Mayur FF:Last Thing I expected Chapter34Page32 - Page 23

arghhhhhhhhh yes!!!!!!!!
neevs back with mayur!!!!!!!!!!
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

hey kainath i have edited my post on pg 28.

awesome part please update soonn !~

Chapter 34

Neev looked up from the meeting he was having with his two dinosaurs, Rosie and Posey, when his father walked into his room.

"Hi, Daddy," Neev said.

"What are you up to, Neev?" Mayank asked as he took a seat on the small bed.

"Talking to Rosie and Posey. We're getting ready for when Harsh comes over to play," Neev explained.

"Big plans, then?"

"Maybe," Neev shrugged, a small smile on his face. "We're going to play a lot of games."

"Your mother is making a surprise for the two of you," Mayank smiled.

"Cookies?!" Neev squealed.

"Maybe."

"I think it's cookies. Mummy always makes me cookies when I've been a good boy, and haven't I been a good boy, Daddy?"

"You've been great," Mayank said. "I'm very proud of you."

"Unca Ajay said that he's going to get me any toy I want," Neev told his dad, walking up to him and climbing up into his lap. "Dadi said that Unca Ajay is a softie. What's a softie?"

Mayank laughed and hugged his son tight. "That just means that your grandfather loves you very much."

"Oh, me too!" Neev said. "Where are my cookies?"

"Go find your mum and you'll find out."

Neev was out of his father's lap in an instant, shooting off into the hallway and calling for his mother. He found her in the living room, reading an educational journal and sipping a mug of tea. "I have a surprise?"

Nupur looked up and smiled at him. "Yes, but you have to wait until Harsh comes over."

Neev pouted and walked sluggishly over to the couch. "Fine. Can I have a bigger piece of cookie than Harsh?"

"I think you should have an equal piece," Nupur told him. "Now, go tell your father to stop ruining my surprises or he won't get any cookies."

Neev laughed. "Daddy's gonna be in trouble!" He ran off to find his father and share the horrific news. No cookies! How dreadful!

Nupur laughed and settled back to her reading, her mind drifting over to how happy she was. Really, no one should be as happy as she currently was. It had been a week since Neev was brought back to them, since they were made whole again. That entire week had been filled with visitors to their flat, which included Shilpa having to practically be dragged out of the flat by her brother when all she wanted to do was sit and be with her grandson for many, many hours.

Neev was constantly happy, always seeking out his mother and father for a hug and kiss if they didn't seek him out first. He was back at home where he belonged and no one was going to take him away from his family again.

Uday and Benji had received an anonymous donation to their upcoming joke-shop, a very big one that could really have only come from one source. They tried to thank Mayank, but he pretended he had no idea what they were talking about. The second donation was even bigger and when they told Mayank that they were beyond grateful and didn't really need it, he told them he had nothing to do with any second donations. The source of the second donation would never be revealed to anyone, and Ajay would want to keep it that way.

After the second week Neev had been home, Sonali had offered to take him out for lunch, because she complained that she never got to hang out with him one-on-one. It was a bright Saturday in late August and after lunch, Neev and Sonali walked through the streets of Mumbai, giggling at random things and racing each other from different points.

"Can we see Unca Benji and Unca Uday at their store?" Neev asked as they looked through the window of Haldirams.

"Sure," Sonali replied, taking his small hand in hers as they crossed the street. "Would you like to get some ice cream afterwards?"

"YES!" Neev said, squeaking in excitement.

They made their way over to Uday and Benji's and entered the store behind a group of movers. Sonali wove them through the crowded room towards the back where Uday stood at the register with the secretary ringing up items.

"Unca Uday!" Neev screamed over the noise. "Hi!"

"Neev!" Uday smiled. "Come on back here. Are you babysitting Miss Sonali today?"

"No, that's silly!" Neev giggled up at Miss Sonali who smiled back.

"Hi, Neev, how are you?" the secretary, asked.

"I'm fine," Neev said. "Can I talk to Unca Uday and Unca Benji in private?"

She smiled at him and nodded. Uday leaned over the counter and picked Neev up, making airplane noises to offset Neev's laughs. "Let's go find that wayward friend of mine, shall we?"

They found Benji in the backroom stacking boxes and checking the inventory. "You got a second there, Benji? We have some serious business over here with Neev."

Benji peeked around a stack of boxes and smiled over at them. "Serious business is my second favorite type of business."

Uday set Neev down on a box and leaned against the wall to listen to the young boy. Benji walked over to where they were and gave Neev a handshake, the ones where Neev's whole body shook. After the little boy stopped giggling, he stood up and reached into his pocket.

