Chapter 4 : introduction 

"Hi, let's meet over the weekend if you're free? If you want to."

Aadarsh had found that message when he was scrolling through his notifications after reaching office. He had left for office an hour earlier than usual under the pretext of important work while actually his objective was avoiding his siblings. He couldn't deal with them first thing in the morning. There were days when he just wanted to runaway from everything.

He had assumed he wouldn't hear from her. He was all set to meet other women his bua had ready in the pipeline in hope to find a better match. But Ruhaani had turned the tables. 

He wasn't sure what he should reply. He thought over it. Maybe Abhi was wrong. She was not trying to play hard to get, maybe she was genuinely indecisive. He began formulating a reply. Perhaps he should keep it straightforward and simple. 

"Okay. Let me know what time suits you. Friday works for me." He typed and stared at the message for a whole minute before pressing the send button.

A few minutes later he received a message. 

"How about Saturday? You can meet Pari too."

Reality began hitting him hard. Was he actually ready for the responsibility of being a father of a four year old. Abhi's words came rushing back into his mind. Was he making the wrong choice? Maybe he should consider meeting someone who was better match. His gaze went to the photo frame on his desk which had a picture of him with his siblings. His gaze lingered on the faces of the twins who were standing behind him, each head on his each shoulder. 

He often felt bad for them. When he was growing up, he had his mother's love his father's attention. They didn't get their dad's time. They had never seen their mother. It was unfair. He looked back at the screen of his expensive smartphone. He began typing.

"Alright. Is it okay if I bring along Nirvaan and Mukti?"

He let out a deep exhaled and waited for her reply. 

"Sounds like a plan. Let's meet for lunch? We can go to JP Park and then have lunch at JP restaurant. The food is pretty good there and not spicy."

Aadarsh blinked. He read the last line again and slowly a smile made it to his face. Her thoughtfulness impressed him. 

"Done." He texted back. 

* * *

Ruhaani's chachi had insisted she wear a proper Indian dress, like a Punjabi suit or Anarkali this time around. But Ruhaani preferred her denims. It was only a park visit after all. When her aunt couldn't change her mind about that, she had moved on to  forcing her to wear a fancy red top. She made sure she wore a matching lip color too. Ruhaani felt overdressed for a park visit and protested but her aunt was very very adamant this time around.

"Let's go inside," Pari said for the fifth time in the past ten minutes or so as they sat on a bench at top of the slope that led up to the 

"Just a few more minutes, Pari."

"Why is your friend not here yet?"

"He is on the way."

A few seconds passed and then she spotted Aadarsh walking in. He was in his casual wear. A light blue pair of denim trousers and a white t-shirt. His eyes hid behind sunglasses. For a few fleeting seconds she was thrown off her ground. The man was effortlessly attractive. As he approached her she noticed that he had trimmed his beard. It was a stubble now. His hair was trimmed too.

She felt glad that she had put in some effort to look good, even if on persuasion of her aunt. To be at good as that man was hard but a girl could try.

She was jolted back to reality from the brief fantasy world where she had been gazing at him like a college girl beholding her favorite celebrity crush. She was grateful to Pari for tugging at her hand. She could only hope it wasn't evident that she was totally checking him out. 

He was hardly a few feet away when she noticed that he was alone. Didn't he say he would bring along his younger siblings? It was then she noticed the boy and girl walking ahead of him talking to each other. Oh, she hadn't noticed them at first.

Aadarsh hadn't told anyone at home that he was meeting her again. In the past few days there had even enough talk of his marriage and his choices at home. Abhi wanted him to date, fall in love and then marry. Ashvi was disappointed upon learning that he was considering a regular middle class woman and not some model, actress, influencer or other popular celebrities. 

She had wasted his one hour showing him pictures of single women on her Instagram. She had tried her best to change his mind. Abhi had been there too. He was seated with his phone finding the women he liked from the ones she showed them on his Instagram account and following them. They were crazy really. He wondered how he even put up with them. It was miracle that the two of them were his siblings, they shared the same parent genes and bloodline, but were completely different from him.

He had told Nirvaan and Mukti that a friend of his was coming along. Mukti being the smart one had asked him if it was a girlfriend. He had diplomatically replied with 'a friend who is a girl'. Nirvaan had then asked more questions like why, how did they became friends, how they were not introduced before, did Abhi Bhaiya, and Ashvi Di know this friend and so on. Throughout the drive he had been giving them simple diplomatic answers. The two were smarter than Abhi and Ashvi combined. 

