Love me,if you dare

4

Khurrana House

Khushi was getting ready for the Pooja,havan when someone came and knocked her door. Khushi was little irritated. For she didnot like being distracted. Whatever she did she did it with her full concentration..

Khushi opened the door and found a panting Mohini(name of the maid?.

"What happened to you Mohini?"asked Khushi seriously..

"Didi,baby Kashish fainted"said Mohini,panting and scared..

Khushi rushed downstairs and the sight she saw broke her heart. Her baby,her Kashish was lying on the sofa,with her father and mother standing there,watching their family doctor check Kashish. Her mother was crying silently and father was stern. Thank God the doctor was present there as a friend for the Pooja.

The doctor injected little Kashish with her medicine and Khushi picked her up,to let her rest in her room.

No one was in the mood of Pooja. Yet it had to be done.It was a offering to the Goddess for Khushi and to safeguard Khushi. For her life's mission was about to start..

Kashish was still asleep in her room with Neha and Mohini guarding her. Still Khushi would  keep looking up,worried that her child would wake up,not finding her near her,she would cry..

It was not that Neha and Mohini would not handle Kashish,but Khushi wanted to be there. Just like the moment Kashish was born. The tiny bundle swaddled in a cloth looked so small,so vulnerable that Khushi had cried for the first time,holding her in her arms. She had promised herself,she would be the best parent to Kashish. That Kashish would never suffer..

Yet fate had its own story to write. Baby Kashish was diagnosed with Luekemia,blood cancer..And she was too young for bone marrow transplant.. And they could not find her match..

It was what made Khushi more stone cold. Kashish and her family were her vulnerable points. And Kashish was slipping from her slowly..

When the doctor who had been treating her,after Khuranna couple found her told her that she could never be a mother again,due to the removal of her ovaries,caused by severe infection,she was not sad. Infact at that moment she felt,thank God, nothing would come between me and my revenge..And Kashish was her priority then. With Kashish,she was happy. She was her hope in the darkness..

Just like Khushi was the saving grace to Khurannas,Kashish was hers. Infact,that bubbly child was the Rae of light to many of the people who worked with Khushi. Who could never be parent,due to the cruelty they had gone through..And they all showered their love on that little baby who liked to wear pink..

The little princess of theirs was suffering,yet still dared to smile. She would go round and round on her weekends,meeting the people,she loved,and spent her time there. A few times she could not talk. It was weakening her system. To stop the cancer from spreading,the medicine was weakening her. Yet,she would still smile,play..

Khushi's tiredness of the day would just fade away with that sweet smile of Kashish. When she would call her..

Mama..It just felt like the whole world stopped for a moment and she was at the top of the world..Khushi often wondered,how,a girl barely in her twenties,could feel so much love for someone..

Yet,that was what motherhood was,and she cherished every second of it with her baby Kashish...

The Pooja was about to be done and the Pandit was feeling so helpless watching the Khurannas sad. He wished to tell those people that they should concentrate on the Pooja at that moment..Yet he too was a fan of that little angel..

He too was worried,so he finished it as quickly as possible with all the tradition and rituals..

Khushi rushed to Kashish,the moment it was over. Yet Kashish was sleeping,selling horses..
And sometimes the little girl would pour in her sleep,smile too..

It was a very sweet moment to watch. And Khushi would never leave such an opportunity to cherish..