Rakesh was in the balcony when Sameer entered the house with his keys. First he thought there must not be anyone in the house, but then the open balcony door and some sounds coming from there told that Papa must be at home. Taking his footwear off, he strolled to the balcony just to confirm and found Papa drying the clothes on the ropes.

"Aapko aaj library jana tha na Papa?" Sameer asked.

Rakesh looked at him as he flicked the wet t-shirt in his hand, "haann.. Mai jaake bhi aa gaya," he informed, "bass kuchh kapde dhone baaki the subah, toh abhi phataphat dho liye..."

Sameer smiled at him and left for the bathroom to freshen up. After returning to the hall, he sat on the sofa chair, spreading his legs as usual and leaning back. He saw Papa taking the empty bucket back to the bathroom and then joining him on the couch.

He was thirsty and he looked towards the kitchen for no reason.

Wait... what was he looking for?

Naina wasn't at home and water wouldn't pour itself in a glass and come to him at his service. Naina had surely spoiled him with her habit of serving him water at first. He was missing her at home, her way of greeting him with a big smile on her face and rushing to him to hug him. He sighed and got up to help himself with the water.

"Chai piyoge?" Rakesh asked after a few minutes of silence. He found Sameer tired.

"Mai... banata hun Papa," Sameer said, almost ready to get up.

"Arey baitho baitho... mai banata hun hum dono ke liye..." Rakesh said as he smiled.

Rakesh started preparing tea for two. Today was actually his off-day at the library, but since he took an off yesterday, he compensated for it by going today. Naina had told him that she had taken leave from office for Sameer's birthday and that he need not rush to get back home.

After he returned from Phulla Bua in the morning, Naina performed Sameer's aarti in the presence of Rakesh. Rakesh also hadn't returned home empty handed. Phulla Bua had packed Badam Halwa for them all, especially for Sameer and Rakesh had also taken some sweets and Sameer's favourite breakfast from the mart. When Sameer had touched his feet for blessings, Rakesh had become overwhelmed with emotions and couldn't utter anything other than 'khush raho'. He was surprised when both Sameer and Naina asked him to join them for Siddhivinayak Mandir visit. He was so happy with the proposition that he too asked for a day-off in the library and joined them.

"Yeh lo... garma garam chai..." Rakesh voiced as he placed the tray with two cups on the tea-table. There was a bowl of biscuits to accompany tea.

Sameer gladly accepted the tea made by his father-in-law.

"Aaj kaunse audition ke liye gaye the?" Rakesh casually asked.

"Audition nahi tha Papa... aaj woh artist card banane gaya tha mai." Sameer said as he took a sip.

"Toh ban gaya?"

"Nahi... bol rahe the waqt lagega banne me... aur kuchh fees bhi bharni padegi uske liye..."

"Achchha? Toh paise bann gaye ya mai du?" Rakesh asked genuinely.

"Nahi Papa," Sameer smiled as he said. He knew Papa was asking it out of pure concern, "paise hai mere paas. Bass. thodi lambi procedure hai..."

"Hmmm... koi bhi awashyakta ho toh mujhe batana, thik hai?"

"Ji Papa..." Sameer replied.

The two men relished the tea and biscuits in silence then, but the small smile on Sameer's lips lingered for a while as he looked at Papa.

He had seen Papa quite emotional yesterday. He knew his father-in-law would never put his emotions on display, but when he was praying in front of Lord Ganeshji at mandir, Sameer had noticed him wiping a heavy tear from the corner of his eyes.

Later, they went to a Maharashtrian cuisine restaurant and tried on the famous regional dishes like Pithla-Bhakri, vangyache bharit, solkadhi, kandabhaji and kothimbir-vadi. Mrs. Gadkari would often send them pure Maharashtrian dishes and they all had started liking it.

Naina and Sameer were astonished when Rakesh took them to a Titan Watch Store and asked for Men's watches. It was for Sameer and he was dumbfounded for a while as to how to react to this situation. Rakesh had let Sameer and Naina choose the watch and happily paid for it.

