RANDOM DRABBLE
FAMILY
Pallavi rushed to cook the best food of her life after her phone call with Raghav. Her mind warned that what Raghav was doing, staying at her home with the Deshmukh's was gonna hurt someone but her heart was on cloud 9 just by the thought of meeting her family after so long. She cooked one favourite dish of everyone from the family, even Raghav's. After all he was trying so hard to work on his promise by keeping his ego and Ghamandi Rao attitude on one side.
Raghav kept looking at his watch as everyone around him got seated for their lunch time. Aai had cooked something very simple trying to save as much money as she can while the Bindi Wala Aunty and her daughters relied on the ordered burgers. Even though they had all been ignoring him, he being him, ie.e The Raghav Rao, he had already made himself comfortable on the seat at the very end of the table opposite to his Sanki Sasur ji or Vijay Ji , the strange name he had been calling him since he arrived.
"Yeh Saree ka Dukaan kahan marr gaya hai. Agar aise hi late karega toh sab khana khakr uth bhi jayega aur woh bass apna dabba lehrata reh jayega." he murmured under his breath.
Everyone was busy in their own worl. A table that always buzzed with laughter and chatter was now oddly silent where nobody interacted anymore. Aai lightly slided the sabzi bowl towards him trying to be as discrete as possible and he was happy that finally his mother in law had accepeted him while kaka silently kept a roti on his plate.
Sighing at his oh so late wife he took a morsel to feed himself but the door bell rang.
"ab kaun aaya hoga.?" Aai spoke with confusion and went to open the door.
"Lavender" Raghav smiled as soon asthe door opened and he felt her by her scent. Their strange connection.
"Pallavi" Aai spoke in shocked.
"Aai" Pallavi sadly smiled, "Kaisi hai tu?" she asked her mother trying so not to break down and hug her.
Everyone looked up in shock and a few in anger as Mr Deshmukh stood up at once.
"Tu yahan kya kar rahi hai?" Mr Deshmukh shouted making Pallavi flinch at his tone.
"Baba woh-" she started to speak but only to be interrupted by her dear husband.
"Arey sweetheart tum aa gaya." Raghav went towards her as he kept his arm around her shoulder, "Kitna derr kardiya tum. Mera pett main woh chuha ne earthquake macha diya hai." he complaint.
"Raghav woh raaste main Nikhil mil gaya tha toh bass uske saath aane main time lag gaya." she replied as she looked from her husband to her baba.
"Han jiju apko gussa karna hai toh mujhpe karo maine di ko late karwaya hai." Nikhil entered the house after safely parking the scooty.
"Chalo woh kehta hai na der aaya dusra aaya." Ragahv spoke.
"Raghav der aaye durust aaye." Kaka corrected him.
"Han woyi tum log samajh gaya na. Chalo ab khana khate hai." Ragahv took Pallavi's hand taking her inside finally crossing the door boundary that she was once thrown out of. A lone tear left her eye as she felt back at home. Aai looked proudly at her son in law who had finally got her daughter home.
"Yeh andar nahin aa sakti hai." Mr Deshmukh stopped their way.
"Par ab yeh aa gaya hai kyunki yeh mera biwi hai aur main iss ghar ka tenant. Yaad hai Vijay ji ya bhul gaya." Raghav raised his brows as took his wife past him and made himself confortable in his chair.
She stood looking at her family, meeting them after so many days, she never thought would feel so strange.
"Bhai mujhe toh bahut bhukh lagi hai." Nikhil joined his jiju on the table and others stood eyeing the old man who was shooting daggers.
"Suniye aap bhi baith jaiye aur khana kha lijiye apko dawa bhi leni hai." Aai requested baba and so he sat down where the others joined him.
"Aise kya dekh raha hai Pallu. Mereko khana do na aur agar baki kisiko khana hai toh main rokega nahin. Waise bhi tum itna tasty khana banata hai." he motioned her to play along and she did.
