QSS thread # 3 part 149 posted on pg149on 6/1/11 - Page 64

hey

really lovely update (dnt knw ur name yaar...wats ur name plzzz tel?)

again update portrays perfect family picture....awesome update

congrats fr 100 pages👏

waitng fr da nxt part

love

sania

Originally posted by: saniashzadi_10

really lovely update (dnt knw ur name yaar...wats ur name plzzz tel?)

again update portrays perfect family picture....awesome update

congrats fr 100 pages👏

waitng fr da nxt part

love

sania

Part 133

Riddhima kept looking at the road after Armaan left. Jyoti had taken the first patient in. It was only when a patient entering into the clinic, fell on her, she came out of the reverie. Riddhima held the lady who was warbling due to high fever and weakness, and made her sit down. She noticed that the waiting room was already full with patients. As the first patient came out of the consulting room, she took old lady and entered in.

She checked her and convinced her to take an injection. And made her lie down outside on the bench for sometime till she was feeling better. The whole morning flew away examining patients. Only when she heard her cell ring, she noticed that it was already 12. It was Armaan calling. "I'm sorry Riddhima, I won't be able to come home for lunch, I'm held up here with the foreign doctors. Can you please take a cab and go home?" He asked apologetically. "Don't worry Armaan we still have two patients. After that I'll call for a cab and leave." She assured him.

"How long have you been married?" she heard Jyoti's unexpected question after seeing off the last patient. She smiled at her and said "a year and a half."

J: Oh! same as ours. I thought you must be married very recently.

Riddhima blushed understanding what she meant. And just covered up by saying "Armaan is always like that."

J: Do you have a kid as yet?

R: Two sons.

J: Twins?

R: No, no. One is seven years old and other is nine months.

J: Seven? But…

Riddhima was quite used to that question now. At times she had thought of lying and telling people that they have been married for 8 years. But somehow her conscience didn't permit her to do so. So she gave her usual reply, "we were together before, then we got separated for seven years and now we are together again."

Jyoti was curious to know the whole story but she didn't ask anything further, as she didn't know Riddima so well still, to ask her such personal questions.

It was nearly 1 o'clock by the time Riddhima reached home. She was famished. So she changed, washed up and headed straight to the dining table. Ani had also had his lunch and was napping. According to akka he never fussed with his food in her absence. All his nakhra was only with his mama. After having her fill, she went to her room and slumped on the bed.

Feeling his lips on her cheek, she pulled his head down by his hair and kissed him properly on the lips. "Beta khana laga dia hai," kaka's voice rang out, but both of them were unaware of it. Seeing Armaan had not come to the table yet, he repeated his call, coming closer to the room. At once they broke apart and she drowsily looked at the clock. It was a quarter past 2. Looking at him with surprise she asked "Tum kab aaye? Aur aate hi shuru ho gaye?" "Shuru maine nahi, tumne kiya. I just kissed your cheek, you were the one who pulled me and kissed me so passionately," He said in a dramatic style to tease her. "Beta" Kaka's voice came from closer quarters. Immediately she pushed him away saying "Jao khana khao. Main aati hoon."

He had started eating when she went to the table, but seeing her, he pulled her on the chair, beside him and said "Khilao na mujhe". Glaring at him she asked "Yeh kya bachpana hai? You've already had half your meal." "I came home only to see you and ask you about your first day. Otherwise I could have also gone out for lunch with them," he said making a small face. She just shook he head and picked up the next morsel to feed him and as she fed him she started to tell him about the morning in the clinic. She had just fed him two morsels when they heard Ani's cry.

She couldn't control her giggle while he burst out, "when I have such kids, I don't need any enemies. I bet he has antennas in his brain, which ring a bell, the minute you come close to me." Stiffling her giggles, she washed her hands and went to pick up the little one. Ani was extremely happy to see her. He was jumping with joy standing in his cot, as she approached him. She picked him up and showered kisses on him which made him very happy and he also started kissing and biting her.

