"I can't do this anymore." Naina's double entendre statement caused her husband to start hiccuping as his mother was also there.
Currently, they were cleaning the house for the upcoming Marathi festival with exhaustion evident on their faces, and Naina stared at the duo in utter confusion, holding the plastic broomstick in her right hand.
"Tum jake aaram karo. Main kar dunga." Sameer said, skillfully dusting the transparent skin windows from the soaked napkin.
"Aai nahi hoti toh kasam se aaram karne chali jati main." Naina thought with a gloomy expression, reluctantly rejecting her husband's tempting offer.
"Oye, it's already cleaned," Sameer told his wife when she was seen running the wasted cloth on the wooden door frame of the kitchen.
"Okay." She pouted, toppling her body on the velvety sofa as she sat, disorganized, her legs spread wider and her hands resting on either side of small-round cushions.
"Thak gayi papa ki princess safai kar ke?" Naina heard her husband asking her with a derisive smile on his face, and she twirled her gaze at him in sheer annoyance, biting back her urge to reprimand him.
"Sameer." Savitri looked at her son with a fake stern expression, and Naina knew her mother-in-law was silently supporting her husband's mocking comment.
"Maine apni life me kabhi saaf safai ki nahi hai so I don't know what to do," Naina said honestly, her eyes filled with genuine woe.
"Isliye toh I said Papa Ki Princess," Sameer uttered, in an amused tone, wandering the drenched cloth over the marble shelf space.
"Mujhe toh pehle se safai ka bahut shauk hai," Savitri exclaimed happily, sitting down on the washed floor, crossed-legged, wiping the delicate glasses and bowls.
"Shauk? Safai ka shauk kisko hota hai?" Naina frowned at her mother-in-law's weird hobby of cleaning her home and shook her head while lifting her lazy bum.
"Same Here, main pura meri aai pe gaya hoon," Sameer said zealously with a prideful smile crowning his face, and his wife stared at him, blankly, her hands resting on either side of her waist.
"Ajeeb shauk paal rakhe hai aap maa beto ne." Naina couldn't resist the urge to comment with a forceful smile, bending over her aching knees to help her Sasumaa.
"Wow, yeh kya hai?" She picked up a beautifully carved elephant colored in antique gold and silver.
"Tumnare bachpan ki photo." Her husband remarked mischievously, earning an "I Will Kill You" look from his wife.
"Yeh Shivangi ko school me mila tha kisi competition me," Savitri informed her curious daughter-in-law with a soft smile, admiring the showpiece her daughter achieved by her talent.
"Mujhe bhi bahut saari chizen mili huwi hai haa school me, har competition me mera naam toh announce hota hi tha." Sameer couldn't stop exaggerating his skills which helped him earn gifts.
"Haa baba, mujhe pata hai mera pati bahut talented tha." Naina chuckled, safely placing the precious elephant inside the shelf.
"Toh phir, naam tha tumhare husband ka school me, sab bolte the ki yeh ladka aage jake bahut successful banega. He has a bright future ahead." Sameer said in a gentle voice, pinning his serene eyes to Naina and his aai.
"And they were absolutely right. Aaj jo bhi hai, jaisi bhi stable condition hai humari, sab tumne khud apne kabiliyat pe paya hai, aur aage bhi tum aur naam paoge, yaad rakhna." He heard his wife praising him in a sweet tone wrapped with utmost pride and joy, and he blinked in response, trusting his wife's future prediction.
