XXXVI. Amusement park

Never take a word into consideration if you feel like you don't deserve it cause your heart knows whether you are right or wrong.

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Happy moments, the moments that we wish our lives were full of, provides us joy and comfort when required. The happy moments wrap us around in a bubble, shielding us from the problems we face in our lives. When we are down, remembering these moments will bring a smile to our faces.

Life is an equal share of happy and sad moments. Just like how the happy moments bring a smile to our faces, these sad moments are a reality check for us. They tell us that as human beings, we are bound to get hurt, and we must face all the shades of our life.

Diya tapped her chin thinking of a place as I said. I gave her a choice for choosing a spot where we can go. I watched her face intently, her blue eyes shining with love and innocence, the little pout on her small lips making her cuter. I am going to miss the small and innocent Diya when she becomes big. I lifted my head when I started feeling emotional and caught another set of blue eyes.

I stared at him observing the spiral of emotions in his eyes. They expressed love and admiration, the thing that caught my attention was the guilt in his eyes. I focused more on his eyes when a sudden squeal broke my gaze from him. I looked at my daughter who was bouncing in my lap.

"I know where we go. Amusement park." Telling that she let out an excited squeal.

"Yes, as you wish princess."

"No, choose another one." We two responded immediately. I glared at him hard for rejecting the proposal of Diya without a single thought. My anger doubled when I felt Diya's mood dampen.

"Oh come on, let her have her wish." I looked at him but he didn't budge from his position.

"We can anywhere else, choose another one Diya!" He ordered her, what is this with this man, it was a simple wish from his daughter and he didn't even think about it.

"Ok dada," Diya replied to her father in a small voice.

"Oh no baby, don't change your mind. I will convince your father and we will go to the amusement park." I replied making my angel smile again, I placed her down and crouched down till I was at her eye level. "No go and ask Karthik uncle to play with you, I will convince your dada." She nodded her head and left the room running.

"Why did you promise her anything? We will go to any other place other than that park." I stood up throwing daggers at him with my eyes as he spoke.

"Excuse me, she just asked us to take you to an amusement park. What is the big deal about it? You always provide all the things for your daughter, can't you provide this for her. We have neglected her for two days; don't you think that we should show our love for her?" I burst out making him startle and take a step back in surprise.

Even I was shocked by my outburst, I was never this angry. All the things from yesterday and seeing Diya sad had I riled up getting me to burst out.

He waited till I was calm before speaking. "I will grant her request." I felt the smile spread on my face. "Except this single one." Just like that, a smile fell from my face.

"What is this? We can leave you and go alone. Why am I even bothering to convince you?" I mumbled the words, took my mobile from the desk, and dialed my best friend.

She lifted the call after two rings. "Hello!" I heard her voice; there was something strange in it. Her voice sounded as if she ran a marathon.

"Are you fine? You sound odd?" I heard her trying to calm her breathing on the other side after I expressed my worries.

"I am fine, Avni. Tell me the reason for calling me?" Her voice was better now. Even though I want to question her about the change in her voice, I let it slide thinking that I can question her when I meet her.

"I promised Diya that we will be going to an amusement park. But, your brother is not allowing us to go. I am taking Diya with me. You and Nihal accompany me so that Diya will feel good; we will meet there in an hour." I informed her, ignoring the person sending glares in my way.

"Ok, I agree to it. But, I have a wonderful plan. Convince my brother and bring him with you, we will set our plan in motion." I tried to weigh the chances and agreed with her, we have nothing to lose.

I casually walked to the other side of the room; I turned towards the window and spoke with a low voice. "What plan?"

"Relax, Avni. Just don't forget to bring my brother with you and I will take care of anything?" I sighed at her. This girl, she drives me crazy but I can't help it and still love this girl. She always thinks of me and does things for my well-being. With confidence in her, I agreed with her.

"Ok. Diya and I will meet you guys there in an hour." I said the words aloud hoping that he would catch them.

