Lavya was sleeping peacefully until his peaceful sleep was broken by the singing of a female. He could not understand what the person was singing since it was in hindi, but he could understand that it was some spiritual aarti.
“But no one sings aarti in this house early in the morning, then who is singing today?” He thought to himself. Confused on who it was, he came out of his room, and down the stairs noticing everyone was standing near the temple room in the living room. He walked and stood with everyone standing beside his niece (6 years old) who was cutely rubbing her eyes trying to get rid of the sleep.
He smiled seeing her cute behaviour and took her in his arms making her smile at him drowsily before keeping her head on his shoulder and going to sleep. He adored her cute antics and looked towards her mother, who had her eyes closed, hands joined, a small smile playing on her lips lost in the tunes of the aarti. Beside her stood his elder brother, with a mischievous smile on his face, hands joined one eye closed, one eye open glancing towards his wife.
“They are so cute.” Lavya thought to himself, smiling happily.
Just then the aarti finished, and everyone opened their eyes with a happy and satisfied smile. Meanwhile Lavya was trying to see who was singing the aarti, but everyone in front taking the aarti was blocking his view.
His eyes widened, shock evident on his face. He could see her now. Wearing a red coloured indian suit, her hair tied in a ponytail, head covered with a similar red coloured dupatta. The jhumkas falling down from her ears, kissed her cheeks every time she shaked her head smilingly. Her hands were adorned with silver churiya (bangles) and she held the aarti ki thaal (aarti plate), allowing everyone to take the aarti.
His eyes were stuck on her that he didn’t even realise when she came in front of her unless his sister, Sunaina, hit him on his shoulder. He just gave a nervous smile to everyone and tried to hold Priya, his niece, with one hand and use the other hand to take the aarti. But of course, it was a failed attempt. Piya, seeing his struggle, held the thaal from one hand, and slowly moved the other hand a little above the fire while reciting the mantra, and then kept the same hand on his head making him look towards her while she just gave him a small smile. She repeated the same for Priya who was asleep in her chacha’s arms.
He looked at her, without blinking his eyes, while his mother, Shanti Sharma, looked at them with a teasing glint in her eyes, a mischievous smirk forming on her face before she silently took the evil eye off from them before anyone could notice.
“Piya beta, ye subah subah aarti kaise?” Lavya’s father, Deepak Sharma, asked her, a confused yet satisfied look on his face.
(“Piya child, this aarti early in the morning?”)
“Han beta, ye aarti toh idhar aake karna hi chhod diya tha.” Shanti said to her, continuing her husband’s words.
(“Yes child, this aarti and all, we had never done it ever since we have come here.”)
“Jii, woh mujhe roz subah aarti karne ki aadat hai aur fir Sunaina mujhe ye mandir dikha di, toh maine aarti karli. Mujhe pata nahi tha aap log karte aarti karte ho ya nahi, isiliye sabke uth jaane ke pehle hi karli maine. Sorry aap sabki nind bhi kharab hogayi meri wajah se. Sorry mummy papa.” Piya said and immediately bit her tongue realising what she called Lavya’s parents.
(“Yes, actually I have a habit of performing veneration every morning and then Sunaina showed me this temple, so I performed an aarti. I didn’t know if you all perform veneration or not, that’s the reason I performed it before anyone woke up. Sorry, all of yours sleep got ruined because of me. Sorry mom dad.”)
“Mummy papa?” Shanti asked, her voice filled with amusement.
(“Mom dad?”)
“Sorry sorry aunty, woh pata nahi kaise nikal gaya.” Piya blabbered, her voice filled with embarrassment.
(“Sorry sorry aunty, I don’t know how that slipped from my mouth.”)
“Arey, relax! Tum hamari beti jaisi hi toh ho! Tum chaho toh hume mummy papa hi bula sakti ho!” Deepak exclaimed with a huge smile on his face.
(“Arey relax! You are just like our daughter itself! If you wish you can call us mom dad itself!”)
“Han aur chaho toh sach mein beti bhi ban sakti ho hamari, hamare bete se shaadi karke.” Shanti murmured to herself which was heard by Anjali, Sunaina’s mother, making her eyes widened in shock yet a smile on her face imagining the latter to become true.
(“Yes and if you want you can become our daughter in reality as well, by getting married to our son.”)
“Oh god, what are you speaking? Me and Lavya bro can literally not understand a single thing.” Sunaina said standing beside Lavya.
“Oh right, Piya, ye kaun hai? Who is this?” Anjali asked, pointing towards Sunaina who was wearing an Indian suit for the first time in her life, making her furrow her brows in confusion, while others stifled their laughs.
“Aunty, she is your daughter only. Woh aap pehli baar usse pure kapdo mein dekh rahi hai na, isiliye pehchan mein nahi aa rahi hai.” Piya said teasingly, making everyone laugh their hearts out while Lavya and Sunaina looked towards each other confused, not sure why everyone was laughing since they didn’t understand what Piya just said.
(“Aunty, she is your daughter only. You are seeing her in full clothes for the first time, that’s why you aren’t able to recognise her.”)
