AvNeil TS: The Heart Wants What It Wants| EPILOGUE UP-PG 11| Jan 03 - Page 8

Can love shout louder than her demons?

When her heart has been guarded so far?

Can happiness really knock at her door this time?

Well, wasn't the door of her happiness always ajar?

Can dreams get wings to fly after all?

When even the land scared you so much?

Maybe everything has its own time to unfurl,

And you can do nothing, no matter how much you rush.

So today is the time,

To reel in the joyous glory.

To celebrate and to rejoice,

The moments and spaces of their brand new territory.

He was always a charmer,

But she has always been his 'only' muse.

No one else could have claimed his rebel heart ever,

Not by words, not by touch, and neither by seduce.

So in his utter glory he smiles,

Finally winning over the longest redemption.

Together they weave, together they smile,

As their love truly meets its salvation.

New Delhi Grand Leela Palace

As he took a pinch of vermilion between his thumb and index finger, and filled her partition, garnering a never ending saga of claps and cheers from the crowd surrounding them, that comprised of his family, relatives, and hers as well alongside their respective friends and colleagues, he couldn't help the small smile that crept on his lips.

In the rarest of the rarest sight, the media along with the world looked in awe, as Neil Khanna's all time stern face was finally flNavyang a smile in what seemed like eons, and the only reason behind it was the breathtaking beauty decked in red and green lehenga sitting right beside him, who was also his almost wife now that they were already halfway through wedding rituals.

Not willing to miss out on any minute detail and moment of the lavish affair that was this wedding of popular business magnate Neil Khanna to a New York based doctor, the cameras kept flNavyang, the paparazzi all enthusiastic of a perfect page 3 cover story for the next day.

She took a deep breath as the priest went on to chant some more mantras, not because she was tired, but only because she was well aware of the intense gaze of her almost husband that was fixated only on her.

The doctor in her that abided by everything science rebuked her inwardly for behaving so unlike her age, like a typical hormonal teenager. But her rebel heart acted dominant as it shoo away her stubborn mind, and deemed everything she was feeling, from jittery, to fluttery, to insane, to be normal.

Neil smirked as he watched her closely and saw how her cheeks flamed red all thanks to the effect he had on her, making her skin look perfectly in sync with the color of attire she donned this night, which was his favourite by the way.

Red.

If only these rituals could wrap up all a little sooner. He hardly had any self control now that he knew she was going to be his, in its legit sense, in all ways.

All these years, all that he felt for her, all that he thought about her, he couldn't wait for it all to turn into a living reality.

The priest now asked Neil to tie the sacred chain, which was the mangalsutra around her neck, and that called in for another round of cheers from the people standing around the dais where the bride and groom were currently seated for all the rituals.

As he finally tightened the hook of the ornament around her neck, letting his fingers linger there for a little longer than needed, all she could do was let out a deep sigh, which only he could hear.

Their eyes met, and in that brief moment they could speak multitudes even without verbally uttering anything.

It was only when DD, Neil's personal assistant cleared his throat, that both of them came out of their self-induced mutual trance, and paid attention to what the priest had to say further. If DD had known his boss could be such a lover boy, well.. Even then he couldn't have done anything.

Those Romeo looks, playful smile, were only reserved for his almost wife, and DD knew that very well, because for the rest of the world, his boss was always going to be the epitome of arrogance, a crude businessman, Neil Khanna.

As the priest asked the bride and groom to stand up for the saath pheras, Mitali couldn't stop smiling from ear to ear as she readily stepped forward and took Neil's scarf and Avni's chunri, to tie them into a tight knot together.

Had she known her older cousin brother, her handsome Tillu bhaiyya had been insanely, deeply, and hopelessly in love with Dr. Mehta, her daughter's paediatrician, someone she not only respected but also adored so much, well, she could have saved herself a lot of time and energy that she had preciously vested in going brides-hunting for her ever so hot headed Tillu, urf Neil bhaiyya!

Giggling at the thought of it, she tightened the knot further, ensuring this gathbandhan was going to last not just this lifetime, but also seven more to come.

And with that started Neil and Avni's seven vows.