"You are evil. And for your information my brother hates rides." With that, she cut the call. She gave me information that can help me achieve what I want. I approached my desk and collected all my belongings.

"What are you doing?" I heard him question me. I ignored him, after collecting my things I looked up at him.

"Will you give me a day off, sir?" I requested him with a small smile on my face.

Abhi had an unrecognizable look in his eyes; he placed his hands inside his pant pockets and leaned against the doorway. He looked like a model posing for a photo shoot. "May I know what you will be doing by taking the leave?"

I internally smiled at his question; with a sad smile on my face, I slowly approached him. "My daughter wants me to spend some time with her. Unfortunately, my husband doesn't want to spend some time with his family. So, I am taking her to an amusement park, and I think my husband is afraid that we both will force him to get on to rides." I felt a smirk grew on my face when he narrowed his eyes at me.

I knew that I have won this; I walked past him without sparing him a single glance. I started counting, waiting for him to speak.

1,2.............10,1-

"Wait! I will join you guys." Wow, my husband is predictable. He gave me my desired reply in ten seconds.

"We will be waiting in the lobby." Saying that I went near my daughter to give her some good news.

🎡🎠🎢

"Where should we start?" I questioned my daughter who was clutching my hand with excitement in her eyes.

We left the office immediately after I spoke to him. Diya was bouncing in her seat ranting about the things she wants to do. Listening to the things she wanted to try, Abhi's grip on the steering wheel tightened.

We approached the entrance in an hour, being a weekday made it easy for us. It was less crowded when we met Nihal and Akky. I was shocked seeing a third person with them, Seema. She was dressed in a white flowery gown that reached below her knees. Wearing that to an amusement park will definitely not work. I saw Akky giving me a smirk and looking at Seema, I observed the look on Seema's face. It screamed annoyance, but seeing Abhi, a smile came onto her face. She approached Abhi and immediately cling to his arm much to my annoyance.

I took Diya away from there not wanting my daughter to witness the scene in front of her. Nihal, Akky, Diya, and I collected our tickets leaving the other two people. We got VIP tickets so that we can ride anything without waiting in the queue.

After entering the park, Diya clutched my hand tightly. I knew that it was her first time at the park. But, I understood the reason now. Abhi, my husband is afraid of heights and he had forbidden anyone from taking his daughter to this place according to Akshaya's words.

Now we are here, Diya was unable to contain her excitement. She kept pointing at random things and was super excited to get on the rides. We decided to start with a simple ride.

Diya sat on merry go round, I can hear giggles from distance. Looking at her, made my heart swell in happiness.

"She is having fun." I heard my husband speak from my left side.

"She used to enjoy this if you didn't restrain her." I scoffed at him, I felt him stiffen beside me.

"Well, I worry about my daughter's safety. What happens when something happens to the equipment that might cause an accident? I am not sorry for wanting my daughter to be safe." I understood him, it was a parent's duty to be paranoid but I know that's not healthy. I tried to tell him that, however hearing his next words broke my heart. "She is not your daughter after all." He muttered those words under his breath very lowly but I heard them.

I blinked my eyes rapidly trying not to let the tears fall from my eyes; with great difficulty, I stopped them from flowing. I turned towards him to give him a piece of his mind, but I found that woman clinging to his arm again. Seema gave me a smug look before turning to Abhi with a pout on her face.

"Abhi, why did you ditch me? This place sucks! Let's go to some quiet place and have a peaceful dinner. Come on."

"What a great parents' Diya have!" I scoffed loud enough to catch their both attention. I caught an irritated look on Seema's face whereas there was an opposite expression on Abhi's face. It was amusement; he wanted to listen to my reply.

"What do you mean by that? You didn't even give birth to her and here you are lecturing me about parenthood. Come on, Abhi let's leave, she is testing my patience." Seema tried to pull Abhi along with her.

That was the last straw for my patience. I let out a loud laugh startling them both. "That's funny. You have scope for being a good comedian." I blurted in between my laughter. I sobered up when I felt someone pull my hand making me face the person. I caught a hand before it can touch my face.

