Howdy Doody peeps !!! I am a silent member of the forum ... totally crazy about Anupre ... So here I m with a short OS ... Set wayyyy past in the future ... 5-6 years down the lane ....
P.S :” No proof read ... Read at your own risk “
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A little over 6 months had passed since Aanya’s birth. She was beautiful in every way . Her eyes were as exact replica of Prerna’s yet her habits were same as Anurag’s. She was such a cute little baby and had everyone wrapped around her little fingers. Everyone from Moloy to Debu Daa were charmed by her .
Today Prerna was getting ready for her first official day back at work. Though she had not officially joined office back since her delivery because Aanya was still very young and constantly needed Prerna . She refused to be comforted by anyone other than Prerna and Anurag . A fact that annoyed Mohini beyond measure.
But today was different . Some important clients from The Daily Mail in London were coming for a meeting with the Basu Publications . If the deal went well it would be a huge feather in their cap . And Kaka Baba and Anurag insisted that she accompany them to the meeting . After all it was because of her and Anurag’s hard work that Basu Publication became what it is today .
While she was excited to attend the meeting , she was nervous about leaving Aanya when she was still so young. Actually the problem was that there was no one to watch Aanya. Mohini had gone to London to attend the wedding of some relative . While her family was out of station . So they had no option but to leave Aanya with a Nanny . They had hired the best one out their but she was still having doubts about leaving her baby with a stranger .
Prerna assessed her appearance in the mirror that morning, straightening out her saree and taking a deep breath. She wasn't sure what her day would hold, but she was ready for whatever it was going to throw at her.
As she turned around, Anurag walked into the bedroom with Aanya resting comfortably in his right arm. She was a delightful little baby and charmed anyone who met her. Anurag and Prerna were completely enamoured by her and suspected they would be for the rest of their lives.
"Hey, you look like a woman on a mission" Anurag said with a smile.
"I am a woman on a mission, a mission to crack a deal."
"I have no doubt that you will." He said as he kissed her cheek. "And neither does Aanya, isn't that right?" he cooed down at his daughter. Aanya gave a toothless smile back at her father as he lightly kissed her nose.
"She is a daddy's girl already." Prerna commented as she put her earrings in.
"Of course she is" Anurag said with a smirk.
"Are you sure you're ok to wait for the nanny if I go on?" Prerna asked with a strained look on her face.
"Yeah, it's fine, Baba needs you there to help him and Nivi Di with the presentation . I will join you guys as soon as the nanny comes." Anurag assured her.
Prerna nodded and looked down at the little girl nestled in Anurag’s arm. She ran her finger down her soft little cheek and smiled .
"Ok, —I'm going to go now." She said.
"Bye baby—Mommy loves you so much." She said as she kissed her daughter's head. "Mommy also loves you" she said as she quickly kissed Anurag. "I'll see you in a little bit"
"See you" Anurag said as he bid her goodbye.
A short while later, Sid walked into Anurag’s office with some papers in hand. He eyed Anurag curiously, seeing he had his back to the door and was looking down at the floor behind his desk.
"Hey Anurag , can you read over these papers and get them back to me?" He asked as Anurag finally turned around, looking a little flustered.
"Uh, yeah, yeah, just leave them there, I'll look at them as soon as I can." Anurag said as gurgling sounds came from behind the desk.
"Is uh—is everything ok?" Sid asked as he folded his arms. He knew his best friend from heart and he was sure Anurag was definitely hiding something under his desk .
"Yeah, just—excuse me, for one second." Anurag said as he turned and looked at the floor again. "Aanya , we made a deal, you stay quiet and Daddy will give you some yummy milk—" Anurag whispered down at his daughter .
"Uh… what are you doing bud ?? What’s going on ?” Sir asked as he tried looking behind the desk.
Anurag sighed and lifted Aanya’s car seat onto his desk, to reveal the happy looking baby, sucking on one of her toys. "The nanny bailed, and my wife is otherwise engaged so—I'm on daddy duty."
"I see. Why not just call Prerna?" Sid asked, knowing that Prerna wouldn't mind.
"Because it's her first day back and the meeting with the London clients is really important and I don’t I don't want to burden Prerna , she is already so stressed because of the meeting so I just—I snuck her in here." Anurag explained.
"Hmmm I see ... What about day care?"
"No way . Baba would kill me if I left his granddaughter in a day care." Anurag told him.
Aanya started to fuss in her seat and Anurag lifted her out of her seat as she rested against his shoulder.
"What are you planning on doing with her when you have to go to the meeting?" Sid asked, raising her eyebrow.
"I uh—I don’t know ." Anurag said with a frown, before having a light bulb moment. "Here, would you mind-?" he said, holding out Aanya for Sid to take.
"Oh, okay ... but my meeting with the Chief Minister —" Sid said before Anurag cut him off
“ I know I know ... I will be back before then ... thanks a lot Sid for doing this .” Anurag said as he opened the door. "Just—make sure Prerna doesn't find out she's here." He added before dashing out of the door leaving a perplexed Sid behind.
A little while later, Anurag was rushing through the office corridors to get to the next thing in his agenda . He knew he told Sid he would only be half an hour, but he bended the truth slightly. Part of him felt bad, but he really was desperate.
"Hey" he heard his wife's voice behind him, as he jumped slightly.
"Hey, hi" he said quickly.
Prerna narrowed her eyes; "why are you so jumpy?"
"Oh, I'm just running here and there getting things ready for the meeting , not really thinking, you just—made me jump."
"Uh huh—why uh—why do you have Aanya’s blanket in your pocket?" Prerna asked as she pulled the purple material out and held it up.