Armaan had finished his lunch and joined them. See him he jumped out of her arms. "Main nahi uthaonga tujhe, hamesha kabab mein haddi banta hai, mere aur meri Riddhima, ke beech. Main nahi bolta tujse." Unaware of what his dad was grumbling about he bent from his mama's arms and falling on his dad's shoulder started kissing and biting him, making his dad's anger melt away. After playing with him for a few minutes Armaan handed him over to Riddhima saying aaj 5.45 ko Shafi aayega tumhe clinic le jaane aur aat bhaje main aaoonga tumhe pick karne.

R: Armaan I'll call you when I'm done with the patients. Come only after that.

He kissed saying "Ok. Bye, see you later." Then kissed the little one saying "bye Mst. Haddi."

With the onset of rain there were a lot of people affected with cold, cough and fever. Today, they had a four year old girl with very high fever and convulsions. Riddhima immediately referred her to Dr. Shaila. The child had to be admitted immediately and according to Dr. Shaila even a few hours delay could have been fatal. The father came later to Riddhima and thanked her for the timely advice. When Riddhima told Armaan about it on their way home, he immediately diverted the car to Dr. Shaila's clinic saying, "Tum ek baar us bachchi ko dekh aao. Just go and see if they need anything."

But Riddhima dragged him also inside. The little one was looking very frail and weak. When they reached there, the father was coaxing his wife to eat, but she refused saying she couldn't leave the kid alone. Armaan explained to them that their child was out of danger now and in the best hands. He also promised to wait there with Riddhima till they came back after dinner. When they still didn't agree, he succeeded in coaxing both of them to go and have dinner, by just asking them one question – "If you starve and fall sick who'll look after the child?"

After they left, Armaan sat next to the child and holding her hand in his and said to Riddhima, "See how weak she is. He kept looking at her and smoothing down her hair." He has such special feelings for a girl child, Riddhima noted. Soon the parents were back and thanked them for all the help. They were feeling much better after they'd had some food. They felt more positive with Armaan's words. As they drove back home Riddhima noticed that Armaan was lost in some thought, but when she questioned him about it, he dismissed it as nothing important.

Though Riddhima had rung up Kaka and told him that they would be late, both the kids were waiting up for them. Akshat hadn't even had his dinner. So all of them headed straight to the dining table while Riddhima washed and changed before joining them.

That night as they lay down on the bed, Riddhima noticed Armaan preoccupied. Actually she was feeling very sleepy. Even while having dinner her eyes were drooping. Ani had thankfully slept immediately after dinner and Akshat had also not demanded for a bedtime story. She lay down beside him and asked "What is it Armaan, you are not yourself since I told you about that kid. Won't you tell me?" It was just a casual question and never expected him to actually reply in such a manner.

He turned towards her, his eyes brimming with tears and said "Riddhima meri bhi ek behen thi, Arushi. She was three years younger than me." Riddhima couldn't believe what she had heard. She just said "Armaan," in a shocked tone. When he didn't say anything further she questioned him, "Kya hua usey?" "I didn't know then but when I was older I came to know that she had some congenital heart problem. She must have been about three years old, when she died." He couldn't continue as tears poured down his eyes.

Riddhima hugged him and her eyes also became moist. "You've never mentioned her to me before." She pointed out. "I had pushed her to a remote corner of my memory but today seeing that little girl brought back all those memories. She was also thin and frail like her. She used to follow me around, with her non-stop "Almaan bhaiya". I loved her a lot, but sometimes I would get irritated by her constant company. When she died, I missed her terribly and became a total loner. I didn't share my sorrow with anyone, but bottled it all up inside me."

He cried like a baby clutching on to Riddhima. She let him cry for sometime before asking "Is that why you love baby girls so much?" "I don't know but I feel very protective towards girls. I feel they need to pampered and treated like princesses." And that night it was he who put his head on her chest and slept like a baby in her arms.

The next morning though the tear marks showed on his face, he was his smiling self once again. Riddhima was happy about that.

