Myra and Aarav — age : 9-10 Years

N A N D I N I

"Fuck you"

My eyes widened as I heard the two words spoken. "Manik, I asked you not to curse near my kids!" I scolded and he looked up from the newspaper he was reading.

"What? I didn't curse!" Manik said, blinking his eyes.

Both our eyes turned to Myra, who was sitting on the floor beside the dining table, playing with her new doll house that we bought her a month ago, frowning.

"No!" I said to myself, in a pacifying voice. Manik had the same expression.

"I think she said fish you," he told me and I nodded. "I think the same".

She suddenly rose from where she was sitting, walking towards us, and she pulled Manik's tee to grab his attention.

"Paapaa, when will I get my prince?" She asked and Manik frowned. I already suppressed a smile, knowing the outcome of this conversation.

"You will not get any prince," Manik told her curtly. "You're not any princess, you're our queen. You can rule my yourself, you don't need a prince or any lame boy!" Manik told and her eyes filled with tears.

"But I want to be a princess paapaa! I like princesses. I want a prince!" She sobbed and I sighed. Manik made my daughter cry.

"You're not getting any prince Myra. You're not any princess!" There was a loud sound and we turned to see Aarav who walked in with Abeer from their classes.

Myra frowned at him. They were like any other siblings, always at each other's neck. And also, always fighting and arguing but also the first to help each other out and support each other in all their pranks.

"Who asked you? Your opinion is invalid to me!" She showed him his tongue and he rolled her eyes at her. We had a tough time explained Aarav that he wasn't her elder brother. They were of the same age, but he'd never listen. He was as protective of her as an elder brother and also, he was very matured for his age. He took care of her like his younger sister and though she always frowned, we knew she loved that.

"You tell me Abeer. What do you think?" She turned towards him. Also, Myra had a secret liking towards Abeer, who was a year elder to both of them but Aarav's best friend. Cabir's son.

"You're a princess, princess," he smiled at her and Myra's face was covered with a smile that reached her eyes. The tears suddenly disappeared and she showed Aarav her tongue.

Manik went back to his newspaper while I spectated them keenly. If Manik knew about Myra's secret crush on Abeer, he wouldn't allow her near him anymore so I kept quiet and preferred not telling Manik about it. My daughter has a life too and I'd want her to live it like an ordinary teenager, and not a child who's grown with overprotective people around her.

"My opinion is valid. You need to stop acting as if you're a princess. You're a normal girl," Aarav told her again and she frowned.

"Fuck you!!" She shouted at him and my eyes snapped at her and so did Manik's, with both our mouths hanging low.

What did she just say?

✿

It was lunch time when I and Manik went to Myra's room to talk to her. It took us an hour to talk about it ourselves and talk about how she got to know this word.

I blamed Manik and he conveniently confessed that he'd been controlling the f word whenever he's around the children. Then how?

We knew we had to talk to her before this slips away from our hand and we had to do it now but we couldn't get our mind to point out at what we'd tell her.

That's how we ended up in her room an hour from then, as we looked at her drawing something peacefully.

"Hi princess!" Manik greeted her, nervously. I hadn't seen Manik so nervous his entire life and I was lowkey loving it.

"But Dad you said I wasn't a princess!" She said looking up from her drawing and then from Manik to me.

"You are a princess, my princess. Okay?" He asked and she nodded, getting up and coming to us. We sat on her bed and she stood in front of us.

"Uh, so... what are you drawing?" Manik asked and she smiled, showing the drawing she had.

"This is me, a princess. This is you and mom, my king and queen. This is Aarav, a monster and this is Abeer, a prince!" She smiled showing us everything slowly and I smiled back at my naive daughter.

"Why is Aarav a monster and Abeer a prince?" Manik asked, frowning.

"Because Aarav is rude. He always teases me. And Abeer always protects me. You know paapaa, Abeer saved me from a boy who ate all my cookies. When I asked him, he started pulling my hair and Abeer came and punched him.," she explained to him.

"Where was Aarav when the boy troubled you?" I asked and she looked down. "Aarav stole all his cookies and gave it to me!" She smiled sheepishly and I and Manik laughed.

"Remember what I told you, princess? If any boy ever troubles you, you can punch him and then tell me. I will take care of the rest!" Manik explained and I rolled my eyes at him.

"No paapaa, there's no need. Aarav hit him and Abeer punched him for troubling me. And then I told him Fuck You before leaving School yesterday, he was crying!" She said proudly and my eyes widened again.

I had told Manik that making Aarav and Abeer join kickboxing at the age of ten wasn't a great idea and I was right. They were using their skills on other boys of their age.

But it wasn't our concern right now. "What did you just say?" I asked and she looked up at me, blinking her eyes. "What?" She asked again.