.

.

Flashback

He had been hurt.

He had been terribly hurt from the moment he had stormed out of the premises of Royal Horizon Hospital.

As he dumped himself harshly on the king size bed in his massive room on the 9th floor of his penthouse, a cauldron of emotions hit him.

Hit him hard.

For the first time ever, Neil Khanna was truly feeling the repercussions of a void-like feel. For the first time ever, Neil Khanna was questioning his own beliefs, his own perspectives, his own ideologies.

For the first time ever, Neil Khanna was feeling that perhaps sometimes ignorance is indeed bliss and knowing only hurts. Hurts beyond repair.

Don't we often feel that not knowing anything about a person, their whereabouts, their life, their everything, especially when they mean so much to you, is the worst kind of punishment god could possibly ever bestow upon you?

Well, for Neil, the theory was fast changing.

Because right at this moment, he felt a pain that was even greater than the pain he had felt all these years with the void that Avni had left him with in his life, because now, knowing the reason for it, her thoughts, her whereabouts, her ideas, about him, pierced him in and out.

"How could she?!"

The thought resurfaced in his mind once again like it did since the past few hours ever since he had come back into his room.

He gazed at the ceiling as their encounter from the late afternoon flashed before his eyes, making him feel a plethora of things all at once.

Anger.

Indifference.

Helplessness.

Love.

Passion.

Hatred.

All at once.

How could she even think that he would stoop so low to do such a heinous thing to her?

How dare she think that him, out of all the people could have ruined her?

How could she, how dare she LEAVE him, leave him to deal with his own life, agony, clouded by confusion and helplessness without a clue, without a word?

As the thoughts played in his mind time and again, he didn't know what he should be actually feeling towards her.

Hatred?

Or

Pity?

He chuckled at the irony of the thought because he knew from the core of his heart that no matter how hard he tried, he could never truly hate her.

Blame it on his stupid, stupid, rebel heart, the heart that wanted what it wanted caring about nothing else, no matter how wounded, was still ready to not bear even a single scratch on her.

Then what was the next option?

Pity?

Should he pity her that in her cowardice, she lost some of the most important, most valuable years of her life?

Should he pity her because she acted on her impulse and ran away before knowing the truth, facing the reality?

Well, in that case he should be pitying himself too, isn't it? After all, he too had lost so much, so many precious years of his life, knowing and believing in something, when in reality, the truth was something totally different.

And so, he couldn't pity himself or her either.

Because to him, that would be an insult to whatever they had, no matter how little or how long ago.

And so, anger remained to be his only solace.

He clenched his jaw as he recalled her accusations from this afternoon, and all he could feel was salt being rubbed over his already wounded body.

"What difference does it make to you?!"

She had shouted at him and the recollection of those words pierced him once more. How dare she even ask him a question like that?

It was her fault that she never paid heed to the real story or tried to find out the whole truth. And to a businessman like him, he knew half truth was always worst than a lie.

As anger flooded further in his veins, he knew that he won't be able to take it anymore. With all traces of self control gone, he stormed out of the bed roughly at one go, the adrenaline rush in him bringing the worst out of him and in a fraction of second, he threw the heavy royal vase from his side table towards the tall mirrors on the opposite side with such a force that in no time, the glass was thoroughly cracked from the middle, letting countless little pieces of it scatter sporadically across the carpeted floor.

As the tiny pieces of glass lay untouched on the floor, Neil couldn't help but look at them, the dead end of those pieces that could never be reframed again, reflecting his own thoughts, wherein his own feelings appeared to be meeting that same dead end.

He laughed faintly in self depreciation, looking at the irony of things on how what he believed in all these years, had never really happened, because whatever he poured out, whatever he said, whatever he felt, had never reached her.

And this was not because there was a fallacy in his doing or the universe didn't want so, but only because she herself didn't allow it to happen, simply because she was a coward who ran away.

From life.

From him.

From reality.

Wow!

Neil chuckled in pity at his own fate.

He couldn't even bring himself to think about how crazy, how stupid the whole ordeal was, yet the feel of it, the burden of it was so heavy that it could possibly suffocate him not just for now but forever.

