A Tribute to...HIM

They were walking hand in hand on a sea shore. It was a nice, quiet and clear night.

Cool breeze was blowing around them. They were enjoying the roaring sea to the fullest.

It was a very unusual couple, the man being much too older than the girl. But the love between them was evident from the way they were looking at each other.
He was wearing a Black tuxedo with a white shirt underneath it. She was dressed up in a rich red frock flowing till her knees. They had just left a party behind them.

They were so much into each other that it was difficult to identify where one started and the other ended.

“So, are you enjoying the night?” he asked.
“Yes...Yes…It’s so lovely out here with you”, she said.

The expression on his face got tears in her eyes. He was so pleased to hear that he could make her happy.

“I have got something for you” he said and removed a box from the inner pocket of his coat.

It was a flat rectangular red box with a white bow neatly arranged on the front of it. A card was attached atop it.
He handed the gift to her. Beaming with happiness she opened the attached card.

It read: For my Lovely Princess, With Loads of Love.

She read it and gave an ecstatic kiss on his cheek. She slowly opened the gift without tearing the wrapper. The box held a diamond crown of the finest quality. She just gaped at it open mouthed.

He removed the crown and fixed it over her head and said, “There you go my princess”.

“What do you want in return?” she asked.
“Be happy like this forever. Keep smiling… With or without me…“, he said.

They were so absorbed in themselves that they did not see a mob of drunken men approaching them.

When they realized it, it was too late. They were surrounded by the thugs, calling them names the girl might have never heard off. The girl clutched his arm tightly and he held on to her. The next moment, both of them were separated. The men removed knives from their pockets and shoes and started slashing them on their arms, faces and across their necks. They were tossed from one man to the other, every time kicked more painstakingly. The girl kept screaming his name and the man kept leaning towards her in vain.

At a point the man bent abruptly with all his energy and grabbed as much sand in his hand as he could muster and threw it in the eyes of the men holding the girl. The grip on the girl loosened and she shook herself free. She tried to help the man but the man asked her to run for her life.

“Go…Abby...Run. I will take care of here. Just go Abby.” He kept saying.

Abby ran for her life with as much pace she could manage. She kept running and looking back until she was too far to locate the man anymore.

She ran with all her might not knowing where she was heading for, until she saw a family. She reached them and collapsed. All the running and cuts exhausted her and she fainted before telling the family “There...He…needs help…help him...Please…Please help him” and blackness took over her.

She slowly opened her eyes to a pair of worried little eyes staring back at her. It was her dad on a wheelchair. She was in pain from all her bruises and cuts; she may as well have been dead.

Slowly the night came back to her: the beach, the drunken men and her father fighting them.

She squealed abruptly, “Dad! How are you? Did they hurt you? Are you ok? You look tired.”

Seeing his little girl coming to life again he just smiled and hugged her tightly.
He was not a man who would give way to his emotions so easily but he could not control the feeling of relief and worry flowing through his tears.

She remembered his words “Be happy like this forever. Keep smiling… With or without me…” and smiled with tears in her eyes.

He fought those men till Abby could reach to safety. The entire neighborhood had come to his rescue, when Abby had gone screaming to safety.

Unaware of their surroundings, they did not notice everybody leaving the room silently smiling away at the lovely father-daughter duo...

A Belated Happy Father’s Day to all the Daddy’s around the World.
Hey Dad just wanted to remind you, You are my hero… :) :) :)
A BELATED HAPPY FATHER's DAY Pa...