Continued from last chapter..
"Aapne hamare bacche ka dil dukhaya hain Arnavji aur ye baat humein bilkul acchi nahi lagi (you have hurt my son Arnavji and I wouldn't take it lightly)" She said in a stern voice.
"Khushi itni badi baat bhi nahi hain wo samajh jayega.(Its not a big deal, he will be fine). In fact see what happened to my laptop and my papers, its all messed up. He needs to behave like a grownup-" Arnav continued his tirade as he was inspecting his laptop and how much damage was caused to it. But Khushi only concentrated on his words.
"Kya ho gaya hain Arnav ji aapko? (what's wrong with you Arnavji)? I am actually confused whether I should laugh or cry hearing you right now. Your laptop? Are you the same Arnavji who has changed his phones and laptops at least 20 times since the birth of his kids? Are you same Kavish's papa who argued with me every time I complained about how Chiku was breaking things? Are you the same man who had to pay a huge bill of electronics shops every time Chiku visited your office because he broke countless number of display TVs, employee laptops and gadgets? And your IT team handed you a huge bill to approve so they could replace all that? And you smilingly signed all that EVERY TIME, in fact arguing with ME that your son was allowed to all that? This was when he was actually a baby, 2-3 years-old Chiku who didn't understand what he was doing. But now, even you must agree he is so well behaved. In fact he stayed here and was cleaning the mess instead of running away, didn't he? aapko bhi pata hain Chiku ne jaan bujh kar nahi kiya hoga, and kiya bhi hota toh since when did you start shouting at your kids like that? Kya ho gaya hai aapko?" Khushi had so much to say, so many questions to ask that she was finding hard time gathering all her thoughts and she had to take deep breath to compose herself when she heard him next.
"Kavish is grown up now Khushi and I was just-"
"Ek minute. Grown up? Saadhe paanch saal ka baccha hain wo (he is 5 and half years-old-kid). Humein yakeen nahi ho raha hain humein ye aapse kehna pad raha hai. (I cant believe I have to say this, I had never thought I will have to fight with you for our kids). But let me remind you few things then. Uske birth se start karte hain. When he was born, you got so possessive that you didn't even let the nurse carry him for his checkup, insisting they do it in front of you, this is the same Chiku who kept me awake for nights to feed him, to change his diapers or sometimes just because he was cranky, and you sat by me until he slept, at times not sleeping a wink for a whole night. This is the same son of yours who was down with chickenpox and you stayed with him even when you had risk of having it and then had it but your bore all that pain with a smile as if it was a trivial matter. Do you remember when I and Chiku visited you few weeks before twins were born and he was naughtiest best? You remember how he spilled something on one of your model's dress and when she said something to him making him cry, you canceled not only her contract but her agency's too? You completed his every wish even before he said it, you understand his every emotion even before he puts it in words. Then what happened now?" Khushi completed the jog down the memory lane and looking at a stunned Arnav, hoped she succeeded.
"I- I still do. In fact, since I could not go with him for that movie, I have ordered a brand new 50 inch TV for his room and I-"
"Stop. Arnavji, how do I make you understand? You splurging on him is not the issue, issue is you are missing out on showing your love to him, sharing your time with him. Having money is not bad thing, its your hard earned money and our kids are lucky that their father can afford so many things for them but its your time that is precious. Don't you know how his eyes shine with happiness whenever he shares some cricket related news with you? Don't you see how he comes running to you whenever his favorite team wins and he wants to celebrate with his papa? What do you call... with a hi5 right? Can't you see that ever since Aru and Pari are born, he has taken the role of being a bhaiyya so wonderfully? But does that mean we put so much weight on his little shoulders? He is a baby too arnavji. Just a few years older than our girls but he needs us every bit too" Khushi's own eyes had watered as she finished her long speech there. And looking at a thoughtful Arnav, she decided to share that one last bit too. Sitting on the edge of their bed, she looked at him who was standing near the door overlooking the poolside,
"You know what he asked me a few days ago? He asked me if his papa not love him anymore." As soon as soon Khushi told him this, she wished she didn't. Because Arnav's face reflected so much pain at that time. He loved kavish she knew, but that's why she wanted him to know what was going on in their son's mind
"what? Khushi I....I mean, I..how? I love him Khushi, I love him so much. He is my baby!" Arnav was trying to find right words but there was so much on his mind.
After a few moments of stunned silence, Arnav took small steps towards Khushi, who was sitting on the bed. He sat on the ground and kept his head on her lap. Her hands instinctively went to his hair, trying to calm his pained heart. She knew it was hard for him, especially when he took so much pride in the fact that no one could hurt his kids. And she knew he didn't do anything deliberately. That's why she had to swallow the bitter pill and help him.
"What should I do now Khushi? he is my lifeline too like Aru, Pari and you are. Kya karu main?"
"Shh. Pehle shaant ho jaiye (calm down first). And I know aapki jaan basti hain aapke baccho mein (your life resides in your kids). Aap sab thik kar denge hmm?" she cared his hair and bent down to kiss his forehead.
"how?" he asked looking for some clues
"Ye hum aap par chodenge. My work was to make you aware of what was happening, but how to win your son's heart again is something I will leave on you. Because I know, no one can do a better job at it than you." She said smiling looking down at him and he too smiled but kept lying there.
After a few more moments, she suddenly remembered something, "by the way, a new TV for kids' room? Arnav ji our house has 3 TVs already, one in our room, one in jiji's and one in the hall. Do you plan to make Shantivan a tv showroom?"
He laughed a little, finally it seemed like they assumed their original roles, him spoiling the kids and her reprimanding his ways.
"yeah, we'll talk about that. First let me go see my baby and make it upto him. And no, I am not talking about the TV" he said getting up. She too got up.
He stopped in his track, as he had almost reached the door to go look for Kavish, "Khushi?"
"Hmm?"
"I love you dammit." their trademark professing way, making Khushi smile.
"Hum bhi aapse I love you dammit. Ab jaiye aapke bete ko sambhaliye" she said walking to him and lightly pushing him out of the room.
Later that night, as Arnav carried his sleeping son in his arms to their room, he made a resolve to make it upto his baby! Kavish had fallen asleep in Payal's room when Arnav reached there, apparently Nani and Payal coaxed him to eat and he dozed off later.
"I love you beta." he said to a sleeping Kavish and Khushi sighed. Looked like Arnavji would have wait until morning to hear a reply from their child.
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A/N – Updated sooner as promised. My Thanksgiving gift to you all. this year, I am thankful for finally watching IPKKND, finding my love for ArShi, SaRun & for having you readers. May this love stay hamesha. amen.
This chapter was mainly about arshi talking about parenting their eldest. So I don't want to take focus away from it. Next one will be more light hearted as ASR makes it upto Kavish. Also, I might squeeze in a chapter of Khushi's birthday in between too, I missed it during September (as per show's timelines it was shown a month before the remarriage to I'm guessing sometime early September and then we'll have ASR's birthday too. They showed such a sad birthdays for our arshi, that I wanted to say urghhh.)
anyhow, how was this chapter? and pls dont forget to vote and comment. 🤗😇