Page 7

Story: Tainted Bride

Prakram , who was sitting in London and holding a meeting on a critical issue, suddenly stops all his meetings and says it softly.

"Aashi….”

Avi is sitting near the window, looking at the flowing river. Vishnu and Padma have slept, but as usual, sleep is far away from her eyes. Suddenly, she begins to feel a bit uneasy, and she expresses this feeling softly.

"Aashi….

Both Digvijay and Sandhya are trying to calm Aashi down. Prakram has called them three to four times, but they are unable to pick up the phone because if he hears his daughter crying, he will become extremely upset and may cause trouble for everyone. However, she won't stop sobbing and pulls herself up off Digvijay's lap to lie down on the swing her father had decorated. She still holds her tiara very tightly to her chest and lies down on the swing. Soon, her crying stops, and she murmurs softly.

"Papa... Avu... I miss you both."

Soon, sleep takes her in its embrace. Sandhya and Digvijay heave a sigh of relief and quietly lie down on the adjacent bed.

CHAPTER 5

“All aunties are very bad; I don't want to stay with anyone; please fire everyone."

Aashi is complaining to her father, who is smiling and listening to her on a video call. He is very happy to see his daughter, but the tiara worn on her forehead is attracting his attention.

“You are wearing this tiara; it is very beautiful. Where did you get it from?”

Sandhya, who is sitting nearby, has her eyes very wide because she knows that if, even by mistake, Aashi tells her father something that he will not like, then the situation can escalate to a wrong turn as she knows his temper. She starts looking at Aashi. Aashi seems to be looking at her father innocently, and she doesn't want to lie to him under any circumstances, so she immediately tells him.

"From the flower seller.”

“Oh wow, beautiful... Keep buying them."

Sandhya heaves a sigh of relief because, till now, she has not told him about Avi at all, because Prakram does not like any unnecessary person to come close to his daughter, even to the extent of becoming his daughter's nanny. Anyone has to go through a lot of tests for this, so here a girl selling flowers has suddenly started handling Aashi very easily; this is nothing but increasing suspicion for her in his view. Because she knows very well that he can go to any limit in his doubt. That's why she wants to keep the poor girl out of his sight. Because of this, she has given strict instructions to all the bodyguards that no one should tell Prakram about Avi.

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She starts moving forward smilingly with slow steps. She is sure that nothing can happen to her now; she just wants to quickly hide herself in her mother's embrace, which is the safest place for anyone. Wiping her tears with the back of her hand, she starts moving while increasing her speed. But suddenly she hears a loud bullet shot, and her eyes become stuck towards the front as if they were like stones. Suddenly everything turns into ash with an explosion, and a shadow turns towards her, and suddenly tears start flowing from her eyes to see him.

She is breathing rapidly and appears to be making an effort to open her eyes, but she is unable to do so. Padma, who wassleeping outside, suddenly realizes that Avi is in some kind of trouble because she can hear loud breathing outside. She immediately comes inside and sees that Avi is suffering greatly in her sleep and is unable to open her eyes, even if she wants to.

"Avi…"

She sits beside her and places her head in her lap in an attempt to wake her from her sleep, but she discovers that her entire body is burning like fire.

“Avi….”

Hearing her shouting, Vishnu also comes inside and sees that she is trying to wake her up, but Avi is not awake at all, which is the cause of worry. He immediately approaches her and examines her, finding it surprising that she has such a high fever. Seeing all this, Padma starts crying profusely, and Vishnu scolds her.

“Instead of sitting here and crying like crazy, hurry up and get cold water so that we can put cold strips on her head.”

Hearing Vishnu's words, Padma immediately starts doing everything; both of them start placing strips on Avi's head one after another over a time interval. After a long time, her fever starts to subside, and both of them feel that there is a smile on her lips. After witnessing her smile, they both began to smile as well. They sign with relief.

There is a smile on Avi's face because she feels that her parents are sitting near her, loving her very much, like every time she is sick and every time she takes advantage of their love, exactly the same. In a way, just to keep both of them close to her, she is feeling them close to her with her eyes closed. There is not much life in her body due to a high fever, and she starts movingher hands. Padma suddenly holds her hand; she is still moving her other hand in search of something. Vishnu quickly grabs her hand. The smile on her face immediately increases to a huge extent. She smiles and opens her eyes, which is very difficult for her, but she definitely wants to see her parents. As soon as she opens her eyes, she sees Vishnu and Padma in front. After seeing both of them, tears start flowing from her eyes continuously, but the smile remains the same. Vishnu smiles and tells her.

“You have a little fever; go to sleep; you will be fine soon."

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