Finishing his tea, Sameer gazed at the wrist watch he was wearing now. It had a big golden dial with roman numbers, which also displayed the day of the week, and he chose a dark brown leather belt over a metal one. He had worn more expensive and sometimes even imported watches before this but the value this watch possessed for him at this moment was much more than his other watches.

Yesterday had surprisingly turned into a nice family outing for the three. Especially for Sameer; he had liked the way Papa had paid all his attention to him, asking what else he wanted to do as a Birthday boy.

"Papa, ek baat puchhu?" Sameer asked. When Rakesh nodded, focusing on his last sip, Sameer continued, "kal aap mandir me itne emotional kyu ho gaye the?"

"Bhavuk? Mai? Nahi toh... " Rakesh casually said and shrugged. He quickly finished his tea and got up to keep the tray in the kitchen.

Sameer eyed Rakesh's movements and figured that his father-in-law had truly mastered hiding his real emotions in all these years.

He remembered Nanaji had once told him that in the difficult times, when Nanu would feel alone and defeated, he would often sit in front of Bhagwanji and share all his woes and cry.

So was it just a private talk between bhagwanji and Papa yesterday? Or was there really something else?

The telephone rang and both the men got up to pick up the phone. However, when Rakesh shot a glare at Sameer, Sameer gave up and sat down.

"Hello," Rakesh answered casually.

"Papa, mai bol rahi hu..." Naina voiced from the other end of the call. She was calling from the common telephone in her office.

"Haan Naina, bol..." Rakesh said and walked to his seat on the sofa.

"Papa, mujhe aaj thodi der hogi aane me... kal chhutti li thi na, toh kaam bacha hai mera... socha usko poora karke hi aati hu... jyada der nahi hogi... 7-7:15 tak aa jaungi."

Rakesh glanced at the wall-clock. It was 4:30 in the afternoon. "Hmmm... thik hai... kuchh kha lena beta beech me." He said softly.

Naina smiled at the other end, "Haan Papa, yaha chai-coffee ki machine hai."

"Thik hai."

"Achchha Papa," Naina said as she remembered something, "Sameer aaj meri Kadambini ki kahani post karne wala tha... toh woh jab bhi aayega tab bass usse puchh lena usne ki hai ke nahi."

"Sameer aa gaya ghar pe... yahi baitha hai... ruko abhi puchhta hu," keeping his palm on the cordless, Rakesh turned to Sameer, "Naina ko aane me der honewali hai... waise woh puchh rahi hai uski kahani post ki ya nahi?"

Sameer looked at Rakesh agape, his face turned into disbelief and muttering a curse under his breath, he hid his face in both his palms.

That was enough to tell Rakesh what the matter was. He passed a look of disapproval to Sameer and put the cordless to his ear, "Naina, yeh toh bhool gaya post karna. Ab?"

Naina shut her eyes in disappointment; she had reminded Sameer twice for the same before leaving for office. She sighed and composed herself, "koi baat nahi Papa. Akhri tarikh 20 ki hai. Toh waqt hai hamare paas."

"Tu bhi kamaal karti hai Naina," Rakesh berated her on the call, "isse toh waisehi dus jagah jaana hota hai... tu mujhe nahi bata sakti thi? Mai kar deta."

"Papa, ab tak Sameer ne hi saari kahaniyaan post ki hai... aur ho jata hai kabhi kabhi..."

After the call got disconnected, Sameer uttered, "Papa, sorry... mujhe yaad tha subah tak lekin phir mai seedha audition ki location par pohoch gaya... aur phir..."

"Rehne do," Rakesh said, "Woh kahani mujhe de do mai post kar dunga kal."

Sameer recognized that Rakesh was quite upset with it, "Nn... nahi Papa... mai kar dunga na kal... Speed post se pohoch jayega jaldi..."

"Sameer tum apne kaam par dhyan do."

"Papa please... mai kal post kar dunga... pakka... promise..." Sameer almost spoke like a little boy who promised his father to score good marks next time.

He couldn't digest the way Papa condemned him for forgetting to post Naina's story. Yesterday's Papa and Today's Papa suddenly appeared so different to him.

