Gauri woke up in the middle of the night, feeling thirsty. Her body was aching already and she wouldn’t have even moved a muscle if she wasn’t so thirsty. She slowly shifted onto her side. In all the tension that had taken place a few hours ago, it had completely slipped her mind to fill the jug with water and place it on the bedside table. She stared at the empty jug, disappointed.

Gauri looked at her mother. She seemed to be fast asleep and she had no heart to wake her up just for a glass of water. As it was, her mother was worried sick about her, and had stayed up late till she dozed off due to her painkillers. So, without making any sound, Gauri slowly got out of bed. A sharp pain shot up her ankle and she had to purse her lips to prevent any painful groan from escaping her mouth. A moment later, she felt slightly better and quietly walked out of the room.

Gauri was carefully limping down the stairs, one step at a time, when she saw some light coming from the kitchen. It had been almost three in the morning, and her Papa usually wouldn’t stay up this late. Who else was in the kitchen, she wondered? Careful enough to not make any sound, she limped around the corner. Her heart broke at the sight. For there in the kitchen, seated at the counter, was her Papa. He was staring into a blank space, and had tears in his eyes as he rested the heel of his palm against his forehead, while his elbows were on the counter. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was terribly upset and could not get a wink of sleep. She walked to the kitchen; she knew the incident had shaken him up, and rightly so.

Arvind wasn’t even aware what he was thinking. He hadn’t been able to fall asleep at all. The image of his bruised daughter walking into the house with Omkara’s help was still fresh in his mind. The way she had screamed out that Ajinkya Agnihotri had attempted to rape her was still ringing in his ears. In addition, Omkara had dropped that bomb saying that if he hadn’t reached on time, then something even more terrible would have happened. ‘He had his pants undone’ Omkara had told him. He involuntarily shuddered, not wanting to think anything further. She had come home wearing a different set of clothes. He didn’t want to even know the reason behind it, for it was too painful. Then he wondered, was Gauri actually feeling alright? He looked at his empty cup of coffee and then looked at the clock. He had been sitting here for nearly two hours. Wanting to check on whether Gauri was asleep, like he’d done two hours ago, he got of the seat and turned around, only to see his daughter standing there.

Gauri said nothing. Instead, she gave him a soft smile, limped slowly up to where he stood rooted to the ground as he saw her, and hugged him tightly. Arvind wanted to comfort her and say something, but emotions choked him up and his throat closed up. He simply pulled his little girl in his arms and patted her head. Stealthily, he wiped away the tear that just fell off his eyes. Omkara had told him she might not be sleeping tonight. He didn’t want to guess why. The entire ordeal was not just frighteningly traumatic but also exhausting in many ways. She pulled away to look at him and saw his misty eyes. “Main theek hoon, Papa” she said softly, assuring him as well as herself. Arvind helped her sit on the seat before he nodded.

“You couldn’t fall asleep?” he asked, not knowing what else to say. She put on a brave smile, shaking her head in a no, “I took a painkiller that doctor gave me earlier. So, I slept due to that. Then I was thirsty, and I forgot to fill the jug with water in my room. So…” Gauri saw Arvind quickly get up from the seat, and bring her a glass of cold water. She took the glass from him and quickly gulped the entire glass down. “More?” Arvind asked, and she nodded. He fetched her yet another glass and she drank again. “Enough, thank you Papa” she said when she was done, placing the glass aside. Arvind took the glass to the sink to rinse it, making her smile. Both of them knew Shalini absolutely disliked it when glasses were left around, without rinsing them in the sink.

“You couldn’t sleep, Papa?” She asked, as he sat next to her. He heaved a sigh and smiled. “You were worried about me?” she asked with a sad face. Arvind took her hand in his, and looked at the bandages wrapped. She sensed he was upset and quickly said, “This is so that I don’t pick on the skin as it heals. Very tiny bruises and splinters; only the bandage wrapped looks huge. Don’t be so upset about it,” she said. Arvind dryly chuckled, “You’re a brave one, Gauri!” he said looking at her. He didn’t want to say anything further that might disturb her. “I have to be brave!” she said with a smile looking into his eyes, “I’m a Sharma, after all!” He shook his head at her with a small smile.

After a brief silence, he spoke up again, “No matter how much I thank Omkara till the day I die, it wouldn’t be enough.” Gauri nodded, as tears welled up in her eyes. Arvind noticed her tearing up, but didn’t want to poke his nose into her matters. If she was comfortable, she would tell him. And in a few moments, she did.

