Episode #1 - Daughter's Demand
She climbed the staircase, stomping her little feet on every step, filling the air with her giggles.
The man reading the newspaper heard her arrival. He turned and lifted his daughter by the waist.
Her giggles turned into a laughter laced with excitement.
"Princess,“ father said."What are you doing here?“
The little girl cupped her hands over the man's face. His unshaved cheeks prickled. Instantly, she drew her hands back with a grimace on her face.
The man smiled. "I need to shave."
"Dad," she said. "Can I ask you a question?"
The man closed his eyes for a while. Countless memories of his late son crossed his mind. "You can ask."
"How did you and Maa meet?"
“Don't you think you are too tender to ask this." The man was surprised. "I am definitely not going to tell you." He gently dropped his daughter down and resumed his reading.
"Okay," the girl said dreamily. "I am just going to tell Maa why didn't you turn up yesternight and postponed the promised dinner. She was furious, Dad."
"You are just bluffing," father was doubtful.
"I know everything," daughter was determined.
For a long moment they both stared at each other, and then the father finally threw his hands in the air. "Okay. I admit I was at my friend's house, watching the match. Totally forgot about the dinner I promised."
The girl smiled.
"Wait, you knew nothing. You just tricked me!"
"Sorry, Dad." The girl made an innocent face. "Now, will you answer?“
Defeated against the wits of his own daughter, the man picked her up and set her on his thighs. "Now listen. Our story is not at all like what you watch on TV. It's a bit different."
The girl nodded cheerfully.
" It all began on that day... "
Episode #2 - Mother's Muse
"That's impossible," the little girl revealed her doubt.
"Hey, Princess. I told you our story is different."
"Different? Dad, it is weird!"
The man looked bit offended, then regained his composure. "Well, sometimes the truth is weird."
The girl still couldn't believe what her father had just narrated. "I need to confirm this tale with Maa." She jumped from him, and landed on the carpeted floor. With hasty strides she descended the floor and found her mother in the kitchen, preparing something. The air smelled of spices and steam. "Maa, Dad told me how you and he met."
The woman dropped the spoon. "O Dear, that was embarrassing."
"Wait," the girl shook away the doubt. "You mean you and Dad met at society's main dustbin? Seriously?"
The woman nodded. "Well, he was new to the society, and that afternoon he came to dump the waste, so was I."
The girl blinked in surprise. "Most of the stories ends by dumping each other. Your story actually began by 'dumping'. Cool."
The woman tried to hide her blush, but failed. "Fate brings people in mysterious ways. Our was an unexpected one."
The girl smiled. "I am going to the garden. I am going to tell everyone how my parents had met. That's one of the best things I've ever heard!"
The woman immediately climbed on the first floor as her daughter left the house. "Yes, she is happy. I told the story what exactly you told me. Now you can end the call."
"That's I always wanted, her smile, " the man said, ending the call he had dialed to his wife when he began his narration. "If I had said our marriage was arranged," he winked, "there would have been no fun. And I really didn't want to off her mood."
Episode #3 - Happiness Rediscovered
The man shut the door carefully, making sure his arrival in the home would remain unannounced, but the hinges betrayed. They flustered. As he turned, he found the little girl. "What are you doing here, Princess?“
The little girl dashed toward her father and hugged one of his legs. "Just waiting for you, Dad."
The man ruffled her hair. He whispered, "Where is your mother?"
"In the kitchen, but why do you work so hard and come late?"
The man couldn't resist his smile. He squatted, clutching onto her little shoulders. "Because we need money."
"And why do we need money?"
"So that I can buy dolls and dresses for my princess." He caressed her cheek.
The girl held his finger, ceasing his caressing. "I don't want dress and dolls, Dad. I just want to be with you. How much does it cost?"
The man opened his mouth and closed, wondering what to reply. "Princess, someone has to spend the time to earn money."
" And someone has to spend the time to earn relations."
The man was again at loss of words.
Still holding his finger, she ushered her father to the door of the kitchen. "Everyday I watch Maa, Dad. Every day I see something ebbing from her as if happiness is draining from her. And you know what can revive her."
The man looked from his daughter to his wife. He realized his mistake. "How can you be so mature at so young age?"
The girl smiled. "Had been an orphan, Dad. I know what it feels to be deprived of a family ."
