"Aw, our baby is so cute."
"What are you lookin' at, Pree?"
Prerna looked up to find Anurag peering over her shoulder, a delicate and curious smile set on his handsome face.
"The picture of our baby from ultrasound today," Prerna held the black and white print up towards her husband. "Isn't it adorable?"
"Ofcourse it is," Anurag leaned down so his head was resting on Prerna's shoulders and his arms wrapped around her only slightly bloated belly. "Our babies are always adorable!"
"And it's so tiny!" Prerna giggled, taking another look at the picture. "Such an itty bitty little thing."
"Mommy!"
Prerna turned her eyes down, finding Aryaan and Piyash running up to her with excited sparkles in their young eyes.
"What is it, you two?" Prerna smiled sweetly at her children.
"We wanna' make cupcakes!" Aryaan beamed.
"Cupcakes?" Prerna asked.
"Please Mommy?" Piyash was making the cutest face she possibly could. "It'll be fun!"
"Sure," Prerna agreed to it, the children getting excited ran around the kitchen, as she giggled.
Prerna knew she should be taking things easy, but making cupcakes really wasn't all that strenuous. Besides bringing a new baby into the family was going to be a big change, especially for Aryaan and Piyash. She wanted to make sure that the twins knew they were still going to be loved and treated just the same they were now. Though Prerna was never jealous of her younger siblings, but she had long heard stories about how jealous and upset her elder brother Shekhar had been when he learned she was going to be born. As a result, Prerna was going out of her ways to make sure Aryaan and Piyash never felt that way.
Standing up, Prerna walked over to the cabinets and opened them up, pulling out the cupcake pans.
"Okay, you two," Anurag asked the twins, laughing softly as they jumped up and down next to his legs, "what flavor cupcakes should we make?"
Prerna smiled to herself. She was elated that Anurag echoed her sentiments in making the children feel the same way as they always had, making sure they were well adjusted to a new sibling... And why not? after all Mr. Basu faced sibling rivalry himself. He had assured her he was going to help in anyway possible, and so far he had made good on his promise.
"Chocolate!" Aryaan suggested brightly.
"What do you say, Pea pod?" Anurag looked down at his daughter.
"I like vanilla," Piyash answered softly.
Shrugging, Anurag pulled out two boxes of cupcake mix and decided, "Alright, we'll just make both!"
The children cheered and hugged Anurag's legs, clearly loving the idea he had come up with. Sighing, Prerna looked over her husband, which didn't go unnoticed by Mr. Anurag Basu.
"What did I do?" He innocently asked.
"Really?" Prerna sighed. "Two different kinds of cupcakes?"
"How hard can it be?" Anurag scoffed, walking over to Prerna and putting the boxes down on the counter top.
"Well, you wouldn't know, since you can't cook anything," Prerna placed a hand on her hip as she leaned the rest of her body against the kitchen counter.
"Oh, yeah, okay," Anurag rolled his eyes. "That's why."
"Don't get sarcastic with me," Prerna gave Anurag a small slap on his bicep, which, not surprisingly, didn't hurt the man due to his strong muscles, "you can barely use the microwave."
Grinning mischievously Anurag groand and complained, "You know, you try to make popcorn once and the microwave gets a little overheated, and your wife won't let you forget it."
"A little overheated?" Prerna's jaw practically dropped. "Try burst into flames."
"Small flames," Anurag muttered sheepishly.
"Yeah, whatever you say, sweetie," Prerna gently pinched Anurag's cheek, cooing to him in a way she had done to their children when they were babies. Giggling, her voice returned to normal as she drawled sweetly, "why don't you just stick to decorating the cupcakes with Aryaan and Piyash? That's much more at your skill level."
Growling, Anurag grabbed Prerna's wrist and pulled her hand away from his face, biting back, "I'm not a baby!"
"No, but you lack the ability to cook," Prerna sighed. "And now that you have the twins all excited about having chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, that's just more work for me."
"I'm going to help," Anurag separated the pans. "It can't be that hard!"
Groaning, Prerna turned and pressed both of her palms against the counter, quietly begging, "Please don't help me..."
"Uh, uh, uh," Anurag clicked his tongue, lifting Prerna's head with his fingers. "I'm going to help. I should learn after all, right? You're not going to be able to run around the house too much over the next few months. I want to become much more sufficient!"
Prerna's static expression was soon replaced by one of displeasure, her eyes narrowing as she prompted, "Are you insinuating that I'm going to get too fat to move around?"