Why was it hurting him so much? So much more than he had ever felt? Because he loved her?

Or because the thought of her harbouring such wrong thoughts about him for all these years was something he could never take in this life?

It was only seconds later, that he realised both the connotations had only one bottom line and that was, she mattered to him more than anything else in the world. And hence, whatever she thought, whatever she felt, had an active role to play in his life and also the way he functioned.

And that made him let out a deep sigh.

.

As the sunlight slowly fizzled out, the dusk of this day finally breaking in, he couldn't help lifting his gaze from the tiny glass pieces on the floor to the now fully cracked mirror right in front him.

He watched closely as he saw his own reflection in it, the one he had been so habituated of seeing in all these years, the only difference was that now his reflection was completely distorted thanks to the cracked glass, which was all his doing.

He stared unblinkingly at that same reflection which no more held the suave, ruthless, poised business tycoon Neil Khanna, but only depicted to him, a version of his own self, wag from the past, which had somehow become dormant in his mind all these years, but was now making an unceremonious come back.

.

As if the broken mirror acted as a portal to the past days, Neil's eyes refused to blink even for a second as flashes of his own self, former self began showing on the glass, making him not just astounded but also wide eyed and spellbound.

"The bet is on dude!"

"Geeky Mehta it is!"

"Omg! ROFL! Look at what message Mehta just sent me! Pink is my favourite color! How typical and how boring! Lol!"

"Me and Avni? Oh, please! I have some reputation bro!"

"Farewell night it is mate! The dumping will surely happen!"

.

And the slap of reality, the new perspective to the story was too hard to bear for the ever mighty Neil Khanna.

As his own words echoed in his mind, the flashes of the initial days of that bet making its way in his head, he knew that all this while, all he had been doing was only thinking from his angle, his point of view, totally undermining hers. Whereas in all this fiasco, if anyone had been a victim, it was only her.

He continued to look at that broken mirror that refused to free him from the portal of the past, as new realizations began dawning in his head and a new range of thoughts made its way.

"What if I hadn't changed?"

"What if I still went on with the bet?"

"What if I still went on to ridicule her FB messages in front of my friends?"

"What if I really dumped her at the farewell night and humiliated her publically?"

"What if I really ruined her?"

As the fast-paced chain of "what ifs" meddled with his brain, he thumped on his bed with a blank expression, both his hands clutching his head as a fresh and faint headache made its way slowly to hurt him further.

The pain only pushed him further to think that was it really her fault, after all, when these heinous, cheap things were something that he along with his group of friends had actually intended to do with her in the very beginning?

Yes, he changed his mind.

Yes, he fell in love with her.

Yes, he began caring for her.

But what if he hadn't?

He would have done it all, wouldn't he?

Yes.

Perhaps, yes.

So, just because he had a change of mind, just because he withdrew from the whole bet proposition, just because he began falling for her, just because he started loving her, he was putting it all on her, the blame, the fault, the accusation of cowardice?

"How stupid of you, Neil!"

His conscience mocked him.

All this while, he had called her a coward, when in reality, all she had been was only one thing.

And that's selfless.

Selfless beyond the understanding of anyone.

Because despite knowing what he did to her, neither did she question him, nor did she sabotage him. When in reality, it was she who after knowing what he was intending to do, had the veto power of ruining his life and humiliating him in front of the entire school for playing such dirty tricks on girls, and no one would have even asked her for proofs given her clean record and how much teachers loved her for being the all time topper of the school!

But she was Avni.

His Avni.

Selfless, giving, and always putting others above her. And so she chose to let it go, and leave without a word. Neither any questions nor any answers.

She didn't even let her silence speak anything, when she herself suffered in silence and bore the brunt of such an insulting event in her life, all alone.

Did he even deserve to call her 'his' Avni?

The question and its impact on him was palpable, but he knew that even though so late, he had finally managed to look into things from someone else's point of view, when all these years, all he had done and still did was look at things only from his vision and side.

Was it too late now?

Would she even forgive him?

Would she even believe him?

