Hey everyone! I had wanted to write an OS on Hannie ever since the CD fiasco happened. Then I read Mahi's OS- 'First' and it just left me feeling compelled to pen something down. Thank you, Mahi for letting me write something so similar. 🤗
Warning: I haven't watched the 27th September episode and so, I don't know how Hannie reconciled in the show. Coincidentally, it aired on the day my exams finished. Anyhoo, hope you guys enjoy.
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Minnie looked down at her legs. There were cuts on her knee which peeped from slits tore into her uniform. The karate practice with her college teammates had turned a little rougher than she had anticipated.
Minnie's competitor for the sparring session had been a worthy opponent, especially as Minnie's mind wasn't completely into the fight. The opponent had gradually pushed Minnie to the corners of the sparring area.
One perfectly aimed kick to the shoulder and a slight misjudgement on Minnie's part had forced her to fall onto the hard ground, outside the mats. She had quickly received a helping hand and a flutter of apologies, which she waved away, but the damage was done.
"Arre yaar, abh Babes ne khamakha pareshan ho jaana hai," murmured Minnie to herself as she brushed the dust from the rest of the clothes. She thought of changing clothes but just the idea of wearing denim jeans on her scraped knees was painful enough to deter her. Pulling off her sweatband and putting on shoes would have to do.
The medical room was also not an option. The practice took place after normal college hours which meant that most of the staff had returned home.
She walked out of the college premises and took two deep breaths before she sat on her scooty, wincing the entire time. Once she was on her way home, she kept reminding herself to count her breaths to shift focus away from her pain, realising that the strategy worked just as well for ignoring her pain as it does for anger management. Soon enough, the haveli gate was within her sights.
Shuffling off the scooty, she removed her helmet and kept it inside the boot. Slowly entering the house, she looked around, hoping that her mother was working on a catering order at the shop. Once she didn't hear anybody call out to her at the sound of the door opening, she relaxed a bit and walked towards the stairs.
The climb to her room looked daunting at the moment. Her mind flashed back to when Hanuman uncle had carried her up to her room after the appendicitis operation because she had been incapable of doing so herself. She sighed and turned around, that wasn't going to happen anymore.
She walked back towards the downstairs kitchen, hoping to rummage in the medicinal compartment for the first aid kit. Once she got what she was looking for, she lowered herself onto the sofa and gathered some antiseptic on a cotton ball. Applying it on her stinging knee, she bit her lower lip with her teeth.
When she declared her wound sufficiently cleaned, she pushed back against the sofa and relaxed for a second with the cotton ball still in her hand. Just then, she heard a door opening, making her whip her head around to watch Hanuman uncle walk out of his mother's room.
They both stared at each other, neither expecting the other to be home at this time. As heavy awkwardness filled the air, Minnie attempted a small smile at the same moment HS gave a slight nod. She now wished more than anything that her Babes was here to fuss over her, at least the idle chatter would have hidden the gulf now emerging between her and her uncle.
In her discomfort, she forgot to hide the cotton ball still in her hand and just as she realised that, Hanuman's eyes zeroed in on her posture and the blood-soaked cotton in her hand. He quickly moved in front of her and analyzed the situation in the typical cop manner which he had, just with an added dose of fierceness.
"Chori, ye kaise hua?" He asked, visibly perturbed. Minnie couldn't understand that expression. Surely he would have been used to seeing blood due to his profession? She took a moment to realise that he had asked her a question and was waiting for an answer.
"Voh Japani kushti karte hue gir gayi," she replied, her mind still perplexed with what she was seeing before her.
The words his Veer Balika used finally caused Hanuman to look up from her wound and into her eyes as his own watered just slightly. She hadn't even realised she had adopted his vocabulary in her speech.
"Aapko blood se problem hoti hai? Sorry, mujhe pata nahi tha. Main upar jaane vali thi, par yeh stairs..." she trailed off when she saw that HS became even more flustered.
"Upar kyun jayegi? Tu manne de." Hanuman pried the first aid kit from Minnie's hands and looked inside for a cream to treat bacterial infection. When he found one, he pulled up her leg onto the sofa and sat on the table in front of it to apply the cream gently on the scrape.
Minnie stared at him, noticing that he winced whenever she hissed from pain and leaned in to blow gently on the cut.
"Itna dard nahi ho raha. Main sambhal lungi, aap tension mat lo," she said as she reached for the tube of the cream, but stopped when Hanuman uncle held up a hand to stop her.
"Itni dikkat hoti hai mari maddat lene mein?" He asked with anger clearly lacing his voice. "Nahi, ke chori? Bata manne."
"Kuch bhi nahi hai Hanuman uncle..." Minnie murmered but Hanuman cut her off by clicking his tongue. She noticed that his expression had turned even more pained than before.
"Koi problem hai toh abhi bol de. Maine tereko shaadi vale din bhi mauka diya tha. Bol de agar tujhe main teri Babes ke liye pasand nahi." HS asked, almost pleading for a reply that he himself looked afraid of.
"Mereko kya problem hogi? Maine kabh kaha ya jataya ki mujhe aapse koi bhi dikkat hai. Infact, mai toh chahti thi ki aap aur Babes shaadi kare, maine toh kitni koshish kari aap logo ko ek karne ki.
"Problem toh aap ko thi na Hanuman uncle. Aapko laga ki maine aapko Babes ke liye pasand nahi kiya. Maine toh aapse pehle hi bola tha ki meri Babes ke liye aapse better koi nahi hai."
She started off by trying to reassure HS, but by then, all her suppressed frustrations came back with a vengeance.
"Aur Hanuman uncle, yeh sawaal toh mujhe aapse puchna chahiye na? Aap ho jisse mujh par trust nahi hua. Aapko lag bhi kaise sakta hai ki main voh CD play karungi?
