A note for IF readers - please leave reviews. I'm aware I'm new to writing arshi fanfiction compared to other amazing writers writing from 10 years, but that shouldn't mean you'll stay silent, right? I update these on IF just for you all, so please reviews and thanks to all those who already do.
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Christmas and new year's celebrations were around the corner and so were kids' school vacations. Twins' first 6 months in pre-school were as eventful as they could be. While Arohi warmed up to the new environment and mingled with kids her age, Pari didn't show much interest. In the last week's parents-teacher meeting, their teacher gave a feedback to Arnav and Khushi about Pari. In their opinion, they would wait for another 6 months, but if Pari doesn’t show ‘improvement’ as a normal kid, from next year they would advise to shift Pari to a school for special kids.
.
While Khushi took it with right amount of concern and assurance, Arnav didn't like it. They were taking speech therapy from a well-known doctor, even a special teacher-Rashmi used to come to spend some time with Shriya and Arnav was convinced it was enough.
“My daughter will not go to any other school.” Arnav declared as soon as they were back home.
Khushi was taken aback. They had this conversation many times ever since they realized Pari was a slow learner. But she had hoped Arnav would not hinder their daughter's progress, whatever it took. Truth was, they both were trying the same thing, in different ways!
"Why Arnavji? Even if it is for her betterment? Why does it matter if she is sent to a school where she can learn as per her capability? Will you feel ashamed?” she asked, with a hint of sadness.
Now it was his time to be taken aback. He was misunderstood, and how!
“Of course not, I didn’t mean that Khushi, I can never be less proud of her. What I meant was, when people talk like that-“
“Humein koi farak nahi padta (I don’t care) about what people say. What I know she is a blessing, devi maiyya ka aashirwad in our lives, and I will always love her from her first breath to my last.”
“Hey. I know and I also feel the same, you know that too.” he sighed, “Fine, you're right. It doesn’t matter what others say, for us, she is our precious bundle of joy.”
"Good." she said, smiling at his reply and went into his arms.
--*--
Next day, Arnav's old friend from Harvard and Rucha's dad, Jatin visited them along with his wife Nisha, and a few guests. Actually, Jatin's elder brother was visiting him from Australia for Christmas break, and his wife Geetika who was a child psychologist was also with him, along with their son, Akhil.
The Raizada family welcomed them while kids loved to have more company to play with, in Rucha and Akhil. It was a pleasant evening with these guests, and everyone enjoyed a nice dinner and a lot of gupshup!
That was when Geetika who was observing Shriya(Pari) for a long time thought of something and asked Khushi,
"Khushi, how old are these cutie pies?"
Khushi smiled caressing pari's head and replied, "they will be 3 next month."
Geetika nodded and observed how Pari who hadn't spoken much, wasn't playing with rest of the kids, was keenly trying to fiddle with the Rubik cube that Akhil had brought. She of course couldn't solve it yet, but her concentration was marvelous. Geetika being a specialist in children's behavior had made a few mental notes and decided to talk to Pari's parents.
.
.
At first, Arnav and Khushi were surprised at how geetika could deduce about pari. But when she shared her background in this domain as well as her observations, they had no reason to not listen to her.
"I am pretty sure, she is not autistic, Khushi. While I am not 100% sure, I think she is showing signs of what we call an Einstein syndrome." and then she opened her mobile and showed them what it was about. Khushi wasn't much into getting all heavy words, but Arnav understood and was surprised too.
"I will suggest waiting for a few more months but yes, these kids need a lot attention and patience. I'll also say, keep talking to her. The more you talk, the more she will try to respond."
Arnav looked at Khushi, who gleefully nodded. She would do anything for her baby, this was just about patient one-sided talks, she could do this. Arnav too decided to give his best for his kid.
--*--
Next day onwards, Pari's parents started their mission "talks with Pari".
In the morning, when Arnav was getting her ready after her bath, he spoke to his bundle of joy, “Hey sweetheart. Good morning."
She didn't say anything.
Arnav sighed and continued, "Angel, I know you are trying your best. And I want you to know that I and your maa love you a lot. Whether you decide to speak more or not, whether you stay as amazing as you are or change, we will always love you. Like your maa said, from your first breath to our last.”
Pari was intently listening to her dad and kissed his cheek, as if she understood everything he said. Well, even if his words were more than her comprehension, the love in those words reached her heart…
.
.
Later that day, Khushi got ready for her special lunch date with her special baby! To begin with, she got dressed in Pari's favorite color saree, purple. Then, she made her daughter ready in a matching frock, did her hair and put a baby hair clip on her soft tresses.
Then, she set the lunch table in their bedroom, with all her baby's favorite food. Pari was a foodie like chiku and Khushi, so that was a plus!
And now, as Khushi excitedly started their date, all with a kiss on the cheek, which was duly reciprocated, Khushi's "date" got busy playing with a gota on Khushi's blouse! To better talk to her and feed her, Khushi had Pari on her lap.
She uncovered the dishes one by one, a plate of deliciously hot aloo paratha and bowl of curd(yogurt), an appetizer for miss little Raizada for which Khushi had gotten some colorful fryums(fried papad) and to make it more tempting and a wholesome date, piping hot jalebis were arranged on a separate dish.
But Pari was not in a mood to spare a glance.
Not giving up, Khushi started talking to her baby, "Pata hai Pari, aapki teacher humse kya keh rahi thi (Do you know Pari, what was your teacher telling me the other day)?"
Pari still didn't look at Khushi but she had stopped fiddling with the gota so Khushi knew she was listening.