"No," Anurag replied quickly, kissing Prerna on the lips before turning back to the baking materials before them. "So... what do we do first?"
Prerna rolled her eyes, but knew there would be no way to get Anurag away from the ingredients. Once Anurag put his mind to something, he wouldn't stop until he succeeded... or at least tried. "First you have to put the cake mix into a bowl. Since we're making two different flavors of cupcakes, you have to use two separate bowls."
"No problem," Anurag's eyes sparkled. Looking down at Aryaan and Piyash, Anurag gently inquired, "Would you two like to get me the bowls."
"Sure!" Aryaan and Piyash both opened the cabinet doors, searching through various pots and pans until they found two mixing bowls to hand off to their father.
"Wow, thank you guys!" Anurag beamed. "Great job." Placing the bowls on the counter, Anurag grinned at his wife and prompted, "now what?"
"You pour the mix into the bowls, vanilla in one and chocolate in the other," Prerna instructed. "I'll get the other ingredients don't touch anything until I come back."
Twisting his mouth Anurag bent down and gathered Aryaan and Piyash into his arms, sitting them on the top of the counter.
"You guys are gonna' help to make the cupcakes," Anurag opened the boxes and handed one to each of the children: chocolate for Aryaan, and vanilla for Piyash. "You each have to pour the powder into a bowl."
The children did just that, Prerna smiling at them as she returned with the other necessary ingredients for the cupcakes. "Wow, you two are so helpful!" Prerna giggled, putting down the eggs and water.
"I wanna' crack the eggs, Mommy!" Aryaan cried, holding his hands out.
"You have to be very, very careful when you do that," Prerna warned. "You can't get any eggshells in the bowl, because then the cupcakes will be crunchy. That's icky!"
"How about Mommy helps you crack the eggs?" Prerna asked, holding a hand against the middle of her stomach. Anurag took notice of this and raised an eyebrow, but didn't question it.
"Okay," Aryaan sighed, not seemingly thrilled with the idea.
Prerna's smile faltered for a second as she rubbed her hand across her.very tiny bump, but it was quick to return, albeit not as strong as before. Picking up one of the eggs, she walked over to where Aryaan was and handed the egg to him, which he held carefully between his fingers.
"Good," Prerna nodded. She took the boy's wrists and moved his hands towards the bowl, very gently tapping the egg against the rim of it. "This is how you want to crack it, okay?" We don't want it to hit it too hard, because then the egg will go everywhere and make a big mess.
"I like messes," Aryaan giggled, looking up at his mother.
"Oh, I know you do," Prerna smirked. "But Mommy doesn't, and she's definitely not in the mood to be cleaning one up."
Guiding Aryaan's hands, Prerna helped the young boy to tenderly crack the egg open, which excited him greatly.
"I did it, Mommy!" Aryaan cheered, looking up at Prerna with bright eyes and a wide smile.
"You sure did, sweetheart," Prerna let go of Aryaan's wrist and pressed both hands against her belly. She began to look a little flushed, and it was finally enough to evoke a question from Anurag.
"Priyu, are you doing okay?" Anurag blinked.
"Yeah, I'll be just..." Prerna trailed off and took a breath in, confusing Anurag even further. "You know what; can you just watch the kids for a second?"
Before Anurag could respond, Prerna walked swiftly away, just a pace or two below running.
"...sure," Anurag squeaked lamely.
Aryaan and Piyash looked up at Anurag, a cross between confusion and concern plastered on their young faces.
"Where did Mommy go, Daddy?" Piyash inquired.
", I think the baby is making her tummy hurt again," Anurag smiled sympathetically at the young girl. "Mommy will be back in a few minutes, I'm sure."
"How come the baby hurts her tummy?" Piyash frowned. "Does the baby hate her?"
"No, ofcourse not," Anurag chuckled, stroking his daughter's locks. "It's not its fault; it's growing in there! And sometimes, that just makes Mommy's tummy hurt."
"Does Mommy get mad at the baby for doing that?" Piyash really seemed to get the idea that there was resentment involved with morning sickness.
"Mommy could never be mad at the baby," Anurag smirked. "Just like you and Aryaan! She doesn't like getting sick, ofcourse, but she knows it's not the baby's choice for her to be getting sick."
Piyash nodded, smiling at Anurag. She was happy to know that her Mommy wasn't going to come back in a bad mood or be mad at the baby. Piyash loved her little munchkin, and she didn't want anyone to be mad at it.
Anurag turned his eyes back onto Aryaan, and nearly fell on the floor when he saw what the young boy was doing.
