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This chap is affectionately dedicated to - MokshitaSingh🖤✨

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"One of the best feelings is finding someone who really gets you without any condition... A special someone who lets you be vulnerable and extreme honest.
The kind of person who encourages you to push past your flaws because they accept you as you are... A beloved someone who never tells you that you're too much of this and too little of that.
Because to them you're just enough of everything they absolutely adore about you....................."

"Manjiri! Come here for once..."

Manjiri turned her neck towards Shaurya in a reflex as soon as he called her from behind, that to from a little far distance. At then she quickly took a note of his sulking expressions.

"Ohho Shaurya!"

Suddenly a loud voice brought Manjiri back to where she was presently seating, indirectly making her aware that all the senior ladies around her, whom her Kaveri Dadi claims to be her friends, had friskily started whispering something among themselves with teasing grins pasted on each and everyone's faces.

"Firstly he makes rare appearances, and then instead of greeting us, he directly demands for his wife."
Another voice perkily remarked aloud making everyone around Manjiri giggle, including her Kaveri Dadi as well.

"Arre leave it Rajni, boys these days very casually overlook their mothers, grandmothers in front their wives... It's nothing new after all."
A senior lady sitting next to Manjiri jokingly asserted.

"Exactly Sharmila Bhabhi!
Kaveri what is this? I never expected this kind of behaviour from our Shaurya."
Another senior lady in that group playfully asked Kaveri Dadi.

At this comment, Shaurya mentally rolled his eyes. He would have never dared to interject in between these old ladies' gossiping session, if he wasn't getting bored as hell. Though he was with Dev up till now, but when his little brother got busy with his important call, with his fiance... So at then he didn't find it right to disturb Ved and Adishri who were spending some free time together in the fresh air. After all he can't be a 'Dev' who spoils other people's sweet moments. So at last, he was here, presently handling his first - hand embarrassment.

"Arre shut up you all. Everyone has turned so old then also never leaves a single chance to rag any new couple around."

Kaveri Dadi jauntily berated her friends, periphrastically making all of them giggle more loudly. Though she too was enjoying but on observing both Shaurya and Manjiri's red - faced and discomfited state, she called out to Shaurya

"You come here Shaurya!"

So with an embarrassed look, Shaurya marched closer towards the group. With a polite smile he greeted all.

"Namaste ( Greetings ) to all respected grannies of mine. Sorry for not meeting you all frequently, but now I promise I'll be personally going to visit you all every week. I hope now this will be fine with you all?"

"Well there was no need to apply so much butter on us, we would have sent your dear wife without that only. That was totally unneeded beta."
The senior lady seating besides Manjiri remarked with a tease, making both Shaurya and Manjiri threw an awkward gaze towards each other.

"You all can keep her as long as you all want. Actually I was only asking for her to come cause there was an important call for her..." Disconcertingly Shaurya tried to think and put up his close to valid clarification.

"Go beta! Answer the call."

Manjiri nodded meekly and discreetly got up on her Dadi's insist. Shaurya too followed her. Both started strolling on the walking trails of the park in silence, mostly looking around here and there in sheer awkwardness until the group's teasing gazes were totally off them.

"Whose call was it?"

Manjiri angled her neck sideways only to find him gazing at her already. To which Shaurya managed to click his tongue uttering

"Mine!"

"Huh?"

A bewildered soft audible voice erupted from Manjiri's vocal box. A silence again engulfed both of them when Shaurya stayed mum. A few seconds later, he finally voiced breaking the quietude between them

"You offered me to come with you all to this place for this?"

"For what?"

She blinked her eyes probably registering his question. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he expressed as they trailed together through the shady trees' zone, that were rooting on either side of the walking path

"I'm literally getting bored here...
And by the way what was so interesting going for you there that you were very smilingly indulging in that grannies' chit - chat session?"

"Why are you so riled up all of a sudden?
And you know it's a disrespect if you turn down any elderly person's incessant insistence... So in order to respect their emotions I was with them."