The questions were daunting, but he knew he had to face them all, after all, it had all started from him, hadn't it?

At this moment he had no inkling of what the future could possibly hold and was there even a remote chance that they could ever have a life, a future together? But yet again his mind reminded him, that this time he would let her be the judge of it.

Yes, all these years he had thought that it was her who had made that judgment call of deciding the fate of their relationship, but it was only now that in this brief time of his introspection and soul searching that he found out, it had always been him all along.

The one who had started it.

The one who had belittled it.

The one who had ridiculed it.

And hence the one who had suffered too. And even now the suffering was not lessened at all. And so this time, he would let Avni be the judge. She would have all the rights, all the power, the audacity, to decide what she wanted from this. From whatever they had, have, shared, and share.

And no matter how much it hurts him, he will accept that as the bottom line.

As he raked his hand through his hair, running across the room carefully to avoid the glass pieces on the floor, the beep sound on his iPad stopped him in his tracks, making him groan. He wanted no intervention right now because all he wanted to do was see her, apologise to her, beg for her forgiveness, and then have her decision as his ultimate truth of life.

He ignored the sound on his iPad and went to the washroom to sober up his demented look, and when after 10 minutes he came out, he could again hear the beeps on the gadget indicating incoming messages.

Irked by the sound, he quickly reached his bed where the iPad was kept and picked it up at one go and as expected, there were five new business mails showing up.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, he quickly swiped off those notifications in a hurry and was all set to roughly throw the gadget on his bed once again, when a fresh new notification brought him to a sudden halt, making his heart skip a beat.

.

.

Time stood still as his mouth flung open and eyes grew wide, seeing the words from the new Facebook push notification that in clear text said:

'New message from Avni Mehta'

. . After 8.5 years.

It was after 8.5 years that he was seeing her name show on his Facebook notifications, and although a lot had changed over these years, be it technology, gadgets, sites, or appearance, if something remained the same, it was the impact that she had on her.

As if teleported to that same teenage phase of life, when he would often wait for her Facebook messages daily, he remained as it is, his mind refusing to believe what his eyes were seeing. He would have continued to stand like a mannequin had his iPad not buzzed again with an incoming message, and that sound finally managed to bring him out of his reverie.

But with that came another predicament.

Another chain of what ifs.

'What if she has sent something that kills me?'

'What if she hates me?'

'What if she has sent me a goodbye?'

The situations made him restless, and the world would have never believed unless they could see how a man who made the world bend down was today helpless before a 25 year old woman he loved to death!

Not able to take the anxiety anymore, he held his breath as he finally managed to tap on the notification, leaving everything in the hands of destiny, while somewhere in his heart, the atheist he was too prayed fervently to not let any of those what ifs come true. . .

To Neil Khanna:

Yes, I am a coward.

Yes I am stupid. Yes I am mad.

And know what? I am bad too.

Because I didn't give a chance to you. I never heard your side. I never confessed to you either, what I wanted to confess.

Yes, I am a coward. Not just because I ran away from you and everything without even questioning you, or clarifying things with you. But because I was scared.

I was scared from way before to confess what I felt for you.Are you shocked, Neil? Don't be.

Yes, I fell in love with you. Long before you fell for me.It was not the Annual Sports Day. It was much, much prior to that.But I was still stupid.To not tell you.To not listen to you.To not give you a chance.

To not give myself a chance. To not give us a chance. And the answer to your question from this morning?

No. I am not seeing anyone. I never did. Medical science calls for a lot of dedication and time. Never had the time for dating. :P

Or maybe, I never wanted to. But maybe..Maybe, now I do.

But do you?

I am also sorry for such a late reply. After 6 years, to be precise.

I told you I am stupid, mad, and now, you can add lazy too to that list, okay?

Galti ho gayi, Neil. (I made a mistake, Neil)Please maaf kar do? (Please forgive me?)

Yours and only yours,

Avni.

.

.

Can someone feel shock, euphoria, restlessness, confusion, all at once?

Neil did.

Right at that moment when he read that long message sent by someone who had the ability to turn his life and world upside down.

That same long message that validated two things, two important things in his life that had the capacity of making it or breaking it for him.