Anurag’s eyes widened; "oh I must have put it there before I left Aanya—with the nanny—and forgot to give it to her."
"Ok… and why—why do you smell like talcum powder?" Prerna asked as she sniffed his suit. He'd changed Aanya’s dipper in his office just before Sid came in, that's why he smelt like the powder.
"Oh, you know how it is, when you have a baby you take on all their smells—the good ones and the bad ones." Anurag joked.
Prerna furrowed her eyebrows; "Something's off."
"What?"
"You, you're acting weird." Prerna said, standing in front of him and folding her arms. "Something you want to tell me Anurag ?"
"Nope. Nothing to tell." Anurag said with a tight-lipped smile.
"Right… I'll find out soon enough." Prerna said, glaring at Anurag one last time, before walking away.
Anurag let out a breath, knowing he had to get back to Aanya and Sid as soon as possible.
After what felt like a life time, Anurag was finally done with his work for the meeting. He told Baba and Prerna that he was not feeling well and wanted to go home . Neither of them bought is story at first and he had to fake a terrible stomachache to get away. He rushed back to his office to take Aanya home. As he opened the door, he found an empty office and an empty car seat. He quickly lifted out his phone and called Sid .
"Hey Anurag " Sid answered.
"Sid!! Where are you and where here is my child?" Anurag asked rubbing his forehead with his hand.
"Oh, I had to go so I gave her to Shivani. She was there in the office ... listen I wish I could have stayed but my meeting with the Chief Minister ... Sid said before Anurag swiftly cut him off.
"Yeah, yeah ok, I got to go" he said, hanging up the phone before rushing out of his office to find Shivani.
Before he made it to her office, he ran into her texting in the corridor. Texting, and no Aanya in sight.
"Shivi !" Anurag said in a panicked tone. "Where is Aanya ?"
"I had a meeting, so I gave her a bottle and then gave her to Nivi Di ." Shivani said, not looking up from her phone. "It was entirely convenient timing as well cause, she needed her dipper changed and I just don't do dippers—"
"No one seems to do dippers." Anurag mumbled. "Does Prerna know she's here?" Anurag asked.
"No, I was given strict instructions not to tell Prerna Di , which I passed on to Nivi Di , don't worry." Shivani assured him as he dashed towards Nivi Di’s office.
When he realised she wasn't there, he took off for the briefing room to see Nivi Di standing at the podium, answer questions, of various foreign clients with no baby in sight. Nivedita spotted Anurag at the back of the room as she cradled her arms signalling a baby, and then raised his eyebrows.
Anurag watched as she mouthed Anupam .
Anurag turned around and saw Anupam walking happily down the corridor and quickly went after him.
"Anupam, where is Aanya?"
Anupam stopped and pondered his question for a minute. "I don't know." He answered before walking on.
"What? What do you mean you don't know?"
"I mean, Nivi handed her to me and I can't remember what I did with her next." Anupam explained calmly, clearly not seeing the problem with his answer.
"Are you kidding me? You can't remember what you did with a human being? A tiny little human being? What’s wrong with you Anupam?” Anurag exclaimed .
"I am really sorry Anu ... I don’t know what is happening with me .. maybe I should start taking medicines for my forgetfulness. Hey .. Do you think I have Dementia?” Anupam asked with a comical expression on his face
"Not now Anupam !"Anurag said as he turned the corner and walked into his office. Anupam and his Dementia nonsense could wait . He had to find his daughter first . And Anupam’s forgetfulness was probably because of him partying every night and being in the hungover state every morning . Really Nivi Di had to do something.
Not knowing what to do next , Anurag went to his cabin to think about the situation he had at his hand. He entered his cabin and sat down on the sofa with the sign , and put his head between his hands . He couldn’t believe he lost his daughter. Really he was a terrible father .
“Aanya where are you baby ? Please come to Daddy “ He said .
As if my magic, door opened and saw Prerna cradling a sleeping Aanya in his arms.
"Prerna , I—"
Prerna shushed Anurag as she swayed gently to keep Aanya asleep. "I just got her to sleep, let's not wake her up."
Anurag felt a rush of relief run through him as he collapsed on the sofa. "I have been running around trying to find her—I can't believe I lost my daughter."
Prerna put the baby into the car seat again and turned to her husband .
"You didn't lose her, you just trusted her with a few people . Granted you weren't sure which one. Every parent loses track of their kid every once in a while, it's a supermarket classic “ Prerna replied putting her hands around Anurag’s neck .
“ No, Prerna ... Anything could have happened to her, she could have been kidnapped for god’s sake “said Anurag clearly annoyed with himself .
“Anurag... shhhh ... it’s alright ... it could have been me also and it’s not like you left her unattended “ replied Prerna .
“ I am a terrible father “ said Anurag .
“ No that’s not true . You are a wonderful father . Aanya adores you , you know how her eyes just light up when she looks at you." Prerna told him.
“Really ... I didn’t let her down ?“ asked Anurag .
“Not at all Anurag .. it’s nothing to fret about !! Cmon now let’s go home “ said Prerna dragging him .
“Wait , what about the meeting with clients from London ?”asked Anurag .
“Well, they called and the meeting is postponed till Wednesday “ replied Prerna .
“That’s great, Let’s go home I am pretty tired from running around the office today “ said Anurag picking up Aanya’s car seat , she was still fast asleep blissfully unaware of her surroundings.
“Hmm so no gym today “said Prerna winking at Anurag .
“You !!! “ said Anurag dragging Prerna and hugging her .
While they left the office together , Moloy Basu stood there silently watching them and laughing. They weren’t perfect but who is . They were imperfectly perfect and that’s what made them the best family out there!!!!
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Comments are welcomed !!
Fan Fictions