“He tried to warn me, Papa. He tried to tell me that Ajinkya wasn’t meant to be trusted. Maine hi uski baat nahi maani. I said a lot of hurtful things to him. Yeh tak bol diya ke main uspe trust nahi karti. In spite of that, he came for me. Meri jaan bachayi uss darinde se. Even Bade Bhaiyya and Rudra did so much for me…” Gauri looked up at her father as she said, “Where I utterly failed at being a friend, Omkara stood by what it meant to be a true friend to a person as ungrateful as me!” Arvind ran his hand on her hair, as he said, “You must be really blessed to have a person like Om as a part of your life, beta!”

Gauri smiled as she noticed the emotion in his eyes. Then, another thought struck her mind. “Papa,” she started, and he nodded asking her to go on. Clearing her throat, she said, “Now, when we speak of Oberoi, or any other friend, you seem so encouraging and nice. In fact, even earlier when Oberoi and I used to have any fights and disagreements, you would listen to me as I vented out, but you’d never ever say anything against him, even if I had a truckload of complaints against him”

Arvind smiled at that; he remembered how Gauri, initially, used to storm home from office and start venting out to him about what a jerk Omkara was for disagreeing just about anything with her, only because he liked to see her all riled up. Arvind would listen to her, but he’d always known his daughter’s temper. He would never take her side too, knowing that she was no less a mischief-maker! And even on any rare occasion if he took her side but said anything about Om, she would get defensive later and question him as to why he spoke against her Oberoi.

Listening to Gauri continue talking, he looked up at her as she said in a hesitating tone, “But whenever anyone, and I mean, just anybody, would speak about that… that man,” her hesitation to take him name and the anger in her eyes told Arvind whom she was talking about. He placed his hand on hers, telling her to stop thinking about him, and she looked at him with a long exhale of her breath. “You would never be interested in that topic. You would look either upset, or hesitant and sometimes disinterested. Why, Papa?”

Arvind shook his head with a sigh. “I thought I was good at masking my disinterest, but it turns out, I’m not a fine actor!” Gauri chuckled, and then looked at him waiting for an answer. “Beta, to be honest, I never really liked that Agnihotri! I never really pictured you two as a couple, and always felt that, somehow, he wasn’t the person for you”

Gauri was appalled to say the least, shocked that her Papa never revealed it to her. Reading the silent accusation in her questioning eyes, he said, “You were so happy! Always blushing whenever someone spoke of him. You seemed to be so fancied by him, looking forward to spending time with him. I just couldn’t tell it to your face that I almost hated the man!”

“But, Papa, I could’ve had a different perspective if you told me. Maa and Paddy Maasi used to gush about him all the while, and I fell for it. I probably would have had a different outlook if you just let me know. Hell, maybe I would have called it off with him, if I knew you weren’t happy with him!” she said, quite surprised at the revelation. True that she had been annoyed when Omkara had tried telling her the truth about Ajinkya, but maybe if the same thing had come from her Papa, she would have had a different opinion about that man.

Arvind smiled, “But I just wanted you to be happy. I knew if I told you I didn’t like him you would have called it off. But I didn’t want you to break things with him just because I didn’t like him! I hoped you would realize a few things on your own. Maybe if we would have spoken then, like we are now, I probably would have mentioned something.” Arvind said looking at Gauri.

Gauri looked blank. She had been so fancied by Ajinkya, so infatuated by his wicked charms, she hadn’t even bothered to gain another perspective, another opinion. She had gone livid at Omkara when he tried to show her reality. And that was all because Ajinkya had twisted reality and presented it to her in a way that she believed him over her best friend. A part of her assumed Omkara to have intentions different from that what he showed, and how wrong had she been! But, maybe if her Papa tried to tell her the same what Omkara had attempted to say to her about Ajinkya, she would have definitely heard him out, and even broken ties with the Agnihotris!

Gauri was brought out of her trance when she felt her Papa running his hand over her head, as he said, “Now that Agnihotri is where he belongs- behind bars. If you’d ask me, he actually belongs to the garbage can” Gauri nodded at that in agreement. “So, you need to stop thinking about whatever happened!” She looked at her Papa as he said those words, her eyes reflecting a hint of fear and lots of pain.