"You aren't an orphan anymore. We are a family. "
" I know, Dad. And that's why I am saving my family. "
The man moved toward his wife, hugged her from back, and surprised her.
The little girl too ran and joined them.
Happiness was rediscovered.
Episode #4 - Back They Are
"You are full of surprises, do you know that?“ The man said to his daughter, watching her molding a sand-castle.
She laughed. "Dad, there is something I need to ask you?"
"Yes?"
"What is destiny?"
The man stared at the horizon for a long moment, composing the answer. "Destiny is actually the final consequence of our decisions, Princess. Some dreams to achieve something, then work on it. Some decide to achieve something, then work on it. So you can say that the destiny is an end result."
"You mean to say that you are sitting here with me is your destiny? It is because of the of decisions you took? How?“
The man moistened his lips. "Your Maa told me to bring some groceries from the market, and I really didn't want to ruin my holiday. So I said that the market is closed."
The girl lightly slapped the sand, shaping it into the flat floor. "So you lied to Maa."
"Err... " The man desperately looked for words. "If I hadn't made that decision, then I would have been away from you, missing this opportunity to play with you. It's my destiny."
A shadow fell across the sand.
"Dad?"
"Yes, I too noticed that. Please say that shadow doesn't belong to your mother. "
"It does."
"Princess, save me. "
Above them, above the seventh sky, the soul of the son smiled. His family was now back as they were.
Episode#5 - Her Fight
The man pressed his head against the glass door, his shallow breaths fogging the surface.
"Please, take some rest, " his wife requested for the millionth time.
The man didn't respond again. How could he? Silence again seeped inside him, this time deeper.
"Please," the woman said. "They said they did their best. Now it's all up to..." She failed to complete the sentence.
The man's gaze drilled through the glass, crossed the floor, reached the bed, upon which a bandaged person - an accident victim - was struggling for life.
His Princess.
Episode #6 - Hard Times
The woman held her husband's hand, expecting a reaction on his face, but it was impassive. She gripped her clutch tighter. There was a movement in his eyes. "What are you thinking?"
The man's lips trembled. "Why does it happen to us? First our son, now our daughter's life is slipping away from our hands. It's all because of me. If I hadn't left her alone in the garden, she would have never dared to cross the road by herself, and..."
A part of the woman was already devastated by her daughter's critical condition, the rest was being destroyed by watching the wretched condition of her husband. "What would our son say if he was with us today?"
The man closed his eyes for a while, sighed deeper, and opened. A thin film of tears wet his eyelashes. "He used to say... If it's not beautiful, it is not an end."
Somehow these words of his late son gave hope to the man, a faint one.
Suddenly, there was a rush in his daughter's room. Nurses and a doctor circled around the bed. The man and his wife inched near them, praying with their heartbeats.
The doctor turned around with face crestfallen. "Sorry, we failed."
Episode #7 - Hope
The couple stood at one end of the corridor, waiting patiently. Finally, the moment arrived and the door at the other end creaked open. Glare from the back windows shadowed a little figure that emerged out.
As the couple stepped ahead slowly, their eyes adjusted to the brightness. A little, cute girl in the pink dress was waiting.
The man squatted near her, met her innocent eyes, and greeted with a smile. Bit nervous, bit happy, she too grinned in reply.
The man offered his hand. At first, the girl hesitated. Then gradually, gauging the situation, she too extended her little arm. The moment their fingers met, something rippled across the man's heart. A feeling of being alive, as if her mere touch rekindled his dowsed hope. His eyes became watery, and he saw a blurred image of his son overlapping the girl.
"Dad?" the girl said. "They told me you are my father."
The man wiped tears away with his sleeves. "Yes, they are right."
A wide smile stretched her lips, her eyes gleamed with happiness. With her little strides, she hugged the man by his neck. "Dad, I missed you."
The man hugged her back, a relief calming his storm inside.
"Dad," she whispered in his ear. "Can I ask you a question?"
The wife witnessing this reunion, couldn't control herself. She broke into tears. Questions had returned to their lives. Hope had blessed them as an adopted daughter. Their son's last wish was now accomplished.
It wasn't an end, it was a beginning of new Chronicles.
THE END
Thanks for reading.
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