Nirvaan and Mukti were closer to each other than they were to any of their other siblings. Aadarsh assumed it was the age factor. Just like Abhi was close to both Ashvi and him. However, he couldn't say the same about Ashvi and himself. He loved his sister like any elder brother who was protective and cared a little more than he should about his baby sister but he wasn'tas close as Abhi to her. Maybe that was it, Ashvi was always his baby sister even if she was twenty. However, Abhi didn't treat her like that. Abhi treated her like an equal. He was more like a best friend who she couldn't go a day without, even if all they did in a day was bicker, tease, argue or fight.

He watched as the twins raced each other into the park. He followed them with brisk steps. A little up the slope that led to the children's park, he noticed a woman and a little girl on a bench. As the distance reduced his assumption proved right. It was Ruhaani with her daughter Pari. 

He looked at the little girl. She was thin, a little over two feet tall, she wore denim shorts and a pink t-shirt. Her hair reached her shoulder. She had a pretty cute face. She almost reminded him of a younger version of Ashvi. Ashvi used to have the exact same hairstyle with bangs on her forehead when she was a kid.

His gaze finally moved to the little girl's mother. She looked much better than the other day. She looked younger for her years. No one could say she was the mother of the four year old who stood beside her. She easily passed for a young lady just out of college. 

"Hi," he said with a smile, as he reached her.

"Hi," she smiled, getting to her feet while her daughter squinted and looked at him with curiosity. He passed the little girl a smile.

 "Nirvaan, Mukti," he drew the attention of the twins who were looking at a vendor selling cotton candy a little distance away. The two almost simultaneously turned to him. 

"Meet my friend, Ruhaani," he said. As he spoke he realized it sounded so foreign. Friendships had slipped between his fingers after his mother passed away. He preferred staying alone. The only people he allowed around himself was his family.

"Hi," Mukti said with a partially shy smile.

"Hi," Her brother repeated after her, curiously looking at the tall woman.

"Hi Mukti, Hi Nirvaan," Ruhaani said with a bright smile.

"This is Pari, my daughter. Pari," she turned back to her left. Pari shifted closer to her and hid behind her.

"Pari, say hi!" She said softly tapping the girl's arm. But Pari refused to oblige.

"She's bit of a shy kid," she spoke up glancing at Aadarsh. He nodded. "Shall we go inside?" She suggested.

"Yeah, sure." Aadarsh nodded, glancing at the little girl who peeped at him from behind her mother's leg.

"So Mukti, which class are you in?" She asked Mukti walking ahead with her. Pari held her hand and quietly stayed by her mother's side.

Aadarsh and Nirvaan followed the girls. "I want to try the monkey bars today. Now I am tall enough," Nirvaan said.

"Okay," Aadarsh agreed without much heed to his little brother's words as he was engrossed observing Ruhaani talk comfortably with Mukti. 

The girls got to the swings while Nirvaan dragged Aadarsh to the monkey bars that had triangular hanging loops. 

"Just help me for the first time, and then I will do it on my own."

"No you won't, " Aadarsh declared, hoisting his brother up. The boy grasped on the the first metal loop. He then advanced to the next. It was fairly easy because of his brother's support.

"Let go off me," he said to his elder brother, who seldom took orders.

"Not yet. You will fall. I am going to loosen my hold, it's going to hurt your arms to balance your body weight." Aadarsh spoke looking back at his brother from the sight of Mukti talking to Ruhaani. Mukti easily warmed up to people compared to Nirvaan.

About twenty minutes later Aadarsh was pushing the swing for Mukti and Nirvaan while Ruhaani had escorted Pari to the mud pit to play with her sand toys that were packed in the tiny yellow bag that was in Ruhaani's hands. Once the swings had gained good motion, Nirvaan and Mukti were able to swing their legs and drive it on their own. He walked over to the mud pit and looked down.

Pari was filling sand in the tiny bucket while her mother was pining up her hair,  asking her to not get sand in her hair. He silently watched them for a while before walking around to sit on the boundary wall of the circular pit. Ruhaani noticed him and climbed up the stairs and sat beside him, however facing the other side.

"Nirvaan is also shy?" She asked as he turned around by a hundred and eighty degrees so that he was facing in the same direction as her.

"Not shy, but reserved I would say." He said throwing a glance to his right where the swings were.

"They don't look alike as such," Ruhaani remarked following his gaze.

"Observe their eyes, next time." He suggested, turning to her.

She smiled looking at him. She noticed his gaze drift to Pari. "She's a sand baby, huh?"

"Oh don't ask. She doesn't like a park if there's no mud to play with. At least she doesn't eat the sand now."