*****

The next day, Sameer had gone to Andheri post office first. He had really cursed himself badly for missing out on it yesterday, because he had an audition in Vasai and it would be quite hectic to manage the time.

As soon as he had entered the post office, he found a long queue of people in front of the speed post and parcel service and Sameer almost facepalmed himself. He stood in the queue nervously, jumping on his feet in between and checking his wrist watch after every two minutes. The kind of speed the queue was progressing with, Sameer wished to sit himself in place of the elderly man there and do all the work in half his time.

There were still twelve people ahead of him as he had counted, and he deduced that if he waited for some time more, the entry time for the audition would be closed. He drew himself out of the queue, purchased revenue stamps according to the current rates and pushed the envelope into the normal red post box outside of the post office.

At night, when Rakesh had asked Sameer for the acknowledgement receipt, Sameer confessed that he sent it with a normal post.

Rakesh frowned, "normal post matlab? Tum toh speed post karne wale the na?" he asked with a darting gaze, now sitting stiffened on the couch.

When Sameer reasoned about the long queue and that he was getting late, Rakesh slammed the remote in his hand on the tea-table and turned to Naina, who was also sitting on a sofa chair, "kaha tha na maine mujhe do, mai post kar dunga... lekin tumhe toh apni hi manmaani karni hai..."

Sameer intervened, "Itni kaunsi badi baat ho gayi Papa, 20 tarikh tak pohoch jayega na..."

"Kaise pohchega Sameer?" Rakesh chided, "Kal 15 august ki chhutti hai. Iska matlab woh envelope Mumbai se sidhe 16 august ko jayega. Beech me Ravivar bhi aa raha hai... 20 tarikh tak Delhi me kaise pohchega?"

Rakesh had soon left for his night walk taking all the anger in his mind and Sameer too stomped inside the bedroom, leaving Naina alone in the living room, questioning herself if her story would reach in time or not.

*****

It was only five minutes to 1:30 and Naina had lost her complete focus for the past 10-15 minutes. She realized there was actually no significance of half-day for an employee. He or she anyway has to come to the office for work, travelling all the distance from their home, then work for hardly 3-4 hours and then go back home. In this time period, one loses focus at work since almost 1 o'clock. So half an hour is a complete waste. She perceived it is better to give a full day off on Saturday too, or make it a regular working day like other days.

At the strike of 1:30, Naina looked around to see if someone got up to leave. When she saw two of her lady colleagues leave their desk, she too started packing her bag. After waiting for almost twenty minutes at the bus stop, she finally got the bus to the newspaper office. She constantly checked the time, knowing it wouldn't help the bus run faster.

"Umm... Sulekha Ma'am chali gayi?" Naina asked a passerby in the office seeing the empty desk of Mrs. Sulekha Sharma. The sight had almost turned her panic button on.

"Nahi, woh bass kahi gayi hai. Aati hi hongi." The person informed her.

Naina heaved a sigh of relief. She certainly couldn't afford the delay of one more day for submitting her articles. To start with, Mrs. Sharma had asked her to submit only one article, the one that was supposed to be published on 18th, i.e. tomorrow. And now she came here to submit the articles for next two weeks.

She looked around at the office. There were wooden cupboards, racks filled with tightly bound bunches of papers, files and what not. People were working on their desks, some of them had computers too for their assistance. Shifting her gaze back to Mrs. Sharma's desk, she saw quite a number of files, newspaper cuttings, registers, a pen stand full of different colored pens, a desk calendar and some magazines. It rightly represented a Senior editor's desk.With nothing to observe now, Naina crossed her legs and started playing with the metal strap of her wrist watch.

Yesterday morning was a hectic one for Naina and Sameer. Sameer needed to leave for an audition by 7:45 anyhow. Given their times were conflicting, Sameer went to have bath first and Naina decided to prepare the breakfast and both their tiffin boxes, with Rakesh at her help. After Sameer's bath, it took her another ten minutes to pack their tiffins, and fruits and vegetable salad for Sameer and prepare their bags. When Naina rushed into the bathroom, Sameer dashed to the living room and sat on the couch to have breakfast.

