~❤~

Every person can be a father but it takes someone special to be a Dadeo.

~❤~

Nidhi walked in stood in the aisle between the two rows. Every person in the court was looking at her quizzically. Judge uncle mujhe na ek test laini hai. The judge, a 50 year old man, asked her, Kaisa test beta.

Mujhe na manik mamu ka ek test laina hai. Listening to her manik immediately stood up and walked near nidhi. He knelt down and caressed her hair. Kya baat hai nidhi? Hum yeh ghar jaake bhi kar sakte hai na. Abhi ni. Please wahan jaake baith jao.

Ni ni ni mujhe abhi test laina hai. Nidhi stamped her foot. Manik caressed her hair. Nidhi please. Tu toh meri good girl hai na. Meri baat ni maanegi. Manik cajoled her yet nidhi didn't listen to him.

NI. Mujhe abhi test laina hai. Nidhi once again cribbed. Nidhi zid ni karte na. Be a good girl. Manik cupped her small chubby cheeks with his long fingers. His thumb caressed her cheeks.

Manik had slight tears in his eyes. He kissed nidhi's forehead. Seeing him getting weak cabir walked upto them. Nidhi, mamu ki jaan, mamu na aapko zoo leke jayege. Maine na new movies download ki hai. Minion waali, barbie wali, sab dekhenge hum. Aap aur main milke manik mamu ko bohot tang karege. Lekin abhi please be a good girl. Please.

Nidhi didn't reply to any of cabir's please. She wiped manik's tears with her tiny fingers. Mamu please. She pleaded in her hoarse voice. Tears had slowly started rolling down her cheeks. Manik wiped them and kissed his cheeks.

Nidhi whatever test you want to take we will take it at home abhi kuch nahi. Abhi jao aur waha jaake baith jao. Manik's voice turned stern. Though he choked up on words but he clearly didn't want to create a scene in front of strangers sitting there and probably enjoying the scene. He got up and turned back when nidhi wailed and held onto his arms. Mamu please na. Please. Main zidd nhi krugi but this one test please.

Nidhi kyu zidd kar rhi ho baby. Mukti masi ki acchi bacchi hai na. Please maan jaa mamu ki baat. Please meri princess. Maan jaa. Mukti too tried convincing her but nothing seemed to change nidhi's mind. And why would it. She is Manik Malhotra's daughter. Stubbornness runs in her blood.

Not wanting to create any more fuss I stood up and knelt down exactly beside nidhi. Wiping her tears, Good girls don't cry. Good girls only smile. Mere kaan main batao kya test hai yeh. I promise main aapka secret safe rakhugi.

Plomissh I...I...can take ma....mamu ka test? She sniffed. That totally depends on what the test is. She nodded her head and whispered in my ears.

All eyes were on us. Nidhi leaned near my ears and whispered. I want to know kya mamu sacchi loves me.

Aiyappaaaaa! Yeh bacchi! She is going through so much. Her words brought tears to my eyes. I wiped them and smiled at nidhi. Kissing her forhead I nodded. Give me one minute ok? She quietly nodded.

My lord, I know this is against the laws but can you please grant the permission to this little child here. She really wants to asks some questions to her father. And I think that this might be a reality check for all of us present here. Please. I crossed my fingers behind my back. Please please please. I kept murmuring to myself

I m sorry miss but we have already wasted quite a time. Let's get to the judgement. The judge spoke in a polite yet stern tone. Kaise manao? Dammit! I cursed myself. Sir please just 10 minutes. Please let this girl fulfil her wish. And each one of us present here only and only wants the best for nidhi. And maybe this small little test from nidhi's end can actually make the picture more clear as to what is the best for thi child. Please it's a very humble request.

I could see frowns on the judges forehead. After contemplating for some 5 minutes he nodded and gave the permission. I turned around to look at manik who was looking at me with questioning eyes. I blinked my eyes at him and then looked at nidhi. Showing her thumbs up I smiled indicating her to go ahead.

Nidhi nudged on manik's fingers and gestured him to bend down. Manik knelt on his knees. He had this complete baffled expressions nonetheless he nodded.

Mamu will you please answer my few questions. Nidhi cutely asked yet sniffing due to all the crying that she did minutes ago. Manik wiped her tears and simply nodded.

What is my favourite colour? Manik was stunned maybe now he understood what I meant when I said that this test was much needed. He looked at me while I smiled and encouraged him to answer further. He looked at nidhi.

Mamu ki jaan ka favourite colour red hai. Nidhi smiled a little. Before I could ask the judge asked nidhi, Sahi jawab hai yeh nidhi? Nidhi looked at him and nodded. I guess now everyone was getting an idea as to what this was. The judge smiled when his eyes came in contact with me.

