Thanks to all for voting and commenting on the previous story.Forced Marriage 2 : Random Husband (Posted on 21.Aug.2023)

Sorry for the long absence.

I am not having that joy in writing like I did before. Don't know why.

Just wanted to clarify, the story idea I mentioned in the previous story was about Omkara and Gauri being step siblings, not half-siblings. One of their parent is married to the other's parent. So they don't have any blood relation. No incest. Just a complicated relation. Okay?

P.S Have been binge watching The Rookie. Crushing hard on Bradford.

Started watching Geet... Geet has just joined Mann's office. Just a curious question, Mann hasn't grown on me. Is he going to be better? Or is he going to remain an arrogant angry man for no reason?

Haven't checked my PMs yet. Sorry for the delay in reply.

Please note This is a light hearted story with pretty much no conflict. So, please consider this as a time pass story.

And I really don't know if I can categorize it in the baby series, because it is a toddler and not a baby.

Haven't proofread.

"Where are you lost, Gauri?" Anika asks curiously.

Gauri quickly looks at her friend as she shook her head.

"Who is that guy?" Anika asks, as she looked at the guy near the bar counter.

"Don't know." Gauri shrugs as she took a sip of her drink and looked at the guy. He was with his friends.

"Why don't you go talk to him?" Anika asks her.

"No..." Gauri shrugs feeling slightly nervous and excited at the prospect.

"Come on, you have been checking him out forever now."

Gauri blushes hearing that, she had noticed him looking at her about an hour back, and she had been stealing glances ever since. For the last 10 minutes both of them had stopped being subtle about it.

"Go!" Anika tells her.

Gauri shakes her head. "What's the use? I'm leaving in two days."

"Just have some fun, girl!" Anika tells her teasingly. "After your break up, you had got so busy with studies that you didn't even go on a single date. Just have some mindless fun!"

"I don't know..." Gauri halfheartedly says as she looked away.

"He is coming!" Anika declares.

"What?" Gauri looks at him and sees him walking towards her. "Oh my God, he is coming here."

"Have fun!" Anika whispers to her and runs off to the dance floor.

Gauri nervously looks at the guy.

"Hi."

"Hi." Gauri says as she smiled.

"Omkara Singh Oberoi." Omkara says as he extended his hand to her.

"Gauri Kumari Sharma." Gauri says as she shook his hand.

"Mind if I join you?"

"I would love it." Gauri replies as she smiled at him.

Omkara smiles as he sat next to her.

And they started talking like two long lost friends.

**********

"Corporate law... that is interesting." Gauri says impressed.

"And you?"

"My MBA classes are starting next week."

"Oh that is nice. Where..."

"Gauri..." Anika walks to them.

"Hey... Omkara, this is my best friend, Anika. And Anika, this is Omkara." Gauri makes the introductions.

"Hey." Omkara says with a smile.

"Hi..." Anika replies with a smile. "Gauri, it is getting late. We need to leave." Anika tells her.

"Oh." Gauri replies realizing that it is late. She looks at Omkara as she gathered her bag and phone. "I've to go. Anika has a flight tomorrow."

Omkara nods. "Can we meet tomorrow?"

"Erm..." Gauri hesitantly stops.

"I'll ask for the cab. I'll be outside." Anika tells her and walks off.

"Okay." Gauri nods as she looked at Omkara regretfully.

"Is there a problem?" Omkara asks her confused, he could have sworn that Gauri was as into him as he was into her.

"I'm going to UK in two days." Gauri tells him.

"Oh... your college is..." Omkara says realizing.

"Yeah." Gauri nods.

"Hmmm."

"We shouldn't start anything... you know..." Gauri tells him.

"I understand." Omkara nods. Long distance relation and that too with practically strangers...

"It was nice meeting you." Gauri tells him a little regretfully.

"I'll walk you out." Omkara tells her.

They walk out in silence, both lost in thoughts. As they walked away from the loud noises to silence, they couldn't help feel a sense of loss.

"There is your friend." Omkara points out Anika.

Gauri turns to Omkara and says with a smile. "It was great meeting you, Omkara."

"I had a great time, Gauri." Omkara says as he hugged her.

Gauri hugs him and couldn't help but hold him tight for a sec and then she lets go.

"Maybe some other time." Gauri tells him smiling.

"Maybe." Omkara agrees.

Gauri starts to walk to Anika and couldn't help turn back and sees Omkara watching her. Gauri smiles at him and he waves at her.

"Let's go." Anika asks Gauri as their ride stopped in front of them.

"Yeah." Gauri says and looks at Omkara and he waves at her and turns to walk off.

Seeing him walk away, Gauri turns to Anika hurriedly. "You go."

"What?" Anika asks surprised.

"You go." Gauri tells her and turns to hurry after Omkara.

"Omkara!"

Omkara stops and turns to look at Gauri and sees her hurrying to him. He walks to her.

They stop near each other.

"You didn't go?" Omkara asks her noticing Anika leave.

Gauri shakes her head in no. "Just this night."

Omkara stops in shock hearing that. "You sure?" Omkara asks her as his heart slammed against his chest as he contemplated what she said.

Gauri nods. "No strings."

"No strings." Omkara agrees as he moved towards her, and she meets him halfway as they kissed.

**********

7 years later

Hearing his cabin door open, Omkara looks up and at the same time, Rudra declares tired. "I need strong caffeine."

Omkara chuckles. "What happened?"

"Late night!" Rudra tells him. "Come."

Omkara gets up and walks out with him. "So, I assume you had a great night."

"Greatest!" Rudra declares.

Omkara chuckles and rolls his eyes.

"When did you leave last night?" Rudra asks him.

"Right after you started chatting up with that girl." Omkara tells him as they walked to the pantry.

"Dude, that early?" Rudra asks shocked.

"I finished dinner. So got bored." Omkara says shrugging.

"You have become boring. How long has it been since you broke up with Ridhima? Let me fix you up on a date."

"I'm not looking for a relationship right now." Omkara tells him.

"Who is talking about relationships?" Rudra asks surprised.

"You know, I don't do one night stands."

"And I don't do relationships. How did we become best friends?" Rudra asks confused.

Omkara chuckles as they fixed their coffee.

"She is hot." Rudra states.

"Who?" Omkara asks curiously as he looked up.

"The new business analyst." Rudra tells him pointing out to the corridor.

Omkara curiously looks and sees a girl on the phone.

"Yeah, she is." Omkara agrees as he started grabbing the sugar sachets and stops as he looked again. The girl looked familiar.

Just then the girl looked to his side and they both looked at each other. Even she was staring at him curiously.

"Is that Gauri?" Omkara asks Rudra in shock.

"Yeah, I think that is her name. You know her?" Rudra asks surprised.

"Have met her." Omkara states as he notices Gauri's eyes widen in surprise finally recognizing him.

They both looked at each other awkwardly and confused.

"Not going to talk to her?" Rudra asks confused seeing Omkara just looking.

Omkara nods and walks towards Gauri. Seeing him walking towards him, Gauri cuts the call and walks towards him.

"Hi." Omkara says with a soft smile.

"Hello." Gauri says with a smile. "You work here?"

"Yeah. In-house lawyer." Omkara says. "You joined today?"

"Yeah."

Omkara chuckle with surprise. "Never expected to see you here."

Gauri chuckles. "Yeah, I know. How are you?"

"Good... you?"

"Good."

"Hello..." Rudra says as he joined them.

"Gauri, this is Rudra. My best friend." Omkara tells her.

"Hi Rudra." Gauri says with a smile.

"That reminds me, how is your best friend... erm...."

"Anika." Gauri tells him smiling. "She is good. She is in Australia."

"Okay."

"How do you guys know each other?" Rudra asks curiously.

Omkara and Gauri look at each other for a second then Omkara tells him. "We met once in a club."

"Oh okay." Rudra nods.

"I have to get back to work." Gauri tells them.

"Yeah... see you later." Omkara tells her smiling.

"Nice meeting you, Gauri." Rudra says with a smile.

"Same here." Gauri smiles at them and starts to walk off but she for a fleeting second looks at Omkara and he also looks at her. Both smile at each other and she walks off.

"Where was I when you met her?" Rudra asks confused.

"We met few years back." Omkara tells him as he watched Gauri walk off.

"And you guys still remember each other? Might have made big impressions on each other." Rudra says thoughtfully.

Omkara grins without replying as he walked off.

"Oh my God!" Rudra exclaims in shock as he hurried after Omkara.

Omkara grins seeing his shock.

"Is she that Gauri? You met that night? The one and only one of your one night stand? The one that got away?" Rudra asks him in shock.

"Yeah." Omkara replies with a smile still in shock and surprise.

**********

"So, how is your new office?" Anika asks Gauri over video call.

"It was good." Gauri says as she thought of Omkara.

"What are you not telling me?" Anika asks suspiciously seeing Gauri getting lost for a second.

"Erm..."

"Come on! Tell me!" Anika tells her excitedly.

"Omkara is working in my office." Gauri tells her.

"Omkara?" Anika asks confused. Then in shocked excitement, she asks, "You mean, THE Omkara?"

"Yeah." Gauri replies a little excited and a little nervous.

"Did he recognize you?"

"Yeah, he did." Gauri says as she lightly smiled.

"Wow! So, what are you going to do?" Anika asks her excitedly.

"Nothing." Gauri says shaking her head.

"Whaaat? No way!"

"Come on, Anika. That was long back. And it was just a moment." Gauri says trying to play it down.