A small voice in her head pleaded with her to calm down, get her temper under control before the situation worsened but she was too far gone.
"Maine aapko hamesha mera hero samjha. Par shayad meri hi galti thi. Maine ye believe kar liya ki aap, main aur Babes ek family ke tarah rahenge.
"Par yaar, aapko toh mere upar trust hi nahi hai! Aapne yeh soch bhi kaise liya ki main Babes ki shaadi par aisa kuch kar sakti hoon!" She finally gulped in deep breaths, furiously wiping at tears she hadn't even realised had escaped her eyes.
"Dekh chori, main teri aankhon mein aansu na dekh sakta. Tere ye aansu mera kaleja cheer dete hai." HS stopped her, wishing he had never brought up the topic.
"Na, aaj aapko batana padhaega ki aapne aisa soch bhi kaise liya ki aapki Veer Balika aisa kuch kar sakti hai?" Minnie was now unstoppable, all the unanswered questions, the hurt, the confusion tumbling out of her.
"Nahi kar sakti. Main yeh nahi keh raha ki tune hume hurt karne ke liye kiya yeh sabh. Par shayad tujhe teri maa ki shaadi vale din tere papaji ki yaad aa rahi thi, isiliye..." HS trailed off.
"Isiliye kya? Maine unki aur Babes ki wedding CD chala di? Main! Jiss ne apne papaji ka naam tak apne naam se hata diya! Main! Jiss ne apne khud ke papaji ko jail bhijwaya. Main! Jiss ne aaj tak kabhi bhi unhe voh darja nahi diya jo aapko deti hoon!"
Hanuman's eyes widened and he immediately pulled his Veer Balika in for a tight hug. She initially resisted but slowly let him hold her and took refuge in him again. She had become so used to having her Hanuman uncle by her side that she hadn't even realised how important he had become to her until the fight.
Her sobs racked her entire body, increasing in intensity as she cried her heart out. She cried because of those people who had managed to feed thoughts to her about being left behind in this marriage. She cried because she was scared of what life had in store for her now that she no longer had the sole responsibility of catering to her mother's needs.
She cried for losing out on her Hanuman uncle, a guiding force, a confidant, a pillar of support and most importantly, a father figure in her life that she had always craved for unknowingly. She cried till she couldn't anymore and her Hanuman uncle cried right with her.
"Chori, I'm sorry. Tujh par doubt karne ke liye. Mujhse bahut badi galti ho gayi. Manne laga ki tu mujhe pasand hi nahi karti aur yo baat mere dil mein ek aisa ghav kar gayi jissne mujhe kuch bhi sochne na diya.
"Mujhe laga ki tu mujhe kabhi apnana hi nahi chahti thi. Mujhe laga ki tune haan toh kardi apni maa ki khushi ke liye, par tu kabhi chahti hi nahi thi ki teri Babes mere saath ho," he finally opened up, still clinging on to his daughter for dear life. He had been so wrong and had almost lost the one person who had become the most precious thing in his life because of that misunderstanding.
"Maine dekha ki voh CD jabh baj rahi thi toh tu apne purane dino ki baat kar rahi thi toh manne laga ki tu apne papaji ko miss kar rahi hai. Phir jabh teri maa haveli bhaag aayi toh tune unhe toh manane ki koshish ki, par tune ek baar bhi nahi socha ki manne kaisa laga hoga," he continued.
"Tune kabhi janne ki koshish hi na ki ki main kaisa feel kar raha hunga. Chori mujhe ekdum se laga ki tujhe meri parvah hi nahi aur najane maine kya bhram paal liya apne dimaag mein."
Minnie pulled back and looked closely at her Hanuman uncle. The week's worth of worry lines creased his sturdy face, his posture was low and defeated, those eyes which had always held a twinkle upon seeing her stared at her with misery and worry. She finally understood where she had gone wrong.
She had always viewed him as strong, somebody worthy of being put on a pedestal, virtually untouched by any harm she or her mother might have been able to cause him. But how could she have forgotten how his face had turned down, the shock evident as he stood up as the CD started playing? How could she have missed the unshed tears of his when he had mentioned her not being able to hurt her mother, but everyone else was fair game?
He had not been questioning her, he had not lost faith in her. No, he had merely lost faith in the fact that she wanted him in her life as much as he did. He had just stumbled this once, been hurt because she had not bothered to ensure his well-being, not bothered to acknowledge him at all in fact. She realised that she had to make amends immediately.
"Sorry, Hanuman uncle. Maine aapko bahut hurt kiya na?" she whispered, staring straight at him to ensure that he was honest with her. She didn't want to ever make the same mistake again, never wanted to hurt him in this manner.
She realised that she held a piece of his heart, no matter what anyone said and that she could cause unfathomable harm to this man sitting in front of her with his soul bare. She had to view him as a human, a mortal. Her Hanuman uncle, her father.
"Na, chori. Voh toh bass galat phemi ho gayi thi." Hanuman tried to reassure her, worried about unleashing more tears yet.
"Apko apni beti se aise chupne ki zarurat nahi hai abh. Aap mujhe bata sakte ho agar aapko bura lage. Jaise main batati hoon? Aapko haq hain. Father ho na aap mere?"
Hanuman stared at this little ball of sunshine, the sole reason for him even dreaming about truly living again, sitting in front of him and giving him rights to be her father.
He couldn't help himself. He opened his arms wide and his Queen Victoria quickly encircled her arms around him in a tight hug, both father-daughter afraid of ever letting go of each other and of the happiness and solace they found in each other. "Haan. Main hoon tera father, chori. Main hoon tera father."
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