Next question. Manik simply nodded. Mera favourite cartoon? Manik smiled widely Nidhi ko doremon, shinchan, bugs bunny, tweety, mickey, power puff girls aur bohot saare cartoon acche lagte hai lekin uska sabse favourite hai winnie the pooh ka piglet.

Nidhi smiled and nodded. Piggy is my favoulite. She gleed happily making all of us smile. Manik lightly pecked her cheeks. There was a momentary silence that was broken by manik. Pucho na meri jaan. Ruk kyu gaye.

Nidhi's voice had turned sad. Jab main gussa hoti hoon toh main kya karti hoon. Manik smiled. He blinked his eyes to control his tears. Jab meri beti gussa hoti hai toh mooh phula ke baith jaati hai. Uske red red cheeks ko aise puff krke hands fold krke baith jaati hai. Manik imitated nidhi's red cheeks making everyone chuckle.

Jab main sad hoti hon toh kya karti hoon. Before manik cabir chirped in kya main iska answer doon. Nidhi nodded in a no. Sirf manik mamu. Manik smiled. Nidhi sirf aur sirf chocolates and ice creams se happy hoti hai. Winnie the pooh ke movies bring a big smile on baby's face and most importantly when your cabir mamu takes you out for outings.

Kya yeh sahi jawab hai nidhi? I asked her. I knew yeh answer wrong hai. Nahi wrong answer. Manik was shocked while mukti navya cabir and me had smile on our faces amidst tears.

Accha toh navya masi ke haath ka khana shoos your sadness away. Nidhi again nodded in a no. Mukti masi ke saath box fighting? Again a wrong answer. Manik was now highly tensed. Nandini di ke haath ka hot chocolate?

I smiled. Sab ka naam le manik apna hi bhool gye. I thought to myself. It's you manik the only person who can shoo her sadness and the only person who can make her smile.

More tears spilled out of both the papa-beti's eyes. Mamu ek question se haar jaoge. Manik's face tensed. He looked at all of us. We smiled at him and nodded encouraging him. He blinked his eyes to stop the tears. Mamu haar gye nidhi. He murmured.

The judge called nidhi in a soft tone. Aur koi question hai. Nidhi simply nodded her head vertically. She then looked at manik. Ab last question. Who is my most favourite person?

After the previous questions manik's face was visibly tensed. The small smile that was there on his face had vanished. Only if he knew that why the answers were wrong. He stammered, Cab....Cabir mamu.

Nidhi nodded in no. Manik's fingers were shivering. He entangled his fingers in a tight hold so as to not loose control over his emotions. I bent near the duo and freed manik's hands. He looked at me with defeat and failure in his eyes. I blinked my eyes.

Mukti ma....masi. Nidhi again nodded in a no. What followed was everyone's name except his. Oh Manik! Bas apna naam lelo and see the magic. A few tears spilled out of manik's eyes. Nidhi walked closer to him and wiped his tears.

She then spoke, My mamu answered only two questions wrong. He knows all my favourite things. Woh sirf two answers correct ni bol paye. Nidhi's words made manik hung his head low. He was looking down and tears were falling from his eyes. My favourite person is my Dadeo. Manik's head immediately shot up on hearing that one word jise sun ke liye uske kaam taras gye.

Looking at nidhi with wide eyes he them looked at all of us as if confirming whether he heard it right.

And my when I am sad I only want to hug my Dadeo. I only want my Dadeo and no one else. Saying this she flung herself in manik's arms.

Manik balanced himself and wrapped his arms around nidhi. He got up with nidhi clinging to him. He tried separating her but instead she wailed loudly and clutched him even more tightly.

I think now there is nothing left to say. This small little test has proved it all. The judge's voice broke our trances. So not dragging this any further I would like to declare my final decision. On his last words all of us turned attentive.

The custody of Nidhi Agnihotri will be given to her only gaurdian Manik Malhotra.

Listening to this all of us hooted and yelled forgetting that it was a court and simply pounced on nidhi and manik who were clinging to each other. We were so lost hugging each other that we didn't even realise when people left.

After we moved apart we saw that the only people standing there were us and Mr. & Mrs Sinha along with their son, who looked of our age. Manik and nidhi moved towards the Sinha family.

Thank you so much uncle aunty for taking care of her. Manik spoke caressing nidhi's hair. The Sinha couple smiled. Don't thank us beta. You are just like our son. Nidhi extended her hands towards the boy who was standing there smiling.

I will missshhh you Abhi bhai. The boy, Abhi I suppose, Smiled. I will miss you too bhai ki cookie. Nidhi made a bad face. Phir cookie bola. Main cookie ni hoon. You can't eat me. Nidhi spoke in an angry tone.