"A moment? You used to say, Omkara was the best night of your life! He is the one that got away!"

"Who is Omkara?" Vasundhara asks curiously.

"Ma!" Gauri shouts in shock as she turned to look at her mother. "How many times have I told you not to sneak upon me?"

"If I didn't, how am I supposed to find all delicious information?" Vasundhara asks her as she sat next to her.

"Hi Aunty!" Anika says seeing her.

"Hello Anika. How are you?"

"Doing fine, Aunty. Gauri told me that you had a college reunion recently. How was it?"

"It was fun. But who is this Omkara?" Vasundhara asks her eagerly.

"Oh God, Ma!" Gauri says in exasperation.

"You never mentioned him to me. I feel slighted." Vasundhara tells her with a pout.

"I met him one night 7 years ago." Gauri tells her.

"Counting down the years?" Vasundhara asks her astounded.

"Please stop it, Ma. It is nothing."

"Then why are we talking about him now?" Vasundhara asks her.

"He is in my office."

"Oh my my.... Is he married? Is he seeing anyone?" Vasundhara asks her excitedly.

"I don't know! And I didn't ask! And I am not looking for a relationship now! So, you two need to stop!" Gauri tells them fed up as she stood up.

**********

"Cool ride!" Omkara says amazed seeing Gauri getting out of her old Beetle car.

"Isn't it?" Gauri asks him happily as she locked her car.

Omkara curiously peaks inside her car and asks her, "How old is this car?"

"My father gave it to me when I got my license. His father gave it to him when he got his license. Been in my family forever." Gauri tells him proudly.

"Wow. You still drive manual?" Omkara asks her amazed.

"Yeah." Gauri replies proudly as she walked with him to their office.

"So, how are things with you?" Gauri asks him smiling.

"Good... you?" Omkara asks her.

"Good."

"When did you get back from UK?"

"3 years after we met. Worked there for some time." Gauri tells him as they got in the lift.

Since there were other people, they didn't speak more.

"See you later." Gauri tells him as she stepped out of the elevator and walked to her cubicle.

**********

"Taking lunch break?" Gauri asks Omkara, noticing him in the office cafeteria.

Omkara turns to her and smiles. "Yeah. You also here for lunch?"

"Yeah."

"Come join us." Omkara says pointing at Rudra sitting in one of the table.

Gauri nods as she collected her food and walked with him.

"Hey. How are you?" Rudra asks Gauri as she sat down.

"Good... you?"

"Amazing as always."

Gauri chuckles while Omkara rolls his eyes.

"You guys met after joining here?" Gauri asks curiously.

"We've been friends since school." Omkara tells her.

"Oh... and you guys ended up in the same company? That is awesome."

"No... Rudra was working here. There was this opening. I wasn't very keen to be an in-house counsel. He insisted and the money was too good." Omkara tells her.

"Oh." Gauri nods.

"So, I thought, why not make some money for a while." Omkara cheekily says.

Gauri chuckles.

**********

"We are going out for drinks, you want to come?" Omkara asks Gauri as they met near the lift at the end of the day.

"Er.. no... I've to get home early." Gauri tells him.

"Okay." Omkara nods hiding his disappointment.

"You guys have fun." Gauri tells him as she got in the lift.

"Rudra has fun." Omkara informs her. "I don't." Omkara tells her pointedly.

Gauri gulps hearing that, wondering why he was telling her that. "Why?"

"I'm not into anything mindless." Omkara tells her as he looked into her eyes.

Gauri's heart slamming against her chest realizing what he was hinting at. "I.. er... I gotta go." Gauri tells him.

"Yeah." Omkara nods a little disappointed that she wasn't interested. "See you tomorrow."

"See you."

**********

Gauri was setting up her desk with her personal items the next day. She keeps her succulent pots in the corner. Her cute mug on her right hand side with a pretty coaster. Her curios at various positions. Finally, she takes the photo frame. She lovingly smiles at it and keeps it on her left side.

"Who is that?" Omkara asks curiously.

Gauri turns back in shock and sees him leaning over her cubicle partition.

"You scared me." Gauri says sighing.

"Sorry, I was just passing by." Omkara says apologetically.

"I was just setting up my place." Gauri tells him smiling.

"I can see that. I've a fighter fish." Omkara tells her grinning. "That's all."

Gauri grins.

"These are my parents." Gauri says with a smile as she showed one side of the photo. And then she turns the right side to show the baby photo.

"Let me guess, when you were born?" Omkara asks looking at the baby photo with a smile.

"Wrong!" Gauri tells him grinning. "This is my son, Dhanush."

Omkara's smile drops hearing that. His heart skips a beat, realizing why Gauri hadn't shown any interest the previous evening. "I didn't realize that you were married." Omkara says softly.

"I am not." Gauri tells him.

"Oh." Omkara looks at her and the photo.

From his face, Gauri knew he had lots of questions. "Do you want to have coffee?" Gauri asks him.

"Yeah, sure." Omkara says still reeling from his shock and confusions.

**********

"Dhanush is two and a half years old now." Gauri tells him as she showed him Dhanush's photos on her phone.

"He looks like you." Omkara says as he looked at the cute baby with a gentle smile.

"Thank you." Gauri says smiling. She keeps her phone away and looks at Omkara. "Bhaskar and I was dating for a while."

Omkara nods hearing that.

Gauri looks at Omkara in confusion. "It was not that we weren't happy. Everything was fine. But I don't know... I felt discontented. I don't know how to explains."

"I understand." Omkara agrees. Hadn't he felt this same discontent in both his relationship after Gauri?

"I was considering breaking up with him and that time I found out that I was 5 weeks pregnant." Gauri tells him.

Omkara nods.

"At first I wasn't sure about the baby. It was unplanned. Bhaskar was also not sure. In the end, I realized that I wanted to have the baby. For the baby's sake, I was ready to give the relation another chance. But Bhaskar wasn't ready for the baby." Gauri explains to him.

"Hmmm." Omkara nods wondering what would have been his reaction if an unplanned pregnancy had occurred in his previous relationships. He didn't know.

"He had his career. Future plans. He was not ready. We broke up."

"And after Dhanush was born?" Omkara asks her curiously.

"I haven't spoken to him after our break up. I informed him when Dhanush was born. He didn't say anything. I guess, it was too much for him to grasp." Gauri tells him. "But if he wants to have a relation with Dhanush then he can. I've told him that. He is Dhanush's father."

"He never met Dhanush?" Omkara asks her shocked.

Gauri shakes her head in no. Seeing his expression, Gauri tells him with a reassuring smile. "It's okay. Dhanush is a happy baby."

Omkara nods and asks her in concern. "Was it hard for you?"

Gauri couldn't help smile hearing that and felt a little bit love for Omkara just then. "No." Gauri tells him smiling. "Thank you for asking."

Omkara smiles.

"I was staying with my colleague that time. When Ma found out that I am pregnant, she insisted that I move back in with her. And I did. I worked till my maternity leave got over. Then I resigned. I wanted to be there for Dhanush." Gauri tells him.

"He is lucky to have you." Omkara tells her smiling.

Gauri smiles. "So, these two years, I did couple of online courses to keep my resume filled. Now, Dhanush is slightly bigger. He doesn't need me full time with him. So, I decided to get back to work. And got this job."

"And now, you're here." Omkara says.

"Here I am."

They remained silent as they sipped on their coffee, both lost in thoughts.

"We should get back to work." Omkara finally tells her.

"Yeah." Gauri agrees as she looked at him.

Omkara was starting to get up when she calls his name. Omkara stops and curiously looks at her.

"I'm a single mother, Omkara. My priority is Dhanush. I'll not put him second to anyone." Gauri tells him.

Omkara nods understanding what she was saying.

"I don't want to balance my time and attention on Dhanush and a relationship. I can't do that right now. It was my decision to have Dhanush and all my energy and focus should be on him."

"I understand." Omkara tells her softly.

"Right now, I just want to be Dhanush's mother. Nothing else." Gauri tells him softly.

And it was that moment, Omkara fell head over heels in love with Gauri.

**********

Omkara and Gauri always had their lunch together. Even took their coffee break together. There were whispers about them dating but neither of them bothered about it. And since, there was no company policy on colleagues dating, no one really cared about it.

"God! Not again!" Gauri groans as she tried to start her car again. But her car refused to start. "Come on!" Gauri pleads as she tried again.

Finally, giving up, Gauri steps out of her car and locks it as she took her phone out of her bag to book a cab. Hearing a car, Gauri curiously looks up and sees her colleagues leave. And she notices Omkara's car also. Noticing her, he curiously stops near her car.

"All okay?" Omkara asks her.

"Yeah, the usual. Car is not starting." Gauri tells him.

"Do you want me to check?" Omkara asks her.

"No, this is usual. My mechanic will come and take it to his shop." Gauri tells him.

"It just looks good?" Omkara asks shocked as he looked at her car.

"My mother says that my car is older than her." Gauri points out with a grin.

Omkara chuckles. "Get in, I'll drop you."

Grinning guiltily, Gauri says, "I should say no but Dhanush would be waiting for me."

"Ha... ha. Get in."

The drive home, Omkara listened to Gauri talking to her mechanic regarding the car and the cost of getting replacement parts. From the one side conversation, he understood that, Gauri's car broke down every other week.

"This is my place." Gauri points at the gate of her apartment building.

Omkara stops in front of her building.

Gauri turns to him and hesitates for a few seconds then she smiles and says. "Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow."

