Posted:
Hey! So I'm officially one month old in this Forum (Yay!) hence this short piece. This had been on my mind for some time, took to typing it out only now. Hope you will like it!
[/NOCOPY] DO NOT COPY THIS POST AS THIS IS EXCLUSIVE TO INDIA FORUMS
PS: For those who were waiting for the update to my FF, All is Fair in Love, I'm really sorry. I had completed majority of the chapter, with only 2 or 3 paras left when my phone hanged and the entire file got deleted. I was so enraged I almost threw my phone across the room.
Really sorry about that. Let me just get over that and then I'll start again.
Thanks!
Daddy Cool
Step. Step. Step.
Stop.
Pounce.
"Bwaowww!" Suraj screamed.
Giggles sounded through the entire bedroom as Rajath and Raima jumped off the bed and ran away.
"Owww." Suraj massaged his back. This was definitely Chakor's doing.
He sighed. There was a time when he used to oversleep and she would come to wake him up, angrier than angry, and all he had to do was pull her toward his chest and whisper her name in his husky morning voice, and everything would be forgotten. If he was lucky, he also ended up having some 'fun'.
'Those were the days,' He thought like an old man.
But NOW, she sent her two minions to wake him up. Never mind the fact that they were also his kids. They would freaking jump on his back, BOTH of them, uncaring of the fact that they might break his bones one day.
"They're getting heavier too," he muttered.
He slowly got up and stretched, looking around for his towel. Chakor came into the room at this moment.
"Well, good morning!" She sing songed, her face mischievous. He narrowed his eyes at her. "They jumped on me again. I thought I told you to tell them not to do that. They're gonna crack my spine one day,"
"Oh?" She asked, mocking surprise. "Well, I just asked them to wake you up, HOW they do it is out of my control," she smirked. She advanced towards him in slow steps, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his face close. "Waise Suraj," she purred.
"Hmm?" He asked, intoxicated by her scent.
"It's your turn to drop them in kindergarten." And with a brief smile, and a pat on his shoulder, she left.
.
.
.
"Wait, what?!" Suraj screamed a few seconds later. His woman had tricked him. He threw all his romantic feelings out the window, it was their fault he was in this predicament.
Nevertheless, he proceeded to get ready.
(A few hours later)
Chakor glanced at the wall clock. 2.00 pm. She furrowed her eyebrows. She had sent Suraj to drop them off, not wait there and pick them up as well. She heard giggles presently, and walked out of the kitchen. Rajath and Raima were dancing around, Suraj trailing behind them, carrying both their bags and bottles. Chakor raised her eyebrows at him, surprised at the way he was walking. He was holding his back with his left hand, his face contorted in pain.
"Maybe I shouldn't have asked them to wake him up," she thought worriedly. She hastened her pace and took their bags from him, as he collapsed on the sofa with a thud, out of breath. With a worried look, she proceeded to ask him of he was alright, only to be interrupted by Rajath.
"Mama Mama!" Rajath shouted. "Daddy was so cool today!" Raima continued. Chakor looked at them, confused. "What do you mean?" "Papa," Rajath started, when Suraj groaned loudly, and winked at him. She furrowed her eyebrows. Some thing was wrong.
"Yes, Rajath? You were saying?" Chakor said sternly, coming in front of Suraj and glaring at him. His face paled. "Papa lifted all the kids in school today!" He said, waving his arms about excitedly. "WHAT?!" Chakor gasped. Suraj face palmed at his son's inability to read the mood.
"Uh huh! And Daddy lifted 7 of us at once too!" Raima chimed in, jumping around. Suraj's face was as white as the newly white washed wall.
"REALLY NOW?!" Chakor dragged as she turned toward Suraj. She smiled brightly at him, and Suraj's soul started making its way out of his body. "And here I was, getting worried about you! While you were with the kids, HAVING FUN!" Chakor's voice was more high pitched than usual, but Suraj didn't dare to cover his ears for he felt Chakor would literally one-hit-ko him if he moved an inch.
