Hello again all my fellow Bhootnis! Now firstly I know I am very late in updating this week 😕 Many apologies to all of you. I will hopefully be able to get more done next week as I am off home for a week 😃 and there I shall have peace to write and also no classes to go to! 😃 Here is the next installment, hope you all enjoy it:
Chapter 14 – The Name Game
It was Dev and Kaajjal's first night at home with their little angels and they found themselves sitting side by side on the bed, each rocking a cot and gazing adoringly down at their sleeping son and daughter. Outside one lone grey lined cloud drifted idly across the star-studded sky, like a lost ship in a deep and endless ocean, passing the large island of soft light that was the moon and steering its way between the many constellations of brightly glittering stars. All was calm and quiet that night; not a breath of wind disturbed the leaves of the trees in the courtyard and the only sound was Dev and Kaajjal's voices as they spoke in a low murmur to one another.
"It feels like a dream, hai nah?" Kaajjal said to Dev. "Many times I have imagined what it would be like to look at the face of my child and now that they are before me I can't quite believe it's true."
"Haan," Dev agreed, a gentle smile making his face glow. "It is the most wonderful feeling in the world."
They fell silent and watched the small chests of their children rise and fall as they slept, oblivious to their parents' watchful eyes over them. Kaajjal rocked the cot of her son, which was on her side of the bed, gently, a tender gleam in her eyes, tracing his small features for any sign of his father. His little head was practically bald, save for a small tuft of mink hair right in the centre of his scalp, sticking up like a crew cut. He had a little snub nose and rosy lips and cheeks that puffed out with his breathes. On the other side his sister slept restlessly. She was always kicking her little legs, as if impatient to be up and running around, and her little eye lids fluttered as she chased her dreams.
"Who do you think they resemble the most?" Kaajjal asked Dev at length. "I think he is exactly like you," she told him, gesturing to their son with her eyes.
Dev looked over at his slumbering son and his eyes shone with a tender glow of pride and love.
"They are most like you," he told her, curling a hand about hers and threading his fingers through hers. "Dekho, our son has your nose, your lips and the chubby cheeks."
Kaajjal let out a gasp of indignation and pulling her hand free hit him on the arm with it. He gave a mock cry of pain and held his arm, grinning up at her with mischief twinkling in his eyes.
"Insult me again and you will be banished to the sofa," she told him with a mock serious tone. She was pretending to be angry with him, but really she was enjoying the game as much as he. "Dekhiye Mr Dev Pratap Singh, ab it's not just me and you. There are four of us in this family now. So be warned: the children will always take my side."
"Oh really?" Dev asked, arching his eyebrows. "And what if they always listen to their father and does what he tells them to?"
"Then all three of you shall be kicked out and will have to go and live with the goats," she announced.
Their eyes met and neither of them could contain their laughter any longer. Humour dancing across their faces they chuckled at their pretence. Kaajjal's eyes were sparkling with delight as she laid her head on Dev's shoulder and wrapped her arms about his waist, holding him tightly. She breathed in his scent, always so comforting to her, and as he stroked his hands tenderly through her hair she felt for the first time that her life was truly complete. What more did she need when she had Dev and her son and daughter?
Just then their daughter began to cry; she was awoken by the smallest of noises. Dev and Kaajjal exchanged a knowing look and reaching over Kaajjal picked her carefully in her arms, cradling her head and rocking her back and forth, uttering soothing words to her. Her little face was screwed up in an expression of indignation and it was as if she were throwing a tantrum; her wails were loud and shrill and nothing Kaajjal could say to placate her seemed to work.
"Arrey, yeh kya hai??" Kaajjal asked her. "Dekho, tumhara bhai sleeps so soundly aur tum...bilkul tumhara papa jaisa, hai nah?"
"I don't know," Dev said. "Usski Ma is an expert in throwing strops."
He gave a chuckle but Kaajjal looked at him witheringly, clearly showing that she was not amused by his attempt at humour. Sighing and shaking his head at her he leaned over and took their daughter into his arms.
"Aaye meri jaan," he said to her as he cradled her in her arms.
Kaajjal watched in amazement as Dev gazed down tenderly at his daughter, his eyes glowing with a light she had only glimpsed in special moments between them. There was a world of contentment on his face and the soothing tone of his voice as he spoke to their daughter was so sweet it brought a tear to her eye. She had to turn away and brush it away before he noticed. When she looked back she was stunned to see the baby lying placidly in his arms. She gazed sleepily up at him, her large dark eyes now glowing with happiness and her little face no longer scrunched up. Her eyelids were fluttering down and as Dev rocked her gently back and forth in his arms she eventually fell asleep, her little fingers brushing Dev's hand ever so gently.
