Chapter-Ten
The following day was completely dedicated to Sargun, as it was her birthday today. Whether in her class or at home, she was highlight of the day. This girl was extremely happy today, not only because of her birthday, but there were two other reasons. She was celebrating this day with her mother for the first time, and her hear danced with joy whenever she thought about this.
The other reason was that she wore her new frock, and was being complimented by her classmates and teachers. Sargun distributed chocolates among them, and her entire time in school passed away joyfully. But yes, instead of paying attention on what was being taught in the class, her mind was flooded with the thoughts of her birthday party that was going to take place in evening. And this is the reason why she was in a hurry to go home.
***
At home, all were busy in preparations of the birthday party. Payal helped Hari Prakash in cleaning up the hall, while NK and Manorama were planning out the decoration layout and blowing balloons. Khushi took up the responsibility of food section, and started preparing all the delicious dishes.
Few hours later, everything was ready. Sargun was back from school, and Khushi helped her to get ready for the party. Her friends had arrived at Mansion to celebrate her birthday, Payal & NK greeted them.
Sargun came down with Khushi, resembling a beautiful little princess in light blue frock. She happily ran towards her friends and received her birthday wishes & gifts from them. Payal took those gifts from her and kept them on table, while all the kids busied themselves in playing with the birthday girl.
The hall echoed with the sounds of all kids playing & screaming. Since most of them were girls, Ankush and rest other boys felt awkward between them, seeing which Nani and Manorama laughed. Khushi remained in the hall, looking after them, when she saw Arnav coming downstairs. She smiled on seeing him, as he wasn't ready to come down, but on her request he had agreed.
"Don't think that I'm here because you requested me. I came here only for Di.."
Arnav said coldly, hearing which Khushi was hurt, and the smile from her face disappeared. But still, she thanked him mentally for coming down, no matter what was the reason. Atleast, no one would question her about him not joining in the birthday party.
Khushi then looked at Anjali, who was sitting silently in the dining area, busy reading a magazine, or in other words, trying to keep herself away from her own daughter's birthday party. At times, even Khushi wondered that how could Anjali keep herself away from such an adorable girl, who was her little princess. But then, some things need time to get well.
"Come on kids... Time for the birthday girl to cut the cake!"
Payal announced loudly, and in no time, all the kids surrounded the table where the big chocolate cake was enclosed in a box. She slowly opened it and arranged the candles on them, while Sargun came running to Khushi.
"What happened beta? You are supposed to cut the cake right?" Khushi caressed her face.
"Mami, can I ask you for something please? She questioned politely.
"Of course! What do you want?"
"Mami, on my every birthday I used to cut the cake with you... But today, I want to cut my birthday cake with Mumma... I want to feed her the first piece. Will you please tell her to come with us?"
"Y-yes Sargun... Today you'll feed the first piece of cake to your Mumma only."
Khushi said, after she keenly looked at the innocent girl, who wished nothing but only to celebrate this happy day with her mother. She managed to control her tears, and left from there, while Arnav, who was sitting there, had heard everything, and wondered what his wife was up to.
"Anjali bitiya... Why are you here? Come join us there... Sargun is going to cut the cake..." Manorama came to her.
"Mami... I'm okay here..."
"Arre, how can you be okay here? Come with me quickly..."
Manorama literally pulled Anjali from there and made her purposely stand beside Sargun, who was happy to see her mother. And Arnav too came there on non-stop insistence of NK. While Khushi silently disappeared from there, Sargun had cut the cake and bought the first piece near Anjali. She looked around, and saw everyone's gazes fixed on her. Each family member present there silently hoped that she would eat the piece from Sargun, but to their disappointment, she moved a step back and looked around for Khushi.
"Nani, where is Khushi ji? She can... I mean... Sargun should give the first piece to her..."
"She isn't here Anjali bitiya!" Manorama replied quickly, "That's why I brought you here..."
She again moved her gaze around, and on not finding Khushi, she hesitantly too the cake piece from Sargun, making her delighted. Anjali didn't wish to create a scene on this day and that too in front of children. She took a small amount from the piece and fed it to Sargun, seeing which the family was happy.
Khushi quietly stood behind a pillar and watched the scene, smiling happily to herself in content. Manorama turned a bit towards her, and they both exchanged smiles, which didn't go unnoticed by Arnav. He could easily guess that Khushi purposely left the hall when Sargun was cutting the cake.