"Naina, mai nikal raha hu thik hai?" He had informed her while she was still in the bathroom.

"Sameer, table par mere articles rakhe hai, tum akhbaar ke office me dekar aaoge kya?" she had hollered from inside.

"Haan thik hai," she had heard Sameer saying and then his voice fading slowly.

When she was out, she noticed that Sameer had only half-eaten his breakfast and the envelope of her article was still very much there on the table. Sighing, she kept the envelope in her bag.

"Mrs. Naina?" Mrs. Sulekha voiced from behind and Naina got startled. She was quite lost in herself but immediately stood up out of respect.

"Namaste Ma'am," Naina greeted with a smile and forwarded a few sheets of paper towards Mrs. Sharma, "yeh do articles ki copies hai."

Mrs. Sharma scrutinised the sheets as Naina sat there nervously, "aapko thoda punctual rehna padega Naina," she said, keeping her eyes on the papers, "Daily newspaper printing ki baat alag hai, lekin yeh Ravivar ke supplement ka printing hum pehle hi shuru kar dete hai."

"Ma'am sorry, kal aap tak articles nahi pohoch paaye," Naina mumbled while a nervous smile played on her lips, "mujhe office se niklane me hi time ho gaya tha."

"Aapne kaha tha na aapke pati articles pohcha diya karenge?"

Naina paused for a moment, lowering her gaze, she said, "ji, lekin mere pati thode apne kaam me vyast hai. Lekin agli baar se aisa nahi hoga, mai khud aaungi ya phir Papa aa jayenge."

"Aapke sasur?" Mrs. Sharma asked curiously.

"Ji nahi, woh mere hi Papa hai," Naina smiled a little. Till now she felt as if she was sitting in front of a grenade tank.

"Arey wah!! Aapke Papa aapke pati aur aap ke sath rehte hai?" Mrs. Sharma smiled freely.

"Ji."

"Toh Sasur-Damaad ki aapas me banti hai?" She asked further.

Naina pursed her lips, remembering all the to and fro going on between Papa and Sameer, post Sameer's birthday.

"Haan, achchhi banti hai unme." Naina answered.

Mrs. Sharma turned serious again, "Naina, aap khud hi aayengi toh achchha rahega. Taaki agar koi badlaav karne ho, toh aap khud woh kar sake."

Naina nodded in agreement. Then she was told whom all she can meet in the office if Mrs. Sharma isn't available and was also told the next topics for articles and their submission date. Mrs. Sharma personally went through her articles right in front of her and suggested some changes to Naina, which she did on the spot.

***

When Naina entered home she spotted Sameer sitting on the couch, lazily turning the pages of a magazine.

"Yaar tumhare office wale half-day ke naam par mazak kar rahe hai kya?" Naina hadn't even removed her sandals when Sameer's question banged her. "Kyunki time par toh tum kabhi aa nahi rahi ho..."

She strolled in the living room, putting her bag on the tea-table. "Half-day hi tha. Baad me akhbaar ke office gayi thi articles submit karne." She said in a low voice. She was a bit tired due to work and all the bus travelling.

She left to the bathroom to freshen up, not even looking at Sameer properly. When she returned, Sameer uttered, this time keeping his voice soft, "articles mai de deta na Naina. Hamari baat toh hui thi iske baare me."

Naina stared at him with a blank face, breathing slowly.

"Koi baat nahi na Sameer. Article sahi time par submit karna zaroori hai. Phir chahe tum karo ya mai." She had her voice low all the while, and she headed to the kitchen to have some water.

"Mai sirf ek baar bhoola hu Naina," Sameer's serious voice made her stop in her way.

She turned to him, "mai tumhe kuchh nahi keh rahi hu Sameer. Aur waise bhi ma'am ne mujhe khud hi aane ko kaha hai. Taaki agar koi badlaav karne ho toh wahi par ho jayenge."

Their conversation was put to a halt by the telephone ring and Naina eyed Sameer when he received the call. He kept his face towards the wall and after figuring that Naina was still very much there, peering at him, he sauntered towards the bedroom with the cordless.

