Virika OS: Happy New Year

"Leken, Mansi, you'll be tired for tomorrow and we're going to see your Dadaji-"

"Nahi! I won't be tired! I want to stay up with you and Papa for the New Year."

"Is Jhanvi staying up late with your Chachu and Chachi?"

"Nahi...leken I want to stay up late!"

Viren walked into the room to find Jeevika and their three-year-old daughter, Mansi, disagreeing over whether the latter could stay up late on New Year's Eve. He quickly took control over the situation, picking up Mansi in a swift motion and kissing her cheek, "Mansi, meri pyaari beti, listen to your mother-"

"Nahi! I want to stay up late!" she shook her head; the motion bouncing her short, dark waves of hair.

"Well, maybe..." he looked over to his wife who gave him a dark look in return that strictly forbade him from conceding to his daughter's request.

What to do...?

IDEA!

He put Mansi back down and said, "Theek hai, you can stay up late with us."

"Virenji!" Jeevika broke in, reprovingly. He stopped her with a subtle wink and turned back to his daughter, "Mansi, we will stay up playing games and you won't have to go to bed until midnight, deal?"

"Okay, papa," Mansi nodded, a wide smile on her face, "Which game?"

"Hide and seek. Chale? Mummy will play with us, too."

His wife sighed in resignation. Mansi suddenly frowned, "But, papa, I have a better game."

Uh, oh...his plan was not working out quite so well... "Which game, meri rajkumari?"

Mansi trotted off with a reply that she would return. Jeevika turned to him with her arms crossed, waiting for his explanation.

"You'll see," he told her, "Papa has this under control."

"Papa spoils his daughter," she retorted, although she was smiling, "Where's chota saab?"

"Sleeping with his grandmother," he spoke of their two-year-old son, who admittedly caused them far less mischief than his older sister; the model of quiet intelligence, like his great-grandfather.

Mansi returned with a rectangular white cloth in her hands, "Papa, come here."

He kneeled down to her level obediently, "What game is this?"

"I have to cover your eyes with this cloth and then you have to come find me and Mummy," she replied confidently.

"Kya?" this game boded ill for him. His daughter had expertly tied the cloth so he was unable to see anything.

"Haan, Papa," he heard his wife add in an innocent tone, "You'll have to find us now." Oh, he was going to get her back for this.

"Alright, I'm ready," he rose to his feet, hearing Jeevika's and Mansi's muffled giggles from somewhere to his right. He came into contact with the dresser, his toe bruising against its hard edge, "Oof!" The giggles came louder this time. "My choti, pyaari beti has come up with a bahaut khatarnak game," he muttered to himself, holding his arms out in front of him for any more invisible objects.

He knew they were on the bed; he heard the creak as Mansi bounced herself onto it. He climbed up cautiously, waving his arms around, but grasped at thin air. "Meri rajkumari, I know you're here," he announced, threateningly. More giggles.

Then, slam! A pillow came into contact with his head. No, not one...but two! He growled; this was treachery! He reached out and hooked his arm around a body and yanked the blindfold off his face. Jeevika laughed up at him, her eyes sparkling, while Mansi exclaimed, clapping her hands, "Papa caught Mummy!"

"Haan, aur now it's Mummy's turn," he told Jeevika with a menacing grin.

Jeevika's eyes widened, "Nahi-"

Mansi agreed with him, stifling a yawn, "Haan, because Papa caught you, so now it is your turn, Mummy."

Viren tied the blindfold around his wife's head, ignoring her protests and grabbed his daughter, pulling her to the other side of the room.

Jeevika took small steps, holding her arms out, as he had done. He chuckled at her comical manoeuvres around the bed, chuckles that abruptly halted when his precocious daughter whispered in his ear, "Don't worry, Papa, you looked even funnier than Mummy."

Jeevika was approaching the wall, but it jutted out just so, that Viren knew she was going to hit it. "Jeevika, there's a wall, be careful!" he couldn't help but warn her. Mansi clapped a hand over his mouth, saying, "Shhh!" but the damage was done. Jeevika advanced slowly in their direction with a smile upon her lips. She was directly in front of them, but Viren had an idea. He whispered in his daughter's ear to go hide in the closet and he went behind Jeevika, poking her sides teasingly, but ducking out of her reaching hands.

The game finally ended when she stumbled over the edge of the carpet and he caught her before she fell. He pulled the blindfold off of her face, still holding onto her, and smiling. "I caught you," she told him defiantly.

"Nahi, Mrs. Vadhera," he said in a low murmur, "I think I caught you." She blushed; years of married life could not hide the heated color that rose to her face when he spoke in such a tone or pulled her close to him. Her lips were very close...but she quickly covered his mouth with her hand, saying, "Virenji?"