"No worries." Omkara says though he was slightly surprised because he had thought she would invite him to her house. Then he shrugs it off realizing that she wants to spend her time with Dhanush. "I'll see you tomorrow."

**********

"So, how did you come?" Vasundhara asks curiously hearing that Gauri's car was in workshop.

Gauri looks at her and says cautiously. "Omkara dropped me."

"Really?" Vasundhara asks smiling. "What is happening between you two?"

"We are friends, Ma."

"That's it?" Vasundhara asks her disappointed.

"Yes, Ma! I just want to concentrate on Dhanush now." Gauri tells her.

Vasundhara gently holds Gauri's hand. "Gauri, you shouldn't be making these kind of sacrifices for Dhanush."

"What are you saying, Ma?"

"You won't even realize it, Gauri. You might not even want to but at one point you would start expecting Dhanush to pay you back for all these." Vasundhara gently tells her.

"Of course not, Ma. Never." Gauri tells her shocked.

"When Dhanush hurts you." Seeing Gauri about to interrupt, she quickly says. "And he will. Children have a mind of their own. And they will go against us. It is normal but that time, you would feel that after you made all these sacrifices for him, he is hurting you. Don't put that kind of pressure on your son. You need to live your life without compromising on Dhanush." Vasundhara tells her.

Gauri nods. "I understand, Ma. And one day, I'll start to think of a relationship. That is not now. Now, I want it all to be for Dhanush."

Vasundhara nods.

"After Papa, why didn't you?" Gauri asks her gently.

Vasundhara dreamily. "Your father was the perfect husband, father and lover."

"Oh please... I didn't have to hear the last part." Gauri says feeling icky.

"No one can match up to him. So, why get disappointed? Or put that kind of pressure on some man?" Vasundhara asks her.

Gauri shakes her head hearing that. Vasundhara starts to walk off.

Gauri curiously asks her. "Have I hurt you, Ma?"

"Of course! You were always your father's daughter. Ungrateful thing!" Vasundhara declares.

"Seriously, Ma? When I think you can be a little mature and serious!" Gauri tells her exasperated.

**********

"So, you live alone now?" Gauri asks Omkara as he drove her home the next day.

"Yeah. Rudra and I used to live together but I moved out couple of months back." Omkara tells her.

"Why did you move out?" Gauri asks curiously.

"After my break up with Ridhima. I kind of wanted a place of my own. And Rudra had these girls coming and going. It was getting a little too much for me." Omkara tells her.

"Oh... he was telling me he never had a girlfriend." Gauri tells him shocked.

"Yeah, that is true." Omkara agrees.

"Isn't it a little shocking?" Gauri asks him.

"He says he has a roving eyes. He doesn't think he can ever stop being attracted to other girls. Relationship means, he has the power to bring joy and sorrow to someone. He says he doesn't want to be in a position like that where he is responsible for somebody else's heart." Omkara says.

"Very self aware." Gauri says with a chuckle.

Omkara shrugs with a chuckle.

"Erm... why did you and Ridhima break up?" Gauri asks him gently.

"She broke up with me." Omkara tells her.

"Oh."

"Where you hurt?" Gauri asks him.

"I don't know." Omkara says with a shrug. "And she was right to dump me."

"Why?" Gauri asks shocked.

"I kinda cheated." Omkara tells her hesitantly.

"What?" Gauri turns to him in shock, she never expected Omkara to be a cheater.

"Not physically." Omkara quickly says.

"Then?" Gauri asks confused.

"Once she asked me whether I ever thought of other girls while I was in a relationship with her." Omkara tells her.

"Oh... so?" Gauri asks confused as she looked at him.

"I told her, I did."

"Wrong answer!" Gauri tells him grinning.

"She deserved the truth." Omkara tells her with a smile.

"I know. Then what happened?"

"She asked me about this girl." Omkara says as he looked at her. Then looking ahead he continues. "So, I told her it is a girl that I had one night stand with. And there were times, that I would wonder what would have happened, if it was more than that."

"Hmmm." Gauri looks away getting uncomfortable because she could relate to him.

"She said I was emotionally cheating on her."

"It is cheating?" Gauri asks shocked.

"If Bhaskar had said that he was thinking of a relation with another girl, would you think it to be cheating?" Omkara asks her back.

"Oh." Gauri looks away as realization dawned on her. How many times had she fantasized what would have happened if she had met Omkara a different time? How many times, had she replayed their meeting in her head? How many times had Omkara crept into her thoughts in the most unexpected times? "Oh bloody hell!" Even she was a cheater!

"I don't think anyone would be okay with you having that kind of an emotional connect with a third person." Omkara tells her softly.

"Yeah." Gauri whispers.

"Your place." Omkara tells her as he stopped.

Gauri smiles at him. "Thanks. Tomorrow I am getting my car back."

"Again." Omkara adds. It was the second time her car had gone for repair in the last three months.

**********

"How did your mother when you told her about Dhanush?" Rudra asks Gauri curiously one day.

"I told her about Dhanush and that I had broken up with Bhaskar." Gauri tells him. "And she was like, don't worry love happens more than once."

"What?" Omkara asks with a confused chuckle.

Gauri chuckles. "Yeah, my mother is crazy like that." Then remembering, she says, "You know, Papa was not her first love."

"Aunty was a player!" Rudra says with a teasing grin.

Gauri gives him a look and tells him, "That is my mother, you king of players!"

Rudra chuckles.

Gauri grins. "So, I told her that I don't think I was in love with Bhaskar and she was like so what is the problem?"

Omkara chuckles hearing that.

"I said that I am pregnant and she was like but you decided to have the baby, so why are you worried? I told her, I don't know whether I can be a good mother. Raise a baby alone." Gauri then smiles sweetly and says, "and she said, you decided to have this baby. You are already a good mother, rest, I'll help you."

"Awww." Omkara smiles hearing that.

Gauri smiles happily as she looked at Omkara, her eyes filling up slightly.

**********

"What plans for the weekend?" Gauri asks Omkara as they finished coffee.

"I'm going home. Mom and Dad has been asking me to visit them for a while." Omkara tells her.

"That's nice. Will Priyanka be coming?"

"Yeah. Ranveer won't be coming. Just Priyanka and the kids."

"How old are the kids?"

"Varun is 4. And Alisha is a couple of months younger to Dhanush."

"Awww. It's nice to have kids around, right?" Gauri asks smiling.

"Yes but too much noise." Omkara says sighing.

Gauri chuckles. "That is given."

"But it is fun to have them around." Omkara says smiling. "So, what plans for your weekend?"

"Just spending time with my baby." Gauri saying smiling excitedly.

Omkara smiles seeing her joy.

**********

One day Omkara, Gauri and Rudra were in the cafeteria having lunch.

"So, what is baby Dhanush saying?" Omkara asks Gauri after she cut her call with her mother.

"He is busy with Cocomelon." Gauri says smiling. "Ma wants to meet a friend of hers. So, she was asking whether I can come early today." Gauri informs him.

"So, you are going early?" Omkara asks her.

"Yeah, I am leaving in a bit. I'll work from home." Gauri tells him.

"How will you go?" Omkara asks her. Once again, her car was in the workshop.

"I'll take a cab."

"I've a meeting otherwise I would have dropped you."

"That's okay. I'll take a cab." Gauri tells him smiling.

"You know what? I'll drop you. I don't have much work today, I was thinking of going home. Just a call in the evening, that I will take at home." Rudra tells her.

**********

"Nice place." Rudra says as he stopped the car in front of her apartment.

"Thanks." Gauri says smiling as she started to get off then she stops and looks at him. "Why don't you come in? You can meet Ma and Dhanush."

"Okay." Rudra replies with a smile.

**********

"You met Dhanush?" Omkara asks Rudra in shock as he swiped the photos that Rudra had sent him..

"Yeah. Why?" Rudra replies on the phone confused.

"How did you meet him?" Omkara asks reeling from his shock.

"Gauri's flat. You never met him?" Rudra asks confused.

"No." Omkara replies, feeling hurt and slighted.

"How come?" Rudra asks in shock. "Gauri invited me to meet Dhanush and her mother."

"I gotta go." Omkara says and cuts the call.

**********

"Bye... once again, I am getting my car back tomorrow. And I have replaced pretty much all the parts. So, it should be fine for a while." Gauri tells Omkara as she smiled at him.

Omkara nods then seeing Gauri starting to get off, he couldn't hold it. "Gauri?"

"Yeah?" Gauri stops and looks at him.

"Rudra told me that he met Dhanush. You invited him to meet Dhanush." Omkara softly accuses.

"I did." Gauri agrees. "I consider him my friend."

"And me? Why don't you want me to meet Dhanush?" Omkara asks her hurt.

Gauri pointedly looks at him. "Because both you and I know, we are not just friends."

Omkara stops hearing that.

"Dhanush has no father figure in his life. And I will not have men come and go in his life."

"Gauri..." Omkara softly starts to argue.

"I can't have him get attached to someone and have that person leave. I've to protect my baby." Gauri helplessly tells him. "I'm sorry, Omkara."

Omkara nods.

**********

"Aren't you being selfish?" Vasundhara asks Gauri.

"Do you think I am being selfish?" Gauri asks her mother confused.

"Feels like it." Vasundhara says with a shrug.

Gauri sighs hearing that.

"You are not being with him. You are not, not being with him. It feels like he is hanging there."

"I never told him that he can't see anyone." Gauri says softly. "I told him what my priorities are. It was his decision that we continued this friendship."