"Haan thik hai, mai aa jaunga." Sameer said as he held the cordless between his ear and the shoulder, noting down something in a pocket diary while sitting on the window frame.

He saw Naina walking towards him and he wrapped up the call quickly, "mai baad me baat karta hu." He said and disconnected the call, later keeping the small diary in his hip pocket.

Naina observed him for a minute with her arms crossed on her chest, she had now started identifying when he was talking to 'the' person.

She sighed, not believing Sameer and his actions. "Papa kaha hai?"

"Market gaye hai," Sameer answered. The tiff between them right after Naina entered the home had created unnecessary tension.

"Agle Ravivar ko free rehna thoda," Naina said, "agar kahi jaa bhi rahe ho toh... " stressing on the last line while pointing at the cordless in his hand.

Sameer frowned. She seemed to have heard something. "Matlab?"

"Papa ka janamdin hai. Toh ghar par rehna thoda."

"Jaanta hun," Sameer blurted.

"Tumhe kaise pata?"

"Ummm..." Sameer licked his lips before answering, "kyun? Papa ko mera janamdin pata ho sakta hai, toh mujhe unka janamdin pata nahi ho sakta?"

Naina only nodded, still observing every move of Sameer carefully.

"Tumne kuchh socha hai unke birthday ke baare me?" Sameer asked her.

"Abhi tak toh nahi. Lekin mai chahti hu hum kuchh achchha sa kare."

"Naina yaarr..." Sameer changed the mood of conversation to chirpy, "Papa ka 50th birthday hai... hame celebrate karna chahiye."

Naina's eyes narrowed as she listened to him, she certainly didn't miss what he said. But she decided to keep it to herself for a while. "Aur woh kaise karenge?" She asked.

"Arey? Kaise matlab? Sham ko chhoti si surprise party rakhenge ghar me, Preeti ki family ko bulate hai... Aur... Papa ke liye ek surprise gift... bass..."

"Idea toh achchha hai, lekin kya gift dena hai?"

"Arrey woh toh..." Sameer curtailed his excitement suddenly, "ummm... matlab... mai sochta hu uske baare me."

Naina nodded in agreement. Her father had never celebrated his birthday, nor his birthday was taken seriously at Agarwal's house. Growing up, Naina had witnessed everyone's birthday celebrated at Agarwal's with zeal. Even if there wasn't a culture of parties, they had gradually adapted it for the kids in the house. For elders, it used to be a family gathering and special recipes and mithai would be cooked by Bela chachi and Taiji themselves. But Naina never saw Taiji and Tauji making any effort from their side when it was Rakesh's birthday. He would simply touch their feet for blessings and receive a simple aashirwaad from them.

As a kid, she couldn't question her elders as to why her Papa was always sidelined in the house and treated so badly even on his birthdays. But today being a grown up woman and a responsible daughter, she wanted to change it. Moreover, it was his 50th birthday so she ought to make it special.

She had nothing in her mind to be honest as to what could be gifted to him so she was grateful that Sameer had taken the responsibility of the thinking department.

"Sameer... " Naina pronounced. Sameer had gotten up to leave but he stayed back. "Abhi kisse baat kar rahe the phone pe?" She asked.

"Ummm... woh... Munna se... usne dukan se phone kiya tha kisi kaam se." Sameer replied.

Naina frowned.

Seriously? Did he just forget that she had heard some part of his conversation??

"Munna aur Rewa Bhabhi Jamnagar gaye hue hai Sameer," Naina bluffed, she thought of betting on it to see Sameer's reaction, "meri kal hi Rewa Bhabhi se baat hui thi."

Sameer pursed his lips before speaking, "Haan toh kahi se bhi kiya ho Naina..."

Naina sighed and took some deep breaths. Sameer's behaviour was annoying her to the next level now. "Tumhe pata hai? Woh jo blank calls the, woh aana band ho gaye hai?"

"Haan toh? Aur achchhi baat hai na band ho gaye." Sameer didn't look at her. He kept playing with the cordless in his hand.