Almost a year passed since piya started living in their house, since she started referring to Lavya’s parents as mummy papa. In this one year, Piya had become the sunshine of the house. She took care of Hetal and Omkar (Sunaina and Lavya’s grandparents), making sure to give them their medicines on time and always go on a walk with them to the park to give them company and make sure they get their physical exercise done in front of her eyes. She restricted every type of sweet for Omkar who is a diabetic patient. Once when she had caught him eating ice-cream, she scolded him for almost 1 hour for not listening to her, and not taking care of his health.
Shanti and Deepak had become nothing less than parents for her. It was just a spur of the moment that she had mistakenly referred to the two of them as mummy papa but it turned out to become her beautiful mistake as they seem nothing short than parents to her. After her parents death, even though her aunt and uncle took care of her just like her own daughter, she never could think to refer to them as her parents since she felt she was giving their place to someone else. However, she didn’t get this feeling with Shanti and Deepak. It just felt right, like it was meant to be.
Rahul and Anjali (Sunaina’s parents) had become another parental figure in her life, whom she started referring to as uncle and aunt as well. She had all the fun, pranks and jokes with the two of them. And of course Sunaina’s bitching was at the top of the list.
Akash (Lavya’s elder brother) has become an elder brother she never had. She could share each problem with him without any second thoughts and he would always help her to solve the problem as much as he could understand.
Vaidehi (Akash’s wife) her bhabhi (brother’s wife) who became more like a sister to her. From helping Piya pull pranks on Akash to cooking her favourite food whenever she came home tired from college. From helping her study for tests when needed, to completing her assignments when she fell asleep due to tiredness. She has done it all.
Priya (Akash and Vaidehi’s daughter) – she could see her own childhood reflection in her, from the puppy eyes when she makes a mistake to being a sleepy head. The innocence filled childhood, she could remember everything. Piya always played with Priya in her free time, she is not very fond of children yet she felt a different bond with Priya and therefore stayed with her whenever time permitted. Be it sitting on the sofa watching some stupid cartoon which doesn’t even make sense, all she did was spend time with her, feeling relaxed and refreshed after that.
Sunaina who had become her bestest friend in this one year became her crime partner, comfort zone, her everything. The two became inseparable, as though they were sisters themselves. They fought, did pranks, teased each other, crushed over men who don’t even exist (fictional men, duh!). They became each other’s guiding light, shoulder to cry on when needed. They understood each other so well, that without even them sharing their feelings with each other, they could understand how the other one was feeling. They always stood by to support each other, be it in some fight, or some assignment or just some regular study session.
Lavya had become a good friend to her. They would talk, have fun, pull each other’s leg, feeling very light hearted whenever he was with her. Unknowingly, he had formed a special, irreplaceable place in her heart which even she could not understand. Even though in his presence, she felt the most light hearted, there was a tension, a spark, an attractive pull between them which she couldn’t exactly understand. Everytime he came near her, there was a fluttering feeling in her heart and it felt as though millions of butterflies erupted in her stomach at once.
Lavya’s condition was nothing less. Though he tried to act as normal, as unaffected outside, inside there was a storm of emotions brewing within him. His heart raced at the speed of 300 km/hr everytime she was near him. With each passing day, he was falling in love with her, and just wanted to spend time with her whenever time permitted. And to his luck, he found them both having to spend time with each other without trying.
They both found each other to be partners in a college project where seniors were paired with juniors. They were found to be partners in the annual function of college as well. It seemed as though the universe was forcing them to spend time together. After the college annual function, they had both won the award of the best seen chemistry as well.
It was just another day at the Sharma house, filled with chaos, laughter and love.
“Aree beta, at least eat this. I have been noticing since the past 1 year, you don’t eat anything only. You eat so little food. Shanti, give her one more paratha!” Hetal commanded, making Piya’s eyes widen in horror.
“Dadi, what are you saying!? I have eaten 5 parathas, how much more could I possibly eat!?” Piya exclaimed with horror in her tone. She looked towards Sunaina and Lavya for help who were sitting controlling their laughs.
Pitying her situation, which he found to be funny, Lavya spoke up, taking Sunaina’s hand and getting up, “Let’s go Sunaina and Piya, else we will be late for college.”
“Yes yes yes let’s go let’s go.” Piya said, quickly bolting away to her room to get her bag.
Everyone exchanged glances before laughing out loud at her reaction.
In the room, Piya was packing her bag when her phone rang showcasing her chacha’s call. She picked up the call with a huge smile greeting Adarsh and Mehar happily.
“Hi chachu chachi, kaise ho?” Piya said excitedly.
(“Hi uncle aunt, how are you?”)
“Hum thik hai betu, tum batao?” Adarsh said smiling at his niece.
(“We are fine child, you say?”)
“Main bhi thik hu chachu.” Piya replied, making him relaxed.
(“Even I am fine chachu.”)
“Happy birthday betu/baccha!” Adarsh and Mehar said simultaneously, making Piya’s smile falter yet she managed a humble smile before murmuring ‘thank you’.
Adarsh and Mehar exchanged glances at Piya’s dull behaviour and asked, “What’s wrong betu? Why are you so dull?”
