Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?

Epilogue

And that is why, on the 25th of December 2021, Varun and Alia Dhawan are preparing to host their family celebrations. They'd decided to hold the festivities at their home this year because it only seems fitting to do so. They'd spent the day before decorating the house and cooking and baking while Shaheen and Rohan watched Ziana – or they were supposed to but had gotten into a flour-and-batter fight while they were baking and then side-tracked by certain other activities when they'd gone to get themselves cleaned up so had spent the night finishing off the preparations.

It was only ten minutes until their family was due to arrive when Alia realised they'd forgotten to get the presents out from the cupboard, leading them to their current situation.

'Varun, jaldi kar!' Alia calls up the stairs, attempting to get the presents from the hallway cupboard while balancing a three-month-old baby girl on her hip. A man with messy hair comes rushing down the stairs, taking the baby from her much to the child's delight. 'How long does it take you to get dressed?' she asks, smiling despite the exasperation in her tone.

'Sorry, I was trying to find my shirt.' he apologises, briefly taking his attention off of the baby in his arms before turning back to her. 'Yes I was.' he coos at her in a baby-voice, 'Because papa never remembers where he puts things.'

'Papa needs to learn to look after his stuff. Even Ziana keeps better track of things, don't you Zi?' Alia asks, tickling the baby's tummy and making her laugh.

'Well that's because Zi has mummy helping her.' Varun counters, sticking his tongue out.

'Oi, so do you. You just never pay attention when I tell you where your stuff is.' He can't exactly deny that so he gives a sheepish grin, making his wife laugh. 'You'd lose your head if it wasn't screwed on.' she jokes, earning an eye roll.

'Hey, I'm not that bad. After all, I didn't lose you.' he points out, making her crinkle her nose.

'Chi, so filmi!' she exclaims, hitting him on the chest with a laugh. 

'Meri jaan, might I remind you that we are literally the definition of filmi.' he deadpans.

'Okay yes, you have a point.' she concedes. 'But now, putting our filminess aside, go put Zi on her playmat and help me get the presents out.'

'Why didn't you put her on her playmat in the first place?' he questions, wondering why she had been trying to transport the gifts from the hall to the sitting room with the baby in her hand in the first place.

'Because I can't get the bloody thing to open.' she mutters, making him laugh and shake his head. But he does as she instructed and goes to put their daughter down before coming back to help her.

They get the last of the presents under the tree just as the door opens, it being open so they won't have to keep answering it, Rohit's voice sounding through the flat. 'Hello, anybody home?' Ziana begins to babble excitedly on hearing her chachu's voice, more because she knows that if her chachu is around Ahaan must be too.

'Sitting room!' Varun calls back, despite knowing that Ziana's excited noises will be enough to let them know that. Thirty seconds later, Rohit appears in the doorway, Ahaan in his hands, squirming to be put down with his partner in crime, and Jaanvi just behind him. He lets Ahaan down and moves forward to hug his brother and sister-in-law, setting down the bag of presents he'd been holding in the hand that hadn't been holding Ahaan. He moves aside to let Jaanvi greet them as well.

The greetings are just barely done when the door opens again, the sound of it closing followed closely by it opening again and voices sounding out.

Soon enough, the whole family is present and the festivities begin.

As they make their way from the kitchen to the sitting room after getting drinks, Alia can't help but think about how this time last year, she never would have imagined her life to be like this and says as much to her husband. He laughs and nods, pausing a moment to drop a kiss to her forehead before continuing on the way back to the sitting room. 'May not have thought we'd end up here but I wouldn't have it any other way.' he tells her as they reclaim their seats on the floor by the tree.

'Definitely.' she agrees, leaning into his side ashe wraps an arm around her shoulders. Maybe we're filmi and maybe we took the long way, but this is definitely worth it, she thinks as she watches their family, so worth it.  

A/N: so I know last time we said it was the end but we figured this deserved an epilogue so here's one last update for you all.

Once again, thanks to all of you who've stuck with us and we really hope you enjoyed this.

We'll see you real soon with another story that you'll hopefully like as much as this one.

For now, this is us, signing off.