"The flight will land in half hour. Please make sure all your belongings are in order. Thank you"
Maan looked at Geet who was busy packing everything most importantly cleaning up all the mess that Vicky made. I told her so many times that the air hostess will clean up the mess left behind but no she won't listen. She says that its their duty to clean up after themselves and it is important to teach Vicky to clean up after himself. A smile formed my lips as I watched her teach Vicky, very patiently, on how to clean. He listened like a good boy. If only, he would listen to me just as good.
Anamika on the other hand also loves to trouble me. Just few hours before when we came out of the room. She wouldn't go to anyone but me. Whenever I would hold her she would quiet down. Not annoying right? Well, the twist was whenever I would hold her. She would start smacking me, pulling my tie to almost choking me, or pulling my hair. Don't get me wrong I loved this annoying things from her. I wanted to give her all the attention to her that she had lacked before. Whenever I would give her fake angry look to her she would start laughing. She wasn't scared of me. Deep down she knew as well I would never yell or hurt her.
Geet on the other hand, did everything in her power to avoid me. She didn't even sit next to me like she did at the beginning of the trip. Whenever our eyes would meet; she would start blushing. There was nothing more beautiful than to see my wife's red cheeks but it also annoyed me when she avoided being near my presence. She would sit next aisle next to Vicky, playing, talking and helping him eat. Vicky, of course, enjoyed the attention and once in a while he would stick his tongue out to me.
Loosing my patience with Vicky's constant teasing I raised my voice to yell at him. My own little brother was teasing me. Me? Maan Singh Khruana. When I raised my voice, I got an angry glare from Geet making me tongue tied. For once, I was tongue tied and that too by my own wife. Me. Thank god no one was here to see this or else my angry persona that I gave to the world would have been gone. I would have been ridiculed by everyone.
Ever since that incident, Vicky did everything that Geet told him to do. Vicky, just to spite me, would again stick out his tongue whenever Geet was not looking. I, on the other hand, when would raise my voice to yell, I would meet her angry eyes. Telling me...
"what has he done wrong? He is just a kid"
A kid? My foot! Vicky is not a kid. He could get away from murder thanks to Geet. He knows how to take advantage of my helplessness. He know I won't do anything as long as Geet is here. Good think I had Anamika. She is the only one that would come near me. Another half hour and we would be in our new home. Let's see how she avoids me then. He smirks as he plays with Anamika.
Geet on the other hand was busy with Vicky. Babaji, half an hour more before we land. God knows how our new place looks like. How I will face him all alone? Would we stay in same rooms or different? (A blush creeps up on her face as she looks toward Maan with the thought of sharing a room) I avoided him for this long under the pretense of Vicky but what will I do at the house? I know sooner or later I will have to face him.
"Vicky!"
I jump out of my thoughts as I heard him yelling Vicky's name yet again in anger. I look at Vicky who hugged me tight with a sad face. I gave an angry glare which made him shut up right away. What does he think of himself. Yelling at poor Vicky like this again and again? What has he done wrong? He is just playing around. I swear to god, he needs to control his anger or else poor Vicky won't go near him at all.
"Vicky, don't look at your bhai okay. Clean up this mess while I go look after Anamika"
"Okay, Di"
What a good boy he is. He always makes me smile no matter what with his cute antics. No matter what Vicky will be my first priority He was there when I needed someone the most. I know he needs some mother's and father's love which we both will give to him. I know he is still insecure, whenever someone talks about leaving he thinks its because of him. I have to let him know that we will never leave him. He has to let go of this or else he will always live in fear for life. I patted his head, much to his annoyance, as I got up going toward Maan.
I saw her looking at Vicky lovingly. I knew she adored him and will always protect him. She was the one that will make him loose his fear of everyone leaving him. I will never leave him, he needs to know. I quickly looked down toward Anamika as I saw her coming towards me. I played with her fingers making her smile in excitement. I felt her standing really close to me, I could smell her perfume and her aroma. I waited for her to say something after the little game she played. I was not going to give in this easily.
Babaji, what should I say? I need to get Anamika but he seems to be busy.
"uhh Maan..woh..."
He is not looking at me. Did I not speak loud enough? Maybe i didn't, that is why he is reacting to what I said. I slowly poked his shoulder to get his attention. Slowly, he looks at me with a smile.
"Ohh Geet what happened?"
"I uhh need Anamika. She must be hungry"
"ohh uhh grab her am not stopping you"
"Dhust dhanav." Geet says under her breath as Maan made no effort to hand over Anamika to her. He just placed her on his lap waiting for Geet to make the first move.
Did I hear her right? She called me Dhust Dhanav? Wait, if she wants me to become dhust dhanav than I will show her what I can do.
"Geet, I don't thinks he will come to you like last time."
Geet reached down to pick her up but Maan held her close to him showing her she wont' come to her.
"See. She doesn't want to go. Right, baby?" (He winks at Anamika making her laugh. Geet again tries to grab Anamika but Maan would lightly tickle her making Anamika throw her hands in the air pushing her away.) "see...now how would you feed her?"
Geet blushes remembering how she fed Aanamika before. "What should I do now? She is hungry doesn't he realize it? No. He wants to tease me than fine."
"I will feed her later. Let me clean her first"
Geet takes her nappy bag holding it in front of her. Maan puts her head on his shoulder so that Geet can't grab her.
"Geet, she is hungry go feed her."
"but..."
Maan gets up holding her hand bringing her back to the same room again. He also signals the air hostess to bring her nappy bag. Maan closes the door after everything was in. Geet looks at their surroundings again. She couldn't escape this time.
"Sit on the bed" (She didn't move but rather kept looking at the door. Maan holds her and makes her sit on the bed) "Don't worry I won't do anything" (He winks teasing her making her blush hard. He sits very close to her unlike before with Anamika still in his arm. He puts Anamika in her lap looking at Geet.
Anamika on the other hand, kept looking at her dad and her mom back and fourth not knowing what is going on. No one was paying attention to her. Her hands reached Geet's tummy and scratched her making her hiss in pain while pulling on Maan's tie bringing his attention back to her. Maan's eyes looked at the scratch left on her stomach with slight anger making Anamika cry.
Maan held her close to her to make her quiet but she wouldn't listen to anyone. Geet looks at him with anger. Trapping Maan. Great I have three people that are against me and loves troubling me. I am all alone here.
"Great, why can't you control those eyes of yours? Scaring everyone away?"
She says in anger. Geet raises her hand to stop him from saying anything. She opens her sari pallu to feed Anamiak unaware of where she was and in front of who. She grabs Anamika from his arm to feed her unware that she had her hold on Maan's tie. As soon as Geet placed her on her lap Maan's bent down at the same time. Unknowingly, his lips touched right below her chest making her shiver. Geet realizes her chest was not covered with the sari pallu. Anamika started to cry more out of hunger. Maan tried to pull his tie from her grip so she could feed her but she was stubborn just like me. Maan moved his head back a little to give some space, even though it wasn't much.
"you uhh need"
"huhh...uhh"
Both didn't know what to say. Both were embarrassed with the current situation. Maan's hand snakes around her back opening up her top much to her embarrassment. Her shaky hands went for her top for her feeding. Maan closes his eyes and tried not to look but Anamika made it hard. She would pull his tie as she was feeding. She was playing around with it.
"Ohh god...what other embarrassing situations do we have to face with one another?"
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