"Aru!" Anurag cried, grabbing his son's arm as a reflex. "What are you doing?"
The five year old looked up at his father seemingly unaffected by the question, "I'm crackin' the rest of the eggs!"
Anurag's heart shot up into his throat. Peering into the bowl, all of his fears became reality when he saw tiny pieces of white shell scattered on the top of the cupcake mix.
"Aru..." Anurag held his head in his hands, "you should've waited for Mommy!"
"I did good, Daddy," Aryaan frowned. "I cracked three eggs, like Mommy said!"
"Yeah, but you got pieces of shell in bowl," Anurag sighed.
As if things couldn't get any worse for Anurag, the sound of footsteps caused him even more panic than when he'd realised that Aryaan had been cracking the eggs on his own. Running over to sink, Anurag began to wash his hands as quickly as possible, drying them off and running back over to the counter. As soon as he reached into the bowl to begin the task of removing the eggshell fragments, however, Prerna stepped into the room, the color returned to her face that was now displaying a fairly aggravated expression.
"Anurag, what in the God's name are you doing?" Prerna shook her head.
"I...uh... I..." Anurag stammered. He didn't know how to respond. He hated lying, but at the same time, the truth would get him cracked just like the eggs his son had decimated.
Growing frustrated, Prerna stomped forward and peeked into the bowl, where Anurag's fingers were just floating above the now dampened mix. Catching sight of the tiny white pieces, Prerna cocked an eyebrow and raised her head to stare at her dear husband, a look of pure aggravation set in her deep copper eyes.
"Really?" Prerna deadpanned.
"I didn't do it," Anurag defended himself. "Aru did it."
"Hey!" Aryaan cried.
"Oh, very nice Anurag, tattle on your five year old son," Prerna's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Great example of being a role model!"
"But I...I...oh, never mind," Anurag slapped his hand over his eyes..
"I'm sorry, Mommy," Aryaan apologized, a definitive frown set on his cute face.
"Oh, it's alright, sugarpie," Prerna hugged the boy against her. "Mommy will just pick the pieces of shell out..."
As Prerna went to work on removing the fragments of eggshell, Anurag leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Are you alright?"
Prerna rolled her eyes and turned her attention onto Anurag, hissing, "What do you think?"
"Was it morning sickness?" Anurag continued just as softly.
Prerna didn't respond for a few seconds, until she finally caved in and gave a small nod to confirm Anurag's inquiry.
"Poor angel," Anurag rubbed Prerna's back.
This is why it's so hard to stay mad at him, Prerna thought begrudgingly. She wanted so badly to ignore Anurag and be completely and undeniably furious at him. But she couldn't. He was far too sweet and loving...that had always been the problem. Prerna may have gotten mad at him, but this anger never lasted for long. It couldn't. Not when the object of your annoyance was someone as wonderful as Anurag.
It had been this way, and it would continue to be this way.
Sighing, Prerna wrapped her left arm around Anurag's waist and pulled him in closer to her, so they were side by side. Smiling to himself, Anurag kissed Prerna's head and reached his hand around to rub her growing belly. With his other hand, Anurag reached into the bowl, leading Prerna to turn her eyes up to her husband once again.
"What are you doing?" She asked slowly.
Anurag grinned into Prerna's flowing dark brown hair, all but melting her heart. "I'm helping you," Anurag answered simply. "I'm becoming sufficient."
XXX
It took much longer than Prerna would have liked, but at long last, the cupcakes had been finished. All of the ingredients had been mixed, poured into the pans, and baked. While they cooked, Prerna took the opportunity to lie down across Anurag's lap and allow him to run and caress her tiny baby bump. While Anurag did this, he watched Aryaan and Piyash play on the floor, laughing and having fun with one another. Having twins, in Anurag's mind at least, had always been a blessing. It gave children an automatic playmate, so they were never lonely. And even though they fought sometimes, Anurag just loved it when they got along and played together. It was too cute for words.
๏ฟผ
"I like being a Dad," Anurag softly informed his wife.
Prerna rolled her eyes up to look and smile at Anurag. "I know you do."
"Thank you for giving me our babies," Anurag continued.
"You're welcome," Prerna's smile grew wider at this.
The timer for the oven sounded, alerting the young family that their cupcakes were done baking. Overcome with excitement, Aryaan and Piyash both jumped up and ran into the kitchen, their happy squeals easily being heard from the family room.
"Don't you two go and open that oven door!" Prerna warned, sitting up and getting to her feet in order to make her way to the kitchen. "I don't need to be tending to any burns today."