Benji and Uday watched Neev pull out two 10 rupee notes and a 50 rupee note. "Can I buy something?"

"Oh, mate, you know you don't have to pay for anything here," Uday said.

Neev shook his head and held out the three notes to the twins. "I want to buy the stuff for Annie's stinky clothes. I don't want her to be sad and mad of me anymore."

The two men stared at Neev for a long while, watching his wide eyes look back at them unwaveringly. "You want to buy her the antidote?"

"You said that she can buy the stuffs to make her not stinky from your store. I want to buy them for her, and then Daddy or Mummy can send them to her so that she can stop being sad."

"But Annie was horrible to you," Benji explained.

"She wasn't horrible all of the time," Neev said. "She gave me Posey, and she gave me an ice cream once. Jello played a game with me with some pretty cards, and I won the game! I don't know if I have enough moneys to buy the stuff for Annie. Maybe Daddy can give you some more if I don't have it all."

They exchanged a glance with each other, always surprised with what came out of that kid's mouth.

"Can I buy the stuffs?" Neev asked again.

"Of course you can, mate," Uday sighed. "We'll send them over to her on an overnight post."

"Thank you, Unca Uday! Thank you, Unca Benji!" Neev happily said, hugging their legs. He opened his hand and offered them the money. "Don't tell Annie that I buyed the stuffs for her stinky clothes. I wanna be it a surprise!"

"You can keep your money, mate and buy yourself a big, big ice cream," Benji said.

Neev thought about this for a moment. "But I'm a big boy, and I can pay at the store by myself."

"I can't take money from him with a clean conscience," Benji whispered to Uday. "He's killing me here."

"Okay Neev, you can pay all by yourself," Uday said, leading the boy out of the backroom out into the store. "The price will be ten rupees."

Neev looked down at his hand and frowned.

"It's the shorter one, mate," Benji said from behind him.

Neev picked up a silver coin and handed it to Uday once they reached the register. "Don't forget about our secret, Unca Uday, Unca Benji!"

Uday nodded and slipped Sonali the note and waited for Neev to become busy with putting his money back in his pockets for him to lean over and tell Sonali to give Neev the money back discreetly.

The men watched the little boy and Sonali leave the store. "He sure knows how to take you on a guilt trip," Benji complained as they went back to work. "Makes me almost want to go apologize to that cow over in Delhi."

"Almost being the key word," Uday smiled.

_______________________________________________________________________

She sat quietly on the bed, rocking her left knee back and forth. Behind her, the classical radio station was spurning out its latest obsession with the old favourite Moonlight Sonata. When will he come? CJ said the paper work won't take long…is he stuck in traffic? But today's Wednesday…today should be fairly manageable.

Just then, the wind chimes at the doorway burst into a melodious rendition, signaling the arrival of her husband. She took a deep breath, went through her speech once more in her head and recorded a mental note not to look too happy. She stood and sat right back down again, is this the best way? No maybe this dress isn't right…or is it? Am I giving off the right vibe? I hope – hang on a sec…Vibe? This is what you're thinking of Nupur Mayank Sharma? What the hell is wrong with you? The most impor- here he comes now…act sane.

"He's sleeping right now, I just checked. Hugging his dear ol' Rosie, as usual," he chuckled. "It's as though he never left, Nupur. God, I missed him terribly. But at least he's back with us, his real family where he belongs, right?"

She couldn't help but smiling. Smiling at the fact that they'd just gotten their beloved son back. Their son. Mayank and her son. How wonderful that sounded to her ears! He gazed at her with such enormous affection in his eyes she couldn't help but wonder why the last five years had even happened. Silly misunderstandings and miscommunication had torn them apart. Not any more. Never will I let anything ruin what I have now, Nupur thought determinedly.

She stepped closer to him. "Yes Mayank. Neev belongs here. With you and me. Mayank, I…I just wanted to say…to say that how happy I am with, with the three of us, like this together. I know they've been horrid errors in our relationship in the past, but we've worked on it, and now…now Mayank it's just magic! And I never ever want this magic to diminish. Being here with you, with my darling Neev, being part of this family it's…it's so overwhelming and I never expected such love -"

"Nupur," he cut in. She went silent immediately.

He could hardly process it all. There was only one thing about which he was absolutely positive. "Come here," he murmured. She frowned, and worry bounced off every nook and cranny of her face.

"W-what?"

"Come here," he insisted. She stepped over to him hesitantly. He reached out and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her closer.

"What are you doing?" she protested, alarmed.

And she called him clueless. "Heaven's toe, Nupur, what does it look like I'm doing?" But instead of giving her a chance to answer, he yanked her even closer and he closed his eyes and he kissed her.

