"Why are you crying sweetheart?"Arnav kissed her on her pouting lips.
"Because. I am very sad." She looked up into his eyes and put her arms out to reach for him. He picked her up and put her on his knee. "And why are you sad? Mamma yelled at you?"
"mmm-hmmm. She is very mean." And she burst into another fit of tears. "She spanked me!"
"She spanked you? Where?" Arnav smiled inwardly but gave her a look of total shock as she pointed to her bottom.
"She spanked your bot-bot?" he picked up made her stand and cradled his little girls bottom and kissed her on her big cheek.
"KOI zaroorat nahi hai. Ek number ki shaitaan hai. Ab mu phulaye Papa ke paas ro rahe ho!" Khushi walked in to the room. She walked straight over to the bed and took her husbands jacket and walked to the wardrobe to hang it up. The little girl teared up again and started to sniffle.
"Ok Ok….no more tears darling, Papa is here na…! Khushi why did you make her cry?"
"Why did I make her cry? Poocho apni rajkumari se ke kya kiya hai!"
Arnav turned his daughter in his lap and pulled her chin up to face him with his index finger. "Naina, look at me. What did you do?"
Even at the age of 3 Naina knew that when her father called her by her name and not an endearment he meant business. She also knew that when her father meant business it was best to tuck her tail between her legs and fess up. "actually Papa, Rishi wanted chocolate milkshake. And Chachi said chocolate khatam. So I mixed some mud in his milk" she told him honestly and pointed at her fathers garden.
"You put mud in your brothers' milk to make it look like chocolate milkshake?"
"Do you have any idea aapki laadli ki vajay se mujhe jiji aur jija se kitna sharminda hona padta hai? And bechara Rishi, kitna shaant bachcha hai. Kuch seekh nahi sakti kya?"
"bilkul tum per gayi hai." Arnav bit back his laugh. This was exactly something Khushi would do.
"Excuse me! Aap ki laad pyar ne bigad ke rakhi hai. Aagai rone. Ek kheech ke lagaungi na…"Khushi admonished her daughter again and came to spank her little bottom once more, this time more out of affection than anger. "hey hey hey. Not in front of me! No one touches my baby's bot-bot!"
He picked Naina up and went off to find Rishi.
"Rishi, come here beta." Rishi rushed to his uncle and gave him a hug. He was still upset with Naina, although the boy was too mild natured to actually show any anger. "Chutki do you like chocolate mudcake? I was thinking we could get you both a mudcake to forget all the silly things that Naina did this afternoon? Whatsay Rishi?"
"OH YES Papa…thank you…." Naina sang out. She loved chocolate. She loved cake. Together, she loved it even more. Rishi also shook his head in agreement.
"Ok you guys play, I will go and get the cake." He left the cousins to play and walked off.
***
"Spoil kyu karti ho usse. Kuch nahi sikhegi. Kya zaroorat hai cake lane ki?"
"Meri beti. Meri marzi. Ek kaam karte hai. Ek aur paida karte hai and that one can be yours to do whatever you like with?" he waggled his eyebrows at her and made a dive for her waist. She jumped out just in time and stuck her tongue out.
He ran after her and promised to get her later that night. He picked up the cake and took it to the lounge where everyone was seated.
"Ok so Naina and Rishi can cut it." The two kids got up and cut the cake with much excitement.
"Ok Rishi, since Naina is the youngest, and you promised to forgive her – you feed her the first piece ok?" Rishi obeyed his uncle and Arnav caught Khushi fuming from the corner of his eye.
"EEEWWW……….YUK YUK YUK!!!! ISMEIN TOH MUD HAI!" Naina spat out the contents of her mouth and the whole room turned to face Arnav.
"But sugarplum you said you wanted mudcake?" Arnav looked at her and smiled.
"Sorry Rishi Bhaiya. I promise never to put mud in your milk again." She held her ears and apologised to her cousin.
"Its ok! It was kind of funny." Rishi replied back and the whole family started laughing. Khushi had made her way to her husband and quietly put her arm around his waist.
"Duniya ke best Papa ho aap. Waise kya bol rahe the aap, ek aur chaiye?" she looked into his chocolate eyes and felt her knees go weak. He snaked his arms around her waist to steady her.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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