“I know, beta” Arvind said, “It is difficult to forget such incidents. It is only natural to sit thinking about it. As a woman, as a person who had to go through such an unfortunate and terrible incident, you would find it difficult to erase it from your mind. But I’m only going to repeat the words what Omkara said: You’re alive, your safe, and that is all that matters! What I would suggest you to do is, forget the pain associated with the incident but never ever forget the lesson it taught you. What lesson did this teach you?”

“To not trust someone blindly!” she said in a low tone. “And?” he asked, to which she said, “And if someone tries to give you a hint about something, take it with a grain of salt and keep it in the back of your head, instead of getting defensive about the other person.” “And?” Arvind asked with a smile. “To be grateful and thankful for the present, for being alive, than being regretful about the past.” Arvidn looked impressed, “That’s a good one, but what else?” he asked with a curve of his lips.

She pursed her lips together in thought and then said, “For the last few days, I’ve had this weird feeling in my chest as if something was wrong. It was as if I knew that there could be some truth in what Oberoi said to be about Ajinkya, but I kept dismissing it. I wanted to talk to Oberoi, but then I’d hurt him too much that he didn’t want to talk to me. But yes, I did feel that my gut was telling me something was wrong. So, another lesson would be to trust my instincts, my gut feeling!”

Arvind nodded, and again asked, “Good. What else?” This time, Gauri looked at him with a small frown, “I don’t know what else, Papa! Aap hi bata do!” she said. He grinned at her, as he said with a teasing tone, “That your Oberoi was right and you were wrong!” He had expected her to get defensive about it like every single time, but now, for the very first time, she had her gaze cast to the floor as she admitted, “He was right, Papa. Main hi dekh nahi payi ke woh hamesha se sahi tha!” Arvind gathered her in his embrace, and kissed her forehead. “I was just trying to lighten up our conversation. You don’t have to sound so intense, and gloomy about it! I’m sure that your half-boyfriend wouldn’t want you to sound so dull too.” She smiled at that with a nod.

A while later, as the clock struck half past three, Arvind nodded, asking her to go to bed, ready to drop her to her room since she couldn’t go upstairs without assistance. As he walked her up the steps, she asked him as she suddenly remembered, “You said you never liked Ajinkya!” Arvind looked at her with a stern warning in his eyes, not wanting her to even think about that criminal. “No, hear me out please!” she said and he sighed helplessly. “What is it that you want to ask?” he asked, now stopping in front of her room door. “You never said why you disliked him! What was the reason Papa?”

Arvind smiled and with a chuckle he said, “How could I even like him, when I had someone else in mind for you?” Gauri frowned, surprised at what he said to her. “Who?” she asked, and he said in exasperation, “Who else, but your half-boyfriend?” Gauri was not too shocked, as she confirmed, “Oberoi?”. Arvind nodded with a cheeky smile. Gauri had expected him to say no other name. He knew his fondness for her best friend. Although it did stun her that her father disliked Ajinkya only because he thought Omkara would be the man in her life. At that, she frowned a little. “Why did you have him in mind for me?” “Why not?” he questioned her with a raised brow.

 “Because… Because it’s awkward! He’s my best friend! I can’t look at him with that feeling in mind. We’re buddies, that’s why!” she said, feeling something weird even as she said it. Arvind only chuckled. “What?” she asked with a frown as he laughed. “Nothing, you go to bed!” he said. She watched him giggle as if she had cracked the funniest joke, and heard him murmur as he walked downstairs, “Buddies… Awkward… Silly children!” She stood there till he’d disappeared from her sight, and then walked inside. “It’s true! He’s only a friend!” she whispered as she tucked herself into bed, only to hear her mother sleepily asking her to go back to sleep.

***

The next morning, Gauri could hear some voices around her, as if they were whispering. Her eyes refused to open, as if her lashes were glued together. She groaned, not wanting to get out of the bed from under the duvet. “Abey, uth jaa, aalsi!” She could recognise that voice even in her sleep, and sleepily murmured in a groggy voice, “Shut up, Oberoi!”

Arvind grinned as Omkara looked at him, saying, “Even Sleeping Beauty woke up from her dreamland, but this one won’t wake up unless a glass of water is poured over her head!” Arvind was tempted to point out that Sleeping Beauty was woken up by a Prince’s kiss, but then, the Beauty here in context was his own daughter; it was only smart to stay quiet. Listening to that, Gauri opened one of her eyes and looked at him with a small frown. Omkara knew there was a comment waiting to be thrown at him, but surprisingly, she simply blinked at him in silence as she woke up.

