Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A new dawn spread in the sky, with buds of new hopes in Shaurya's mind.
After the conversation with Kanchan the night before, a glimmer of hope had sprouted in him that he could still try to speak to Anokhi once and thus alleviate the "burden" of his guilt to some extent. He also needed to speak with his Princess, but he wasn't sure if he'd be able to garner that much confidence now, after coming to know who she was to Anokhi.
Whatever it was, he just wanted to relieve some of the weight of his immense guilt by voicing his repentance to Anokhi.
He had come to college earlier for this purpose, and was meandering near the cafeteria only, as he now knew Anokhi would first come there to drop Mimi off, and then go to class, so he was strolling there at a distance from the canteen to keep an eye on whether she had arrived or not.
After some time had passed, he was finally able to see the people he had been waiting for.
A sense of peace washed over him seeing the scene in front of his eyes. His princess was walking towards the canteen with her Mumma holding her "little" hand.
He didn't know why he felt his eyes wet when he saw his princess and hermother walking "hand in hand". It was a simple scene, yet it contained so much meaning and emotion for him. That simple element of "holding hands" was enough to bring tears to his eyes, and it also reminded him that his princess had once told him to hold her hand as her Anumaa never let go of her hand, otherwise she would go lost.
He became overly emotional merely by watching the mother-daughter duo holding hands, as it symbolized their "love" for each other; Anokhi loved her daughter and would never let her go away from her, and Mimi loved her Mumma and couldn't be away from her Anumaa.
That hand-in-hand made him look at his own hand. He lowered his eyes to his hand, then to his palm.
He had an epiphany about how desperately he wished that palm was in HERS hold when he needed HER, when he wanted HER caress, when he wanted to be cherished by HER like other children, but it never happened again after that day when she "abandoned" him, thanks to his FATE.
His trance was broken when a lone tear escaped from his eyes, bringing him back to reality. He then noticed Anokhi and Mimi entering the canteen, and he mentally prepared himself to wait and watch until Anokhi came outside, at which point he would approach her and try to talk to her.
Some time passed, and he got the opportunity he had been anticipating till now.
Anokhi walked out of the kitchen, and he knew she was on her way to the class, but there was still plenty of time for the classes to start.
