira what happened. She answered tearfully that some kids had bullied her regarding the elocution competition as the topic in the last minute, had changed to “How do our moms inspire our dreams” and since she has no mom, she should not participate. She got so mad that put a pencil in that other kid’s ear. Armaan complained about the bullying, but made Maahira understand that she was wrong & that she should’ve spoken to the teacher & complained about the bullying rather than hurt the other child. While Maahira was still upset, she apologized to the other child, while the principal made all the kids who bullied Maahira also apologize for their behavior.
Seeing Maahira’s sour mood continue despite the apology, he decided to take her along with him home and spend some time with her. He spoke to the principal and took Maahira along with him home. As soon as he reached home, he decided to go to Mussoorie 2 days early, so that he could be with Maahira more & she also had a change of place.
On reaching Mussoorie, he realized that the resort was booked and they had just 1 free room that would be occupied the next day. Luckily he had the keys to his wife’s room and decided to stay there while overseeing the resort when required. Walking into his wife’s room bright back old memories. He remembered helping her rebuild the place, hearing her singing “Oh Kanha” and being mesmerized by her, falling in love with her but schooling himself against it as she was supposed to be only his “zimmedari”. He laughed thinking about how his wife was falling in love with him, while he was fighting his own attraction towards his wife, thanks to his stupid promise and his guilt towards Ruhi.
Setting those thoughts aside, the next day he decided to plan a midnight surprise for Maahira & decorate the room so that they could cut her mother’s bday cake at midnight & bring in the celebration to cheer her up. He brought Maahira there, who got emotional seeing her mother’s pictures. They had a gala time dancing and singing her mom’s favorite songs while watching her videos. Maahira fell asleep in Armaan’s arms, while he chose to reminiscence about the other love of his life – his silly girl "Abhira".
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