"Hmm?"

"Where is Mansi?"

"In the closet."

"In the closet? That's cheating!"

"It was tumhaari rajkumari's idea. It was your idea to play a game and let her stay up late...wait, she's being very quiet," Jeevika pulled out of his hold, worriedly heading to the walk-in-closet they had gotten installed recently in their room.

In the middle of the closet, curled up on the floor was a peacefully sleeping Mansi, cheeks flushed from the excitement of the game. Jeevika picked her up, her daughter's small arms clinging to her neck even in sleep.

"Dekha, Mrs. Vadhera, how I put your daughter to sleep," he declared smugly.

Jeevika shook her head at him, smilingly, and headed to the adjacent room, to put Mansi in her small bed, tucking the soft pink covers lovingly around her, leaving her with a kiss on her forehead. Viren leaned against the doorframe, watching her.

She approached him and he swung the blindfold over her, pulling her towards him, her hands resting on his chest.

"I have a surprise for you," he told her softly, mindful of their sleeping daughter.

"Kya?" she asked, smoothing the lapel of his kurta.

He gently tied the cloth around her eyes again and held her hand, "Come."

He led her carefully out of the room, out of the house and to the grounds.

She knew they were outside, by the crisp, cool night air, the sounds of crickets chirping and the grass brushing her toes in her chappals. They stopped and he pushed her gently into a long, lounge chair. He sat down behind her, wrapping one arm around her waist, pulling her into his lap, so she laid back, her head resting on his chest. With a swift motion, he tugged the blindfold off her eyes and she gasped.

He had put up a canopy of sheer red fabric which surrounded them; offering privacy from the outside world, as they lay, snug in the soft lounge. But what had caught her eyes first were the pictures above them, of them and their children. He'd adjusted a small projector to flash the images at the top of the canopy and a smile curved her lips at this beautiful New Year's gift her husband had gifted her. Precious memories flickered before her eyes: their engagement, their wedding, photos taken of them at parties and festivals, and then pictures of their children, their growth from infants to toddlers; tiny, dainty fingers and toes to round, chubby cheeks and large, twinkling eyes, a video of their daughter's first steps, their son's first word, "Maa," and then a picture of the four of them together.

She remembered when that photo had been taken...it was on her birthday, a year ago, and they had all dressed up nicely for the occasion. She and Viren had tried in vain to make Mansi behave and smile nicely for the photograph but she had refused, wanting to run around and play with Jhanvi. So Viren had set her firmly down in his lap and started tickling her and so, the photograph showed them all laughing together, with their one-year-old baby, asleep, tucked within his mother's arms. It was not the perfect family photograph, not taken at the perfect angle, but it was her favourite shot of them together because they were so happy, so content and the wide smiles on their faces were genuine ones.

She turned in Viren's arms and pulled herself up to place a kiss on his cheek, "Thank you, Virenji."

Happy tears were sparkling in her beautiful eyes and he ran his thumb across her cheek, teasing her, "That's it? What kind of thank you is that?"

She kissed his other cheek sweetly, but he shook his head, murmuring, "Mansi's not in the room, now..." Her long hair hung around them, their own private curtain, as he ran his fingers through it.

It had been so long since he had her to himself, both busy with work and raising their family; he had been determined to steal her away for one night without Mansi sneaking into their room at four in the morning, without a complicated case at work to go over, without their private moments interrupted by other members of the family. He loved her just as much, if not more, since the first year of their marriage; nothing had changed. Her body had become rounder, softer, he was not as full of energy as he used to be, finding it more difficult to lift her up and spin her around as he used to...but those were all small, insignificant details. She still blushed when he came near her, his pulse still quickened when she looked at him as she was looking at him now, with such love and tenderness. Her sweet innocence had not changed, despite the maturity of motherhood, his roguish mischief remained the same, never mind that he was now the proud father of two. And their relationship was, as it always was; the most beautiful, precious thing in their lives, only that two others had now joined it. They were no longer merely husband and wife, they were Papa and Mummy and that had been the most wonderful, most prevailing addition to their bond.

The piercing crackle of fireworks from the neighbouring houses called them back to the present. It was the start of the New Year.

"Happy New Year, Virenji," she smiled at him. His pulse picked up. No, nothing had changed.

"Happy," he kissed her forehead. She blushed. No, nothing had changed.

"New," he brushed his lips across her cheek.

"Year," a kiss at her nose, and he pulled her even closer, both their eyes lowering downward.

"Mrs. Vadhera."