"And what if he starts dating someone else? Are you going to continue this friendship?"

Gauri shakes her head in no. she couldn't see Omkara with someone else and be friends with him.

"You are a mother. But you are not just a mother. You need to balance your other relations. Every parent has to learn to balance."

"I don't want Dhanush to get hurt." Gauri worriedly says.

"Dhanush is a baby. And he will be fine." Vasundhara tells her.

"Omkara is very special, Ma. I've never felt for anyone like I feel for Omkara. But what if it doesn't work out?"

"You won't know till you give it a chance."

Gauri thoughtfully looks away.

Vasundhara gets up as she says. "Anyway it is your life and your decision."

**********

"Do you want to go out after work?" Gauri asks Omkara as she peeped into his cabin.

"Yeah sure." Omkara says surprised and curious.

"Okay. I'll see you later." Gauri says with a smile.

**********

"Here?" Omkara asks surprised seeing the club where they had met years ago.

Gauri smiles. "Come."

Omkara follows her in as old memories came back to him. How many times has he replayed that meeting in his head?

"This place has changed." Gauri says as she looked around while she sat.

"Hmmm." Omkara also looks around.

They turn to face each other.

Gauri nervously takes a deep breath as she smiled at him.

Seeing that, Omkara sighs loudly and says tired. "We should stop this dancing around that we are doing, Gauri."

"I know." Gauri agrees nervously.

"Gauri, I know your whole life revolves around Dhanush. You have worries about him that only a parent will understand. But you need to have faith in me. What makes you think that I won't stick around? Why do you think I'll leave?" Omkara asks her.

"Because I am not the same girl you met all those years ago."

"And I am not the same guy." Omkara points out to her.

"But I come with these baggages." Gauri tells him.

"Gauri, I know that. You are no longer the same person that I met that night. It's been months since we reconnected and you think I don't realize it?"

"I just don't know whether I will be able to manage two relationships."

"You won't know till you try."

"I know."

"When I met you that night, it felt like I met a part of my soul. After you left, I tried to have that kind of connection with other people. But it never worked out like that. After I met you, I had two failed relations. More than those two relations, I had felt more connection with that one night stand with you. That night with you. After Ridhima, I had kind of given up on having a relation. Because I had realized that what I wanted was something that was beyond me. Then you came back into my life and I thought this was life giving me another chance at love and relationship."

Gauri nods then she confesses. "These feelings I've never felt with anyone else. Ever since I met you, there has been a part of me that just couldn't move on from you. Many times over the years, I had wished that we had met in a different time."

Omkara gulps hearing that.

"Till Dhanush, I used to wonder how it would have been if things had worked out between us."

Omkara smiles gently. "No regrets in that, Gauri. If we had worked out that time, then Dhanush Wouldn't be here. I haven't met him but I do love him."

Hearing him, Gauri moves to him, then she gently takes his lips in her. Omkara pulls her closer and kisses her back.

The gentle kiss quickly turned hungry.

Gauri leans back to look at Omkara's face, then she says nervously. "Let's get out of here."

**********

"You're going?" Omkara asks Gauri noticing her putting on her clothes.

Gauri turns to look at him and smiles. "It's late. I didn't spend much time with Dhanush today."

Omkara nods as he sat up. "Gauri, we are going to give this a chance, right?"

Gauri looks at Omkara and says, "Dhanush is my son and he is my priority."

"And it should be." Omkara agrees.

Gauri lovingly keeps her hand on his cheek. "But I don't want you to feel that you're not important to me. You're."

Omkara smiles hearing that.

"Love you." Gauri whispers as she pecked his lips.

"I love you too." Omkara tells her lovingly.

"I've to go now."

"Yeah." Omkara says as he gets up and grabbed his clothes hurriedly.

"What happened?" Gauri asks confused.

"I'll drop you home." Omkara tells her.

"I've my car." Gauri reminds him.

"I don't trust your car. It is late and what if it breaks down?"

"I don't think it will break down. It was back from the workshop just today."

Omkara gives her an exasperated look.

"What?" Gauri asks confused.

"You said you don't think." Omkara points out shaking his head. "I'm dropping you."

Gauri gives him an embarrassed smile.

**********

"So, is congratulations in order?" Vasundhara asks Gauri the next morning.

"What?" Gauri asks confused as she looked at her mother.

Vasundhara gives her a cheeky smile.

"Er what?"Gauri asks slightly blushing.

"You think I didn't notice your walk of shame?"

Gauri gasps in shock.

"I am really hoping it is a best-night-of-your-life reloaded and not some other guy."

"Oh God, Ma! You really need to keep your mouth shut." Gauri says in shock as she grabbed her bag and headed out.

"So is it?" Vasundhara asks Gauri as she ran behind her.

Cheekily grinning, Gauri tells her mother. "I'll tell Omkara that you said hi."

**********

"You are gloating as if you hit jackpot." Rudra declares.

Omkara chuckles hearing that.

"What did I miss?" Rudra asks confused.

"Good morning." Gauri says as she walked in happily smiling.

Both Rudra and Omkara look at Gauri but Gauri had eyes only for Omkara.

"Even you look happy." Rudra points out.

"What?" Gauri turns to him confused.

Rudra's eyes widen realizing. "You guys!"

"Surprised?" Gauri asks him as she side hugged Omkara.

Omkara kisses her on top of her head.

"You two did it the day you met. I am surprised that it took so long for you two." Rudra says exasperated.

**********

Things were going smooth for Gauri and Omkara for the next couple of days.

Hearing her mobile ring, Gauri answers the call.

"Yeah, Ma?"

"Gauri, I'll be going out in the evening." Vasundhara informs her.

"Oh okay."

"I've asked Richa to baby sit Dhanush. You'll come by 9 from Omkara's place right?"

"I'll come back early."

"It's okay, Richa will manage till then. I'll see you later then."

"Will you be late?"

"Having dinner with my friends." Vasundhara tells her.

"Okay." Gauri hangs up the phone. She goes to Omkara's cabin.

**********

"Hey." Gauri says as she walked to him with a smile.

"What's up?" Omkara asks her as he smiled at her sexily and walked to her.

"What plans for tonight?" Gauri asks him as she wrapped her hands around his waist.

"I thought we were going to my place. What happened?" Omkara asks as he nibbled her lips.

"Change in plans." Gauri tells him.

"Yeah? What is it?" Omkara asks her curious.

"You're coming to my place."

"What?" Omkara stops in shock.

"Ma won't be home."

"Hmmm."

'So, I thought, it is the perfect time." Gauri tells him excitedly.

"For what?"

"For you to meet my Dhanush." Gauri tells him happily.

"You want me to meet Dhanush?" Omkara asks her in shock, his heart slamming against his chest.

"Yeah. I was thinking of bringing him to your place because I didn't want you both to meet each other with some one else around." Gauri tells him excitedly.

Omkara nods as he took a deep breath.

"What?" Gauri asks confused.

"I'm nervous." Omkara says nervously.

"Awww. Dhanush is going to love you."

**********

Gauri unlocks and opens the door. Omkara nervously follows her inside. He stops hearing loud laughter and then he sees Dhanush running excitedly and coming towards her from the other room.

"My baby!" Gauri happily picks him up and hugs him.

"Mama." Dhanush happily hugs her.

Omkara watched for a minute as Gauri and Dhanush spoke to each other. He couldn't take his eyes of Dhanush. He was such an adorable baby.

"Richa, you go." Gauri tells her with a smile.

After Richa left, Gauri turns to Omkara.

"Dhanush, this is Omkara." Gauri tells him.

"Hello Dhanush." Omkara says with a smile as he walked to Dhanush.

Dhanush curiously looks at Omkara with a smile.

"Omkara." Gauri says again to Dhanush.

"Omgaha." Dhanush says.

Omkara chuckles hearing that and extends his hand towards Dhanush and Dhanush quickly jumps to Omkara.

Omkara lovingly kisses his cheek.

**********

After a while, Dhanush had got bored with Omkara and had gone to watch TV. Gauri and Omkara sat in the TV room while Dhanush walked around, playing with his toys, talking to Gauri and Omkara random gibberish all the while the cartoon played on TV.

Gauri was on her phone as she ordered dinner while Omkara watched Dhanush.

Dhanush walks around the room then he stops as he looked at the TV.

"That is his favorite episode." Gauri says as a new cartoon episode started on TV.

Omkara watches as Dhanush still staring at the TV walked back till he reached Omkara then leaning on his legs, with his hand on Omkara's lap, he continued to watch TV.

Omkara couldn't help smile, he leans down and kisses Dhanush then he gently picks him up and makes him sit on his lap.

Dhanush sits for 30 seconds then he slides down and leans on Omkara without taking his eyes off the TV.

"He won't sit." Gauri tells him. "He prefer standing and walking around."

**********

They were having dinner when they hear the door open. Since he was sitting on his high chair, Dhanush couldn't get out and run out to see who it was. He starts crying as he struggled to get down.

"Who is crying there?" Vasundhara asks as she walked to them. Then noticing Omkara she stops and smiles happily at him.

"Nani." Dhanush calls her excitedly and starts talking.

Omkara made out the word Ahush, which he realized was how Dhanush addressed himself, then he got the word Mama, then he picks his vegetable stick from his plate and offers Vasundhara a piece saying eet.

"I had dinner, baby." Vasundhara kisses him then she turns to Omkara and smile. "I am hoping you are the infamous Omkara."

"Infamous?" Omkara asks chuckling.

