SwaSan OS:RELIEF

Swara hated being scolded. Since childhood, she had never been rebuked as such. Her mother was always busy trying to juggle her daughter's upbringing and making a living..all as a single mother. Her Dida, had looked after her...but she, after all, was a grandmother. And a doting one at that. So Swara always had her way. She never really over-stepped her limits or crossed the lines as such...so, there had been no need for her mother or teachers to come down hard on her.

She had been as normal a child as can be..without a father or significant father figure in her life. She had not missed it either...until of course, she found out she had one. And though she loved him...and he, her...still, the very fact that he had not really trusted her or her Ma when they needed him most..yawned a huge chasm in their relationship. It was cordial at best. Polite conversation, hugs and gifts. He was more her mother's husband than her Dad. A weak specimen he was too.

Swara had certainly missed that part of having a father. Without even knowing she had missed it. She had never had someone dropping her off to school with reminders of how best to handle boys who cracked jokes at you(her mother's advice was to ignore..or make friends with some of them, so that they are no longer foes), no quiet assurance, that if things went wrong with the school bus..her Daddy would vroom his way on a bike...and rescue his little princess. If the bus got a puncture, and her mom could not get off work..she would have to wait in the darwan's room until Dida huffed her way there, on a rickety rickshaw.

The earliest hero of any little girl's fairytale is her father. Hers just got brambled in the thicket.

She had missed someone clapping for all he was worth at her musical performances...even when she had half of her milk teeth gone and lisped her way through twinkle twinkle little star. Her report card was always signed by her Ma...and her grades never made someone give her piggy back rides or treats.

That's what she had missed most. Someone to be proud when she behaved well...and to be cross when she did not. A mother teaches you everything you know. Guards you like a tigress. Gives you the tools to ensure you never fall. A father...structures you, would maul anyone who dared to think of harming his baby...and is there to pick you up when you, do fall.

As they say...all daughters love their fathers most. Because a Dad is the one Man who will never break her heart. Any Man coming into her life would be judged against the high standards her father set...of how a Man should be.

Sadly, her father had broken her heart...and he was no role model for the Man she loved.

Which is why, Swara was grumbling her way to the dentist's chamber at present...last night's ultimatum still ringing in her ears.

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They had been making love in their room. The lights were off. Sanskaar had just got back to her from a week-long stay in Delhi for a series of meetings.

Gazing into his wife's face...glowing, doused by the moonlight peeping in at their windows...Sanskaar breathed the fragrance of her tresses. Swara sighed in contentment, nibbling her way closer to his lips, slowly nuzzling along the hard line of his jaw.

Feeling his fingers gently rubbing circles on her nape...Swara tilted her head back, allowing him to free her hair and caress a warm line across her face. He placed his forehead against hers, her waist arched against the tantalizingly sturdy grip of his palms, rubbing their way up satiny skin, a slight sheen of sweat breaking out on both.

Swara stared into the eyes she had been missing like hell. They gazed back at her, sparkling with a cocktail of emotions. Love made them velvety, the company of the woman he wanted for keeps, instilled satisfaction in them...and their arousal had made them mesmerizing. Deep, content and strong as always.

Sanskaar, rubbed his cheek against hers, moving his lips over her eyelids. Her lashes brushing against his..he entered her mouth, their tongues dancing against each other.

"ooohh!!!"

"What?!?!" Sanskaar pulled back...shocked at his wife clutching at him for support...and just shy of screaming.

"uhuhu" Swara made some incoherent noises, holding her jaw.

"Swara??" Sanskaar shot up...swiftly switching on the bedside lamps. Their brightness revealed that his wife was in pain, and was rubbing comforting circles where her right molar should be.

"daant mein dard hai😲?" Swara had been complaining about a twinge in her gums...and despite that she had obviously not visited the dentist.

"hmm." Swara moaned like a cat caught in wrong doing😔.

"Maine apne dentist friend ke paas appointment fix karvaya tha nah?" Sanskaar said crossly.

"darr lagta hai." Swara replied in a sheepishly small voice😒. She knew his dentist friend, Dr. Ravi Kundra...a jovial chap...had been to dinner with his fiance to their house several times, but in a dentist's garb..he looks like Ravaan on Dusshera to her.

"you are going tomorrow. Bas" Sanskaar dictated, giving her some clove to help her through the night.

"I'll suck on the clove...and the pain goes😃" Swara said brightly, eagerly inserting the clove into her mouth.

"Absolutely not. Its temporary. The pain will increase and I am not having you screaming in pain at night" Sanskaar glared at his wife's antics.

"par.." Swara hated those instruments which hovered alarmingly over her mouth..while the tooth-carpenter said coaxingly, "open up a little wider, please." and " rinse". Scary monsters🤢.

"no buts. Chalo...suck on the clove..and go there tomorrow. nahi gayi toh.."

"toh kya? Mujhe nahi jaana. Dard chala gaya,see?" Swara made a face mutinously.

Sanskaar frowned..narrowing his eyes.

"toh...I'll never kiss you again."

"huh?" Swara blinked. That CANNOT happen. This was way too much punishment.

"yeah. You don't get your teeth seen to...then your poor husband cannot kiss you...cavities turn me off." Sanskaar shrugged, turning away.

Swara gave up with ill grace and a sulk. He never fought fair. She figured...getting rid of a toothache and her husband's kiss was good returns against a scary visit to the Tooth Fairy.

"Okay...but mujhe dard hua toh?" Swara pouted, scrambling closer to him. She needed a reassuring hug.

"Once you are done..I'll be there to hold your hand..and feed you ice cream. As many as you want." Sanskaar bargained.

"Ice cream?" Swara's eyes brightened. Sanskaar never let her eat too many ice creams, because she had a propensity to catch colds. This was like Santa Claus handing out extra gifts. Plus she could always complain exaggeratedly and make him do anything she wanted...Sanskaar would not mind when his darling wife was supposedly suffering.😉

The deal was done.

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Mothers give birth to babies and they do everything correctly for the child. She after all has had good practice tending to her husband's big baby ways, before the child's arrival.

Fathers know exactly how to deal with their daughters...to keep their angelic smiles intact. They after all have dealt with their mothers' nakhras and mood swings.

I have a feeling these two might make very good parents.😊