Just then Shalini walked in with mugs of tea, and offering one each to Arvind and Omkara, she kept Gauri’s mug on the side table. “Go, first wash your face, brush your teeth. Phir nashtha bhi karna hai. Get up quickly! Every day this girl is turning lazier!” she said. Gauri frowned at her and shifted. Omkara immediately moved ahead to help her rise from the bed, since she still had bandages around her hands and couldn’t really put too much of strain on it. Gauri looked at him holding her carefully, as if she was made of glass, and then said a thank you. Omkara nodded with a small frown, and didn’t say anything at her polite tone, that was so unlike her especially with him.

Shalini was about to help, when Arvind held her by her arm and shook his head in a no. Shalini frowned wondering what was wrong with him, and it was only then she realized her husband had appointed himself to play cupid in his daughter’s life. They had had a lengthy discussion, early morning, as to why Omkara was the perfect man for their daughter, and as Arvind kept making points after points, Shalini was eventually convinced. Shaking her head, she watched on with a smile, almost adoring the way Omkara helped her till the washroom.

“Listen!” Gauri said looking at Omkara, slightly suspicious at the way her parents were standing there like statues instead of coming ahead to help her move around. Noting that Gauri could find it fishy that he or Shalini didn’t help her, Arvind hurriedly said that he’d help Shalini make breakfast. Taking the hint, Shalini followed him. Outside the room, a hesitant Shalini asked Arvind, “Hum sahi kar rahe hain, kya?” She had still not gotten over how her daughter looked last night after that horrible incident; she doubted if she would ever be able to be at peace the moment Gauri was out of her sight.

Arvind placed his hand on his wife’s shoulder. “You trusted Paddy Di that a stranger, whom she herself didn’t know properly, was a nice guy. Yeh toh phir bhi Gauri ka Oberoi hai. And I trust the boy. Omkara pe toh main aankhein bandh karke vishwas kar sakta hoon. In fact, I think I trust him a little more than Gauri.” Pausing for a second, he said, “Don’t tell her I said this. She’s going to start a war with me!” “Why would I tell her? As though I don’t have any other work carrying tales between father and daughter!” she said with her hands on her hips and a small frown. Arvind simply smiled, knowing fully well where his daughter inherited those genes of temper from.

Omkara looked at her when she called him, and she then gazed at the toothpaste. He took her toothbrush, put some paste on it and gave it to her, so that she could hold it carefully, without dropping it. “Now don’t ask me to brush your teeth!” he said narrowing his gaze. The last he’d helped someone brush their teeth was about twelve years ago when Rudra was down with fever and he could barely move. Gauri took the toothbrush from him, mumbling a thank you. He stood looking at her, waiting for her to roll her eyes at him, or say something snarky. Nothing came.

Then, when he didn’t move away, she slightly frowned at him. “Mujhe washroom use karna hai” She heard him murmur something under his breath as he walked out, and saw him plonking himself on her bed. He picked up her phone to play some music since his phone was on charge downstairs. Gauri said before she closed the door, “the pass code is -” “Tera phone hai. What makes you think I don’t know your pass code?” he huffed and then opened one of the apps to play some music. Once she shut the door, he looked in her direction at the closed door with a frown. Her behaviour wasn’t like usual, he noted, and he absolutely disliked the change in her.

By the time, she had finished her business in the washroom, he had left from her home saying that he was getting late for work, not before he had screamed at her door that he would see her in the evening.

While leaving, he waved out to Arvind and to Shalini, who, much to his surprise, handed him a tiffin box. “I made parathas for breakfast. Office mein kha lena beta!” Omkara smiled, inwardly grimacing at the bright pink barbie tiffin that was handed to him; the same one that Gauri usually brought to office. “Thank you, Aunty” he said gratefully, thanking his stars that he didn’t have to eat from the office canteen today. “Aur shaam ko ghar aana. I’m making chocolate chip cookies” she said. Omkara glanced at an amused Arvind, and then, once again, thanked Shalini, wondering whether this was the same lady who hinted indirectly at him that he was always shamelessly visiting them uninvited.