"Yikes. My sister Ashvi was like that. She had this really sophisticated sand play kit and she would bring the roof down if anyone else touched it."

Ruhaani smiled. "So, you..." she was interrupted by her daughter's shout 'Mummy'. She looked ahead as the little girl climbed up the steps holding two of her toys in hand and made her way to her.

"What happened?"

"I don't want to play," she pouted and then putting aside her toys extended her arms towards her mother. 

Ruhaani quickly held her and made her sit on her lap. "Say, Hi to my friend." She said.

Aadarsh watched on with interest as the little girl observed him with a careful gaze. She really liked up to her name. She glanced at her mother and then back at him. Her tiny fingers fidgeting with the ribbon of her top's sleeve.

"Pari, say Hi."

"Hi " She said as quickly as she could and looked away.

Aadarsh had never been fond of kids. When Ashvi was born he used to hate helping his mother with her. But then everyone changed with time or time had a twisted way of changing people. When the twins were born, the situation had forced him to take care of them. That's when he actually started being an adult and finding a way to not dislike kids. 

As he stared at the four-year-old who was talking to her mother, moving her hands in animated gestures, he wondered if he was really ready to take on the role of being a father. There had to be difference in being an elder brother who was like a father and being an actual father.

"It's okay, Pari. You can share with them. Come on, go. You can make new friends like that." He heard only part of the conversation between the mother and daughter duo because of being lost in his thoughts.

The girl thought for a bit and looked at the other kids who were trying to use her shovel, grinder and bucket. She quietly got up and made her way back to the sand pit.

"So?" She turned back to him.

"Is it hard? Being a single mother?" He spoke aloud his curiosity. 

She smiled at him, "not really. I have Chachi's support so it's not that difficult. On a few days it gets hard. On some days it's a cakewalk."

He nodded.

"What about you? Raising your siblings must be hard."

"It is, on most days but nothing I can't manage."  He spoke glancing at the the twins. They were happily saying something to each other laughing. Maybe beinga  father wouldn't be all that difficult, he thought to himself.

"Hmm. It must be hard for them too." She sighed looking at them.

He turned to her, wearing a frown. "Why do you say so?" 

"It's hard to grow up without parents. Even if you have the basic comforts of life and a guardian, I don't think anything or anyone can replace the love of parents."

"I don't entirely agree.  Having parents doesn't translate to having their unconditional love." He spoke up looking at her. "Sometimes you're better off without a biological parent... if the parent can't give you the love and attention you were meant to deserve."

Ruhaani felt his words. Maybe because he said them with a force that stemmed from a deeper focal point. It was definitely not something that was said casually to keep conversation. His eyes were void of any emotion but his voice gave away. That's what made her suspect that his words came from an unpleasant experience. However she couldn't quite totally agree with his words either.

A silence fell as he looked away from her. The topic of parents was always a trigger point for him. However, he almost always let his conflict stay inside. His views and his thoughts were all his and he chose to not express them. No one was interested to know and he wasn't interested to tell. He took a series of deep breaths. 

"Are you looking to get married immediately? Or you know ... you can wait for an year or so?" She asked watching her daughter.

"In months. I am twenty-eight already."

Ruhaani chuckled, turning to him, "twenty-nine not getting any younger. Coming to that, will your family be okay if the girl you marry is older to you? And what about horoscopes do you believe in that, does your family believe in that?"

"Is that your way of telling me you're ready to marry me?" He asked turning to her looking point blank at her eyes.

She blinked, slightly taken aback at how close he was. Something wasn't right. Something was definitely not right. She shouldn't be staring into those eyes. She shouldn't be indulging his fragrance. Her body seemed to have frozen she couldn't move, not even bat an eyelid.

"Ruhaani?"

"Yes," she gulped realizing she had been staring into his eyes that were as dark as a new moon night. She had never before seen a darker eye color than his. It almost always appeared black. "I mean... I am considering it. But I think it would make sense to take time and get to know each other before jumping into a marriage." Her brain managed to swap back into sanity and saved her some embarrassment. However in retrospect, her aunt and uncle may not be happy with her answer. Especially her uncle. He wanted to be done with her as soon as possible.

"That defeats the concept of arrange marriage in a way, doesn't it? However, I am willing to wait only for a month or two. "

"What's the urgency?" She found herself asking. Somehow she was able to easily spot red flags in him. Either she was being too hard on him because of her fear of a milestone change in her life or maybe the red flags were actually there. She was confused which of the two it was at this point.

"I will be honest," he began, "number one, a lot of proposals have been pouring in. You know, business marriage proposals. A few business families want me to marry their daughter to come to a stronger position in the industry. If two business families have personal relationships, they together become a shark. The more proposals I turn down the more powerful people I disappoint. Not good for me or my company. 