"We had fun too, Mama! Everyone tell Papa sooo COOL!" Rajath was gleaming. "Yup! Even teachers clap for Daddy!"
Oooh shit. His kids just poured an entire petrol pump worth of oil into the fire. Chakor glared at Suraj so intensely he felt like he was being fried.
"Who cares about you. Go ask their teachers to take care of you, the ones who were sooo impressed by you." And she left.
"Chakor! Chakor! Wai... Oww shit! My back!"
***
They were in the supermarket. 'They' being Suraj and the kids. That was Suraj's punishment, to go shopping. He was exhausted and hurting, but also glad Chakor had let him off easy this time. He had internally cheered when she hadn't asked him to vacate to the guest room, or worse, the couch. He glanced at the list. How hard could getting the groceries be?
.
.
.
One and a half hours later, Suraj answered his own question. Grocery shopping could be very, very hard. Especially when his two brats weren't being of much help. Why did they have to take after him? He face palmed at his thoughts.
Rajath and Raima had literally been throwing tantrums the entire time, asking for anything they set their eyes on, a.k.a, everything. Rajath had started shouting that he wanted Suraj to buy him tampons, TAMPONS, because he thought they were candy. The little guy had literally sat down and protested, with his younger sister joining him, and Suraj had picked them up with either hand as he pushed the trolley around with his leg.
Not only that, but what the hell was the difference between all these dals she had written down? And why was there two 'milk' in the list? Was there something such as normal milk and condensed milk? What was the difference?! He shook his head and decided to shop for the things he was familiar with. Milk for now was out.
"Okay, paneer." He muttered to himself.
But that idea went for a toss as well, when he just stared at the two packets of paneer he had. "Do I buy the cubed ones or the other one?" "Take both!" The twins chorused, sitting in the trolley, and Suraj did just that. "Okay next, cheese. And Rajath put that ice cream back."
After two more hours of exhausting shopping, when he felt he had bought everything, he made his way to the counter.
He had had a hard time figuring out the dals, googling for the picture most of the time. He couldn't ask any of the women around, since then the twins being the loud mouths they were (Okay, THAT surely came from their mother) would tell their mother, and their mother... would throw him out of the house. At times like these he wondered whether it was good that she was so possessive about him. He wouldn't admit he was the same, but well... yeah.
Back home, he was forgiven since he had managed to get every thing, and was lucky enough to get a kiss as well, since he had bought her chocolates. (He had bought some for the kids too, after Raima had started sniffling and Rajath had declared that Papa didn't love them.)
PS: He could sleep on his bed, wasn't thrown out to the guest room or asked to sleep on the couch. Yay!
PPS: He only had enough luck that day to get a kiss. If you know what I mean.
***
"Do you see it, Daddy?"
"Nope. Are you sure it was here, love?"
"We is sure, Papa!"
"It's we ARE sure. But I don't see it anywhere."
"Where could it have GONE." Raima wailed. Rajath mirrored her depression. "Do you think some ghost took it?!" He asked his sister. "But why did the ghost only want OUR chocolates?!" They started bawling, Suraj looking at them amused, closing the freezer door.
The two had come running to him when he came home that evening, asking for the chocolates in the freezer. They couldn't reach it, and Mama wouldn't give it to them, but since Daddy always listened, ahem, since Daddy loved them the most, he would get it for them, Raima reasoned.
Unquestioningly, he had followed them to the kitchen, to help them in their 'quest' for their chocolates.
Presently, Chakor entered the kitchen, and when they saw their mother, the twins gasped and ran away. Their mother had strictly said they weren't to eat any chocolates, and here they were, crying over their missing ones.
Confused at their behaviour, she raised her eyebrows at Suraj. "I was helping them look for their chocolates, some ghost ate them, apparently." He smirked. Chakor came close to him and pulled his ear.
"You're helping them look for the chocolates you ate yesterday?!"