"Let's just say, you were not introduced to me in a way a mother wishes to be introduced to." Vasundhara says cheekily.

Having heard about that conversation, Omkara replies with a grin. "A mother should be happy that I made her daughter very happy."

Gauri's eyes widen and mouth drops open.

Vasundhara stares at Omkara in shock. Then she says as she extended her hand impressed. "I've met my match."

**********

"And we are back." Gauri declares as she walked out carrying a freshly bathed Dhanush.

Seeing Omkara and Vasundhara, Dhanush excitedly smiles.

Seeing Gauri walking towards him, Omkara moves and gives her space to sit next to him. Gauri sits down and makes Dhanush lie on her lap then she passes him his milk bottle. Dhanush holds his bottle and starts drinking his milk

"What were you talking about?" Gauri asks with a smile as she looked at Omkara.

"Just telling her about me." Omkara tells her smiling as he lovingly caressed Dhanush's hair.

Dhanush looks up at him then ignoring him, he continues to drink his milk.

Gauri and Omkara share a smile seeing that.

"I should go." Omkara tells Gauri seeing that it was late.

"Why don't you stay here? It is late." Vasundhara asks him.

"Yeah, stay here." Gauri tells him.

"No... I don't have clothes for tomorrow. I'll go home. See you in office tomorrow." Omkara tells her as he stood up.

Since, Dhanush was lying on her lap, Gauri leans up and kisses him. "Message me after you reach home."

"Okay." Omkara replies with a smile as he leaned down and kissed Dhanush. Omkara turns to Vasundhara to say bye.

"I would rather prefer a hug than a kiss." Vasundhara tells him.

Omkara for stunned for a second then chuckling he hugs her. "You break my heart, darling."

Vasundhara cheekily grins while Gauri rolls her eyes at her mother but she was so happy that her mother and Omkara seemed to have clicked.

**********

"This Sunday, my parents have invited you home. They want to meet you." Omkara informs Gauri.

"What?" Gauri asks nervously. "They want to meet me?"

"Yeah, I told them that I wanted them to meet you and they invited you home for lunch." Omkara tells her.

"Oh." Gauri thoughtfully looks at him.

"What?"

"What about Dhanush?" Gauri asks him.

"Even him."

"They know about him, right?"

"Yeah." Omkara tells her with a smile. "And they want to meet him also."

Gauri nods with a smile.

Omkara hesitates and says, "Priyanka won't be there."

Gauri nods understanding. "She is not happy about us."

"We don't have to bother about her." Omkara tells her.

"It's because of Dhanush, right?" Gauri asks him.

"Yeah... but don't bother about her." Omkara gently tells her. "My parents know that we love each other and they are happy for us."

"Omkara, I don't care who it is, if they don't respect my Dhanush then I'll not give a damn about them." Gauri gently warns him.

Omkara cups her face and lovingly reassures her. "I know, Gauri and I'll not let anyone disrespect Dhanush."

Gauri smiles at him. "I know. I trust you."

**********

Gauri carrying Dhanush in her arms, walks with Omkara into his house. She was anxious about meeting his parents. More than her, she was worried about Dhanush meeting them.

"Relax." Omkara tells her. "It is going to be good."

"You are late!" Jhanvi tells them as she frowned at them sweetly.

"Mom." Omkara hugs her and she hugs him.

Jhanvi turns to Gauri and smiles at her happily. "It is so nice to meet you, Gauri." Jhanvi tells her as she hugged her.

Gauri hugs her as she smiled at her.

Jhanvi looks at Dhanush and smiles at him sweetly. "Dhanush... come here." Jhanvi extends her hands.

Dhanush loved meeting new people, so he happily went to her arms.

"Are they here?" Tej asks as he walked out.

"Dad..."

Seeing them, Tej hurries to Gauri.

"Aai." Dhanush says seeing Tej.

Tej stops and smiles happily. "Hello, Dhanush. Do you know who I am?" Tej asks him as he picked him up. "I'm Omkara's father."

"As if he is going to understand that." Omkara points out dryly.

"Omgaha." Dhanush immediately points at Omkara.

"He recognizes you?" Jhanvi asks surprised.

"Yeah." Omkara replies as he lovingly caressed Dhanush's head.

Tej looks at Gauri and says smiling. "Come in, Gauri. I'm so happy to meet you."

"Same here." Gauri tells him, smiling feeling relaxed.

"Priyanka wanted to be here but she couldn't come." Jhanvi tells Gauri.

Gauri smiles sweetly seeing how Jhanvi was lying to not cause an issue.

"You don't have to cover up for her, Mom. Gauri knows." Omkara tells her.

Tired, Tej says. "Don't know what is wrong with her."

"She will come around." Jhanvi tells Gauri in a hopeful tone.

**********

One evening, Omkara was at Gauri's place.

"Where is Dhanush's shoes?" Omkara asks Gauri.

"It's there. Why?" Gauri asks curiously.

"Just going down for fresh air. So, I thought I'll take him with me." Omkara says as he picked up Dhanush's shoes from the shoe rack.

"I'll also come." Gauri tells him as she started to get up.

"Why?" Omkara asks her. "You stay here. Dhanush and I will go."

Gauri stops taken back hearing that.

"Dhanush..." Omkara calls out.

Dhanush turns to look at him and seeing him hold his shoes. Dhanush excitedly runs towards Omkara happily.

Omkara kneels down and make him wear his shoes. Then holding his hand, Omkara and Dhanush walk out.

Gauri watches the door close, kinda feeling left out.

**********

Omkara watched as Dhanush ran around in the children's park, picking up things.

"Omgaha..." Dhanush calls him as he extended a small piece of stone.

Omkara smiles and takes it from him. "Thank you."

Dhanush smiles at him then he walks off to pick something else that pricked his interest.

Few minutes later, Dhanush comes to Omkara and raises his hands up to him. Omkara picks him up and thinking that Dhanush wanted to go back to the flat, he starts to walk back when he shouts and points at the opposite direction.

Realizing, Dhanush wanted him to take him there, Omkara walks towards that direction. For the next half an hour, Omkara walked around, going to all the places that Dhanush wanted to go.

**********

"How was your walk?" Gauri asks them as they walked in.

Dhanush happily jumps onto Gauri, for haven't seen her for sometime now. Gauri happily kisses him.

"It was nice." Omkara says smiling. "You know, I was thinking..."

"What?"

"Why don't you and Dhanush come and stay at my place for the weekend?" Omkara asks her.

"Yeah." Gauri says smiling at the idea. "It will be a change for Dhanush too."

"Great." Omkara says smiling.

**********

"Hello..." Gauri answers the call.

"Gauri, I just send you a message. Just check if you need anything else." Omkara tells her.

Gauri checks her message and sees that he had send a screenshot of his shopping cart. It had toiletries for Dhanush, baby bath tub, high chair and Dhanush's baby food.

"There is no need for all this. Toiletries and baby snacks, I will bring. Just the weekend, I will manage without those items." Gauri quickly tells him.

"Gauri, I'll get these things. You both will come to stay over often, right? So, it is better to have these here too. Do you need anything else?"

"Hmmm no. this is enough." Gauri tells him. Gauri smiles seeing how much Omkara cared for Dhanush and his comfort.

**********

That friday night, Gauri and Dhanush went to Omkara's flat after office and dinner. By the time they got home, it was late and time for Dhanush's bed.

Gauri and Omkara lie on the bed with Dhanush in between them. Gauri and Omkara were getting ready to sleep while Dhanush drank his milk.

"First time we are staying together." Omkara tells Gauri as he turned to her.

Gauri smiles and says, "I'm happy Dhanush is with us."

Omkara smiles as he looked at Dhanush.

"He'll wake up early for his milk. Then he will take a cat nap then he will start crying to go out." Gauri warns him.

"Then I think I should sleep quickly." Omkara jokes.

Gauri chuckles.

Dhanush's milk bottle falls on Omkara's chest. Shocked, Omkara leans up as he took the bottle.

"He is done." Gauri informs Omkara as she extended her hand to him.

Omkara passes the bottle to her. She closes it and keeps it on the side table.

Dhanush turns to Omkara and grabs his cheek. Omkara smiles at him. Dhanush turns to look up at the ceiling and grabs his leg as he played around.

"He is going to play around for sometime before he sleeps." Gauri tells him.

Omkara watches as Dhanush rolled around the bed, falling on Gauri then lying on him.

That is all Omkara saw because he slept off before Dhanush.

**********

Hearing Dhanush crying, Omkara and Gauri wakes up.

"What happened?" Omkara asks worried.

"He is hungry. You sleep." Gauri tells him as she quickly fixed Dhanush's milk.

Omkara gently pats Dhanush's chest to calm him down.

Gauri shakes the bottle well then she passes the bottle to Dhanush. He quickly grabs it and starts drinking.

"You sleep." Gauri tells Omkara.

Since, his sleep was broken and it was already 6, Omkara decides to get up.

**********

Omkara was making breakfast when he hears his bedroom door open. He peaks out to see and sees Dhanush followed by Gauri coming out the room.

"Good morning... had your bath?" Omkara asks seeing that Gauri already gave Dhanush his bath.

Seeing him, Dhanush happily runs to him. Omkara picks him up and kisses him.

"Did you sleep properly?" Gauri asks him.

"I should be asking you that." Omkara tells her chuckling.

"You woke up early."

"Not that early. I wake up at 6:30. So it is cool." Omkara tells her as he kissed her.

Gauri hugs him.

"Made coffee for you."

