Five years later

Aarohi's POV:

"The order for Table 2 is ready, Aarohi", Megan says. "You can go and give it to them."

I frown. "But I'm not the server for Table 2 today."

Megan grins. "I think you'd like to be their server."

"Mommy!" An angelic voice cries and I smile automatically.

My five year old baby is waving from Table 2, and so are the rest of the group she came with- my parents, Dean, Emma, Damian, Steph, Chris and Anna.

I roll my eyes and grab their trays. Man, they have ordered some good food, and my stomach rumbles a little.

"What are you guys doing here?" I ask once I reach them.

"Give me my chicken wings first, woman, I am starving", Damian complains and I roll my eyes and serve everyone their dishes.

"Mommy!" My baby whines once again.

I chuckle. "Hey princess", I greet her and pick her up, kissing her cheeks. "How's my little Zaara doing?"

She bobs her head enthusiastically. "I'm good. How are you?"

I smile. Even at five years, my daughter has more manners than the rest of us combined. I bet it's all Daadi's doing.

"I'm good too, princess", I kiss her cheek once again and she hugs me tightly, before looking at me, her eyes serious.

Zaara looks a lot like her father. Her nose, her lips, and her jaw structure are similar to his. She has inherited my big eyes and my wavy hair. But her eyes and hair are both light brown in colour.

She's so beautiful.

My little baby.

I can't believe she is going to be five years old tomorrow.

"Mommy", she says, slowly. "Can my friends come to my birthday party tomorrow?"

I laugh. "Ofcourse, sweetheart. You don't have to ask my permission for that."

"Even Rick?" She asks, her eyes huge and innocent.

"Who's Rick?" I ask curiously. She hasn't mentioned his name before. As far as I know, she has four friends: Amanda, Daphne, Ronnie and Max.

Her play school is adorable, and so are her friends. I am friends with all of their parents, especially their mothers, who are extremely kind and nice to me. They help me with her school work, since I am juggling both my internship, and my part time job. I finished my college a year ago, and I got a good grade point average, and got an internship on that basis in a really good company, a telecommunications company, where I work right under the business executive. But since it does not pay much, I was allowed to take up another job, outside the contract work, given my exclusive situation of being a single, working parent. The internship gets over in a month, and I have started looking for a proper job.

When I first came here, pregnant, my friends were shocked. But they were also happy for me and they have been really very supportive with my pregnancy, my studies and everything. Even they have taken up internships- by they, I mean, Steph, Anna and Chris. Damian and Dean are working in the same company, a financial company, while Emma decided to work in a publishing company, in marketing. Both Damian and Dean are in New York, while Emma is in Boston, with the rest of us. Damian and Dean visit us on weekends.

Mom and dad brought a small bungalow in Boston after they came here. Dad, like he had said before, continued his job from here, since he is the owner of the company. Mom is working in a public library for a change. She says she loves the flexible timings and she loves being endlessly surrounded by books.

And I have been staying with them. For the first six months after Zaara was born, everything was slightly difficult for me, since I was a new mother. But mom helped me through it all- my coursework, my exams, Zaara, all the baby stuff- everything. Zaara and I slept with mom at the beginning, but later on, we shifted to our own room.

Zaara and I have a special bonding, more deeper than any mother and daughter's. It's like we can read each other's minds. Her first word was "mom", and I was overwhelmed. I video recorded it the next time she said it.

Watching her grow up has been another experience altogether. Now, she tells me interesting stories from her play school and her friends. She even reads a little and tells me the stories mom has read to her. She loves listening to music, singing, dancing, and colouring. It's like she is an all rounder. She even loves playing.

Dad teaches her a lot of the sports stuff, and I love that she learns new things with a lot of enthusiasm. I know dad dotes on his granddaughter a lot. He keeps spoiling her with a lot of presents. Mom simply keeps an eye on both of them, to protect them from getting hurt. She and Zaara watch TV together, read books together, and play with her dolls together. Zaara has five princess dolls and she has named them after me, mom, Emma, Anna and Steph. I think it's really sweet.

I haven't been to India with Zaara, so the rest of the family has yet to meet her personally. Pari di and her husband had planned their honeymoon in America, specially to meet us. Zaara loves her Pari maasi and asks about her frequently. We skype with the rest of the family atleast four times a week, and everybody is jealous of Pari di. Zaara is adored by everyone, especially because of her innocence.