Arrey of course I can eat you. Nidhi looked at him. Kaishe? Abhi bit her cheeks. Aise. And then he tickled her making her giggle. All of us smiled at them. The guard outside called us to move out so that he could close the court room. We all walked out. Nidhi went back in maniks arms.

We all were climbing down the stairs when navya dashed her shoulder with me. Hi. She said. I looked weirdly at her. Uh hi. She smiled widely which actually looked creepy to me. Waise aaj kuch special hai? I looked at her confused. Ni toh. Kyu?

Ni woh yeh.... She looked at me from top to bottom indicating towards my dress. Ekdum se Indian anarkali and all. I bit my tongue. Iss ke aankhon se kuch ni Bach ta. Navya Naveli 007. Woh bas aise hi mann kiya toh pehn liya. Aisa compulsion thodi hai ki koi reason hona chahiye.

I tried putting up a brave act and defended myself. She cocked her eyebrows. Rehne de. Tujhse na ho payega. Seedha seedha bolna ki manik ke liye kiya. Manik likes it na when you wear Indian? More than a question it sounded like a statement. Her words made my cheeks turn pink. I looked away biting my lips trying not to smile.

She again dashed her shoulder with me. I looked at her and smiled and nodded my head. Woh maine socha he is already tensed toh shayad meko aise dekh ke.......

I left my words in between. She smiled as if telling me that it was a good idea. Waise acchi lag rhi ho. You should wear it often. Not that you look bad otherwise but woh hota hai na ki some people can carry it really well while people like mukti just can't handle it.

Her words made us laugh. We were laughing and giggling amongst ourselves. Navya suddenly smirked and with eyes told me to look behind. I scrunched my eyebrows and looked back only to get locked in manik's intense eyes. Cabir and manik along with nidhi were walking behind us while mukti was walking ahead of us talking on the phone. Nidhi was in cabir's arms and they were lost in their own world.

His gaze made me feel shy and immediately I felt my face heating up. I raised my eye brows and looked at him. He smirked and blew me a kiss. I widened my eyes and immediately turned my head and looked ahead. Navya snickered while I glared at her.

I looked away. Something caught my eyes! Ahan! Smirking evilly I gestured navya to look in that direction. Both of us smiled evilly at each other communicating through our eyes and evil smiles. Manik ka toh pta nahi lekin koi aur hai jiski nazar humari mukti se hatt hi nahi rahi.

I giggled listening to navya. Seems like very soon mukti will also seen mingling in corners. Snickering at my dirty thoughts we walked towards the car. This time cabir was driving with manik seated in the passenger seat with nidhi in his lap. She was telling manik all that she did while she was at Sinha's. Manik was patiently listening to her and caressing her hair.

I was lost in my own thoughts. They all looked so happy. I could see peace reflecting in each ones eyes. Especially manik and cabir. They both were laughing so freely after so many days. The last time I swear them I like this was only during the game night.

Still lost in thoughts I never realised when we reached manik's house. Cabir parked the car in society parking. Navya patted on my shoulder and called me. I smiled and nodded. Smoothing the creases on my dress I started walking only to be pulled back in the hard rock chest.

Knowing only one person would do this I looked up at him. Manik kya kar rhe ho. Parking lot hai yeh. Koi aa gya toh. Manik looked at me blankly. Nandini, parking lot hai. Dophar ke do baj rhe hai. Working day hai aaj. Pura sanata hai. Yaha tak ki humari khud ki awaaz hume creepy lag rhi hai. Aise main koun aayega.

Giggling at his sarcastic replied I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck. He smiled and pulled me closer clutching my waist tightly. Thank you my lucky charm.

Manik maine kuch ni kiya. Everyone can see that it's only you who can take the best care of nidhi. She loves you way too much. Manik nodded and placed his forehead on mine. We stood there with me caressing his clean shave face while he was tapping his fingers lightly on my waist.

Chale upar? He nodded and smiled. I parted and walked away. Manik again pulled me back. I sighed and looked up at him. He had this boyish grin. Bohot bohot pretty lag rhi ho. Mann toh krta hai ki bas tumhe hi dekhte raho. Kambakhat yeh dil Maanta hai nhi. Mann toh karta abhi ke abhi dono ko room main lock krdu. Phir bas jee bhar ke tumhe nihaarta rahu.

His words made me blush. I pushed him a little and walked away. As we entered inside the lift manik again pulled me closer. He puffed some breathe in hollow of my neck and nuzzled his nose in my cheeks. Maaaaaaaaaanikkk! I whispered. Not even bothering he just kept peppering sweet yet subtle kisses on my cheeks jaws neck temple and every accessible place.

~❤~

Our Family just the right mix of Chaos and Love

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Hello!
Long Update for all the compensation.
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