"Can you watch him for ten minutes while I have my coffee?" Gauri asks him. "I just need this 10 minutes quiet to get my day started."

"Yeah, sure."

**********

Since Dhanush was new to Omkara's place, he was running around the flat curiously exploring everything. By afternoon he had got tired from running around and had slept off. As Dhanush was sleeping and they couldn't go out, Omkara decided to hit the gym.

**********

Omkara groans as he fell on the couch and on to Gauri's lap after his shower.

"I'm so tired. I'm no good for anything today." Omkara tells her.

"Really? I was making plans for tonight." Gauri tells him with a sultry smile.

"What plans?" Omkara asks with a sexy smile.

Omkara feels something on his chest and sees Dhanush's shoes on his chest. He looks to his side and sees Dhanush.

"Ohmkara. Come." Dhanush calls him.

"Looks like Dhanush has other plans for you." Gauri chuckles. "You got your daily walk."

"You want to go out, Dhanush?" Omkara asks him as he pulled him close.

"Come." Dhanush tells him again.

Sighing loudly, Omkara sits up. "Let's go." Omkara says as he picked up Dhanush and made him sit on his lap to put his shoes on for him.

"You rest, I'll take him." Gauri tells him.

"No, this is Dhanush and my time." Omkara tells her.

**********

"Do you have to go today?" Omkara asks Gauri as she packed up her stuff.

"Yeah... tomorrow is working day. There won't be time to drop off Dhanush home before work." Gauri tells him.

"Hmmm. Yeah true."

"You know... I was thinking." Gauri tells him as she turned to Omkara.

"Hmmm?"

Gauri holds his hand and asks him, "What do you feel about Dhanush and me moving in here?"

"Live together?" Omkara asks her surprised.

"Only if you are ready and comfortable with it." Gauri quickly says.

"Will your mother agree?" Omkara asks her.

"She has always told me to live together for at least 6 months before marriage." Gauri tells him.

"Marriage?" Omkara asks with a teasing smile.

"Eventually."Gauri tells him grinning. "But before that we should live together. You know, living with a baby is not easy. The lack of sleep. Planning everything around the baby. It can take it's toll on the relation. We should be used to that. And if we stay here, then we will get more time together."

Omkara kisses her. "And I didn't mean that. I was asking whether she will be okay about you both moving out. She will be alone."

"I'll talk to her. She will be fine. She was living alone before I moved in."

"So, when will you move in?" Omkara asks her excitedly.

**********

"We need to talk, Gauri." Vasundhara says as she walked in then stops seeing Omkara with Gauri.

They were packing up Gauri's stuff to move.

"Yeah, Ma?" Gauri asks her as she stopped and looked at her.

Vasundhara looks at Omkara awkwardly.

Realizing that she wanted to speak about something personal, Omkara says, "I'll be outside."

"It's okay." Vasundhara waves her hand. "She is going to tell you anyway."

"What happened, Ma?"

"You finished packing?"

"Almost."

"Okay, after that then." Vasundhara says and walks off.

"What does she want to talk about?" Gauri asks Omkara confused.

"Your mother, you should be knowing."

"The only thing I know about my mother is that I can't guess what she is going to do." Gauri tells him dryly.

**********

"What did you want to talk about?" Gauri asks her mother as she and Omkara sat down.

Vasundhara takes a loud breath.

"You are nervous." Gauri says in shock.

Vasundhara shrugs.

"All okay?" Omkara asks her in concern.

"Yeah... all good... perfect." Vasundhara replies.

"So, what is it?" Gauri asks her.

"You know, I've told you that your father was not my first love." Vasundhara says.

"Oh my God." Gauri whispers in shock realizing.

"What?" Omkara asks confused.

"Whenever you went to meet your friends, it was not your friends." Gauri says in shock.

"Yeah." Vasundhara replies nodding.

"You've been sneaking around." Omkara says in surprise and teasingly.

Gauri gives him a look.

"Sorry." Omkara quickly says then turning to Vasundhara, he says. "You please continue."

"He was my professor. I met him for reunion. Then we kept meeting. He is a widower. You know, old feelings returned. But I didn't want to start anything even though he kept insisting. Then he found out about Dhanush... and he understood that even I like him." Vasundhara says.

"What you do you mean by finding out about Dhanush made him understand your feelings?" Gauri asks confused.

"Oh my God." Omkara whispers in shock realizing.

"What?" Gauri turns to him confused.

Omkara eyes widen as he looked at Gauri, then he looks at Vasundhara and asks her, "What is your professor/boyfriend's name?"

Vasundhara worriedly looks at Gauri then she softly says, "Dhanushkodi."

"WHAT?" Gauri shouts in shock.

"Good thing, you dropped kodi from the name." Omkara tells no one in particular.

"You named my son after your boyfriend?" Gauri asks her in outrage.

"I don't think he was her boyfriend when she suggested the name for Dhanush." Omkara tells her.

Gauri turns to Omkara irately.

"I'll keep my mouth shut." Omkara whispers.

"I thought you named him after the actor." Gauri tells him restlessly.

"No." Vasundhara shakes her head.

"How can you name my son after him?" Gauri asks her.

"I didn't have a son. Only a daughter." Vasundhara points out to her.

"But how can you..." Gauri stops in shock.

"Gauri, do you really think we named you Gauri because we like the name?" Vasundhara asks her.

Gauri's mouth drops open in shock.

"Gauri was the girl, your father was in love with before he met me."

"Why would you tell me that?" Gauri asks her in shock and walk off.

**********

"Hey... what happened?" Omkara asks Gauri as he followed her.

"Can you believe what my mother did?" Gauri asks him in shock. "What my father did?"

"What is wrong, Gauri?" Omkara asks her confused.

"I am feeling icky imagining it." Gauri tells him shocked.

"Come on, Gauri."

"Imagine me naming Dhanush 'Omkara'." Gauri tells him.

"Why didn't you?" Omkara asks her, getting sidetracked.

"Oh my God, name my son after someone I fantasies about?" Gauri asks.

"Fantasy?" Omkara asks grinning sexily.

Gauri gives him an exasperated look then helplessly says. "Now, I can't look at my son without thinking about Dhanushkodi."

"You are not going to think of him when you look at Dhanush. You'll get over this soon." Omkara tells her.

"Hmph."

"Your mother just told you that she is in love." Omkara reminds her.

Gauri sighs with a smile. "Yeah."

"By the way, it was sweet of you to let your mother name Dhanush."

"I was so sure I was having a girl. Ma was sure it is a boy. We had a bet. If it is boy she will name him and if it is a girl, I will name her."

"Oh."

"And she named my son after her boyfriend." Gauri makes depressed face.

"I think you have bigger fishes to fry, Gauri."

"What?" Gauri asks confused.

"When Dhanush asks you why you named him that, you'll have to tell him it is because you lost a bet."

**********

"So, when do I get to meet your Dhanushkodi?" Gauri asks Vasundhara as she leaned on the bedroom door.

"Soon." Vasundhara says smiling. "I'm considering about asking him to move in with me."

"Wow." Gauri smiles then cheekily she asks. "I thought after Papa being such a great father, husband and lover, you didn't want to be disappointed."

"I'm not." Vasundhara replies grinning happily.

It took Gauri a second to understand. "Ewwwwe Ma, please, I don't want any more informations. You've my blessings!" Gauri says that and runs off.

**********

Gauri was unpacking her stuff after moving into Omkara's flat.

"You know." Gauri turns to Omkara smiling happily. "I was scared whether I will be able to handle two relations. Whether I would neglect one for the other, and now, we are here."

"I told you, you'll only know if you give it a chance." Omkara tells her.

"You know why, it worked out?" Gauri asks him as she hugged him.

"Why?"

"Because you were with me every step." Gauri tells him as she nibbled on his lips.

Omkara kisses her back.

Hearing the door bell, Omkara goes to check while Gauri followed him.

"Kalyani Aunty." Omkara politely smiles at her. "Gauri, she is the apartment association secretary." Omkara informs her.

"Hello." Gauri politely smiles at her.

"Hello." Kalyani replies then looking at Omkara, she says, "Watchman was saying someone moved in here."

"Yeah. Gauri." Omkara tells her pointing at her.

"Got married?" Kalyani asks curiously.

"No. We're living together." Omkara clarifies.

Kalyani nods. "You should inform the association when someone moves in."

"They just moved in today. I was going to do that tomorrow." Omkara says, hiding his irritation.

"They?" Kalyani asks confused.

"My son." Gauri informs her.

"Baby?" Kalyani asks.

"Yes. Why are you asking?" Omkara asks her.

"No, I was just thinking. To look after the baby you would have a nanny." Kalyani points out.

"Yes." Gauri confirms.

"So, when you come to give her details, please bring a police copy of the nanny's verification too." Kalyani tells Omkara.

"Verification?" Gauri asks confused.

Shocked, Kalyani looks at her, "You haven't done a police verification on your staff?"

"No." Gauri replies confused.

"It is rule to get police verification done on your domestic help. "

"I'll get it done and give you a copy." Omkara promises her.

Kalyani nods. "This is a safe gated community. And we need to follow these rules to keep it like that."

"Yes, we'll do it." Omkara promises her.

"Okay then." Kalyani turns to go then remembering she looks at Gauri and says, "Welcome."

"Thank you." Gauri replies with a polite smile.

Omkara quickly locks the door. "She is so irritating. Such a strickler for rules. You can imagine how the committee meetings are. I always skip it."