At this, Anurag chuckled and followed behind his wife, eager to see how their treats had turned out. He watched as Prerna gently shooed the twins away from the hot appliance, assuring them that they'd be able to see the cupcakes once she got them out of the oven. Once the pans were safely removed, Prerna left them on the kitchen table to cool, laughing to herself as she watched the twins scramble onto the chairs in order to get a glimpse at their freshly baked indulgence.
"They look so tasty, Mommy!" Piyash squealed.
"Can we decorate 'em now?" Aryaan was jumping up and down on the chair.
"Not yet, they're still very hot," Prerna shook her head. "But we can start to pick out what you want to decorate them with! What do you think would taste good on the cupcakes?"
"Frosting!" Piyash called.
"That one is pretty obvious," Anurag agreed. "We have some in the fridge. I'll go get it."
"What about sprinkles?" Aryaan asked.
"I like sprinkles on cupcakes," Prerna nodded. "I think that would be perfect! We should have some..."
Prerna walked over to the higher cabinets, opening the door and scouring through various containers that had been stored within the cupboard. Beaming, Prerna found the plastic bottle filled with colorful sprinkles, taking it into her hands and bringing it over to the table.
"Here are the sprinkles!" Prerna announced, smiling as the twins got excited and began to pick out their favorite colors in the candy: red for Aryaan, and light blue for Piyash.
"Wow, look at the frosting we have!" Anurag laughed, placing three containers down on the table. "There's chocolate, buttercream, and strawberry!" And you two can decorate them however you want!"
"You and Mommy have to help, Daddy," Piyash smiled at her father.
"Huh?" Anurag was surprised by this. "Us?" He pointed between Prerna and himself.
"Uh huh!" Piyash nodded.
"We can't decorate all these cupcakes by ourselves!" Aryaan laughed at the idea.
Once Prerna deemed the cupcakes cool enough to touch, Aryaan took over the pan of chocolate cupcakes, while Piyash commandeered the pan of vanilla.
"What kind of cupcake do you want, Mommy?" Piyash asked.
"Well... I like chocolate cupcakes the best," Prerna smiled.
Aryaan took one of the cupcakes out of his pan and handed it to his mother, who thanked the boy for giving it to her. Looking up at Anurag, Aryaan smiled and prompted, "what do you want, Daddy?"
"I'm the opposite of Mommy," Anurag smirked. "My favorite cupcakes are vanilla."
"Yay!" Piyash clapped her hands together and gave her father a vanilla cupcake. "You're like me, Daddy."
"Yep!" Anurag agreed.
After they all had frosted their cupcakes, it was time to decorate the small treats with colorful sprinkles. After Prerna had showered them onto her own cupcake, Anurag took the bottle and poured some sprinkles onto his own cupcake. Observing the colorful little candies, Anurag chuckled quietly to himself and plucked one with his fingers, observing it for a quiet moment.
"What are you doing?" Prerna blinked.
Anurag held the sprinkle in front of Prerna's face. He had picked a red one, knowing that was her favorite color.
"Look at how tiny it is," Anurag marveled.
"Well, yeah, it's a sprinkle," Prerna just laughed once. "Sprinkles are tiny."
"Tiny things are cute," Anurag commented, his chocolate brown eyes twinkling at the observation.
"Like our baby?" Prerna showed off a playful smirk. Suddenly, her own words hit her like a train. Tiny... just like the little baby growing inside of her. Her sweet little miracle. It was just like a... "Sprinkle."
"Huh?" Anurag glanced back up at Prerna. "What did you say, Angel?"
"Sprinkle," Prerna held onto her belly. "This is our sprinkle."
Anurag raised an eyebrow. "I don't understand."
"Our baby is just like a sprinkle," Prerna giggled. "Tiny and sweet."
"Oh, I get it," Anurag smirked. "You're going to nickname our baby "sprinkle" now, aren't you?"
"I think it's a very cute nickname," Prerna rubbed her belly. "Sprinkle." She pulled out the sonogram image of her unborn baby, holding it next to the cupcake that was covered in colorful sprinkles.
"I think it's cute," Anurag agreed, taking a bite out of his cupcake. "Nice work, Pree!"
"Thanks," Prerna smiled. "I didn't know I was so good at coming up with nicknames!"
"Oh..." Anurag looked away awkwardly.
"What?" Prerna searched Anurag's face for a hint of why he was acting so sheepish.
"I was actually complimenting you on these cupcakes... they're really good."
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I hope the characters are not too OOC.
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