Two things, that suggested,

A. She had read his message. Finally. The message that was meant for her to read years ago, when he had actually written to, the answer to which she had never given for she never knew the action, and,

B. She had answered. Finally.

She had answered that he was not alone in this.

She had conveyed that despite being in different time zones, different lives, they had always been sailing on the same boat, residing in each other's hearts, and had been hoping against hope to meet their true destiny.

And all of this rendered Neil speechless.

He stood as a statue, holding the iPad in both his hands, his mind suddenly caught up in a brain freeze, while his eyes remained fixated on her message, her words, that held the power to impact him so deeply.

When minutes and minutes had passed and all he could do was crash on his own bed, he slowly started feeling his senses back again, and that's when he knew that perhaps he would never be able to reply to this message.

Because miracles can neither be questioned nor answered. And so, he made his mind to choose the other way. The different way.

Neil Khanna way.

He knew that his mind and heart won't settle till he seeks her forgiveness, and beyond doubt he was going to ask her for that, but before all of it, there was something else he needed to ask her. Something else he wanted to be assured of, to let his possessive, adamant, stubborn and rebel heart, finally have some respite.

And so taking a deep breath, he opened his own Facebook homepage.

Going to the status update box, he changed his privacy setting to 'Public' letting his intention, question, as well as declaration be open for everyone to see, and typed as his mind enunciated..

.

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'@Avni Mehta You took 8 long years to reply to something I had asked you, but now that you finally have, just answer this one final question, for the first and last time.Will You Marry Me?'

.

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''Ab aap dono pati patni hue.'' (Now you both are husband and wife).

The priest announced as they finally completed the seven vows with seven rounds, completing all the marriage rituals, and everybody clapped and cheered for the newlyweds, in other words, Mr. and Mrs. Khanna...

They went on to take the blessings of the elders and everyone joyously blessed the newly married couple, wishing them both light years of togetherness.

"Congratulations both of you. Neil beta, I hope you will always keep my daughter happy."

Navyash Mehta said with a warm smile as he blessed the couple, while Neil reciprocated his smile and then looked at Avni, and said,

"Always. I promise."

With that, he couldn't stop himself from kissing her on her forehead, making everyone go 'awww' towards the romantic couple who couldn't take their eyes off each other even for a second.

Neil's side of family which included his parents, Prakash and Shweta Khanna, his grandmother Harleen Khanna, his cousins Akash, Kareena, and Mitali along with their respective spouses, and finally his niece Adrita, were in complete aww of the new Khanna bride.

Shweta couldn't stop gushing over how pretty her daughter in law looked and on top of that the fact she was a doctor practicing in NYC, only made her further proud of her son's choice.

The Khanna family couldn't simply wait for another minute to welcome their new daughter in law to the mansion, and so in the next fifteen minutes, the Bidaai started...
.

Continued below:

As she sat still on the bed that smelled of fresh roses, courtesy, the petals that were all over the linen, the frills of her heavy lehenga spread in circle, she could feel her heart racing, in nervousness, in anticipation.

She had loved him, always.

But she had never envisioned this moment before.

Because after that fiasco 8.5 years ago, she had dreaded to dream.

But maybe subconsciously, the feeling, the thought, to be called and known as his, had always been in her mind, regardless of all the misconceptions that had dwelled in her mind in all these years about him.

It is all about destiny, isn't it?

The mishaps, the doings, the words, everything we do, everything we say, always have a big role to play in our lives, sooner or later.

And it is only when the time wants and destiny calls that you will be found, you will be found to be granted what you wished for, what you were meant for.

Success.

Happiness.

Love.

Today, she got all of it.

.

The sight of her sitting still on his bed, well, their bed, made his heart skip a beat.

She looked like a porcelain doll, who was not just fragile but also too, too precious, to be even held tightly. He had his eyes only on her as he took slow strides towards the bed, his own mind playing games with him as he recalled how much he had longed for this moment, and how much he had wanted her.

As he stepped closer and finally sat on the bed, she slowly lifted her gaze and her eyes instantly met his.

