Unkept Promises

The date

Her eyes widened for a moment, before she shook her head at me, and hiding a smile, averted her face to look out of the window.

"Pagal insaan.", she muttered lowly. I let out a chuckle at her words.

(Pagal insaan - crazy guy)

When we reached there, Avi was quick to open the door and rush out into the vast meadow.

This place was simply ethereal.

Some four years prior, Avi was once gone for a meeting with some victim's family. While returning, her tire was punctured and she did not have the stepney. So, she had to call a mechanic for getting rid of the puncture and replacing the tyre. While waiting for him, she decided to explore around a bit, and stumbled upon this area. The next day, she was quick to put me in the car and drive over to this place.

Ever since that day, this meadow has become our comfort zone, our own place. A few times when we had come here during the night, we had seen an exodus of fireflies here. It was simply mesmerizing, to put it in the easiest words.

I felt a gentle breeze caressing my cheeks, and messing with my hair, as my gaze traversed across the thousands of wildflowers in all hues. They were beautiful, all of them - untamed, free, swaying with the breeze, but my own wildflower, the rarest of them all who was now swaying alongside those wildflowers, the dainty sunrays lighting up her face was the one who captivated my heart.

Being careful enough to avoid stepping onto any flower, I made my way towards her. I had the food basket in my hand, as I waded through the sea of those gorgeous little beings.

Avi was now sat on a nearby rock. Her shoes placed alongside, she was basking in the cool sensation of the grass beneath. A small smile on her face with her eyes closed and head tilted upwards. The smile was relatively small, but it was genuine and reflected solace. She felt content, I could feel it, and as though her peace was contagious, I felt the cold stones of unwanted emotions in my heart melting for now.

"Thanks for bringing me here Abhi.", she whispered, her eyes still closed.

I merely ruffled her head and sat alongside her on an adjoining rock.

"Remember the last time we brought Aaru here?", she reminisced, a fond look on her face as she softly caressed the vibrant red petals of one of the wildflowers.

"You mean to say the butterfly incident?", I stifled my laughter as the memories of that hilarious day swirled around.

"Yes.", Avi let out a hearty chuckle.

"I still can't believe that the boy who absolutely adores those Disney princesses and the movies and everything about them is so scared of butterflies."

I chuckled along with her.

What had happened was, some eight months ago, we had brought Aaru here with us. He too loved this place since he got the chance to run around without any restrictions, of course, in the complete observation of the either of both of us.

My little boy was sat on a rock after exhausting himself with all that prancing around. A bit beautiful blue butterfly appeared out of nowhere and sat on Aaru's nose, startling him. Had it been done with just that, it would had been alright, but Aaru got scared, and let out a scream. Abruptly getting up, he fumbled in his steps before making a run towards where Avi and I were sitting.

"Dadda butter, butter go. Dadda.", he screamed aloud.

"That butterfly scared him?", I glanced at Avi in disbelief after taking Aaru in my arms, and rocking him to calm him down.

Avi who had placed her hand on Aaru's head, rubbing it gently, paused before answering, "It seems so."

Later we enjoyed a good laughter on the irony of Aaru's love for Disney and him getting scared of that butterfly. We thought it must have just been the scare of that moment, but no, ever since that day, my little baby is scared of real butterflies. In the flow of enjoying his Disney movies, he doesn't notice them, but bring a real butterfly in front of him, and we have a whimsical Aaru.