She has everybody wrapped around her little finger, including me. My friends absolutely love her. Dean was a little awkward around her at first, because he hasn't handled babies before, but now, Uncle Dean is Zaara's favourite. Damian and Steph got engaged last summer, and their wedding is next month. I know Dean is going to pop the question to Emma soon, whereas Chris and Anna have moved in together.

Once I get a decent job, I will ask my parents to move back to India- because even though I know they like it here, especially because of Zaara, I know how much they miss home. Mom gets bored even though she doesn't admit it, and dad gets a little aloof. I am already saving money to buy an apartment for myself and Zaara, and her school fees and everything are already paid by me. I am not financially handicapped anymore.

I haven't told Zaara about her father per se. Mainly because talking about him still brings those feelings rushing back.

Karthik.

I have really missed him a lot these past years and I have wished, multiple times, that he could have been with me. I still do love him, but I have also accepted reality. I am slowly moving on.

Whenever Zaara asks me about her father, I tell her that her father does not live in America. He lives in India. And then she asks me why we can't go to India, and I always reply with, "We will. Maybe one day." She doesn't ask me any more questions after that, but I can sense that she is curious.

So I showed her his photo one day and told her his name was Karthik. She was surprised and happy to see her father's photograph. I refused to answer any questions after that, but she was fine. She carries that photo everywhere.

I don't mind her knowing who her father is. But I mind her knowing about him.

Because in five years, I haven't received even a single call or message or letter or email from Karthik. It still breaks my heart that he doesn't care at all.

I still love him, but I decided when Zaara was born, that I would move on. And I slowly am. I have been on a couple of dates with a guy from my company called Evan. He's originally an Indian, but born and brought up in the States. He's a nice guy and treats me well. He knows about Zaara and Karthik and he adores her. Well, it's difficult not to adore Zaara anyway. And he understands I need time to move over Karthik. He's very patient with the fact that I still love him. He says he just wants me to have fun, keep smiling and be happy. And I deserve all of that. He's a real sweetheart and a gentleman.

"Who's Rick?" I repeat my question and Zaara replies, "Rick is my new friend."

I smile, "That's nice, honey. Ofcourse you can call him to your birthday party."

"Yayyy", she claps her hands. I laugh and kiss her cheeks once again.

I love my daughter more than anybody else in this world. And I will strive and work hard to give her the life she deserves. I will not depend on my parents' money for that.

Abhimanyu accepted being the King of Jodhpur once we spoke to him. But he loves me so much, that he said he would handle the Kingdom until I was ready to rightfully claim the throne. He refused outright to be the King once I decided to come back.

And I made a decision as well. I will protect my daughter from the media and every other evil, but I would not keep her hidden. There is no reason for me to be ashamed of her existence. And I rethought and decided that it was unnecessary for me to get married just to protect my daughter. I would rise above all speculations and criticisms with my daughter by my side, our heads held high, as I proved my worth as the Queen of Jodhpur to the world. I refuse to be questioned over my choice of having a baby before marriage by the darker part of the society. Me and Zaara will rise above all of that.

And with my family by my side, I can do that.

Which also made me realise that Karthik would soon come to know about Zaara's existence, atleast once the media comes to know about us. Which means I would either have to tell him about Zaara myself, or wait for him to find out.

Personally, I prefer the latter. If he has not even tried to reach out to me, there is no way I would reach out to him by myself and tell him about the existence of his daughter. As far as I am concerned, both me and Zaara do not matter to him.

He made that clear when he left me.

It still kills me. The fact that I love him a lot but a part of me still hates him for what he has done to me. And to Zaara, unknowingly. I know she deserves to get to know her father, but not someone who gives up on people in a second.

Zaara would not face the pain of her father leaving her. I would protect her from all of that.

"Mommy", Zaara says. "Will daddy come to my birthday party tomorrow?"

The entire table falls silent, and I bite my lip, as everyone looks at the both of us.

"No, sweetheart", I reply. "But you know who will come tomorrow? Uncle Evan!"

"Uncle Evan? Really?" Her eyes sparkle with delight. Whenever that happens, her light brown eyes become a shade lighter and she appears positively angelic.

"Yes, Zaara", I reply and she whoops again, and everybody starts laughing.

"Hey Zaara", Damian calls. "Do you want some chicken?"

Zaara scrunches up her nose. "No, Uncle Damian. Chicken is made from birds. I don't eat birds."