"Then why did you guys select her?" Gauri asks confused.

Omkara turns to Gauri and tells her in finality. "Gauri, there won't be a discussion. Every time, we are voting for her."

"What?" Gauri asks shocked.

"I don't have to worry about anything. If I have water problem, I just have to call her. She will be on it and get it sorted. Any issue, she will get it sorted. Just that, she eats our brains with these rules and regulations."

"Then you shouldn't be bitching about her, ehsaan faramosh." Gauri cheekily tells him and walks off.

**********

Gauri, Omkara and Dhanush got quickly settled into their new life. Though, living with a baby was a little hectic, they got adjusted to it.

One afternoon, Gauri was taking a shower, Omkara was watching Dhanush,

Dhanush was watching TV while he walked around and Omkara was busy on his phone. Suddenly, Dhanush came to him, and kept his head on Omkara's lap.

"Are you sleepy, Dhanush?" Omkara asks him, realizing that Dhanush hadn't had his nap yet.

He picks him up and cradles him in his arms, like he had seen Gauri do when she put him to sleep in the afternoon.

**********

Realizing, the flat was silent, Gauri curiously comes to check and sees Omkara sitting with Dhanush sleeping on his chest.

"He slept?" Gauri asks softly as she walked to him.

Omkara looks up at her with tear filled eyes. "Yeah." He whispers softly as he turned to look at Dhanush.

"What happened?" Gauri asks him as she sat next to him in concern. "Why are you crying?" Gauri asks him as he cupped his face.

Omkara looks at Gauri and softly sniffs. He smiles at her, "You know, all these days with Dhanush... I love him, Gauri. Even before I met him I loved him."

"I know." Gauri replies as she lovingly caressed him.

"I loved him like one loves a baby in the family. Like I love Priyanka's children. I loved him because he is your son."

Gauri gently wipes his tears, "What happened now?"

"Today, I realized...." Omkara looks at her and smiles. "That I am a father."

Gauri's eyes fill up hearing that.

"I realized I love him like how I would love my children. He is my son, Gauri. My first born. I don't know, why it took me so long to realize it."

Gauri moves to him, and hugs him tight.

"I'm feeling so happy, so full... these tears are not stopping." Omkara tells her overwhelmed.

Gauri softly laughs as she kissed his cheek.

**********

"Why won't you get a new car?" Omkara asks her when she hung up after she was done arguing with her mechanic.

"Papa gave me the car."

"But you seem to be spending a bomb on the car."

Gauri looks at Omkara and says gently, "a week after he gave me the car, he passed away. When I am in the car, I feel Papa is with me."

"Oh"

"Ma always says Papa is in my heart and not in the car. I know, but I can't bring myself to sell it." Gauri tells him.

"Maybe you can give it to your mother. She might have lots of memories with the car." Omkara suggests.

"Please... she will give it to the first man she sees and might even offer Rs 100 with it to entice him to take the car." Gauri tells him.

"Oh please, Gauri!" Omkara says shaking his head. "No one is going to take that car for even a 1000."

Gauri scowls at him while he cheekily grinned. Then he asks curiously. "How about a favorite nephew or niece of your father?"

"Why you so badly want to get rid of my car?" Gauri asks him scowling.

"I'm getting worried for Dhanush."

"Why?" Gauri asks frowning.

"Han?" Dhanush, whom Omkara was holding in his arms responds curiously hearing his name.

Omkara smiles at him and Dhanush smiles back.

"Why are you worried?" Gauri asks again.

"Because I know your dream. You are going to offer this car to him when he gets his license."

"It will be amazing, no?" Gauri asks excitedly. "Me, my father, his father and Dhanush driving the same car!"

Omkara turns to look at Dhanush and tells him, giving up. "You saw, I tried."

**********

"You are not ready?" Gauri asks Omkara in shock.

"Do I have to come?" Omkara asks her tired. "Can't you just go representing the both of us?"

"Seriously, Omkara. It is the association day. We haven't participated in any of the preparations. We have to go for this at least." Gauri tells him. "They are our neighbors and we should know them."

"I'm just not in a good mood." Omkara tells her.

"Is it about Priyanka?" Gauri asks him.

"What is her problem?" Omkara asks exasperated. "Why is she so against us? And now, she is using about your mother's relation to turn Dad and Mom against us."

"But they have no issue regarding Ma and Dhanushkodi." Gauri reminds him.

"They don't. But why is she causing trouble. She is making things very uncomfortable for my parents." Omkara tells her.

"She is just narrow minded, Omkara." Gauri tells him. "You don't take it to heart."

Omkara sighs. "Okay. you go."

"You are not coming?" Gauri gently asks him.

"I'll come in a bit. You go."

**********

"I was looking for you." Asha says seeing Gauri.

Gauri smiles at Asha. She had met her in the gym and they had become friends, and Gauri met few of their neighbors through Asha.

"Hello, Dhanush." Asha extends her hand to Dhanush.

Dhanush smiles as he went to her.

Hearing her mobile ring, Gauri looks at her phone. "I'll be right back." Gauri tells Asha and hurries out to answer the call.

Asha carrying Dhanush goes to meet her other friends. Dhanush haven't ever been in a crowded place before, seeing so many people at once, gets scared starts wailing.

**********

The moment Omkara stepped into the party hall, he heard the crying and he instantly knew it was Dhanush. He hurriedly looks around and sees few ladies passing Dhanush around in a bid to calm him down.

"Dhanush..." Omkara calls him as he hurried to him.

"Omkara..."Dhanush wails as he extended his hand and tried to jump out of the lady's arms.

Omkara quickly takes him and holds him close to his chest, as he gently rocked him to calm him down. "It's okay... it's okay... I am here."

"Gauri got a call and she had gone out." Asha informs him.

Omkara nods.

"What happened?" Gauri asks as she hurried to them and picked up Dhanush.

"I think he got scared seeing so many people." Omkara tells her.

"Oh oh.... It's okay, Dhanush." Gauri rocks him. "I'll just walk around with him. He will get distracted."

**********

"We have a problem." Gauri informs Omkara.

Omkara turns to her and noticing just her, he asks panicking. "Where is Dhanush?"

"There." Gauri points to the side.

Omkara sees Dhanush playing with another boy, who looked to be his age. "Dhanush made a friend?" Omkara asks happily.

"Yes."

"Oh what is the problem?" Omkara asks her remembering.

"That is the problem." Gauri tells him pointing at Dhanush and his friend.

"That?" Omkara tells her shocked.

"That is Rohit and he is Kalyani Aunty's grandson."

"Oh. But he looks like a sweet boy." Omkara tells her.

"They are friends now." Gauri tells him.

"Yeah, so?" Omkara asks her confused.

Exasperated, Gauri asks him. "Are we going to send our son alone to Kalyani Aunty's house for play dates?"

Omkara's eyes widen hearing the question. "It won't be play dates. It will be disciplinary classes."

Omkara sadly nods.

"Why did you let them be friends?" Omkara asks her frowning.

"She just came to me and told me, put down Dhanush, let him meet Rohit. She was so authoritative, I obeyed without thinking." Gauri confesses. "By the time, I realized, Dhanush had already made his first friend."

"You messed it up, so you'll go for the play dates with him." Omkara declares.

"You can't do that to me."

Suddenly, Omkara smiles.

"What?" Gauri asks confused.

"You said, we and our son." Omkara says smiling.

"What?" Gauri asks softly.

"You always said 'my son'. You said our son now." Omkara says smiling.

Gauri smiles hearing that. "I guess I was a little possessive about my son earlier."

"You were." Omkara agrees grinning.

**********

"Sit here!" Omkara tells Dhanush as he put him on Gauri's lap.

Dhanush shouts as he tried to slide down.

"Hold him." Omkara tells Gauri.

"What happened?" Gauri asks confused as she held a struggling Dhanush.

Omkara kneels in front of them and takes out a ring.

Gauri softly gasps seeing that. Seeing the ring, Dhanush quickly tries to grab it. Omkara pulls it back making Dhanush shout in outrage.

"Gauri... Dhanush... I love you both... you two mean the world to me... will you both make me your family?" Omkara asks them.

Omkara offers the single piece fruit loop to Dhanush. Dhanush takes it.

As he usually did with things that he picked up, Dhanush puts it into his mouth. Chuckling, Omkara tells Gauri, "Dhanush said yes."

"You really want to get married?" Gauri asks him, as her heart slammed against her chest.

"Yes." Omkara says with a smile.

"Yes." Gauri tells him as she softly laughed and cried at the same time. "I love you."

"I love you." Omkara says as he slipped in the ring before Dhanush could grab it again. "Dhanush is my son. And I don't want another baby."

**********

Quickly, Gauri and Omkara had got busy planning their wedding. They had started sending out the invites for their wedding. Her mother and Omkara's parents were happy for them but Priyanka had remained stubborn. Omkara had tried one final time to talk to his sister and sort out the issue.

Hearing the door open, Gauri hurries to check and sees Omkara walk in.

"Dhanush slept?" Omkara asks her as he locked the door.

"Yeah. How did it go?" Gauri asks him.

Omkara furiously sighs.

"She might think that you can do better than marry a girl with a child." Gauri says gently.

"It is not her place to think." Omkara says and he turns to her and tells her. "And like my parents pointed out to her, I've had relations before and I could have also had an unplanned pregnancy. So, this shouldn't be a criteria to judged you or our relation."

Gauri nods agreeing.

"And her issue is not that!" Omkara tells her outraged.

"Then?" Gauri asks confused.

