Her Broken Heart [√]

Part 8 : " My Daughter "

Two Years Later

Gauri looked forward for the day to end in school , her mom had promised her that she will take her shopping to buy her birthday dress when she was young her parents had forgotten her birthday almost all the time and she felt neglected and depressed about it .

In order to make up for it ,her mom always had a big birthday party for her ,inviting all her friends in the latter years . She loved each one of them ,even the last two years the tradition continued in spite of her having a step father .

Gauri expected her mother marriage to change her life drastically but nothing changed ,in fact she liked her mom husband. She still couldn't make herself call him dad , but he told her it was okay and she can call him uncle and Gauri held on to it over two years .

She liked him ,and the first time when he offered to drop her at school . She felt proud and happy to go on a police jeep , the children looked at her in surprise when she saw her uncle in his police uniform and no one had teased her after that day about her short stature or her meekness .

Usually she would ignore it ,but after that it was like a invisibility cloak protecting her from those taunts . And soon she learnt that behind his gruff manner there was a man who was lovable . She had often contemplated on calling him a dad but couldn't find it in her to make the move due to fear that the moment she acknowledges him as one , he will walk away like her biological father .

It was an irrational fear ,but she held herself back from trusting him too much , so when she walked out of her school with Lavanya and Kavya ,she was pleasantly surprised to see him waiting for her instead and found him talking with Lavanya dad .

" Your mom got a meeting with a client ,she can't cancel . How about I take you shopping ?" he spoke up with bit of a hesitance because in the last two years except to school ,she never had went with him alone to anywhere . Yet she didn't want to say no either .

" Okay " she answered back as she got into car ,which meant he was off duty and somehow it pleased her that he choose to spend his day off with her.

She wasn't someone who had fashion sense that belonged to Kavya ,and for Lavanya her father would buy her everything she happened to like and gauri always relied on her mom to make the final decision . So without her mom ,she didn't know what to buy or most importantly didn't knew the price limit .

She didn't want to buy for more than he was willing to give , she knew he never said no to anything if she asked him ,but she always felt safe asking anything she want to her mom instead of him. So she kept checking the price tags for every dress she liked until she found one which looked beautiful and yet kept it aside because it cost more .

Finally she selected a dress ,which looked good but not as good as the previous one , she only choose it because it seemed to cost less than the rest of them . He asked her twice if she was okay with the choice and she said yes , until she walked to the bill counter and saw him .

Her biological father with his son ,her brother , he was smiling at his son as he took his card to pay his bill and when she saw the amount of bags in his hand ,her face fell . When he turned around to look at her ,he didn't even seem to recognize her as his gaze drifted towards her uncle instead with a smile .

" Shopping for your daughter " the casual question from him stung the most as she turned to look at her uncle to see if he recognized him , surely he must have seen a picture or two in the house . Her mother though hated her father let her have a few picture of him in the house

And sure enough his face was grim which meant he did know who was talking to him, she expected him to say the truth but instead all he uttered was three words but for Gauri it was everything she longed to hear .

" Yes ,My daughter " her uncle answered back as he took his debit card to pay the bill ,that's when her eyes landed on the two boxes in the counter ,she looked at him in question wondering what was in the other box . But forgot all about it when she saw her father leaving with his son without a backward glance towards her .

It was only later that night ,she overheard her mom talking with him . She understood what was in the second box .

" You didn't have to buy two dresses for her and one of them is way too costly " her mom voice carried through as Gauri walked past their room to the kitchen .

" It is for our daughter, no dress is too costly as long as we can afford it . " her uncle voice answered back and Gauri face lit up in a smile and then the tears fell at the realization may be she does have a father who loves her .

P.S :" That it for now ..Let me know your thoughts and Feedbacks. Hit the votes if you likes it"

Love

Juanita