I look surprised. "Who told you that, honey?"

"My new friend, Rick", she says. "He is a vegititarian."

Dean snorts loudly and almost everyone bursts laughing. I control my laughter as I correct her, "It's vegetarian honey. Not vegititarian."

"Vegetarian", she frowns.

"Correct", I say.

"He says animals die to make chicken", she says and her lips pout, and her huge eyes water all of a sudden. "Is it true mommy? Do animals die?"

I look at the others who suddenly look a little guilty.

"That's true", I say in a low voice and Zaara starts crying.

"I don't w-want animals to d-die mommy", she sobs. "A-animals are n-nice."

"Shhh.." I rock her in my arms and give the rest of them a look.

I take my crying baby inside the kitchen. I know she will calm down once I give her some cupcakes.

"Cupcakes!" She claps once inside. Megan looks at her at once and coos, "Is that my little Zaara?"

"Aunt Megan!" Zaara cries and Megan scoops her out of my arms.

"How is my little princess doing?" Megan points to her cheek and Zaara kisses it and replies, "I'm good. How are you? I want cupcakes!!"

I laugh, and readjust my apron. "You take care of her while I go back and attend the customers at the reception counter. Be careful with the cupcakes- she can finish them all."

"Mommy! I want to come with you!" Zaara wails.

She really can be a handful at times.

"I'll take her", Megan says. "You handle Table 4's order."

Zaara grabs two cupcakes and she and Megan head towards the counter, as I busy myself with making three chicken burgers, and a mac and cheese.

"Hi, can I have a veg burger to go please?"

I freeze at the voice.

Oh my God.

That's not possible.

No way.

Not after five years.

Not now.

Not when everything is finally going right in my life.

Karthik.

Oh my God.

I lean on the counter and close my eyes, trying to calm myself.

"Sure", Megan replies. "That'll be five dollars."

"Okay", Karthik says.

I just pray to God that Zaara doesn't recognise him from the photo I showed her. Or the photo that is now with her, tucked safely beneath her pillow.

"No, princess", Megan says. "No more cupcakes for you."

"But I am hungry", Zaara complains and I suppress a smile.

"But your mother has strictly forbidden me from giving you more", Megan says.

"But Aunt Megan!" Zaara whines. "I want cupcakes!"

I hear Karthik chuckling and my heart skips a beat.

"Here", Karthik says. "Give her another cupcake. From me. She's clearly hungry."

Megan sighs. "Your mother will kill me."

"Thank you!" Zaara sounds very delighted.

"What's your name?" Karthik asks.

"Zaara", she replies.

"That's a beautiful name", he comments.

"Thank you", she replies very sweetly.

Oh my God. She doesn't even know that she's talking to her father.

"What's your name?" She asks.

I hold my breath.

"Ka-"

"Here's your order, sir", Megan interrupts him. God bless her for her impeccable timing.

"Thank you", Karthik says.

"You look like my daddy", Zaara suddenly comments, and I freeze.

Oh my God, I think I am going to have a stroke.

Karthik chuckles and says, "Your daddy must be a lucky man to have you."

"I don't know", Zaara replies. "I have not met daddy."

There's a two minute silence after which Karthik replies, "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

"It's okay", Zaara says and I can hear the smile in her voice. "Mommy says we will go to India and meet daddy."

"That's nice", Karthik smiles. "Where is your mommy?"

"She is inside", Zaara says. "She does not allow me to eat many cupcakes. But I love her."

Karthik laughs, "God, you're so adorable. You remind me of a person I used to know a long time ago. She was just as adorable as you are."

My breath hitches in my throat and my heart starts hammering.

Oh my God. He remembers me.

"You're adowable too", Zaara mumbles and my heart melts, and Karthik chuckles once more.

"Will you come to my birthday party tomorrow?" Zaara asks.

Karthik immediately replies, "Definitely. But will your mommy be okay with that?"

"Mommy says all my friends can come", Zaara replies.

"So we are friends now?" Karthik sounds amused. "I am really honoured to be your friend, Zaara. Thank you for inviting me."

"You're welcome", I can hear her smile.

Karthik then bids her goodbye, and I hear the door to the cafe open and shut.

I heave a huge sigh of relief.

Karthik never asked Zaara for our home address.

And it also makes my blood boil.

He was making false promises again.

I always knew he would hurt Zaara.

And in a way, I made the right decision by never telling him about her.