"That word baby. The one that is similar to fudge and rhymes with truck," Manik asked and she nodded.

"Fuck?" She asked and I felt like crying, not literally.

"Yes. Who taught that word to you, baby?" Manik asked patiently and she thought for a while.

"I don't know. I think I heard Aryamman uncle telling that," she answered after a while and both our eyes widened.

"That gay," Manik gritted his teeth. I showed him my eyes but Myra had already caught the word.

"Mamma? Paapaa? What's gay?" She asked again and I closed my eyes.

"Gay means happy, baby!" Manik explained and I took a breath of relief.

"But the word you used earlier, that's a very bad word. It leaves a bad impression on people of you use that word, you're not supposed to use it," Manik held her in his arms as he explained her with patience and love and I rolled my eyes at them for two reason. First, look who's talking. The king of all the fuck words that ever existed. And secondly, they're just ignoring my presence.

Like what?

That's not counted to be fair.

"But what does is mean paapaa? Aryamman Uncle was so frustrated when he used that word, he was angry at someone. So I thought you use it when you're angry," she said.

"No! You say it when something is extremely bad. Like how would you feel if someone tells you that you look extremely ugly?" I told her and her eyes widened. "I don't want to be ugly," she immediately retorted and I smiled.

"In that way, no one likes to hear that word. It's bad," he told her and she smiled understanding.

"So it means very very ugly paapaa? I wouldn't use that word. I'm sorry," she caught her ears and Manik kissed her forehead.

Both my children were very understanding for their age and I was extremely proud of them. Myra returned to her drawings as I and Manik left her room, not before pecking her forehead.

"Where's Aarav?" He asked and I nodded in disappointment. "Still practising boxing," I told him and he beamed proudly.

"My son is a perfectionist, Nandini. I feel so proud when I look at him racking his opponents," he told me, his eyes shining with pride. "And I love him very much. I might not tell that to him the way I tell Myra, but I love him because he is like you more than anyone else. Perfect, sincere, loyal," Manik said and I smiled.

"I know you love him Manik, of course you do. Now should we go get him from his practice?" I asked and he nodded, putting an arm around my shoulder and we walked to the basement of the house.

When Aarav turned eleven and already mastered kickboxing more than any other kid of his age along with Abeer, Manik and Cabir made them a basement to practice in our house as well as the Dhawan mansion. They practiced together alternately and Aarav spent most of his time perfectioning even when Abeer went for football.

"Hey, Aarav," we greeted as we entered the basement and he stopped kicking the punch bag. He looked at us and his muscles relaxed.

"Hi mum, hi Dad. Did y'all have some work? Y'all should have called me instead," he walked towards us, wiping off his sweat and wearing his tee.

I smiled at my mature son. It was as if just yesterday he was born; and today, he's all grown up and he turned out to be so responsible. Unlike other boys of his age, he wasn't interested in setting the number of how many girls he could date. He was passionate about everyone he cared for and loved.

"We came to see you work hard. I'm so proud of you," I ruffled his hair and some sweat stuck to my palms.

"You're prouder of Myra. Look at her, she's so intelligent. Always comes on the top list and you get called for the prize ceremony. I couldn't even crack the physics experiment right. All I can do is punch a bag," he sighed, sitting on the ring.

I squeezed my eyebrows at him. When did his happen? Aarav was never doubtful of his skills and he never compared himself with Myra.

"Hey, bud," I sat beside him. "Did something happen?" I asked and his eyes were focused on the ground.

"No, nothing. I'm just sorry. I always have this feeling that I'd not be able to do what you spect me to. I am not as smart as Myra, I can't be as patient as you and I don't even think I can sing or do business as Dad. What can I ever do except kicking and boxing people?" He was sad and I wondered how that happened. He was absolutely fine some time back.

"You're yourself, Aarav. You have your own traits and skills. You kickbox so well, you love martial arts and sports. You won a trophy in basketball last year and you got the cup to your school. You're a better bathroom singer than I was and you don't need business. We don't expect you to grow up and be your father or me, we expect you to be yourself," I told him and he smiled weakly.

"I know you're right. I'm sorry, I just had this conversation with Kaira and she told me how she wanted to be like her father and take over his business and I thought I'd never be able to do that," he said and Manik kneeled down.

"We don't expect that from you. And besides, you are small, not even a teenager yet. You can't decide what you want and what you don't. You have all the choice to choose for yourself, okay?" Manik told him and he nodded.

"Right. I love you both," he said and Manik ruffled his hair while I pulled him, kissing his temple. He was a mamma's boy totally.

"Lunch?" I asked and he nodded, eyes twinkling. He was a foodie just like his father. "I'd be there in ten," he said and we nodded, moving upstairs.

Aarav and Myra turned out to be contradicts as they grew up. Aarav was matured more than his age, as concrete as Manik was and loved sports. While Myra was still a kid at heart, sensitive to everything, hated sports but loved studying instead.