"Keh rahi thi (she was telling me), 'Pari ki mamma, aapki pari toh thik se khati hi nahi hain' (Your pari doesn’t eat well)'." Khushi mock complained Pari's teacher's words, with a pout and Pari looked at her Maa finally. She got a matching pout too.
And then came a small, mumbling voice of Pari, repeating some words of what her Maa said, "khati hi nahi hai (she doesn’t eat)."
Khushi smiled, at least she had gotten Pari's interest now. So, she continued, "Humne bhi kaha, 'it's not possible teacher ji, hamara baccha toh bohot sayana hai (I told her, my baby is a good girl)'." And took a small piece of paratha and brought near Pari's mouth.
"shayana hai(is a good girl)." came another mumbling response and acceptance of that small morsel of paratha that khushi had gotten near her mouth.
A win. A good beginning, Khushi patted her back mentally.
“Bilkul(true). Usse pata hai ki agar usse strong banna hain toh khana toh khana hi padega(she knows if she wants to become stronger, she must eat).”
“khana hi palega(have to iit(eat))” came a sweet, small voice and acceptance of another bite.
Just then Arnav came there and looped his arms around Khushi's neck, and asked “kya kar raha hai mera baby(what's my baby doing)?”
Knowing pari won't reply Khushi did, "Pari is having a lunch date with her maa. And she is eating now. She has to become stronger like her dada. hai na baccha (right, baby)?" Khushi asked, and Pari rested her head against khushi's bosom.
Khushi looked at Arnav, smiling and assuring him that it was ok.
"My baby is already strongest. Right, angel?" Arnav asked Pari but she was happily playing with Khushi's hair here.
Arnav could have left them alone but truth be told, he was feeling a tiny bit FOMO, so he asked Khushi to let him take over the lunch date from here on, "Give her to me Khushi, tumhe baki kaam bhi hai na(you have other work too right)? tum jao (you go), I will feed her."
Khushi chuckled, "Arnavji, madam is in no mood to give us easy time today. Are you sure?"
"Haan. Jao. (Yes. Go)." came his usual commanding reply.
"Fine. I will be back in half hour. Agar nahi khatam nahi hua ho(if you can't feed her, then)-"
"What the-" he mumbled, but Khushi got up, and handed Pari to Arnav who took the reins of the date!
Arnav tried a lot to ask questions to her to get answers, but Pari wouldn't budge. He realized he had to follow Khushi's suit, start with one-sided talks, "Hey. It's all about random talks, right? I can also talk like your maa."
Pari looked at him for a second, giving him confidence, "So, I - urmm- I was going to jogging and I-" but soon, he realized he can't talk about mundane things as much easily as Khushi could. He gave up that train of thought and was about to call Khushi, when he realized something. Wait a minute, he couldn't talk about random stuff, but he could talk about AR! His work, right?
Smiling at his own 'Awesome' idea, he began, "So Pari, you know, next week is our AGM- annual general meeting. It is VERY important."
And that did it! She apparently got interested.
"genelal (general) meeting, vely(very) imoltant(important)." she repeated, making him even more proud.
He continued as he tore a piece of paratha dipped it in curd and brought near her mouth, “Yes. So, I was going over the reports from all our branches today. Guess what, south and west India has reported 10% more profit.” she accepted it
“10 pelcent pofit” came her sweet voice, unlike his serious one :P
“Exactly. So, I told Aman, if our Mumbai branch can deliver this, why isn’t Delhi looking like that? Why can’t north India deliver the same. Right?”
“light(right).” came her response, taking another bite of food from his hands. If only, they knew, this same girl was not only going to head all these meeting exactly 20 years later, as a fresh Harvard grad but also step in Arnav's shoes eventually!
He wiped the curd from her lips with the pad of his thumb, one more habit of khushi’s he had acquired over the years. If this was Arnav from 12 years ago, he would have looked for paper napkins frantically at this point. But from the moment he had seen Khushi effortlessly, casually wipe he mouth as she fed him pani puri that day in Lakshmi nagar, he had realized the sweetness of that gesture. It wasn’t just wiping any person’s mouth; it was taking care of that one person you love and wouldn’t hesitate to do anything for them.
Eventually that ‘one person’ bracket expanded to 4 as their 3 munchkins made place for themselves in that exclusive VIP lounge of his and khushi’s hearts…
.
.
The lunch dates that began that day, continued for many weeks, sometimes extending to dinner dates, sometimes involving Pari's Chiku and Aru, and Teddy!
Although, the future had them eventually agree to home-school her from next June, this gave her much needed boost to go on for another few months in that school...
--*--
A/N – so here goes a chapter for Pari. I know a lot of you keep waiting for her glimpses and I hope you liked this one :) Also, a very important thing to note is, arnav and khushi don’t know yet that pari will grow up to be a fine young lady. Their love for her is beyond any abilities/disabilities their kid may or may not have. There are many kids who are differently abled, and their parents love them just as much. We all should appreciate that. I know you all do, your love for pari shows me that. I just want us to love her for what she is NOW, including her current condition and her innocent love filled heart ❤
Anyway. I thought to end the year with a chapter of this cutie pie. Please let me know if you liked it.
I will see you all in 2023 now, with much more arshi love and continued glimpses of their blissful life <3. Wish you all a very happy new year! Love and happiness for you and your loves ones. 💕 Take care.
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Shilpi @shils28
+ 2
1 years ago
Lovely chapter!! ❤️❤️I agree.. Talking is the first step.. and now my kiddo talks non stop 😂