The birds chirped around the Palace gardens painted in a hue of green and colours scattered around in the form of blooming buds.
"Mumma yaar! Addy is crying again! Isko kitni bhook lagti hai?!" A frustrated eleven year old Vedansh grumbled at behind the closed doors of his parents. Sighing again, Arunaditya silently got up. Kissing his wife's forehead and getting into another tshirt of his, he opened the door at a frowning Vedansh.
"Kitni baar bolu aapko? Mumma and papa aren't your yaar?" He lightly smacked the back of Vedansh's head who swatted away his father's hand.
"Ek kabaab mein haddi kam tha jo Sanskriti ko ek aur laana tha. Mere romance ki to dhajiya udaa ke rakh di hai inn dono bhaaiyon ne." Arunaditya grumbled as he took the crying 9 months old in his arm. Patting at his back gently, he cooed to make him go back to sleep. Sanskriti had fed him and went back to sleep only half an hour ago. There was no way he was hungry again. His body temperature seemed to be normal too. This was a clear sign his younger son had no problems to be dealt with, except annoying his parents and get his elder sibling's attention.
"Papa, you got wrinkles here." Vedansh squinted his eyes as he pointed at his father's forehead. Gasping in shock, Arunaditya ran towards the mirror assessing if his son's proclamation were correct. Nonetheless, he was thirty three and in no mood of wrinkles for now.
"Those aren't wrinkles! Those are just creases." Arunaditya pacified himself. Vedansh rolled his eyes at his father's antics and sprinted off to his mother. Gently opening the door, he peeped in. He really didn't wanted to disturb if his mother was catching some sleep after a tiresome night of looking after the baby of the house. As predicted, indeed Sanskriti was in a deep slumber.
Without uttering a word, Vedansh gently lifted the blanket and got into his mother's open embrace. Reflexively, Sanskriti cuddled with her son. No matter what, he'll always be Sanskriti and Arunaditya's favourite because he was their first child. The first one to call them parents. They had a constant fear of Ved taking legal actions against Vedansh's custody. Even though they were sure they would win, the legal procedures would drain the life out of their innocent child. However, Vedansh knew his sperm donor would never return to the palace. He carried the deepest secrets of that day- the reason of Ved's sudden departure.
Vedansh was lost in his thoughts when he heard the sound of click resonate through the room. Looking around, he saw his father clicking their photos on his phone. He got a brilliant idea then and there.
The idea of preserving memories. The next day, he sneaked out of the palace through the secret passages of the garden and bought himself a scrapbook. In the wee hours of the night, he used to paste the pictures of his favourite memories and write a short synopsis about everything.
"Mumma! What do we call sindoor in english?" He would ask his mother's help in translating words and correcting syntaxes out of the blue these days. Sanskriti didn't mind. She was happy with Vedansh trying to expand his vocabulary.
"Vermillion." She answered as she put her younger son on her shoulder and gently pat him on his back to make him burp.
"Isn't that sevayiaan? The one people eat on Eid?" Vedansh asked in confusion.
"That's vermicelli." Sanskriti answered patiently.
"So confusing." Vedansh muttered under his breath as he continued to chew the end of his pencil, trying hard to find the perfect words he would like to add in the scrapbook.
"Vedansh, don't chew the end of the pencil, little lion!" Sanskriti gave him a pointed look to which the former gave a sheepish smile.
Arunaditya, on the other hand, stood near the door as he had a smile of satisfaction on his face. He couldn't be more thankful to the almighty for being gracious and blessing him with a complete family despite all his cowardly mistakes he made all those years ago. But looking at the past with a positive aspect, Arunaditya was thankful for being blessed with Vedansh even if he had to loose ten precious years with the love of his life. At the end, he was happy and had a feeling of being complete.
Indeed, the almighty is the best planned. The Fate's Connection would always pull you towards the right one at the right time.
~•~•~
The End.