The smile on my face got replaced with a hard look. I gripped her hand tight not letting her escape. "Leave me!" I ignored her whining. I released her after she struggled a bit.

"Don't you dare raise your hand at me!" I took a step towards her as she rubbed her now sore hand. "If you ever repeat this, I will show you who you are dealing with." I threatened her in a low voice.

I took a step back when I noticed that Diya was coming towards us. I put a smile on my face as she approached me.

"Mama, it was soo fun." She exclaimed taking my hand. "Where are we going next?"

I glanced at Abhi before turning my back to Diya. "It's your choice. Choose anything."

"That mama!" I saw where she was pointing.

"Bumper cars? I think you are too small for it baby. Choose another one."

"No, I wanna play it. I play with you."

"Ok, princess. With whom will we play?" Diya thought for a moment and went to her father.

"Dada, play car with me." She gave him puppy eyes.

"Baby, we were supposed to leave and have some nice dinner. Come; let's take Diya along with us. I can bond with her in the meantime." Seema tried to take Diya; she got frightened and hid me. Seema didn't understand that her daughter was afraid of her. She tried to pull Diya to her side.

"Diya, baby come to your mother." Diya pressed herself to my side and clutched me tightly. I placed a comforting hand on her head and stopped Seema from proceeding to anything further.

Seema glared at me seeing my gesture, before she can do a single thing a single word stopped her. "Don't" Abhi's single word stopped her in her steps.

I lifted Diya and hugged her trying to comfort her. "Mama is here." I patted her back calming her.

"Seema, don't come near my daughter ever again. I am her father and that woman who is holding her is her mother. We are her parents, never forget it." He took my hand and pulled me away from her.

"Baby, let's go play bumper cars. Can you win against me?" Abhi asked her when Diya calmed down.

Diya nodded her head agreeing with his challenge. "I and mama will win." With that, all our moods lifted.

Diya soon forgot about that incident. We got onto all the rides, Akky and Nihal joined us in some rides. Diya and I dragged a reluctant Abhi to almost all the rides; he closed her eyes on the rides as we shouted our lungs out.

We tried different food items filling our stomachs. Abhi and I competed in some games where Diya cheered for me. We won many stuffed toys.

The sun has set, Diya was sleepy and Abhi was carrying her. Akky and Nihal were bickering about something. Seema didn't leave but she kept her distance from our group.

"Avni we need to get on the Ferris wheel. I heard that at night the view from up there will be beautiful." Akky said with a dreamy look on her face.

"Yes, it would be nice. But Diya is sleepy, we need to go home." I tried to explain.

"No, I will take Diya home and you are going on that. It was your dream Avni. Come on." Akky knew all my dreams. One of them was to get on a Ferris wheel with the love of my life; I always loved the view from the top. For me, that's the more romantic view which a person should enjoy with their partner.

"Akky, leave it," I warned her, or I tried to.

"Oh shut up, you are going there with my brother and that's final." She passed Diya to Nihal and ushered Abhi and me towards the ride.

We both got into the waiting carriage. "Seema, where are you going?" Akky stopped Seema from entering our carriage. They closed the gate as we took our seats and the ride started immediately.

I enjoyed the silence surrounding us and took the view in front of us.

"Is this your dream?" I heard him ask out of the blue. I kept looking at the view and answered his question.

"It may sound silly but yes, I wanted to ride this with the person I love." We fell silent after that.

"Avni, my past coming back into my life. It messed my mind, after finding some other things. Please, wait for me." He squeezed my hand and stared ahead.

I don't know whether it was late or right on time. Those words didn't soothe the pain in my heart. The words I heard yesterday repeated in my mind.

"Hello." My thoughts broke when I heard his voice. I looked in his direction; he was listening to the person on the other side of the phone.

What he heard might not have been good from his facial expression. The last tiny bit of hope vanished as he held my hand and took me out of there when the ride stopped.

Hello people,

How was the chapter?

And guesses on the call?