Page 31

As soon as she says this, Aashi starts feeling Avishka's anger and resentment even more, due to which she immediately starts crying because she will not love her like a mother. Prakram, who was changing his clothes, suddenly becomes alert after hearing his daughter's crying. He suspects that she might have been hurt somewhere, but he had no idea before, so he assumes she must have felt pain while changing her clothes. He immediately throws his shirt away and comes outside.

"Aashi…"

When Aashi sees her father approaching, she instinctively extends her arms towards him. She believes her mother is upset with her, but not her father, and she begins to cry uncontrollably. Prakram immediately takes her from his mother, and he starts seeing her in a surprising way.

"What happened? Why is she crying like this? Is she injured, or is she in pain somewhere?"

"No, I just told this to Avishka to scold her a lot.”

Prakram immediately turns to Avishka, a father who, just moments ago, saw his daughter drowning and is barely able to keep his composure. Seeing his daughter cry like this, he suddenly fills with anger. Avishka also gets sad at her crying like this. She was immediately moving her hand towards Aashi. He suddenly pulls it away from her and yells at her loudly.

"There is no reason for her to assert her rights over my daughter. No one has the right to scold my daughter. How dare you make her cry?"

Avishka gets scared when he shouts so loudly and turns back. Aashi starts crying even more when her father scolds her like this, and she tells Avishka while crying.

"I am sorry... I will not do any mischief. I will not jump again."

Prakram starts looking at Avishka. He guesses that maybe she might be saying something to Aashi about jumping into the swimming pool, which she considers scolding, and starts crying. In this instance, she was correct, but he was also extremely upset, which led to his impulsive response. Aashi wants to come near Avishka at any cost, so she spreads her arms and starts jumping on her, but Avishka understands her, quickly moving away as she is drenched in water.

"My clothes are wet; I'll embrace you up later."

Sandhya's focus shifts to Avishka's drenched clothes, while Prakram embraces his daughter. Aashi, having heard Avishka's words, has become somewhat silent and is hugging her father, but she expresses this to him in a tearful voice.

"Avu is sweet... Why do you scold her?"

"Okay, I am sorry... But the mischief you have done is also wrong. Don't ever jump in water.”

"I am sorry."

"Papa loves you, darling. Don't do this again."

"I jumped into the pool because..."

Before she can continue, Armaan enters and begins whispering something in Prakram's ears, causing Aashi to become completely silent. She then turns her attention to Avishka, who is engaged in a conversation with her grandmother. Seeing Avishka very upset, Sandhya immediately comes to her, looks at her son, and consoles Avishka.

"Don't feel bad about his scolding; he is too possessive for his daughter... Ever since she was born, he has kept scolding everyone in this manner. His daughter should not suffer even the slightest problems."

“I understand, mam."

"Mam, I have instructed you not to call me that; I am still Sandhya aunty for you; you work for me; this does not imply that you should start calling me mam. I know you will not have clothes with you; I brought spare sarees with me; my blouse will definitely not fit you; it will be very loose; we will adjust with thehelp of pins; but for now, it will be fine to manage the work for some time at least. You won't have to remain wet."

"No, I'm okay."

"Look, you have just come from the hospital, and this way you will fall ill, and you know that Aashi stays with you the whole day, and she will not leave.”

Avishka immediately looks towards Prakram and Aashi. Prakram is talking to Armaan, and while Aashi is continuously smiling and looking at her, she also answers her smile with a smile, due to which Aashi starts smiling even more. She doesn't want to make herself sick at all for Aashi's sake, so she nods her head lightly. When both of them start going inside, Aashi immediately looks at her and starts shouting.

“Avu… Avu…”

Prakram glances at his daughter, then turns his gaze to Avishka, who is staring at them with her dupatta tucked up, and their eyes meet at the same moment. Aashi is completely safe in Prakram's arms, while Avishka is in front of him. When he sees her suddenly, it is as if he experiences a completely different kind of feeling, a strange kind of stirring in his heart, and suddenly a few waves start bothering him.

Avishka immediately turns her face down, as Prakram is still standing shirtless in front of her. He also recognizes his strange reaction and settles Aashi on the bed. He enters the room with the intention of retrieving his shirt. There inside, he sees that Sandhya is showing her saree, seeing which Prakram takes a look at Avishka and then at the saree and immediately comes out. Aashi smiles as she converses with Armaan, and uponwitnessing her smile, Prakram begins to forget all his troubles. and she says this lovingly to Aashi.

"Aashi, we should go down; everyone will be waiting for the birthday girl."

“Avu…”

“She will come with Grandma; you will come with me, as everybody is waiting for us.”