Naina shut her eyes in vexation. "Sameer tum..." she paused and lowered her voice. "Tumhe lagta hai mujhe pata nahi chal raha ki tum uss vyakti se baat kar rahe ho... tumhe lagta hai Naina ko kya hi samajh me aata hoga, haina?"

"Aisa kuchh nahi hai Naina."

"Toh kaisa hai Sameer? Kisse baatein kar rahe ho tum chhup-chhup kar?"

"Tum shaq kar rahi ho mujhpe?"

"Yeh shaq ki baat nahi hai... lekin itna bhi kya chhupana... aaj mujhe janna hi hai tum kisse baatein karte ho. Batao mujhe... tumhe meri kasam."

"Kasam mat do yaar Naina... " Sameer stood up and uttered exasperated, "mai na thak gaya hu tum logo se kasme kha kha ke... "

Sameer's voice had raised quite higher, which made Naina flinch for a moment.

Sameer heaved deeply. He massaged his temple as he closed his eyes, composing himself. Looking back at Naina, he voiced firmly, "aaj ke baad hum iss topic par baat nahi kar rahe... samajh aaya?"

Naina caught his wrist as he crossed her to exit the bedroom. He craned to look at her.

"Yeh gusse ka natak kisi aur ko dikhana," Naina said in a trembling voice, "mujhse baatein chhupane ki taqleef saaf dikh rahi hai tumhare chehre par Sameer."

Sameer sighed, he knew he couldn't run away from Naina. "Mai filhal kuchh nahi bata sakta, Naina." He kept his eyes fixed to the ground.

Naina left her hold on him and left the room. Sameer threw the cordless on the mattress in rage and ruffled his hair. Things were getting messier than what he thought. How could he not pay attention to the fact that Naina can read him better than himself. She was observing him all this while and probably wanted to hear it directly from himself. But he was helpless.

****

The next Sunday arrived shortly. It was 25th August, Rakesh's birthday. He was sitting on the sofa while reading Naina's article in the newspaper. Naina stood near the kitchen doorway, in anticipation of Rakesh's feedback when he would finish reading. Rakesh folded the newspaper and kept it on the table and Naina kept watching him.

"Kaisa likha hai Papa?" She asked finally when her father didn't say anything.

"Achchha likha hai," Rakesh said as he smiled.

Only this much? Naina wondered. When he completed reading her first article last Sunday, he had complimented her eagerly, sharing his opinion on the topic in detail and again praising her upon her thinking process and the articulation of the article.

Making a small face, she continued to stand there. The cordless rang and Rakesh seemed to smile big and he excitedly rushed to answer the call. His smile dwindled a little when he found it was Anand's call to wish him.

meanwhile, Sameer appeared behind Naina from the kitchen and whispered, "aaj inka janamdin hai aur yeh itna sade hue mood me kyu hai?"

Naina nudged her elbow behind to hit Sameer's stomach. "Ouch!!" Sameer whimpered, "arey, inko 2-4 din se dekh raha hu mai... khoye-khoye se lag rahe hai.."

"Maine bhi dekha," Naina seconded him, "lekin batate toh hai nahi."

They resumed their work in the kitchen to prepare the lunch. They decided to cook Papa's favorite kheer-puri, and jeera-aaloo sabji, dal, raita and chawal to accompany with. For morning, they decided to keep only one sweet dish, and Gulabjamun was reserved for evening.

"Tumne socha ki nahi Papa ko kya gift dena hai," Naina asked Sameer in a muffled voice. She had started knitting the dough for poori. "Ek hafte se pichhe padi hu tumhare, kuchh bata hi nahi rahe ho."

Sameer glanced at her for a moment while cutting the potatoes. "Socha hai maine. Lekin sham ko hi bataunga."

"Sameer, mujhe toh batao. Hum dono milkar gift de rahe hai na, toh mujhe bhi toh pata hona chahiye tum kya de rahe ho."

Why does she ask such tricky questions that he can't answer?

"Achchhan suno, Shubhamji se kehna woh Papa ko kisi bahane bahar le jaye..." Sameer changed the topic, "tab tak tum log bachi hui tayari kar lena."

