Epilogue
Two years later
Mrithunjay returned home early that day with his left arm encased in a
sling and a band-aid on his forehead.
"Taaaraaa!" he groaned loudly in anguish.
Tara, who was busy preparing pakodas for Ishan, ran out of the
kitchen in haste, disturbed by the pain evident in his voice. Seeing the state
he was in, she rushed to him in concern and holding him supportively, she led
him to the sofa. Ishan who was playing with his toys on the sofa jumped
down from it and looked at his father curiously, wondering why his papa had his
arm in a funny looking white piece of cloth and why was his mama making a fuss
over him.
"What happened, Mrithunjay? How did you get hurt?"
"Tara, I got into argument with this big fat man in my office for
fudging the accounts. I tried to restrict it to verbal dual but the guy pushed
it to a physical fight. But don't worry. He only managed to twist my arm and
inflict a small cut on my forehead but I have knocked down half a dozen of his
teeth, rearranged his face and broken three of his ribs. The guy will not be
able to get up from bed for another six months."
"You did what?" Tara asked in shock. "How could you Mrithunjay?
How could you forget your promise to me and return to your old ways? Will you
never ever change?" she asked in exasperation, her eyes filling up quickly
and she turned her back to him.
Mrithunjay watched her taut back for a couple of minutes and smiling
crookedly, he tried to turn her around to him with his right hand. She shrugged
off his hand and refused to look at him. He removed his left arm from the
sling, ripped off the band-aid on his forehead and turned her around forcibly
with both his hands.
Her eyes slowly moved from his forehead to his left arm and widened when
she noticed that there was no mark on his face and his arm looked perfectly
fine. Looking at her surprised expression he smiled and pointing to the
calendar on the wall, he said mischievously, "Tara, check the date on the
calendar. What day is it today?"
Tara looked at the calendar in confusion but couldn't catch what he was
hinting at.
"April Fool!" he shouted.
It finally dawned on Tara that he was pulling her leg.
"Mrithunjay! You were fooling me all along? How mean!" she
punched his right shoulder hard.
"Ouch!" Mrithunjay moaned. "Who would have guessed this
wisp of a girl can throw such solid punches," he said jocularly.
He suddenly felt another punch land on him, this time on his left
shoulder. He turned around to see an indignant Ishan staring at him with his
hand on his hip.
"Bad Papa," he said furiously, knitting his eyebrows.
"Papa make Mama cry. Bad Papa."
Seeing his little son springing up to his wife's defence, Mrithunjay burst
out laughing. "So the two of you have now teamed up against me? OK, baba.
I'll not make your mama cry again. I'll make it up to her with a
kiss." He turned around and kissed his wife's cheek.
No sooner than he kissed her, did he feel another little punch land on
his shoulder. Ishan climbed on his mother's lap and turning her face to him, he
hugged her possessively, saying, "My mama. Papa no kiss." He
then fell on her and kissed her profusely on both her cheeks.
Both Tara and Mrithunjay smiled at their son's possessiveness.
"OK, your papa won't kiss me. I'll kiss him," said Tara teasingly and leaned to kiss Mrithunjay's cheek.
This time Ishan pounced on to his father's lap and turned his face away
from Tara.
"No. Mama no kiss. Gollu kiss." He then proceeded to cover Mrithunjay's
bearded cheek with wet kisses.
Mrithunjay and Tara laughed at their little son's antics.
Tara pinched her son's cheek and asked fondly. "Gollu won't share
his mama and papa with any one?" Ishan shook his head in the negative.
"But sonny, you'll be getting a baby sister or brother soon. Would you not
let mama kiss the baby?"
Ishan thought for a minute, tapping his forefinger on his chin.
"Mmm...Mama kiss Gollu fffusht, " he thumped his little chest.
"Mama kiss baby seccund." He put out two fingers.
Tara smiled, nodded her head and kissed his cheek. Mrithunjay too absent
mindedly smiled but suddenly realised that his wife had just said that they
will soon be having another baby.
"Tara! What did you just say? Are we really having another baby,
darling?" he asked hopefully.
Seeing her nod her head shyly, he could barely contain his excitement.
"When?" he asked, holding her hands in his.
"In about eight months."
Mrithunjay put his arms around her and pulling her to him, he kissed her
head and then kissed his little son's head, his heart bursting with happiness.
In the next eight months Mrithunjay was ever so doting and caring of his
pregnant wife, more than making up for not being there the first time she was
carrying his baby. Finally the day that the Shekawats were eagerly looking
forward to arrived and Mrithunjay assisted in bringing his bonny, beautiful daughter
into this world. Holding her little form in his large arms, he cooed to her
lovingly, saying, "Welcome, little Sahana a.k.a Mollu." Tara
looked at her husband and her baby with pride.
Just then Ishan who was waiting outside the labour ward with his
grandparents came in with them and excitedly asked if he has a baby sister or a
baby brother. When he was told he has a baby sister, he jumped up and down in
happiness and demanded that he be allowed to carry her. Mrithunjay gently tried
to dissuade him, saying the baby was too small but he was adamant. Aradhana
finally asked him to sit beside his mother and supporting the baby's wobbly
head she laid the baby in his little lap for a minute just to appease him.
Ishan's excitement soon vanished when the baby wet his pants. Asking his
grandmother to remove the baby immediately, he rushed to the bathroom to clean
himself, muttering disgustedly, "Dirty baby", amidst the laughter of
his family.
Mrithunjay kissed Tara's forehead and thanked her for completing his
family, as her parents watched them indulgently.
The End
Edited by Opti - 10 years ago
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