It was soft and warm and welcoming, it was his nose mashing up against her little, freckled one, it was familiar and comforting, it was the best of the past and the best yet to come, it was hands in hair and hips to hips, it was tongues and lips and flushed cheeks, it was permission and a promise — it was Mayank and Nupur.

When they broke apart, Nupur looked up at Mayank and gave a breathless giggle. He grinned widely. "I love you so much," he told her confidently. She only laughed and hugged him tightly, pressing her face into his shirt. Her next words were muffled.

"What's that, love?"

"I said," she pulled the slightest bit away from him and looked into his face again, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that it took so long," she whispered. "I'm sorry that I was so difficult, that I would hardly even let you pursue the possibility of future for you and me, when it was what I wanted all along. And I'm sorry I let that woman break us up so easily. I know you're wondering why I brought this up now, but Mayank, our 'contract marriage' is ending soon and I wanted to clear any other ridiculous notions between us before we embark upon our new life." She hugged his waist and buried her face in his neck.

When they broke apart for a second time, he replied slowly, in all seriousness, "I'm sorry too Nupur. Sorry for the last five years. But now I have you and I want nothing else. You were always the best pursuit I could have ever gone on."

She answered him with a bruising kiss, pausing only to whisper something to him. He tore his lips from hers and held her an arms length away, staring at her with popping eyes. "Did you — Did you just tell me you're pregnant?"

She only grinned.

He gaped at her. "With a baby?"

"No Mayank, with a hippo!" she couldn't keep the sarcastic remark to herself. He looked alarmed. "Yes, Mayank," she said, taking his hand. "With a baby."

"A baby?"

"Yes, Mayank."

"As in a tiny little person?"

"Yes, Mayank."

"In you? A tiny little person is in you?"

"Yes, Mayank."

"So we're going to have a baby? A little baby?"

"Yes, Mayank."

He paused, looking around the room and her apprehension grew. He wasn't really unhappy about this, was he? I thought he wanted this...why does he look...hyper? Is it in a bad way though?

"Really, like, you're really going to have a baby?"

"Yes, Mayank!"

He simply stared at her. She suddenly wanted to cry. She had been nervous about telling him, but she had always thought that he would be happy. He couldn't possibly be upset? Just some time back he had wanted a baby! They were planning it!

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl? I mean I know you probably don't know, but do you have a feeling? Do women have those feelings? You know, where they just know what gender the baby is? What do you want? A boy or a girl? Do you care? Do you have any names picked out? Do you have any names in mind? I have some names! Want to hear them? We don't have to use them though. Do you think the baby will have black, curly hair like yours? I love your hair. Do you think it'll be a little girl with jet-black hair? Or maybe a boy? Oh, we need to paint a nursery! Should we turn the guest bedroom into a nursery? We have two spare rooms . . . which should we use? I think the one next to Neev's, don't you think? What colour do you want to paint it?"

Nupur felt the laughter bubbling in her chest as relief washed over her, and soon she began to laugh, her face breaking into a smile without instruction. He was shining at her happily, a boyish grin on his face as he rambled on and on about babies. He was happy. He was excited.

"Oh I'm so happy you're this happy Mayank!" she told him. His response was to grab her and pull her into his lap, smothering her in kisses.

"I'm going to have a baby, Nupur! I'm going to be a dad! We're going to be a bigger family! Of course I'm happy!" A moment later he knelt to the ground and had lifted up her shirt and was — sticking his head under it?

She let out a girlish giggle as she felt his mouth moving against her stomach. "HELLO BABY!" It took her a moment to realize he was actually speaking to her stomach. "HOW ARE YOU, BABY? THIS IS YOUR DADDY, BABY! I LOVE YOU, BABY! BABY, WHAT GENDER ARE YOU?" After years of living in a constant state of loneliness, a state where happiness was a rare occurrence, the feeling of absolute happiness that enveloped her now was somewhat unfamiliar. Still delightful all the same. She wanted to freeze it, to be able to keep it and cherish it and bring it out at the worst of times.

She laughed, and she didn't know if it was because his mouth tickled as it moved against her stomach, or because he was now asking, "BABY, WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOUR? DO YOU WANT TO PLAY CRICKET, BABY? OF COURSE YOU DO!" Why would she have to capture the moment for the worst of times, when life couldn't possibly go downhill?

___________________________________________________________________________

"Nupur!" Mayank yelled from the kitchen. "Get the door, please!"

Nupur looked up from the laundry and put down a folded shirt on the edge of the bed. She passed by Neev's room where she heard Neev and Harsh playing swords, or Dragon fight, or some other crazy game only they understood.