“Chachu, aap dono ki yaad aari hai! Mumma papa ke jaane ke baad aap dono ke bina kabhi birthday nahi manaya. Idhar accha hai kisiko bhi birthday pata hi nhi hai mera warna celebrate karna padta joh aap dono ke bina adhura rahega.” Piya exclaimed, sitting on the bed.
(“Uncle, I am missing you both! After mom dad’s death, I never celebrated my birthday without both of you. It’s good that no one knows my birthday here otherwise I would have had to celebrate it which would have felt incomplete without the two of you.”)
“Tujhe apni birthday nahi manani toh thik hai baccha, but is tarah sad mat ho, warna hume bhi accha nhi lagega. Hum chah kar bhi udhar nahi aa sakte hai.” Mehar said, her emotions mirroring that of Piya’s.
(“If you don’t want to celebrate your birthday then it’s fine, but don’t be sad like this, otherwise even we won’t feel good. We can’t come there no matter how much we wish to.”)
Nodding her head in agreement, they started talking about random things, before ending the call and Piya heading to the college with Lavya and Sunaina.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
After a pretty hectic day at the college, Sunaina and Piya returned back together, since Lavya had left earlier than expected, to the mansion just to find complete darkness in the living room.
“Sunaina, where did everyone go?” Piya asked, confused, turning towards her left just to find Sunaina missing as well.
“Sunaina? Dadu? Dadi? Mummy? Papa? Chachu? Chachi? Bhai Bhabhi? Where are you all?” Piya called out, getting a little afraid and nervous now.
Suddenly, she felt a soft cloth covering over her eyes, making her panicked, but before she could react, she heard a voice saying, “Relax, it’s me.” She recognised this voice. It was Lavya’s. She calmed down in an instant, and relaxed.
“Lavya, what are you doing?” She asked him in a low voice, her heart racing at their proximity.
“Just come with me baby.” Lavya said, guiding her. His simple use of ‘baby’ made her heart skip a beat, light blush creeping up her face.
“Ready?” Lavya whispered lowly in her ear, shivers ran down her spine but trying to act unaffected, she nodded her head slowly.
Lavya slowly removed the blindfold from her eyes, before whispering “Happy Birthday madam ji.” her heart skipped a beat at the name he called her but before she could react or reply, she flinched when everyone shouted “HAPPY BIRTHDAY PIYA!” and party poppers were popped.
Her eyes filled with tears noticing that the entire house was decorated beautifully in lavender coloured theme, everyone wore lavender coloured clothes as well. She turned her back to them, and started sobbing lightly, making Lavya’s eyes widen in shock. He quickly took her into a hug and rubbed a hand over her back, speaking soothing words to her, calming her down.
After a while, once she calmed down, she wiped her tears, nodding at Lavya who asked her if she was alright. She turned towards everyone who was looking at her worried before giving them a smile.
“Sorry, I just got overwhelmed with everything. And I didn’t even realise you all knew my birthday.” Piya explained, making them nod in understanding.
“You are right, we didn’t know your birthday.” Anjali said, making her confused.
“Yeah, Lavya bro informed us that it’s your birthday today.” Sunaina said casually coming towards Piya.
“How did you know?” Piya asked Lavya who scratched the back of his neck.
“I heard your conversation with you uncle aunt in the morning, that is how I got to know.” He said ashamed to have heard her private conversation, “sorry” he murmured.
Piya shakes her head and a smile graces her lips at the thoughtful gesture.
“But how did you all manage all this within a few hours?” Piya asked, genuinely curious.
“We didn’t do anything beta.” Deepak answered making her furrow her brows in confusion.
“Then who did all this?”
“Everything was done by Lavya himself.” Akash said, making Piya look towards Lavya with widened eyes. “Moreover, he bunked college today, to come back home early and manage to do this all.” Akash added making Piya speechless. He left his own classes, just so that he could make her day a little special.
“That’s not the end of it Piya. This irresponsible guy here, cooked the entire dinner today, which includes all your favourites.” Vaidehi added, throwing knowing glances at Lavya who was too shy to make eye contact with anyone.
Piya didn’t know how to react to this additional information. He never in her life thought someone would do so much for her, that too just a friend. She looked towards Lavya with some unknown emotions in her eyes which none of the two could decipher.
“Okay enough of this, now let’s cut the cake please.” Priya whined making everyone chuckle at the youngest person of the house who was just waiting to gobble down the cake.
Piya cut the cake, and fed it to Priya first followed by all the other members. She looked towards Lavya and lip synced a small ‘thank you’ to him for doing all this, who just brushed it off as though no big deal.
They all danced, talked and had fun to the fullest, their hearts satisfied at celebrating her birthday so lovingly.
That night, when everyone went to their rooms to sleep, Piya laid on her bed, overwhelmed by the love she received. Her uncle and aunt never let her feel the absence of a family or gave her less love, they loved her more than anyone ever could, yet after coming here she couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the love of the family since no one apart from her uncle and aunt expressed their love and care towards her.
She felt satisfied realising, she was no longer alone with her aunt and uncle, she had a family now. Who would always support her through thick and thin.
