Forever And A Day || Completed

58. Full Circle

Note : This chapter is really important, may not be too much from #MaNan perspective, but it has things we all should understand and take care of. I am hoping you would understand what I have been trying to preach here, and if you do, I would be obliged. Happy reading!

~ Because Grief at its worst is unreal, and it calls for a surreal purpose.
-Ocean Vuong~

Nandini had never thought there would come a day where she would begin to doubt herself, because the very first thing she had been taught was to be confident in her own skin, and believe in her talents, but in that moment, everything came crashing in as she stared at her father in disbelief mixed with horror, tears rolling down her face while she found herself repeating the three words that had shaken her entire world.

"Old Age home?"

Manik standing a few steps beside her, heard the coarse whisper of his wife, and coming out of his shock, took a few steps ahead to hold Nandini by her arms. Asha Tai stood behind them, keeping the corner of her veil to her mouth, wanting to hold back her sobs.

"Manik? You heard what he said? Old age home?", Nandini burst out baffeld as soon as she felt Manik's arms around her, half sobbing, half laughing at the irony of the situation. Her gaze faltered between Manik and her Appa as she tried to make any semse of the situation.

"Nandini, beta, I can explain!", Neelesh spoke, taking a step ahead but Nandini stared back with fire in her eyes, startling him.

"Then please explain Appa, because I honestly find myself an imbecile in the moment!", Nandini couldn't help but raise her voice, even though she could not stop crying either. Nilesh sighed and shook his head, tiredl
tiredly sitting down on the bed. Nandini struggled to free herself from Manik and ran to her Appa, sitting down on her knees as she placed her hands on his, making him look at her.

"What is it Appa? Is it something I said? Something I did? Manik did? Why do you want to leave us and go?", Nandini could not hold herself as she began to sob into his hands, "You promised me you won't leave me like Amma. But you are. You want to. Why?"

Nilesh found himself biting back his sobs as he freed one hand from Nandini's hold and kept it on her head, softly beginning to pat her head. He had an answer, relatively simple, and just that much complicated, but he didn't know if he could explain that to his precious daughter, or if she was going to understand it in the moment. His eyes wavered up and landed on Manik, who was looking at them, his face full of tears. Nilesh raised the hand towards him, and Manik found himself rushing to them, and sitting by Nilesh, in a half hug, while his free hand clasped Nandini's, giving her a little squeeze and the much needed strength. Nilesh's gaze then landed on Asha, and she sighed at his helpless face, nodding. If she could try and ease things for what she had always considered family, she would definitely try.

Asha sat with Nandini's head in her lap, in Nandini's room, while Manik was with Nilesh, having a conversation that Nandini was too unstable to have with him. Also, he had a faint idea of his mentor's thought process, he wanted to make sure if the horses of his mind were running in the right direction.

"Nandini, now will you listen to me patiently, not as your father's daughter, but just as a human who will grow old someday too?", Asha's soft voice made Nandini tilt her head up and something about those warm, motherly eyes, made her nod. She wasn't sure how much she would understand, but she definitely wanted to try.

"As humans, we grow up looking upto our parents, right? Our childhood shapes us in various ways, we either want to become what we see, or we entirely despise that and want to be better. Sometimes, we don't realize but we pick up certain character traits from our elders, subconsciously. Like they say, an incident might be forgotten, but it's impact mostly stays. Have you ever realised that the reason you were so skeptical about your first doubt about being pregnant might be your fear of having the fate your mother had? That you were scared to leave your baby and his father, alone behind, if the worst happened?", Asha's words were like a shock to Nandini which instead of jerking her out, calmed her down in ways she hadn't realised she needed. It was almost like knowing something grave subconsciously but wanting someone else to spell it out for you. She looked at Asha with so much raw innocence in her eyes that the lady found herself leaning in and kissing Nandini's forehead.