She could read zillions of emotions in those chocolate brown orbs just the way he could read the most innate details through her hazel iris that were always like the windows to her soul.

In those eyes, he could see the past four months of their lives together, where, right after his public proposal to her on Facebook, she had taken two full hours to reply to him, which had made him go totally paranoid as he had thought she would deny him or was pissed off at him for pulling such a lame stunt of professing his love for her on Facebook in a post that had quite obviously and unsurprisingly garnered over 3,085 likes and over 2000 comments, with various multimedia portals instantly filing stories like 'Business Tycoon Neil Khanna all set to tie the knot?' 'Is popular business magnate Neil Khanna's FB profile hacked?' 'Neil Khanna- Bachelor no more?'

Well, when he had written that post, he had thought of no consequence, nobody, it was just for her.

And so to him, it hadn't mattered who made what story out of it. But when she hasn't replied anything and disappeared from the chat too, it had made him go berserk with anxiety. He would have lost it or succumbed totally to the confusion, had his housekeeper not informed him over the intercom that a certain Avni Mehta was there to meet him.

And rest was history!

.

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'Stupid! Fool! Idiot! Pagal! Aise karta hai koi propose kisiko? Facebook me?'

She had pushed him with her tiny fists on his chest, making him stumble only a little, but the smile that adorned his face was irreplaceable at seeing the sight of that same 18 year Avni, who had been buried somewhere for all these years, but not anymore.

'Tumhe hasi aa rahi hai? Tum jante ho what I am feeling? Can you even imagine what I felt when you saw my message, ignored it, and went offline?'

She complained as she once again pushed him and his smile only got deeper, irritating the hell out of her, and when she was going to bat her little fists against him once again, it was his turn to surprise her as he held both her wrists in his tight grip and turned her around in a jiffy, pinning her to the wall of his living room.

She gasped at the unexpected turn, but when she saw him dangerously close to her, his face inches away from hers, all that she felt was this strong desire to stay in his arms forever, within the protective cage, that was her safe haven.

Their breaths became laboured as he inched further close and said in a voice that was barely audible, but she heard him anyway.

"I am sorry. For everything. For that stupid bet, for my stupidity, for not fessing up at the right time, and for blaming you after all these years, when the one at fault had always been me."

His genuine words of apology made a lone tear fall from her eye, but before it could make its way further down her cheek, he wiped it off, not with his finger, but simply by kissing that tear away. And right at that moment, she couldn't control herself either.

With a voice that threatened of sobs, she averred, "And I am sorry too. For judging you wrong, for not asking you anything, for not clarifying, for being so stupid, for running away. I am so, so sorry."

"Ssshhh... It's me who should be sorry not you."

Neil remarked, and that only made her shake her head, as she contradicted, "No. I am the one at fault. So I should be sorry."

"Avni, it is me who is at fault, so let the apology be mine."

"No, the apology is mine. Neil."

"Stop it Avni, it's mine."

"No mine."

"Shut up."

"You shut up.''

"Fine. Then don't expect a sorry for this, Avni Mehta!"

And with that, he slammed his lips against hers, shocking her out of her wits, but in no time, she was holding him for support, the intensity of him claiming her like a man long starved, making her drown in a pool of desire.

He sucked her lower lip hard, begging for her permission to let him in and how could she deny him when this was something she had wanted herself too? Maybe somewhere deep inside her heart.

And so she parted her lips, letting his tongue slide in and explore the sweet corners of her mouth, devour her like no one else ever had before, while she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him as close as she humanly could , and he wrapped his hands around her waist.

It was not just a kiss of reconciliation but also a kiss of love, passion, declaration that no matter how disconnected they had been all these years, how far, and unknown of each other, their rebel hearts had always been in sync with each other, the proof of that was their mirroring heart beats and mingled breaths right at this moment.

After what seemed like eternity, they both pulled apart for need of air, and he watched her in a daze, scanning her freshly kissed swollen lips, dishevelled hair that spoke only one thing, that she was his, and only his. And he was always going to be only Hers.

As their breaths slowly came down to normal, he looked into her eyes, demanding her all for himself, as he finally popped the question once again, this time verbally,

"Marry me?"