Manjiri reasoned out in a meticulous manner, making Shaurya roll his eyes at her words.

"As if you really respect each and every person's emotions...
Contrasting principles!"

"Excuse me?"

Her mouth parted at his sarcastic yet offensive remark. She probed him whilst shooting a piercing glare towards him

"Are you by any chance pointing an accusatory finger towards my side for me having double standards?"

"Well I didn't use that word... You are only manifesting it."

Shrugging his shoulders, Shaurya sassily countered her back. Vexing up at his sneering words, Manjiri warned him with a withering look

"If you continue speaking like this then I'm going back there..."

"And I'm going back home..."

Shaurya too asserted brazenly. Within a fraction of second, he heard her inquiring modestly

"You're really going?"

Instead of a proper answer, Shaurya only offered her an impolite hard - headed nod.

"Why can't you stay here for a while?"

As Manjiri further probed him, she could clearly notice his expression turning into a mask of exasperation.

"Cause I've nothing to do here........."

No sooner did Shaurya open his mouth to explain her, then a big multi - coloured soft bouncy ball came rolling to his feet.

"Uncle please pass the ball."

A little boy's shrill yelling words reached Shaurya when he crouched down to pick up the ball in his hands.

"..... other than this."

Shaurya completed his sentence whilst throwing the ball towards the group of kids standing afar, who were eagerly waiting for their ball to resume their game.

"This was the fourth time I was asked to pass the ball.
Moreover, on top of everything these toddlers call me 'uncle'... Like seriously?"

As Shaurya stated this with a sullen face, Manjiri pulled her lips into a tight line to avoid offending and infuriating him more than he already was. But nothing ever gets unnoticed by him

"Stop grinning like this.... Remember if I'm an uncle to them, then ultimately you too are their aunty."

"I won't mind them calling me 'aunty' at all!"

She managed to utter between her light giggling. As Manjiri chimed in, Shaurya raised his eyebrows commenting

"Oh really?"

"Of course!
Do you mind when Vaidik addresses you as Mama (Maternal Uncle)?... No na?"

She quizzed him as she watched the kids gleefully playing with the ball. To which he answered whilst trying to rationalize

"Absolutely not! But there's a difference..."

"I know there's a difference.... But most of the times people don't really notice one's face to judge or assume his or her age, unless it is striking to them in some or the other manner.
And these are toh just small kids after all, they say and do whatever they feel like..."

Cutting his speech in the middle, she elucidated thoughtfully.
After processing her words in his own mind, Shaurya casually stated while gently scratching the back of his neck.

"I got your point but still there's nothing wrong in expecting some sensibility from silly kids,... possessing the same level of silliness as you."

She shook her head at his words chuckling and frowning at the same time. Then she slowly added

"Are you serious? Those kids are hardly 5 or 6 years old...."

"Whatever! Still I'm too young to feel that old, which those little jeerers are obliquely making me feel."

Shaurya replied with a miffed tone. Hearing him she softly murmured and began giggling again.

"Oh God! Just overlook such trivial things..."

This time a soft smile too slowly started gracing on Shaurya's lips as he watched her chuckling merrily. Keeping up with each other, they kept on striding on the walking trails of the park together.

"The intimacy of matching your pace to theirs as you unhurriedly, step by step roam with them..............."

_

"You being around makes me and my heart smile a lot wider............... than they both initially used to."

"Shaurya, look there, those two kids are fighting."

Abruptly Manjiri patted on Shaurya's arm and signalled with her eyes for him to look towards the direction where two little boys were furiously grappling with each other, an audience comprising of few kids around them were clapping their hands enthusiastically

"Where?"

"Arre! There... I guess we should stop them."

She suggested as she felt like those kids might end up harming each other very badly.
On the other hanf, Shaurya didn't really seem to be in a mood to disturb those kids' mini wrestling tournament, maybe because he didn't want to be referred as an 'uncle' yet again.