A routine was set in the Mallik household with Riddhima beginning to work. After Armaan and Akshat left, Shafi would drop her at the clinic. In the afternoon Armaan would pick on his way home for lunch. Again in the evening Shafi would leave her and Armaan would bring her back at night. She tried to convince him that she could drive herself to the clinic but he wouldn't listen as he felt driving in the narrow streets would add to her tensions.

Days flew by. Ani was becoming naughtier by the day. He was now walking around and pulling down everything he could lay his hands on. Each and everything had to be locked away or kept out of his reach. Akshat was his favourite victim. He couldn't afford to be in the least careless. It was as if he was just waiting for him to leave something around. The minute he got hold of any of his books, they were shredded. No amount of shouting and punishment from his mama bore any result.

That evening when Riddhima came home from the hospital, the house was in a pandemonium. Akshat was crying so loudly that Riddhima thought he was in severe pain. On enquiring she found that he had to submit a science project the next day. He had been working on it since a week, and finally today he had managed to complete it with his dad's help. He had coloured some parts of the chart with water colours. So he had left it on his bed to dry and closed the door of his room. Akka had gone to keep his ironed clothes in his cupboard and had forgotten to shut the door.

While Akshat was waiting for his parents and engrossed watching TV, the little one had sneaked into his room, pulled the chart down and torn a corner of it. After the show, when Akshat walked to his room to check if the drawing had dried, he saw the disaster created by his brother and whacked him in anger. That had made akka angry and she shouted at him saying Ani was a kid and didn't understand anything. So there was verbal war going on between them when Armaan and Riddhima entered the house. Kaka on the other side was assuring Akshat, that his dad would make everything alright.

Both of them consoled Akshat and went to his room to see how bad the situation was. As if he knew he was in the wrong, Ani quietly clung on to his Athai. Riddhima could see that it was really a very pretty chart. She admired the amounts of pain he had taken and that too without pestering her about it. He eyes filled with tears seeing its state. She hugged him and said she would make a totally new one for him, overnight. She felt guilty because had she been there, she would have kept a watch on Ani when akka was busy ironing clothes etc.

But before she could start afresh, Armaan came up with the idea that since the tear was in the lower half, which only had some written matter, they should cut that portion out. They could join another sheet below it and rewrite on it. Akshat felt that the joint would make his work look shabby and wouldn't get the best marks. But his dad promised to make it a neat cut, provided all of them had a quick dinner. So dinner was a very silent affair and the little hero also dared not fuss. They finished it quickly and the trio trooped into Akshat's room with strict warning to akka to keep Ani out of it.

When they locked the room and started the work, the little one came knocking and calling out to them. When they didn't answer him nor open the door, he started sobbing loudly. That tore Armaan's heart. "Riddhima tum jaakar usey sulaao, I'll help Akshat. Actually he asked Akshat also to go to bed, promising to complete everything perfectly. But Akshat refused saying that he would have to do the rewriting otherwise the writing would differ. So finally Riddhima left to take care of the little one while father and son set about repairing the damage.

Guilt weighed heavily on her heart. Was her child paying a price for her ambition? She wondered how all the other working ladies managed. She had kaka and akka to help her, even then she wasn't able to manage things. So many ladies handled both, housework and job, so easily without help from anyone. Surely, it was she who was inefficient, she felt.

When she went back to Akshat's room after Ani had fallen asleep, she was amazed to see the perfect job done by Armaan. From the front view no one could make out that there had been some damage. He can manage any crisis so methodically and calmly, she thought. She felt very inadequate compared to him. But the smile on her son's face was worth watching. He showered his dad with kisses, thanking him profusely and reiterating that he was the best dad in the world. Seeing his mama enter he sought her confirmation, "He's the best, hai na mama?" She nodded in assent and all three of them got into a hug. The males were grinning from ear to ear at their accomplishment, while the female was once again bogged down with her inferiority complex and guilt.

hi Shardha

absolutely brilliant part....

loved dis cute family.....feling bad fr Akshat but feel no fear ven Armaan is there..😆

loved da update..

love

sania