"I'm running for Daddy of the year, babe."
***
"Could you please put the kids to sleep?" Chakor asked, before coughing a couple of times. She was down with a cold, and was unable to move about for a long time or do any kind of work. "Sure thing, you turn in, sweetheart." Suraj said as he pushed back her bangs and kissed her forehead. Heading out of the room, he asked himself, "How hard can story telling be?"
Answer: Very hard, since they're your kids.
It was 9.30, waaay past their bed time, and they were moving around the house with as much fervour as ever. Suraj buried his face in his hands. He didn't know how to make up a story. All he knew about fairytales was that they started with 'Once upon a time' and then dot, dot, dot, 'They lived happily ever after.'
"Story Daddy!" Raima jumped on the bed as if it were a trampoline. Rajath meanwhile hopped on him, trying to climb his way up. 'I'm not a tree, Son,' he wanted to say, but he had more pressing matters at hand.
If this were the old Suraj, he would have just taken out his gun and frightened them to sleep. But now, now he was Daddy Suraj, and the minute he had held his two babies, his paternal instincts had hit him like a bullet train at max speed.
He sighed. "Alright, on the bed, both of you. Papa's gonna tell a story." The twins listened to him, for once, which surprised him.
"Okay, so this is the story of a beautiful girl, and a very, very bad Prince." He started slowly, and Raima shivered and snuggled closer to him. Rajath, meanwhile, pretended to be brave. "The girl was loved by all in the Kingdom, and the Prince hated her for that. He would always trouble her, and he also kidnapped the girl to teach her a lesson."
"NO!" Rajath wailed.
"Yes. But then, when some bad people tried to kill the Prince, the girl helped him, even though he had done so many bad things to her."
"Oooh! So Prince turn good and marry Princess?!" Raima clapped.
Suraj smiled. "Yes, the Prince fell in love with the girl, and..." he paused and thought for a while. "The girl fell in love as well. Then they got married and had two wonderful kids."
He never thought that he would be telling his own story as a fairytale to his kids one day. He smiled at the fact.
"Yay!" Rajath cheered. "Another! Another!" Raima joined in.
"Uh uh. That's enough for today. I'm turning off the lights. Good night!" He said as he tucked them in and kissed them.
Extra: The next day:
"Suraj," Chakor called. "Hmm?"
"I don't remember the 'girl' telling the 'Prince' I love you first." She narrowed her eyes at him, and he looked up from the stack of papers he was working on.
He shrugged nonchalantly, smirking. "Well, it was a story born from MY imagination."
***
Suraj was exhausted, and that was an understatement, cause he couldn't find a better word to describe his state. He made his way into the house, only to find the lights on despite the ungodly hour. Okay, he was exaggerating. It was just 11.
'Odd,' he mused. It was then he saw a paper lying below Rajath's toy gun. Curious, he picked it up. Inside, in his wife's neat handwriting, was written the challenge.
The entire house was playing Water fight with the toy guns, God knows why, and as soon as he picked up the letter, he would be a part as well. Suraj rolled his eyes, but smiled. He would play even if he was tired, just to make his kids happy.
He sighed, twisting the gun around. It was small, and nothing like his actual ones. He looked really funny that moment, standing 6 ft. tall with a green plastic gun in his hand.
Suraj was about to go in search of them, he would play along for a while and let them win, he thought, when he saw the last lines of the letters which he had missed.
'The loser will not eat chocolates for a week. -Rajath.'
'The loser will give all their toys to the winner. -Raima.'
Suraj held back a chuckle. It would be fun to see who won among the two. Twirling the gun in his hand, he turned the page, and his eyes went dark.
Going all commando mode, and holding the toy gun as if it were a real one, he set out finding all of them, hungry to win.
.
.
.
The other side of the page read:
'The winner gets lucky tonight. ;)
- Your wife. <3'
PS: We all know who won, don't we?
Arjun
Cricket
Indian Mythology
