Arnav went home from Khushi's planning to get some work done but when he went in there appeared to be a circus going on in his home.
"What the-?!" Arnav said as he saw everyone in the living room, wrapping paper everywhere, mithaiyaan ki dhabiyaan and jalebis stacked high. Anjali looked up and smiled at her brother.
"Arre Chotte tum agaye? Good, we were all just getting some presents for Khushiji, after everything that's happened we should really celebrate this good news." She said with a bittersweet smile, Anjali had ballooned up recently she was no longer able to discreetly hide her bump as she was around 5 and a half months pregnant. She had her hands on the bump and Arnav grimaced slightly.
"Di, she's Khushi Bhabi to you and don't you think this is all a bit much?" Arnav asked, he knew Khushi would be thrilled by it, but she didn't deserve it quite yet, maybe when she came home they could celebrate but as of yet the War was not won...
"Nahi toh, Payal started making Jalebia saying she would give them to Khushi, I thought why not get some mithaai too, then when we went shopping we saw these cute bears for the baby, sweet na? Then I thought Khushi would need a pregnancy book, I would give her mine but you've stolen it so I bought her one and then I went to the Mandhir and got her a special tagha like the one Naniji got me, it'll protect Khushij- I mean Khushi Bhabi and the baby." Anjali gushed and Arnav stood there processing this.
"Di yeh saab Madam ki head mein jayaga. I don't think its a good idea. I want her to come back, not because we bought her off with gifts." He said.
"Arnav! Its not about buying her with gifts, its a happy occassion aur hum saab ka maan karra tah khi kuch masti karo aur gifts kharidlo. Akkhir hum pehle bhaar Bua baanewale. Aur aap...I just wanted to let Khushi Bhabi know how happy we are even if she's not 100% happy with us." She said her bubbly attitude had come down and Arnav regretted what he'd said.
"Okay Di, we'll go over tomorrow and you can all see you're precious Khushi Bhabi." Arnav said rolling his eyes, when suddenly Arnav heard a sound that made his skin crawl.
"Hey Nanav!" NK said and Arnav clenched his teeth. "Massi told me about everything, jab maine patta chala ki tumne Khushiji ki saath shaadi kiya toh maine tabhi faisla kiya ki main vapaas aoga. But kya kare? I was having issues with my Visa and when I told Massi I could come she told me now you're going to be a Dad. Kya baath hai Nanav bhai, aap toh bhare chupphe rustaam niklaye." NK said as he nudged Arnav playfully who looked blankly at him. Payal and Akash were in hysterics whereas the rest of the family tried to keep their composure.
"Yeah, thanks. Whatever, I'm going upstairs, aap saabh tayaar rahiye kaal." He warned, giving one more look of dissaproval at NK he made his way upstairs.
Arnav got up extra early that day from anticipation, he felt a strange kind of nervousness over the idea of seeing Khushi nowadays. It was like before they got married, in fact very similar to the day of the wedding when he had made an excuse to go to Khushi's just to see her. He was back to that again, it was a setback but still he appreciated the feeling. A small smile played on his lips when he recalled how she'd fed the cow the plates by accident as she'd been to busy staring at him. "Pagal." He said aloud as he came back from the memory. He went downstairs to see Payal getting everything ready, there were atleast ten presents, two mitaiyaan boxes, one jalebi box, one set (from Naniji), one set (surprisingly from Mami), four teddy bears wrapped up and a small box with the Thaga from the Mandhir in it. Payal was telling HP to put them in the car when it dawned on Arnav he'd been the only one not to buy Khushi something, apparently that idiot NK had helped pick out the teddies along with Akash. That didn't sit too well with Arnav.
"Payal." Arnav called and Payal turned with a smile.
"Yes Bhai." She said.
"Erm, I was thinking, you know everyone got something for Khushi and you know I'm her husband...it doesn't look nice...so maybe I should, I don't know, get her something?" He asked Payal who tried to hide her smile, she nodded. "What do you think? There was a set I saw a while back I think she might like." Payal shook her head and Arnav frowned. "What then?" He asked.
"Bhai you know Khushi, yes she likes sparkly things but more than anything else she loves romantic gestures, kuch dil se karo woh zyaada ucha rehega." Payal said and Arnav mulled over this. Then it clicked.
"Payal would you be willing to give me a hand with something? I think I know what I'm going to do for you're pagal behen." He said with a grin, Payal looked confused but nodded anyway. Khushi was in the middle of digesting her fourth parotha of the morning.
"Sanka Devi todha dheere se." Buaji warned but Khushi only smiled and stuffed more into her mouth. The doorbell rang and her Bua shouted for her to get it as she was in the kitchen. Khushi wiped her hands and her mouth and went to the door, when she opened it she was pleasantly surprised.
"Arre, Nanheji aap?" She asked as she saw NK at the door with an armful of presents. He unsteadly made his way in and dumped the presents on the table and turned.
"Oh Khushiji-whoops I mean Khushi Bhabi, Bidaii ho!" He said and Khushi shook her head.
"Badaii not Bidaii. Aur Badaii kis khushi mein?" She asked as she became curious.
"Kyunki aap bhi ek Mama baanewali hoon." Anjali answered her question as she entered with a small box in her hands.
"Arre Di aap?" Khushi gushed and she went to go hug her when she stopped herself as she saw how big Di had gotten. She slowed down and gently embraced her, they pulled away and Anjali pinched Khushi's cheek and handed her the box. "Yeh aapki liye, Devi Maiyaan ki khaas tagha hai, yeh tumhare aur humare nahi sadasiya ki raksha karega." Anjali explained, Khushi nodded and placed it on the table carefully. Mami, Mama and Naniji followed handing her sets, Khushi took their blessings and told them they shouldn't have but they insisted.