"Matlab? Jijaji kyu? Tum le jao na Papa ko kahi bahar."

"Ummm... mai kisi kaam se bahar ja raha hu... aa jaunga jaldi."

"Kaha ja rahe ho?"

"Bataya na kisi kaam se ja raha hu..." Sameer shrugged.

Naina rolled her eyes. Half-baked information again. She was stunned to see whatever was happening in their house. Papa looked dull for a few days to them, who was smiling widely when asked what's the matter. Sameer was hiding every possible thing when it came to Papa's surprise gift and the call that day. And in addition to these two men playing with her mental peace, her periods were due and could come anytime soon.

Her headspace was a mess.

She wanted to lash out on Sameer badly, swat him left and right, throw him on the floor and sit on his chest, and ask him while grabbing his collar what the heck is going on and why she doesn't know half of the things when they were best friends first... they were partners in crime...

"Kahi iss aatte me tum mujhe toh nahi dekh rahi ho?" Sameer bent down towards her and mumbled.

Naina looked at him and realized that she was knitting the dough hard with her knuckles, almost punching it.

"Haan tumhe samajh ke hi maar rahi hu mai..." she confessed with gritted teeth, "mann toh kar tarah tumhara galaー"

"Naina... Anand baat kar raha hai..." Rakesh called.

"Bach gaye," Sameer mumbled and rushed in the living room to Rakesh, "Papa, mai baat karta hun Chachaji se... Naina se baat karna khatre se khali nah hai..."

"Kya?" Rakesh asked.

"Nahi matlab... woh aatta goond rahi hai isliye." Sameer sighed and greeted Anand on the phone.

Rakesh sat on the couch restless, "pata nahi Anand kabse itni baatein karne laga," he muttered to himself.

Naina heard him saying this, she saw all his attention was when will the call end. "Aap kisi ke phone ka intezaar kar rahe hai Papa?" She asked him.

"Mai? Nahi toh?" Rakesh answered, and picked up the newspaper again.

Naina sighed in despair and went back to the kitchen.

It was evening and Preeti and Shubham were already at home to help Naina with the preparation. Shubham didn't need to take Rakesh anywhere as Rakesh himself had gone out stating a random excuse. Sameer was there with Naina during all the decorations but even he left one hour before and Naina was sitting all perplexed on the sofa.

"Jijaji kaha hai? Kab tak aa rahe hai?" Preeti asked Naina. All the decoration was done and they were left with nothing but wait for Sameer and Papa.

"Pata nahi," Naina replied, propping her head on the palm with the support of the armrest.

Shubham checked the time and mumbled, "lekin ab tak toh aa jana chahiye tha."

"Kya?" Preeti frowned.

"Nahi matlab... hum Tauji ka janamdin mana rahe hai aur Sameer hi nahi hai na... Isliye kaha..." Shubham said with a sheepish smile.

Naina was being restless now.

It was supposed to be a simple and happy celebration of Papa's birthday, right?

Where all his children were supposed to scare him with a hollar of 'surpriiiseeee' as soon as he entered the house, would laugh seeing him scared and cut the cake singing the 'happy birthday' song for him and later spend some good time with society people as they had invited a few.

But nothing of the sort seemed to be happening. She was clueless right from the beginning. Sameer had maintained so much mystery around the few things that she had started feeling herself to be a part of a suspense-thriller movie, where there was no sign of the mystery unfolding. She guessed that probably Sameer was out to get the surprise for Papa as he had told her.

He better get a good surprise, otherwise be ready for punishment. Naina mused.

They heard some movements near the door and saw Rakesh entering the house, finding the three of them on the couch.

Wowww!!! What a great disaster of all their surprise...

Even the birthday boy was here and Sameer was nowhere to be seen...

***********

Hey peeps, how was this chapter?? Let me know.

Where is Sameer?

Why is it so mysterious and what is happening after all? Any theories?

Mystery unfolds in the next chapter. An easy guess though.

Do shower your votes and comments. It motivates me to give the updates faster.