Anurag walked into Aashnaa - The AP Creative Industries with a big smile on his handsome, glowing face. He was a cheerful person by nature, but today, Mr. Anurag Basu was especially upbeat.
The youngest business tycoon skirted right past Sid, his best buddy and the publishing head, who was busy with some file. Hearing his best friend being to joyfully hum, he looked up and found Anurag marching proudly behind him.
"Anurag?" Sid raised a curious eyebrow.
He spun around and beamed at Sid.
"Hey there Sid! Isn't it such an amazing day?"
"Yes..." Sid droned, tilting his head. "Are you feeling alright Anu?" he asked bewildered.
"Never better," Anurag grinned.
"Is it so? Then tell Mr. Never Better what's the reason behind you being exceptionally chipper today!" bombarded Sid.
Anurag's eyes became light, melting into a mellowed brown. He smiled before saying, "Yesterday, Prerna and I found out what she's having, you know, the sex of our babies!"
"Yes and what was it?" asked Sid barely able to control his happiness.
"A girl and a boy," Anurag whispered brightly. "We get to have one of each! Isn't it amazing? I've never been so excited about anything in my entire life!" He was still glowing.
"That's wonderful buddy, I'm so pleased for both of you." replied an over enthusiastic Sid, hugging Anurag.
"Thanks," Anurag said, still beaming just the same. "I just can't believe how lucky I am! I get to have a little girl and a little boy, all at the same time! All thanks to Prerna. I love her so much!"
At this point Anurag was blushing slightly, which Sid noticed almost immediately and laughed boldly smacking his back.
"Oh how very sweet of you!" Sid continued to chuckle. "Prerna got you wrapped around her finger, Eh?"
"Ofcourse!" Anurag's blush only increased. "I'd do anything for her!"
"Would you give her a little surprise, then?"
"Huh?" Anurag stared at Sid. "What do you mean?"
"Well, she's having the babies whom you love so much, right?"
"Uh huh."
"That isn't easy. I'm sure she would appreciate a really sweet gesture to show her just how much you appreciate what she's doing."
Anurag smiled broadly at his childhood bestie. "So what do you have in mind?"
"As far showing your appreciation?" Sid prompted.
"Yeah. I mean... she knows I love her. I hope. I always try to do nice things for her, like buy her her favourite things and take her out to dinner "
"See how sweet you are with her?" Sid punched Anurag on the arm. "You have to do something to show her how happy you are about this!"
"She knows, I keep telling her," Anurag blinked.
"No Anu, You have to show her."
"How?" Anurag furrowed his brow.
Thinking for a minute or two, Sid's expression softened as he snapped his fingers together and grinned. "I've got a great idea! There's no way she won't love it, trust me."
XXX
Sitting on the swing, Prerna was knitting baby clothes and chatting with her unborns... She was telling the babies about the Lovestory of her and Anurag, their barefoot walk on the beach, hiking in the woods, Anurag doing groceries with her, eating phuchka with her, their midnight waffle dates, their morning jog, them sharing coffee and waiting for the shooting stars (ofcourse excluding all the intimate stuffs). She told her peanuts very excitedly how their daddy, Anurag used to teasingly call her Amartya Sen, while teaching Economics, and his 'lame' attempts to make round rotis whenever she challenged him!
Prerna smiled fondly feeling them move around gently.
"Priyu Di" Shivani's voice came from the lobby.
"Coming" came Prerna's quick reply.
Stepping into the lobby Prerna was only further bewildered when she found Shivani standing by the front desk, her arms folded with a smirk gracing her lovely face.
"What are you doing?" Prerna asked.
"Nothing," Shivani giggled.
"Yeah, right. That's the same look you have on your face when you're up to no good. It's been that way since we were kids."
"Yeah but I didn't do anything this time."
"You didn't?" Prerna blinked. "Then who did?"
"Your adorable husband aka Anurag Jiju, that's who!"
"Anurag? What in the world did he do now?"
"Relax, it's not a bad thing," Shivani giggled. "He just... sent this."
Stepping away from the desk, Prerna found herself staring at a bouquet of beautiful white roses. They were placed in an aquamarine glass vase that reminded Prerna of an elegant stained window. In the middle of the pure white flowers, were two roses of a different colour: one blue and one pink, settled right next to one another.
"A... Anurag sent those?" Prerna stammered, her eyes flickering from the flowers to Shivani, and then back to the flowers as if to make sure they were real.
"According to the card, he did," Shivani smirked.
"What card?" Prerna breathed.