***
Khushi and Payal quickly cleaned up the dining table after the kids had dinner, and they were busy playing in hall, while one by one each child left with their parents. Anjali had left the hall and came into her room in the name of taking some rest. In between, Khushi saw Arnav lost in some deep thought. Thinking that maybe he would talk normally to her atleast today, she left her work and came to him.
"What are you thinking Arnav Ji?" She asked politely, keeping her hand on his shoulder.
"I was thinking... That we would have also been celebrating our baby's birthday like today... Only if you hadn't taken that stupid decision five years back..."
Arnav said in a painful tone, hearing which Khushi was disappointed. He walked away, and she stood numb at his reply, having tears in her eyes. None of them knew that standing at a distance, NK observed them keenly.
"Is everything really fine between them?" He wondered.
***
Late night, it was around 10pm, when everyone was completely tired after the party was over, yet they gathered in the hall to open the birthday gifts of Sargun, except Arnav and Anjali, who were in their respective rooms. One by one, they had opened almost all the gifts quickly, when Khushi reached there.
"Arre Khushi bitiya, come here... See what all gifts are given to Sargun!" Nani happily said.
"Yes Mami... I've got my favorite doll-set, this white teddy bear, pencil box..."
"That's nice beta, but I'll see them tomorrow. It's very late now, and you should also sleep..." Khushi interrupted in between.
"Five more minutes please Mami...?" Sargun pleaded, but in vain.
"You can open rest of the gifts in the morning. Now come with me... It's more than 10and you need to get a proper sleep tonight."
"Okay... Good Night everyone!"
Sargun finally stood up and left from there with Khushi. The rest other family members also retired into their respective rooms. All way long from the hall to her room, Sargun went on telling her Mami about the gifts and that she was very happy today. Climbing up swiftly on the bed, she pulled the blanket over herself and took her favorite teddy bear with her.
"Now close your eyes and sleep quickly. Goodnight!" Khushi smiled.
"Good Night Mami!"
Sargun shut her eyes, while Khushi gently caressed her head, and within few minutes, she went in a deep sleep. Usually she took half an hour or more to get sleep, but today was a tiring day for her, as she had been running around and playing all day long.
Khushi placed a soft kiss on her forehead and stood up silently to leave the room, but then something kept behind the table-lamp stopped her. She turned back, walking towards the table, and was surprised to see a small box covered with a bright pink wrapper kept behind the lamp. Khushi picked it up and looked keenly at all sides of the box, but couldn't find any name written on it.
"Who must have kept this gift here? And no name is written here... How am I supposed to know that who has gifted this to Sargun?"
Khushi wondered to herself, and then decided to see what was there in the box. Slowly taking our the wrapper, she opened it, only to find a Ganesh Murti, which made her confused, as she had already seen the gifts given by family members, and a child gifting a statue of God was quite unusual.
For a moment, she thought about Anjali. Maybe she was the one who kept this gift for Sargun here. Yes, she even remembered, long time back, during her initial days of pregnancy, Anjali had bought this Ganesh Murti, and she had even said to Khushi that this would be the first gift from a mother to her daughter.
Khushi smiled, as she became confident that Anjali had placed this gift here. But the only question which suddenly came in her mind was that, if Anjali did care for Sargun now, then why was she behaving towards her strangely? Why did she ignore her?
Keeping the gift safely back on the table, Khushi left from the room, and walked towards her bedroom, when she heard a low voice from Anjali's room, as she was passing from there.
"How could... I be so heartless?... A mother is always... beside her daughter... But... I myself... kept my daughter away... I hated her so much... that today... She doesn't deserves a mother like... Me... Even after being a mother... I could never... take care of my baby... Instead, I blamed her... for my destiny... And by doing that... I feel... So ashamed of myself..."
Khushi silently stood at the door and was completely astonished to listen to whatever Anjali was saying to herself out of extreme guilt. She badly wanted to wipe away her tears, yet she stopped herself, knowing that at one point Anjali was right in cursing herself today for what she did five years back. she should feel guilty of keeping Sargun away from herself.
But that was just not the solution. Anjali should now accept her daughter, and shower her all love and attention on her in such a way that she could atleast forgive herself for her deeds.
PRECAP-: Will NK guess out what's going on between Arnav and Khushi?
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