And unlike the previous time, this time she did reply, only not verbally, but with a deep kiss on his lips, giving him all the assurance in the world that it was a "Yes" and his love, his life, his Avni, was finally granted to him by the universe.

.

And back in the present where they were now husband and wife after 6 whole months of courtship, he removed the last bits of clothing from their bodies, staring at the goddess that his wife was, he bent down on top of her, whispering sweet nothings into her ears, before silently whispering, "I love you!" And with that, he entered her in one swift motion, consuming her first cry of pain with a kiss, making her adjust slowly to his length, and once he was sure that it won't hurt her, he withdrew and entered her again, taking them both to newfound realms of passion, ecstasy, and love, and their rebel hearts finally rejoiced in unison.

.

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7 years later
New York City

"What did you do?"

He asked his 5 year old son, who looked scared as well as grumpy, both at the same time."Nothing daddy, mom just shouted at me for no reason."

"Oh really?" Her voice instantly caught the attention of the dad-son duo and they waited for her to say the words already!

"You didn't do anything, huh Nevaan? I scold you for no reason? Why don't you tell your dad what you were doing on the laptop?"

Avni said in a deadly tone, making her 5 year old son Nevaan gulp and look at his father, who was now looking at him questioningly too.

"What were you doing Nevaan?"Neil asked, loosening his tie.

He had just come from the office and seeing the epic expression on his son's face, he knew it was yet another day of his naughty antics. In this regard, his son was just like him. After all, he was the same naughty boy in his childhood. But he was a father now, and when discipline called, he was all up for it.

Maybe not as much as Avni, but still he was.

He had shifted his base to NYC, like he had planned to, right before their marriage and was now handling the whole of Khanna Industires in the States. Avni had her own childcare hospital now, which was closer to their residence since she didn't want to miss out much on her journey of motherhood and wanted to stay with the kids as often as she could.

"He won't say anything. Guilty conscious mind. I will tell you."

Avni shot her son another deadly look, before keeping the mini laptop on the table that had the Facebook tab open in it.

The sight confused Neil but that look lasted only for a second, as a huge grin took over his face and he broke into a fit of laughter, making Avni wide eyed.

Seeing his father laugh like a kid, Nevaan too couldn't keep up with his grumpy self anymore and joined his dad in his laugh, making his mother's mouth flung open, as she saw the father-son duo corner her and make her feel like the odd one out.

"Really Avni? He opened Facebook and you scolded him? Come on! You forgot our story or what?"

Neil said between his laugh, making Avni blush at the same time feign anger at him as she said,

"You spoil the kids left, right and center! This is why they don't listen to me! And coming to our story, then fine. I will see how much you laugh when Nav makes a boyfriend through Facebook when she grows up!"

The mention of his 2 year old daughter Navya, who they fondly called Nav, and the thought of a guy even coming remotely close to her when she grew up, made all his laughter fizzle out and in a fraction of second, he was The mighty Neil Khanna once again, who was extremely possessive of his little princess.

"I will ban Facebook for Navya! She is always going to stay with us." He said sternly and that made Avni shake her head.

Gosh. He was always this possessive when it came to his wife and kids, but with his daughter, it was very much intensified. With Nevaan, he could be all friendly, his buddy, but with little Navu, as he specifically loved to call her, he would always be her protector. He treated her as a mini version of the same porcelain doll that he considered his wife to be, and seeing all of it, Avni could only thank her stars once again.

"And what if she too has a rebel heart? Like us?"

Avni asked playfully, while bored with his parents' talks, Nevaan went on to play some more games on his laptop.

"Well in that case, I will make the so called guy her rebel heart loves, stay here with us! It's a fair deal!"

Neil suggested, his stern expressions fading as he smirked at Avni, who could only shoot him a look, and say,

"You are incorrigible, Neil!"

And before she could leave the room, Neil gripped her from her waist, making her crash against his chest, as he bent his head and claimed her lips but not before whispering, "But you still love me."

**

THE END.

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A/N: So, that was it from my side for this story! Do let me know if you guys liked it 😳