Sighing, Omkara says, "Few years back, Dad had a heart attack. After that he had made his will."

Gauri frowns hearing that.

"Everything was decided regarding all his assets and money."

"Okay."

"Our house. He got it valued and the market rate, he gave Priyanka her share. If something happens to him then the house would go to Mom. And after her... it would come to me." Omkara tells her.

"So, this is a property issue?" Gauri asks confused.

"Priyanka was fine with it before." Omkara tells in disgust.

"Then what happened now?" Gauri asks him confused.

"Dhanush." Omkara whispers.

"What does that have to do with Dhanush?" Gauri asks shocked.

"He is my son. Dhanush is going to inherit that house from me."

"What?" Gauri asks in shock.

"When her children, who are real "Oberoi" are there then how can Dhanush get our family home?" Omkara says in suppressed fury.

"Omkara, if she wants give the house to her kids." Gauri tells him in shock.

"Dhanush is my son, Gauri. He has a right to my properties." Omkara tells her in finality. When she was about to interrupt, he says, "You are giving him whatever you want and I will not interfere. And you will not interfere in what I give our son."

Gauri nods.

"This is it, Gauri. If she can't accept our son then I don't give a damn about her." Omkara tells her.

**********

Few days later, Gauri was in her office when she gets a call from Bhaskar.

Shocked, Gauri answers the call. "Hello?"

"Hello, Gauri..." Bhaskar says hesitantly.

"Yeah?" Gauri replies confused.

"How are you?"

"Why did you call?" Gauri asks him.

"Erm... I heard you are getting married."

**********

"We need to talk." Gauri tells Omkara the moment he and Dhanush walked in after their walk.

"All okay?" Omkara asks seeing her tensed.

"I don't know." Gauri tells him seeing Dhanush running to the TV, she switches on for him. "Bhaskar had called."

"Why?" Omkara asks shocked.

"He heard that I am getting married."

"So?" Omkara asks confused.

"He wants to meet Dhanush." Gauri gently tells him.

Omkara stops hearing that.

"I told him that he can come today."

**********

Omkara and Gauri watched in silence as Bhaskar pampered Dhanush. Bhaskar's girlfriend Nidhi was with him. It was a very awkward and uncomfortable meeting. Gauri looks at Omkara and gently holds his hand. Omkara smiles at her as he held her hand.

Omkara had stepped out into the balcony to take a break.

"Ahem..."

Omkara turns back and sees Nidhi behind him. He curiously looks at her.

"Hi..."

"Do you need something?" Omkara asks her.

"No, just came out for fresh air." Nidhi says as she stepped out.

Omkara nods and looks ahead while she stood next to him.

"How did you react when you found out about the baby?" Nidhi asks him curiously.

"What do you mean?" Omkara asks her.

"Bhaskar told me about his son about a month after we started dating."

"Ah."

"You?"

"I knew before we started dating." Omkara tells her.

"Oh."

"How did you react?" Omkara asks her.

"The man you love tells you he has a child with another woman. It's not easy to accept." Nidhi tells him softly.

"But you guys worked it out." Omkara points out to her.

"Yeah, we did. I wasn't ready for that. It took time to be okay with it. Then there was Bhaskar... he had this guilt that he turned his back on his son. He needed this. To see his son. Know him."

"Dhanush is an adorable baby." Omkara tells her.

"Yeah, I know." Nidhi agrees. "He wants to be a part of his son's life."

"And what about you?" Omkara asks her.

"I can't change the truth that Bhaskar has a son. I'll just have to accept it." Nidhi says with a helpless shrug.

Omkara turns around and faces her. "I can understand that this is difficult for you to accept. You might love Bhaskar too much to forgive him for hiding about Dhanush from you. But if you ever hold that against my son, then you'll have me to answer to."

Nidhi nods. "I don't have anything against Dhanush. He is a baby. He is Bhaskar's son. I've made my peace with it."

**********

"Are you okay?" Gauri asks Omkara once they had left.

Omkara nods. "You?"

"It was so uncomfortable." Gauri tells him as she hugged him.

"I know."

Gauri looks at him, and tells him. "When Dhanush was born, I told Bhaskar that he can be as involved in Dhanush's life as he wanted. But he had abandoned Dhanush."

Omkara nods.

"I do believe that he doesn't deserve to be in Dhanush's life. But I don't want to do that. I don't want to be that kind of a mother who fill her son with poison against his father." Gauri tells him helplessly.

"Dhanush should know about him, keeping Bhaskar away from him is not the way to do that." Omkara tells her.

Gauri nods. "I told him that he can inform us and come and meet Bhaskar. Right now, that is all I am willing to do for him."

"Nidhi had made her "peace with it" we are not sending Dhanush to their place till we are sure how she is going to treat him. She is already very indifferent to him." Omkara tells her in finality.

Gauri nods then hugging him tight, she tells him, "Whether Bhaskar is there or not, you are Dhanush's father. Your relation and Bhaskar's relation to Dhanush can be independent of each other."

"I know. Though I know, I am his favorite." Omkara smugly tells her.

**********

When Dhanush is 13

"Where is Dhanish?" Gauri asks the maid as she walked in.

"Sleeping."

"Omkara reached?" Gauri asks her.

Omkara had left their company and had joined a firm and had made partner just last year. While she and Rudra were still working in the same company. Rudra had finally settled down and is a complete family man, madly in love with his wife and daughter.

"He and Dhanush went out for a walk."

"Oh okay." Gauri frowns confused.

Dhanush and Omkara had stopped their daily walks long back. Now, they went for the walk when something was troubling either of them and they wanted to share it with each other. She hoped it wasn't anything serious.

Two years back, Dhanush had suddenly become moody and unhappy. They had tried a lot to find out what had happened. Finally, Dhanush had confided in Omkara when they had gone for a walk like this.

The issue was Nidhi had become pregnant, and Dhanush had felt sad that when Bhaskar had found out about him, he wasn't happy but now, he seemed happy about his new baby. Dhanush's biggest worry was whether that made him a bad person and a bad brother because he felt bad about it.

Omkara and she had explained to him that feeling sad about it, doesn't make him a bad person or brother, it just meant he was a normal man. Then they had explained to him, how the situations had been different both the times, and how Bhaskar had changed from that time. Finally, Dhanush had accepted it and doted on his sister whenever he met her.

Gauri gently smiles remembering how different Dhanush had reacted to her pregnancy.

It had all started when her mother had started telling her how siblings are a blessing, and the bond between siblings were beautiful. Gauri realized that she was hinting at her to try for another baby. Even though, Omkara had said he didn't want another baby, she had started wishing for another baby.

It took her a while to realize that her mother wasn't talking about Dhanush having a sibling, she was talking about Gauri having a sibling.

Knowing her mother, Gauri wasn't even sure whether she was joking or serious. But anyway, Gauri declared she had her blessing and didn't brooch the topic. And so far, her mother hadn't announced her pregnancy yet.

Hearing the door open, Gauri turns and smiles seeing Omkara and Dhanush walking in, happily talking.

"Hello." Gauri smiles at them.

"I'm late." Dhanush declares. "Rohit is waiting. I came to get my racket."

"Dhanush don't forget, Omkara and I am going for dinner. You've to babysit Dhanish." Gauri calls out to him.

"Call me when you are ready to leave. I'll come back." Dhanush tells her.

"I've told Rohit's mother. He will come here."

"Awesome." Dhanush says smiling.

"You've to do your homework first then you can play. We'll come back in 2 hours."

"Okay!" Dhanush says as he ran into his room.

"All okay?" Gauri asks Omkara as she walked to him.

Omkara grins. "He wanted to ask me something."

"What?" Gauri asks smiling seeing him so happy.

"He didn't want to call me Omkara anymore. He asked whether I would like it if he called me Dad."

Gauri smiles hearing that. "And what did you say?"

"I said whether he calls me Omkara or Dad, I am his father and he is my son."

Gauri smiles hearing that. "Why you never asked him to call you Dad?"

"Because it doesn't change the way I love him." Omkara tells her then grinning he says, "When he was small, it felt so cute when he called me Omkara."'

Gauri chuckles. "Okay, go get ready. Finally, after Dhanish is born, we will have time for ourselves."

"Then we shouldn't go for dinner, we should do something else." Omkara says as he nibbled on her lips.

"Ewwwwe, go to your room!" Dhanush says in disgust.

Omkara and Gauri parts.

Omkara says teasingly, "We'll see how disgusting it is when you have a girlfriend."

"It is not disgusting for me. It is disgusting when you two do all this!" Dhanush clarifies as he headed for the door.

"What?" Gauri shouts in shock.

"Oh my! Is it time for the bees and birds talk?" Omkara asks him jokingly.

"Please! Not now!" Dhanush shouts.

Omkara chuckles while Gauri hit Omkara.

Dhanush opens the door and turning to them, he says. "I'm busy now. I promise tomorrow I will clear all your doubts."

"WHAT?" Gauri shouts in shock.

Omkara's mouth drops open.

Dhanush runs off to play laughing.

"He was joking, right?" Gauri asks Omkara.

"I have no idea." Omkara replies. Then he adds, "Of all the things, I wished, he hadn't got your mother's wicked sense of humor."

*** The End ***

I know this story had pretty much no story and no conflict. But I just wanted to write a modern day love story.

Just for the curious mind, in my head, this is how Dhanush will be driving Gauri's car.

https://youtu.be/9JRXa8YCPrY

Please vote and comment.

- Lazy