"Manjiri are we here to babysit kids? Just overlook such trivial things..."

Pasting her own dialogue back on her only, he tried to overlook her suggestion. But she didn't really seem convinced with that

"Oh please stop it, look the one is green T-shirt, he is inclined to cry. Let's go and stop them na. After all nothing good ever comes of violence."

Sighing in defeat, Shaurya surrendered..

"Fine! Come then."

But hardly had they reached those kids, when an old lady appeared out of nowhere and started berating the kids loudly. Manjiri instinctively watched the lady and her actions, she assumed that the lady must be a relative of one of the kid.
Soon Shaurya's sarcastic remark made her look towards him

"Now would you like to sit over there with me or look for some more quarrelling kids around the park to whom you can deliver your pending lecture on 'non - violence'..."

Manjiri kept quiet and chose to ignore his mock. Following his steps towards a vacant bench, she noticed Shaurya settling down on it first. Then he motioned with his hand for her to sit next to him. She beamed inwardly whilst taking a seat close to him, but her sudden delight was exceptionally short - lived cause Shaurya immediately made himself busy with his phone as soon as they both made themselves comfortable on the small bench.

She was about to open her mouth to argue with him but then she compromised with her urge to combat with just an eye roll.

Promptly a few noisy arguments started reaching both Shaurya and Manjiri's ears, from the bench which was around the corner of their bench. Manjiri slowly peeked a glance over there and found the same old lady who stopped those quarrelling kids from fighting a while before, intantaneously getting seated besides an old man.

"Even if the world goes here and there, then also your hands will not leave these damn newspapers..."
The lady grumbled to the man with a displeased look.

"Now what went wrong Anuradha that you're again blaming me and these newspapers..."
The man asked without even taking his eyes off the newspapers in his hand.

"From the last 45 years, I've constantly seen you with these newspapers only... What good these literally caused to you except for a little money which you receive after selling these to the scrap dealer every month?"
The lady expressed her frustration sharply.

"See there's still some profit which we get from them."
The man replied simply, still keenly reading something in those papers.

"What profit, huh? There's no profit cause just by next month you purchase more newspapers which cost more than double the profit of last month's scrap.
I still ponder why I even said 'yes' to your marriage proposal?"

With this statement of that lady Manjiri found herself smiling at the cute old couple.

"You're realizing this after 45 years of our marriage?"
The old man asked jokingly, after finally sparing a glance towards his wife.

This question of the old man made Shaurya's lips too curved up a little, but at then he was too busy with his phone to even take a quick look at that disputing yet cute couple.

"You think it's funny, your grandson was having a brutal wrestling competition there and you are peacefully busy reading here... I'm warning you, remove these from my sight or I myself will dump them into that dustbin."
The agitated old lady boldly threatened her husband whilst motioning her hand towards the public dustbin placed near a big Ashoka tree.

At then Manjiri's gaze straight away shifted back towards the phone, who was royally resting between Shaurya's hold.

"Well, I just hope you aren't planning the same..."

Shaurya simply vocalized his immediate thought when he found Manjiri pointedly eyeing his darling handset.

"Umm, perhaps..."

Manjiri said with a confidence that sprung doubt deep inside Shaurya.

"You're exasperating, right?"

Shaurya stuffed his phone back inside his pocket, and friskily asked Manjiri whilst playfully pushing her nose with his finger. Hereby, successfully compelling a blushful soft smile to get unleashed from her lips. The admiration for one other which was gleefully and graciously swirling across their faces, was non - verbally making both of them aware of the untainted pristine affection which their hearts were sub - consciously demanding from each other............................

"How I wish to present you my heart!
It has seen a few bad days, and is gloomy many a times, but it truly shines when you are around, and that is what makes me believe is that - it's been made only for you..............."

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This is it for now. Hope you liked it. I am sorry for the mistakes.

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