Arvind stood there, amused, as he looked at his wife. She saw him with his hands folded at his chest and she frowned. “What?” she asked, as she rolled out a paratha. “What was that?” he asked her with an amused frown. “You think only you can play cupid between them?” she asked, trying to hide a small smile on her face. Arvind laughed and hugged his wife, only for her to smack his arm with the rolling pin, asking him to behave, while hiding a small smile on her lips.

***

That evening, Omkara reached the Sharma residence at sharp 6.15 PM. “You left early from office?” Gauri said with a small smile when she saw him walk into her home. Placing his backpack at the foot of the sofa, he shrugged his shoulders, “Work was done. I asked Mitali if I can leave, she said okay.” He spoke to Gauri, as he hugged Arvind sideways. Just then, Omkara inhaled a long breath and sighed, “Aunty is in the kitchen, right?” he said with a bright grin at the aroma that hit his nostrils. Before he could hear a reply, he simply walked in.

Shalini was just placing the cookies on the rack to cool them, when she heard someone walk in. “Om, beta! Kaise ho? Din kaisa raha tumhara? I heated up some milk for you to eat it with the cookies.” Omkara smiled happily; he had missed this so much. For the last few years, he always walked into an empty apartment after work. There was no one to ask him how he was, or how his day went. No one would be ready with a cup of hot beverage when he would come back to his flat. He would often walk in from work, order some snacks. On month-end, he would make some instant noodles. His tummy rumbled loudly as he saw the cookies cooling on the rack at the counter. Shalini, who heard that, smiled and said, “Freshen up first. I’ll set these on the table. By the way, the tiffin what I gave you this morning, can you please bring it here?”

Gauri saw Omkara walking out to the living room, rummaging into his bag, and then carrying a familiar looking box back to the kitchen. When he and Shalini walked back out with glasses of milk and cookies, she narrowed her eyes at him, almost exclaiming, “Woh mera dabba hai!” While Arvind was amused, Shalini and Omkara looked at her baffled. “Why did you take my tiffin box?” Shalini glared at Gauri, clicking her tongue, “Gauri, behave! Mehmaan se aise baat karte hain?” To her oblivion, Arvind, Gauri and Omkara looked around confused, as if who was the guest here, as Shalini told her about why exactly she had given him her tiffin box.

“Chal, doodh peele” Shalini said, pulling Gauri’s phone away from her hand. “Mammaaa” Gauri whined. “Saara din phone pe lagi rehti hai. Aag laga deni hai maine iss phone ko, kisi din! Duniya ki khabar nahi, bass phone mein ghuse raho!” she muttered. “C’mon Sharma. Drink up!” Omkara said in a teasing tone, knowing how much she hated milk. Much to his surprise, she didn’t say anything as a comeback. Gauri picked up the glass, took a sip and then cringed, “Mamma at least add some sugar or some chocolate in this!” But Shalini was busy fussing over Omkara, and when Gauri looked at her Papa for some help in finishing the glass of milk, he pretended as if he couldn’t see her. She sat on the sofa, grudgingly watching her parents giving all their attention to him, as if he was their son!

Later, when Gauri had dozed off to sleep on the couch, Omkara asked in a hushed tone to Shalini, “How is she feeling today?” Shalini nodded, “She’s fine when someone is around to talk to, and keep her occupied. But the moment she is left alone, she sits lost somewhere. Today afternoon, I kept talking to her but she kept zoning out. When I tapped her hand to draw her attention, she flinched and gasped aloud, as if she was scared of being touched.”

Omkara looked at a sleeping Gauri. While she looked fine at the first look, he could see she that she wasn’t completely herself. She wasn’t as snarky or cocky when she spoke to him. Now, her parents said that she wasn’t herself when she was alone. Omkara looked at Shalini and said, “Aunty, if it’s okay with you and Uncle, can I take Gauri over to my flat tomorrow? I can ask my brothers and my Bhabhi to come over. Gauri will have some company of people around her age, it will be like a change of environment.”

Looking at the apprehension on Shalini’s face, he said, “Aunty, she’s going to be absolutely safe, don’t worry. My brothers adore her. She’s going to be fine.” Shalini nodded with a smile when Arvind agreed.

Omkara immediately pulled his phone out to call up Rudra to chalk out a get together at his flat tomorrow. “I’ll pick her from here after work” he said with a soft smile, and then looked at Gauri who was in deep sleep on the couch, starting to get worried for her. Arvind looks at Shalini and blinks his eyes at her, silently telling her that everything would get back to normal soon. Shalini smiles, trusting him that it would.