"How did you manage it?" Kaajjal asked him.
Dev looked up at her and smiled with such love that she could feel more tears welling up in her eyes.
"I don't know. I just spoke to her like you did," he replied.
"Hmm...lekta hai she loves her Papa more than her Mama," Kaajjal said, running a finger gently down her smooth cheek.
"Nahin," Dev corrected her. "Don't ever say that Kaajjal."
"It was just a joke Dev," she told him with a bright smile.
She placed a reassuring hand on his arm and smiled lovingly into his eyes. The soft glow in her hazel depths abated all Dev's worries and he returned her smile. Gently he placed their daughter back in her cot, then pulling Kaajjal towards him, he wrapped an arm about her shoulders as she nestled her head on his chest, listening to his heart beat under her ear and marvelling at how her name seemed to sound with every beat. He brought his other hand down and threaded his fingers through hers.
"Arrey Dev!" Kaajjal suddenly exclaimed, raising her head and looking down at him. "We haven't discussed names yet! What are we going to call them?"
"Relax Kaajjal," he told her, sitting up and framing her face with his hands. "Pandit-ji is not coming for the naming ceremony until after two days."
"Haan, I know that, but still...we haven't even thought about names, and two days..."
"Sssh!"
Dev placed a finger to her lips to silence her and smiling down at her said,
"I have given it some thought today, and I was thinking we should do this: you choose the name for our son and I will choose the name for our son. How is that?"
He lifted his finger from her lips and she smiled brightly at him, her eyes moist with tears of happiness.
"Dev..."
She could only breathe his name, her heightened emotions would not let her speak anymore and with a tear rolling quietly down her cheek she hugged him. His fingers threaded through her hair and he pulled back, his lips travelling to her forehead, where he kissed her with such tenderness that it overwhelmed her.
"Go to sleep," he told her softly.
When she lay down she turned her gaze to her son, sleeping so peacefully in his cot, and though she could feel sleep creeping across her consciousness like a thief she struggled against her heavy eyelids, wanting to trace Dev's features in her son's face. As she watched him sleep she tried to meditate on names. Many floated round her head and turning over she stole a glance at Dev, who was sleeping soundly by her side. Flicking her eyes from her husband to her son one name seemed to jump out at her again and again and by the time she could fight her tiredness no longer she was certain she had found the perfect name for her child.
Two days later the Pandit-ji arrivd to perform the rituals for the naming ceremony. Dev and Kaajjal sat with a baby each in ther arms, smiling proudly and devotedly. Each was filled with excitement at the thought of the name they had chosen; eager to share it and to see the reaction of the other when it was announced. Kaajjal was the first to speak, their son, as the eldest, the first to be formally named.
"Arjun Dev Pratap Singh," she answered the Pundi-ji when he asked for the baby's name.
As she spoke she turned and smiled lovingly at Dev. He gazed back at her in awe, his eyes slightly moist and a smile sweeping across his lips.
"Arjun," he repeated in a wondrous tone.
"Haan Dev," Kaajjal replied. "What other name could be so fitting for the son of Dev Pratap Singh?"
"It is the perfect choice," Dev told her, smiling brightly at her.
If Dev had been moved by Kaajjal's choice of name, he was not about to leave Kaajjal's emotions untouched.
"Naina," he told the Pandit-ji when asked for their daughter's name.
Kaajjal felt a huge lump choke her throat and she looked at Dev with wide, emotional eyes. He smiled lovingly at her, his eyes glowing as he spoke.
"Naina because not only does she have her mother's eyes but whenever she sees her reflection she will see her mother there in her eyes," he explained.
"Dev..." Kaajjal sobbed, her emotions overwhelming her.
She had never been so touched by his words as she was at that moment. Tears glistened like the water under the brightness of the sun, and her lips trembled slightly as she smiled back at Dev.
"Dev...yeh naam...."
"Is the only name I could have chosen," he finished her sentence. "I knew from the moment I saw her first in your arms that this is what she will be called."
Kaajjal could not answer him for the lump in her throat, instead when the rituals were completed she walked over to him and buried her head in his neck, her joyful tears wetting his neck, telling him that she adored his choice of name. When she had recovered she looked up at him with a beaming smile, her eyes teary but shining with happiness and then together they looked down at their babies in their arms: Arjun and Naina.
So everyone please say a big hello and welcome Arjun and Naina Pratap Singh into the Kaajjal Parivaar. 😳 I hope you will love them both as much as their dear parents and I hope you will enjoy seeing them grow under DK's eyes. 😳
Anu
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