Two, my Bua, in fact both of my Buas, have been chasing me for years now. It's become exhausting going through the same vicious cycle regularly.

Three, I have four siblings behind me. It's my moral duty to set right examples before them. It's expected of me to have a happy marriage, a happy family and settle down so that Abhi can follow the suit.

Four, for Nirvaan and Mukti, I may fill the gap of a father but they don't have anyone who fills the void caused by the absence of a mother. No doubt, Dai Jaan takes care of them  but she's more like a grandmother to them. I hate to see their faces on mother's day or for that matter every time someone asks them about their mother. 

So, you understand why I would rather marry quickly and put all these issues to rest."

Ruhaani was confused. She didn't no whether to appreciate the man's straightforwardly answer or laugh at his answer. Should she appreciate how responsible he was towards his family or be repelled by the fact that the man didn't see the marriage as an emotional relationship but a logical solution to his problem.

"What about you?" She uttered.

"What about me?" He questioned back, looking baffled.

"You don't have emotional needs, don't you want a companion, a partner you can talk your mind to?"

"I have done fine without one. But naturally a partnership will come into existence if I marry we can discuss the dynamics of that partnership, if you want or let it shape up naturally."

Ruhaani parted her lips drawing out a sharp breath, looking away. Mister Sehgal may fair well in good looks and IQ but his EQ was a single digit that lingered around a zero. Did she want to marry a man like that?  Could a man like that be a good father?

Before she could think of how to take the conversation forward, Mukti shouted for him to come over.

"Stay, I will help her," Ruhaani spoke getting up to walk to the twins. Her heart went out to them. She could relate to them. Growing up without parents sucked. She was glad at least they had a brother who was willing to go as far as he could to fill the void left behind by their parents. 

"Do you want me to the push the swing?" She asked as she got to her. 

"No. I want you to stop it. There's sand in my shoes."

Ruhaani held the metal chain and bought the swing to a halt. She then crouched down. "Which shoe?" She asked.

"This one," she said pointing to the right foot.

Ruhaani quickly untied the laces and took the shoe off her foot. She ran her fingers along the base of her feet, dusting the sock. She then turned the shoe over draining all the sand from it. "There, the shoe is all clean," she said looking up at the girl who smiled at her. "What's your favorite color?" She asked making her wear the shoe again.

Aadarsh swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. His eyes felt heavy. He lowered his gaze and then looked up again. The scene that had unfolded before his eyes reminded him of his mother. He was taken back to those days when his mother used to take him and Abhi to the park it was before Ashvi was born.

Mukti had developed a swift liking towards Ruhaani. She wouldn't have let her touch the shoe otherwise. Mukti was very particular on who made her wear shoes. She always needed assistance with shoes despite being over ten. His gaze drifted to Nirvaan who was keenly watching Ruhaani interact with his sister. It was only a matter of time until he opened up to Ruhaani as well. Ruhaani was good with kids. Just the kind of person he wanted to bring into the lives of his siblings.

As the thought crossed his mind he glanced at her daughter. "Shit," he mumbled as he noticed that the girl was fighting with the other girl who was trying to pull the bucket from her hand. He jumped down and reached her side. 

"This is mine." Pari argued.

"I want it!" The other girl demanded.

"Hey, girls no fighting."

"She's not giving me that!" The older girl complained making a face.

Yes, because it's hers not yours. He was tempted tempted say that but instead said, "It's okay. She's little so she still has to learn sharing. But you're big enough aren't you, princess? So you mustn't fight." Having said that he freed the bucket of her hold and Pari immediately moved away scowling. 

"Come on Pari, we'll make a hill here." He said holding her hand and taking her to the other end of the pit. She gladly followed.

Ruhaani smiled as she returned to find Aadarsh helping Pari. The tiny one was ordering him around and he was complying. She had warmed up to him. It probably had to do with the fact that he had driven away the other girl by his presence and was interested to do whatever she had in mind.

She took a deep breath. Something told her that this was what her future would look like. He was great with kids, by now she knew that much. There was no solid reason to not give him a chance. If anything, he could give Pari all that she single handedly could never provide her. Plus, he was the only good option in months.

The last thing she wanted was to be pressured into a relationship with some other man who had bigger red flags, had a bad track record with women, saw her child as a liability or who was significantly older to her by a decade or two. Maybe Aadarsh was worth the shot after all.

• — • — •

Would love to read you thoughts and comments. What do you think?

—Anami!♡