Myra was amazing at drawing and painting, while Aarav loved music. However, he couldn't come to the realisation of how he loved music just as his father because he was scared of being compared to Manik. And we didn't push him into music, we gave him the time he wanted because he was too young to be pressurised.

I and Manik had been through a tough childhood but now that we had our own children, we did everything we could to support them and be the best parents ever. Everything fell back into place.

Mom and Dad came to live with us, and now they were vacationing around Europe. It was dad's retirement trip.

Manik spent more time with us and the kids and tried working from home as much as possible. He did realise that we didn't need the money, we needed his love and attention and time and he gave us all he could now.

I and Manik were happy, fifteen years down our wedding and it all seemed like yesterday. It seems like it was yesterday that we met, that he was a monster in his office, I left him, we fell back, got married, had kids, grew them. Every day was a step we took together.

Being a parent was a full time job. And we loved doing that, we loved every bit of it.

"Kaira, this is only food for the kids that I made. Where is the food I made for me and Manik?" I asked her when I saw her laying the table.

"Ma'am, Manik Sir asked me to distribute it to the poor. He told me that you both will be eating out," she informed, and continued to do her work while I squeezed my eyebrows and looked for Manik who was nowhere around.

And then he appeared, coming downstairs from our room. He had changed from joggers to jeans.

"You didn't tell us we're going out?" I asked narrowed. He smiled sheepishly. "Surprise!" He smiled but it didn't really excite me.

This was no surprise. Manik was lying. He must have wanted to eat outside and he had forgotten to tell me, he does that often.

"Come on Nandini, it's been long since I and you went outside. Just us, like old days. So Nandini Murthy Malhotra, would you like to go on a date with me?" He kneeled below me asking for my hand and I chuckled placing my palm in his.

"Should I go and change now?" I asked and he nodded negatively. "You already look beautiful, baby," He complimented and I looked at myself.

My hair were tied in a messy bun, I had no make up on my face and I had worn my house clothes.

I smiled. "Give me five minutes," I promised and he nodded. "I'll settle the kids till then," he winked.

I went to the room and washed my face, getting fresh and then changed into a plain white dress that almost touched my knees. From Manik's dressing, I knew we were going somewhere fancy.

I wore my black pumps, loops in my ear and simply kept my hair open, brushing them. My hair had grown again over the ears, almost touching my waist. I ditched make up and just went for a simple liner, pretty impressed by how I looked in five minutes.

When I walked down, Myra and Aarav were already sitting on the dining, eating their food while Manik stood overhead, monitoring them.

"Mum is here!" Myra's eyes shone when she saw me. "You look beautiful," she said and kissed her forehead when I reached to them. Aarav took my hand and kissed my palm and I smiled at my big boy. He hated showing affection just like his father but I knew I was an exception.

Manik was silent, and did not compliment me like usual times. I frowned but pushed it to the back of my mind.

"Mum and Dad will be back soon, please be good children and behave. Aarav, don't leave the house by yourself and take care of Myra. Okay?" I instructed and he nodded while Myra pouted.

"Can I call Abeer Home? We can watch Netflix," Aarav requested.

"Yes, call Abeer," Myra's eyes were dreamy and I giggled. Manik flexed. "I like him," she declared and Aarav just rolled his eyes at her.

"Yeah, she told me last night that he was her Prince Charming," Aarav told and Manik coughed. I showed him my eyes and he returned to his food.

"Yes, so?" Myra poked him.

"Let him be your Prince Charming for the few months, Myra. Cabir Uncle is sending him to a boarding school next year. And then your Prince Charming will have a new Princess," Aarav said with a smile and Myra got back to her food, keeping quiet after that.

I was just glad that Manik wasn't really listening. I wonder how they'd feel about these naive discussions when they grew up and how Myra would cringe with the thought of her having a crush on Abeer when she was just twelve and the Abeer who happened to be her father's best friend's son.

I decided to leave them by themselves on this topic. I'd talk to Myra and night and make her understand that this was mere infatuation because Abeer is the only boy she had been ever allowed to talk to except Aarav.

"Kaira, please monitor them. Don't let Myra leave the table until she completes the veggies," I told Kaira, their caretaker and she nodded. Myra's eyes glistened with naughtiness, I knew she could get away.

"And if she tries to fool you and runs away, tell Aarav to not let her see Abeer," I smiled. Her eyes widened and I looked at her innocently. I was their mother and I definitely knew my ways.

"Alright then, we'd see you," we told the kids before kissing their forehead, bidding our byes and then leaving to the car.

As we got into the car, and Manik started his engine, I complaint, "you did not compliment me today!"

"I didn't want to, I don't like how you're dressed," he said and I was hurt. Manik never ever said that, even when I really looked ugly.