She poked her head into the kitchen to find Mayank putting away the dishes and trying to mop the floor at the same time. He was having no luck. She kept going past the kitchen and opened the front door to Shilpa and Ajay, looking their best in their well-tailored clothes, as was usual of course.

"Nupur, darling," Shilpa greeted her daughter-in-law. "How are you?"

She hugged her quickly and floated into the house. Ajay tilted his head politely in Nupur's direction. Typical.

"I'm fine, Maa," Nupur said, closing the door and walking with them to the living room. "How are the two of you? Are you excited about your trip Maa?"

Shilpa shrugged delicately. "It should be fun. My tour of the Mediterranean with friends is always nice."

"Let me go tell Mayank that you're here," Nupur said and walked to the kitchen.

Shilpa turned to Ajay and smiled as she looked down. "I see you've been using my hand moisturizer Bhai," she told him.

Ajay raised an eyebrow. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"Really, you could use the one that doesn't have the glitter in it if you're going to try to be sneaky," she said with a straight face.

He jerked his hand and looked at it. Discovering no glitter, he turned a glare to his younger sister. "I didn't use the one with glitter."

She burst into soft laughter. "Oh, Bhai, you crack me up."

He rolled his eyes, but she caught the slight smile on his face right as Mayank and Nupur walked back into the living room. Ajay's manicuring tendencies could wait.

The younger couple was holding hands, causing Ajay to roll his eyes once again and nearly gag. Lovesick puppies. Makes me sick.

Mayank walked to the couch to greet his mother and shake hands with his uncle.

"We're glad you came," he said, taking a seat across from them in an armchair.

"We're always happy to, sweetheart," Shilpa said.

"We actually have some news," Nupur said, taking a seat in the armchair next to Mayank's.

"You're separating?" Shilpa asked with a horrified gasp. "I mean, I know today is supposed to be the day you two were supposed to end your marriage, but I thought you loved each other and Neev has only been back for two weeks. You can't do this to him. You two are so perfect together…"

"Shilpa!" Ajay snapped. "Good Lord, woman, close your mouth for a minute."

She gave him a cold look and turned back quickly to Nupur and Mayank.

"Maa, where on earth do you get your ideas?" Mayank asked.

"Just tell us," Shilpa whined uncharacteristically.

Mayank looked to Nupur and she smiled. "Well, I just came back from visiting my father," she started to say.

"MUMMY AND DADDY ARE GOING TO GIVE ME A LITTLE BROTHER OR SISTER!!" Neev's yell came from the entryway of the living room.

Four heads turned in his direction where he stood with Harsh. He was smiling at them, and Harsh was giggling behind his hand. "Let's go play ninja dogs!"

"Okay!" Neev readily agreed. "I get to be the troll this time!"

The two boys ran off giggling down the hallway where they had come from, as if they hadn't just ruined such a momentous moment.

"Was he joking?" Shilpa broke the silence first.

Nupur smiled. "No. He was telling the truth."

"I was beginning to think you were shooting blanks there, Mayank," Ajay said.

"Thank you, Ajay Uncle," Mayank said dryly. "Your comments are always appreciated."

"You're with child?" Shilpa asked slowly.

"Yes," Nupur replied with a nod. "About a month along if my estimates are right."

"You're going to have a baby?" she asked again.

Maybe she was losing her mind? Or maybe she was in denial? Mayank and Nupur shared a worried look. Ajay just rolled his eyes again.

"Yes," Nupur and Mayank said at the same time "We're going to have a baby."

--

Neev and Harsh had to close their ears at the very loud scream they heard coming from the living room.

Harsh looked at Neev with his head tilted to the side as the screaming stopped. "That sounded like Miss Sonali when Unca Vicky came to school and gave her that pretty ring."

"Yeah," Neev agreed. "I wonder if Dadi got a pretty ring, if that's why she's screaming."

"Maybe," Harsh said, "but Unca Vicky also brought flowers, and he was wearing nice clothes. I didn't see any flowers when you just said your mummy and daddy were going to give you a new brother or sister."

"Do you think Mummy is going to kiss Daddy like Miss Sonali kissed Unca Vicky for a long time when he gave her that pretty ring?"

Harsh thought for a moment. "No. Kissing is yucky."

"Yeah, kissing is the yuckiest thing in the whole wide world! It's yuckier than bogies and yuckier than poopies!"

At that, the two boys burst into peals of laughter.

If only all the silly growmups in the world knew how yucky kissing was! Really, it's even yuckier than poopies!

thnku so much for early update

Hello ji,

Nice update dear