Akash Jiju followed with a handful of wrapped objects that looked like teddy bears to Khushi.
"For my pyari Bhabi, a few pyare teddy's to go with NK Bhai's." He said as he placed them on the table. Khushi smiled and hugged Akash.
"Thank you Jiju." She said.
"Arre, thank you kiss baath ki hum Chacha hai aur Massar bhi, humara pharz baanta." He joked and everyone laughed. "Speaking of which, honewali Massi bhi hai saath main." He said as he pointed to Payal. Khushi squealed unable to contain her excitement, she hadn't seen Payal in a long time, she'd spoken to her over the phone but she'd missed her sister. Payal practically ran up to Khushi and smacked her playfully on the arm.
"Yeh bhi kohi tarika hota hai. Tumne mujhe ek phone bhi nahi kiya jabse tumhe yeh khush khabari mile." She said and Khushi pouted. "Ucha tik hai, yeh lehlo, Jalebia aur saath main apke maan pasaand mithaii. Humhe ek sweet sa bacha chaiyen, bilkul aap ki tarha." She said and Khushi smiled as she took the boxes. She placed them on the table, when she felt a strange sensation in her stomach.
"Oh no." She managed, before she covered her mouth and headed straight for the bathroom. Arnav walked in happily with his present in hand to find Khushi gone.
"What the-?" He'd witnessed all the happy reunions from outside as he was parking up, where had she gone?
"Bhai Khushi Bhabi must have guessed you were coming." Akash joked and Arnav looked at him confused. "She's gone to the bathroom, woh kya kehte, morning sickness." Akash explained and Arnav frowned as Akash's cheap joke.
"Very funny Akash, I'm going to go check on Khushi." He said as everyone else laughed, he placed his present on the table. He passed Buaji, Umma and Bauji on the way and received blessings before they went to go receive the Raizada's. Arnav went into Khushi's room, the bathroom was unlocked and he could hear her retching from outside. He took a deep breath and went in. He pulled Khushi's hair back and smoothed his hand across her back. Khushi's contiuned being sick for a few minutes. She pulled the chain and Arnav got up, grabbing a small glass from her room and filling it with water. He went back in to find Khushi washing her face, she looked up at him with surprise. He held up the water and she took it sheepishly. She took a sip, swigged it around her mouth and then spat it into the sink. Arnav looked disgusted as his wife repeated the action. She drank the rest of it and handed it back to him and she made her way into her room.
Arnav grabbed her arm. "Don't I get a hello, or even a thank you?" He asked. She rolled her eyes and turned freeing her hands she joined them.
"Namaste. Khush?" She asked and went to leave the room when he swurved in front of her and blocked her way. "Arnav, hatiya mera mood nahi hai yeh chuhe bilee ke khel khelne ki liye." She complained but Arnav became distracted by something else.
"What the hell is that?" He asked pointing to the frame on Khushi's bed side table. Khushi turned following her husband's gaze, when she saw the object of his disdain she smiled.
"Oh voh, voh toh tazveer hai." She said with a grin.
"Khushi I know its a picture. Why the hell have you got a framed picture of Salman Khan on your bedside table?" He asked feeling angry.
"Honestly Arnav you say I don't know anything about pregnancy. People say that whatever an expecting mother sees her baby sees and the baby takes on traits of the people she sees most. Isilye maine mera hero ka photo bedtable peh lagvaya. Ucha hai heh nah?" She asked, knowing that at this moment Arnav would have been hatching plans on how to get rid of her photo and cursing Salman Khan at the same time.
"Whatever." He said and walked out. Khushi followed until they reached the living room and Arnav kept walking.
"Arre Chotte tum kaha jaare?" Di asked, Arnav looked angrily at her.
"Di I have some work I need to take care of. I'll see you all at home." He turned to look at Khushi and then walked out. Khushi simply made a face and went to go take her presents in her room. Payal came and helped her. When in their old room Payal confronted Khushi.
"What did you say to Bhai?" She asked and Khushi made a face.
"Jiji can we not talk about it? He got in a mood because I put up Salman Khan's photo. He's so jealous. Uff!" She groaned, Payal looked and then frowned.
"Tum nahi samjoge." Payal said and Khushi became confused, Payal passed Khushi a small present that was wrapped in silver shiny wrapping paper. It had a little card. Khushi lifted it and read it.
For my dearest wife,
thank you for making me the world's
happiest man. Tum sach mein meri
Khushi hoon.
Arnav.
Khushi felt slightly guilty just from the card but comforted herself knowing this present was probably a bag or a new saree or some new jewellery that he got his assistant to buy, the card was probably written by Aman too. She tore it open and tears welled in Khushi's eyes. It was a photo, not just any photo it was the two of them. It was an enlarged version of the family photo they'd taken on the day of the Haldi after the Havaan except he'd got it so that it was just the two of them, Khushi smiled as she saw the look of exasperation on Arnav's face in the photo as Khushi had forced her chooriyaan in his face. The frame was silver and covered in stars. On the back there was an engraving.
So that our baby can see how happy Mama and Pappa are.
The stars are so you can always speak to you're Umma and
Bauji. Here's to our fresh start full of love and happiness.
Khushi was stunned, he'd put so much thought into this, no wonder he got angry about that stupid photo, he probably assumed she wouldn't care about his present.
"Main kitne bewakoof hoon." Khushi complained. "Yeh Arnav neh likha taa?" Khushi asked Payal.
"Maine unki todhi si madaath khi lekin jazbaat aur idea unka tah." Payal said and Khushi began to tear up. She held the frame close to her heart.
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