"You look so beautiful that all the eyes will be on my wife and I don't like that. Only I have the right to see how beautiful you are," He said sheepishly and the smile spread on my face, re shine crept back and I blushed looking outside.

Years changed but what didn't was Manik being so protective about me and me blushing even on the smallest things.

It was like we were married just fifteen days back, and not fifteen years. We were so in love that sometimes we kept forgetting that we had two children who would be teenagers in a few months.

We fought sometimes. But we always found our way to each other.

We fought on the silliest things, we even had pillow fights. When I was very irritated, I threw a plastic bottle at him and he left me in the middle of argument once and went to Myra's room to sleep. But I ended up putting antiseptic at the wound which was not there at all, dying in guilt and he snuggled back at me at midnight.

We couldn't stay without each other and we've learnt that over the years.

I realised Manik had parked the car and we got down. Manik gave the keys to the valet, walking to my side and wrapped an arm around my waist. There were some reporters who snapped pictures and we smiled generously before walking inside.

We were all imperfect. We didn't aim to be perfect, we aimed to ignore the flaws and accept ourselves the way we were.

But we accepted life the way it was. We loved life, and it loved us right back.

As we got seated on the table, opposite each other, I noticed that the entire hotel was empty except the two of us that sat in the middle of the hall in the dining.

But I wasn't surprised since this was an expensive hotel and not a lot of people came here, and it was a weekday, plus lunch time was almost over. It was early evening and I was starving.

"Why did you suddenly plan this lunch?" I asked normally and he looked at me. I was staring at the menu but the intensity of his eyes were so much that I was forced to look up and then at him. His eyes held mine for a long time before a smile played on his lips.

"Because...," He said, keeping his hand on mine. I kept the menu aside, shifting my attention back to him.

"Nandini, it's our fifteenth anniversary next month," he said and I nodded, my heart beat fastened

"Would you like to marry me again, and give me the privilege to be your husband, again?" He said and my jaw almost dropped. This was... unbelievable.

"Why?" I barely whispered.

"Well, couples do something very special on their fifteenth, twenty fifty and fiftieth anniversary. I was thinking of what to surprise you with since a very long time but couldn't make my mind. I planned good jewellery but I knew that wouldn't make you happy. I thought world tour but you wouldn't leave your kids and we can't travel with them because they'd miss on too much of School," he reasoned and I nodded.

"But then I realised, what could be more special than being your husband, again? Myra was cribbing a few nights back asking me why she wasn't born before our marriage because she wanted to see her parents get married. It was hard explaining her why, so I promised her that she will see us getting married again for her and Aarav"

"I was joking of course, but then I realised, that was a beautiful idea that was— getting married again. So, Nandini Malhotra, will you give me the privilege to get married to us again?," he asked and I laughed.

"Manik, you're just finding ways to spend money," I chuckled.

"And show you off to the world. You can't blame me, I have a beautiful wife," he said and I smiled, genuinely.

I loved him so much. How would I even go a day without him?

"So, what do you think? Will you marry me, again?" He asked and I nodded, giving in to his silly wish.

"Ofcourse I will," I said and he grabbed my hand, making me get up.

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" I asked him and he nodded, biting his lower lip.

"You tell that to me everyday when you take care of the house and the kids and me and office and with no complaints at all. You say that when you make food for us with all that magic in your hands," he kissed my hands delicately and I stared at him with love.

"You say that everytime you kiss me gently," he placed his lips on mine, slowly kissing them. "You tell that to me, to us, everytime you do the smallest things for us, to make us happy, when you clean my wardrobes and remove clothes for me every morning, when you tie my tie before office and when you make me eat food when I'm tired. You might not express how much you love me all the time, but your actions speak," he said.

I was so lucky to have him. Tears had welled in my eyes for no reason but because he made me feel so overwhelmed with love and emotions.

I couldn't reply to him, I stood on my toes and placed my lips on his, kissing him and he held me, strong and close, kissing me back.

"I love you," we said together when we broke apart and he rested his forehead on one.

"Thank you for being my wife. You make me the happiest and the luckiest man in this world," he told me, kissing my forehead as he embraced me into a warm hug and I felt protected and complete.

Facts being told, he made me the luckiest woman on the planet.

I loved being his wife. And I wanted this feeling to last forever, humesha.

~•~

His Wife consists of Ten Bonus Chapters. The first five will be 1 - A, B, C, D, and E which will be written from Myra's POV and the 2 - A, B, C D, E will be written from Aarav's POV.

The bonus chapters will be very interesting and unique, so don't miss it out.
They would be uploaded on Wattpad as well as Inkitt.

Any guess what will the bonus chapters have as a story track? ;)

Thank you for reading and supporting.

Love,
Heer.