Arnav was working from home that afternoon and Khushi had asked him if he could look after their sleeping child while she made a quick trip to her office in Gupta foods. This was one task he would happily take any day!
A sound of sweet laughter pulled his attention and he watched as his angel, Pari was smiling in her sleep. It was clear that she was having some pleasant dream...the sight of her smiling face brought a smile on his too.
He bent to peck her downy head and as he did that, she reached out to hold his collar in her small fist, just like her mother! And then, she blessed him with another huge grin, all through with her eyes tightly closed and her being fast asleep! God, bless her dreams! These were the moments that made an atheist like him, pray!
.
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His own dreams though were not so pleasant. For a long time of his teenage and through early adulthood, he detested sleeping, if possible. Because almost every other night, he was haunted by a certain nightmare of the day his mother took her own life, and how he found her lying in a pool of her blood! A scene so horrible that he would feel suffocated and then wake up, panting.
He had been considering talking to a doctor but around the same time, an angel named Khushi landed in his life. With her presence, she not only dominated his mind when he was awake but also when he was sleeping! She had starred in so many rather elaborate dreams, that there was no space left for any nightmare.
However, still he occasionally had them during their first year of being married...and then that too had slowly faded away.
--*--
When Arnav mentioned about Pari's dream and her holding his collar in sleep, to Khushi that night, she smiled as she knew exactly what he was talking about. Unlike her outspoken son Chiku or her demanding daughter Arohi, Pari was different in expressing love. But that didn't mean she did not know about affection. And then again, when had any language become a barrier between a child and a parent to understand exactly what they mean? Also, watching her babies smile in their sleep as they had dreams was one of her own favorite time too.
But then there were times, when they had nightmares as well...
She remembered when recently Aru had one, around the time when she had taken a stigma of going to school.
*Flashback from a week ago*
Aru had woken up crying one morning and calling for her when Khushi hurriedly reached near her, "mamma, you left me alone" Aru was crying in half asleep state. She was still adjusting to being away from her parents in school and the nightmares that they left her alone somewhere would bother her
"nahi shona, hum yahi hain, dekho (No shona, I am here, see)?"
"you left me..." she said, thrashing her hands and legs and crying more
"shh. sorry beta, mamma is so sorry." Khushi said, trying to calm her down as aru was still crying, shaken from her nightmare of being left alone somewhere
"i was sh-shcared (scared)" she said, not opening her eyes, neither paying a heed that her mother was here and had taken her in her arms
"I know, I know, bass beta. shh. i am so sorry, mamma is sorry. Please don't cry?" Khushi tried again and again, kissing her, soothing her and finally Aru opened her sleepy, tear-filled eyes
"then...there... a monster came." she said with fear evident there
"Aru, no one is here hmm? aap mamma ki godh mein ho (you are in mamma's lap). bass abhi (stop crying now)." khushi said wiping her baby's tear-filled face and sweat beads and somehow khushi made her sleep.
*End of flashback*
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And then there were Chiku's dreams which were mostly dominated by sports and adventures!
*Flashback from a year ago*
"Mamma, you know what I saw in dream last night?"
"Kya dekha baby (what did you see)?" Khushi said, bringing a morsel of roti-sabzi near his mouth, as it was his lunch time too. But he was dramatically explaining his dream from last night, with wide eyes and hand gestures. Chiku is such a drama queen!!!
"I saw that we were all astronauts, and we had a HUGEEE spaceship (he said spreading his arms to show how big it was), you know like that movie- mamma, are you listening?" Khushi got distracted for a bit and he did not like that
"haan Chiku, I am listening, but you also have to eat." Khushi said, as she made him have spoonful of soup in between
"yes, but suno toh. We had a spaceship, like in Avengers (a marvel movie) and then, we took a stop at Mooooon (Moon) (he said with full drama effect). and you know what? I had also carried my cricket kit. and then I started playing cricket there and you were also there." he said with an excited tone making her chuckle
"accha? what was I doing?" she asked curiously
"You brought jalebis for me." he said with a huge grin
"hahaha samajh gaye(understood). I know what you are trying to do. Aapko jalebi chahiye right (you want jalebis)? (Chiku nodded) Mil jayegi (you will get it) but finish your roti-sabzi first."
"But mamma." he whined
"No chiku." Khushi said firmly and made him eat another bite of roti.
and after he finished his lunch, as promised she brought piping hot jalebis for him, and he munched on them gladly!
*End of flashback*
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Khushi's own dreams though used to be very weird. They were not scary as Arnav's which was surprising since she too had lost her parents in a horrible way. But maybe unlike him, her last memories associated with them being alive were pleasant ones!
But then, her dreams were always bizarre!
Like, when she was little, she often had a dream of a house made of jalebis, where even the roof and walls were made of jalebis and whenever she felt like, she could eat one off the wall! yeah, bizarre! This dream had made appearances a few times even after she grew up...
Then, she once had a dream that she was starring in a movie, and her co-star was Shahrukh Khan! Now why would she star in movie and if at all she did, why would it be SRK and not her one n only Salman Khan? She had no answer. She of course never mentioned of this to Laad governor or else he would never let her watch any movie at all. That thought made her chuckle.
.
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"Hey, bacche so gaye hain (kids have fallen asleep), I am going to our room, ok?" Arnav's whispering near her ear followed by a peck on her cheek broke her trance. They were in kids' room, and she didn't even realize when her tired monkeys had surrendered to sleep...
Khushi kissed her kids goodnight as she tucked them in their fluffy blankets and then dimmed the lights in their room. Before stepping out to her own sapno ki duniya, she sent a quick prayer up, "Hamare bacchon ki sapno ki duniya hamesha aabad rakhna Devi Maiyya (please bless my kids' dream world with abundance), please let them always have only happy dreams!"
--*--
A/N - no prizes for guessing what inspired this chapter. If you are a reader of bikhre moti, you know by my latest SS there :D Btw, do you know 'sleep analysis' is a full-fledged branch in psychology and a lot of scientific research is done on dreams in many universities?
p.s. the fact that CSD has stalkers is not a secret to me, but I didn't know we had from other fandoms too and they get inspired from CSD, I saw a popular show's fans using chiku's name for their leads' baby too 😃 I wish we had a copyright over Chiku as I am very possessive of him (and I guess, so are most of you :D)
p.p.s. starting mid-July until Aug-end, updates will be rare if at all. I will try to finish a couple of requests from Jenny and Mahima before that. Please stay tuned.