Moving towards the roses, Shivani reached towards the back of the vase and plucked off a white, oak tag card, handing it off to her elder sister. "I didn't read it, just so you know. All I saw was the front of it, which said "To: Prerna, From: Anurag." So I don't know what it says on the inside."
Prerna made no movement other than to flip open the card and read its contents. After scanning her eyes over the words several times, Prerna's eyes began to fill up with tears, and her lips started to quiver.
"Priyu Di, are you okay?" Shivani asked cautiously
"Yeah," Prerna breathed out shakily, her lips finally bending into a smile, "I'm perfect."
"What does the card say?" Shivani pointed at the thick, folded white paper.
Clearing her throat Prerna read the words aloud:
Prerna,
I know that I tell you this all the time, but now I want to show you just how much I mean it. I love you so much, more than anything else in the whole world. Now that we're about to become parents, my love for you has only increased. The white roses are all for you, but the two different roses are for our sweet little babies. The blue rose is for our wonderful son, and the pink rose is for our precious daughter. The love that I have for you is the same love that I now have for our children, and I couldn't be more grateful that you're giving them to me. No matter what, you'll always be my angel, and I will always love you.
- Anurag
"AWWW!" Shivani's sharp, high pitched tone shook Prerna to her core. "Oh my God, that is the sweetest thing I have ever heard in my life!"
"Isn't it cute?" Prerna blushed gently.
"I didn't know Jiju was capable of doing something so amazing," Shivani sighed. "I mean, I know he's sweet with you, but note is just so precious, heartfelt and romantic! Are you sure he wrote it?"
"Shivi!" Prerna gasped.
"I'm sure he did, I'm just curious," Shivani quickly clarified. "Maybe he finally found a good romantic novel!"
"He wrote it, I know he did," Prerna smiled once again as she looked over the card. "This is definitely his doing. I love him so much."
"Clearly he loves you just as much," Shivani nodded. "You two are both very lucky."
Prerna just grinned, knowing that her sister was absolutely correct.
XXX
Later that day after Shivani left, Prerna placed the vase on the middle of the kitchen table and began to care for the gorgeous blooms: fluffing the flowers out, watering them, and just fawning over them.
Roughly an hour and a half later, the door opened revealing the towering and handsome figure of Anurag.
Catching sight of her husband, Prerna squealed and jumped out of her seat, racing over to Anurag, to give him a bone crushing hug which took the dark haired young man off guard.
"P... Prerna!" He choked out. "Be careful! Your stomach! It's-"
"Fine," Prerna cut him off, pulling away and rubbing the obvious bump with both her hands. "No need to be so protective, sweetheart."
"I'm sorry," Anurag smirked. "So how come you're in such a good mood this evening?"
"You know why," Prerna giggled airily. Grabbing Anurag's hand, she dragged him into the kitchen and motioned towards the bouquet of roses which still sat beautifully on the kitchen table.
"Oh you got my flowers!" Anurag beamed. "Do you like them?"
"I love them!" Prerna shrieked, once again jumping at Anurag to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss his cheek. "Especially the blue and the pink for our little babies."
"I thought that was cute," Anurag chuckled. "Just because they're in your belly doesn't mean that they shouldn't get anything special." Reaching down, he caressed Prerna's stomach for good measure, smiling down at the ever growing bump.
"And the card you put with them..." Prerna's blush returned. "Did you really mean all of that?"
Anurag looked back up at his wife's face with evident surprise. "Ofcourse I did. Why would I make any of that up? You're the love of my love, Pree."
Prerna jumped at Anurag once again, this time kissing him on the lips. "You are just the sweetest! I'm so lucky to have a husband like you!"
"Well, I'm lucky to have a wife like you,' Anurag touched his nose against Prerna's. "I love you, Prerna."
"I love you too," Prerna buried her face into Anurag's chest. At the moment the babies woke up from their naps, and began to roll around and kick happily.
Chuckling, Anurag moved his hands around from Prerna's back onto her stomach, rubbing it gently as he whispered, "I'm sorry. I love you two also. You were just sleeping, and I wanted to make sure you heard it."
Prerna sighed contentedly and went back to resting her head on Anurag's chest as he kept his hands on her belly. She loved her little family. It was beautiful, perfect, and blooming wonderfully.
Just like her bouquet of roses.
A/N: My story is set in America, and gender revelation of unborns to parents are perfectly normal.
I would write a Father - Daughter OS and a Mother - Son OS if I get enough reviews.
- Briti Sengupta.
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