"Han ruko main deti hoon." she opened the tiffin boxes lying all the dishes infront of him.
"wow Maharashtrian khana. Smell toh bada achcha aa raha hai. Haina Junior college?" he asked Nikhil winking at him who understood his jiju's idea.
"Han jiju di toh hamesha hi best karti hai. Di mujhe bhi do na." Nikhil whined like a kid as he used to do before everything changed and that eased Pallavi. She smiled and plated both their plates.
"Yumm Pallu tum great hai. Tum roz idhar khana lekar aana. " he smiled at her as he silently pushed a bowl of Kaku's favourite Keri Aamti towards him.
All this while Baba kept eyeing Raghav with fury as Kaka took the bowl and helped himself.
"Wah pallavi tumne toh itne din baad dil khush kardiya." Kaka praised Pallavi after the first morsel itself.
"Thank you kaka. Main aapko rice doon." Pallavi asked as her heart beamed with happiness.
Slowly all the bowls full of food made by Pallavi moved from Ragahv's side to the other side where people deveoured her food.
"Pallavi yeh Bharli bhindi toh itni yumm hai." Amruta complimented Pallavi while her mom eyes her.
"Pallavi mujhe woh methi aloo dena." Mansi asked while Pallavi rushed to her aid.
Raghav smiled all this while watching her wife happy after so long as she ran from one place to other, filling everyone's plates with their favourite food. Everyone seemed condemned after ages and he loved that. he never realised how that simple smile of hers could do wonders to him. His trance was spoke when Nikhil whispered to him.
"Thank you . Aaj bahut time ke baad sabko itna khush dekha hai. Specially di." Nikhil thanked him genuinely.
"Tumhara didi se jo chheena hai woh wapas karne ka wada kara main. Nibhana toh hai." Raghav replied with a smile.
Pallavi took a small container and with slow steps halted infront of her baba.
"Baba woh aapke liye shrikhand banai hai. Aapko bahut pasand hai na. Aai tere liye bhi hai." she spoke with a smile but still scared for the reaction.
Mr dekhmukh stood up without and answer and left for his room making her smile fade away. Raghav was about to stand up to intervene but before he him Aai did.
"Lagta hai unko unki dawa yaad aa gayi. Dawa lele toh main unko shrikhand khila dungi , unko sabzi main mirchi lagi hogi.' Aai took the bowls from her and left without any eye contact. Pallavi knew her Aai was still angry with her decision but right now just this small interaction and that sweet bowl meant everything to her.
Raghav looked down not able to take her small sadness that hurted him like hell when he noticed a small tiffin tucked in her bag. Picking up he opened it only to find his favourite Payasam in it. He smiled at her gesture.
"Mera ek meeting hai. Nikhil yeh tera zimmedari hai ki yeh sab khana khatam ho jaye." he stood up announcing his departure from the room.
"Han jiju aap tension matlo main kha lunga sab.' Nikhil replied stuffing his face with the delicacies, not even looking up.
Pallavi smiled at her brother and made her way towards her husband before he could make a move.
"Raghav ek minute" she stopped him.
"Kya hua saree ka dukaan?" he asked forgetting the cute nicknames he was supposed to call her.
Pallavi held her saree ka pallu near his mouth wiping off the crumbs of food stuck near it startling him as he kept looking at her with devotion.
"Han ho gaya. Achcha woh ek tiffin-" she started to tell him that she brought something for him too.
"Payasam ke liye thank you nahin bolega kyunki woh tumhara thank you hai. Ab mereko disturb nakko karne ka, mereko yeh shanti se khana hai." he held the box up for her to see as he gave her a slight smirk and went away.
"Veda manus." she smiled as she thanked him in her heart for making it the best afternoon of her life after so long as she looked around her at the family that meant everything for her no matter how imperfect they were.
Tadaaaa......
I loved today's episode and specially the sweetheart from Raghav's side.
Also him saying Vijay ji almost gave me a heart attack.
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