Choti Si Duniya - ArShi FF

121. Too late to celebrate?

Arnav's mind was not at peace. It was 3 PM on a Friday eve as he sat in his air-conditioned office, where most of the work, including meetings, had wrapped up for the day. He still had 30 minutes before he needed to leave for Kavish's school to pick up Piya and Kavish. And he had just spoken with Khushi, who confirmed that she and their daughters were already home. So, logically, there was no reason for his unease, yet he was restless.

And perhaps he already knew the reason.

He was absolutely mortified to accept it even to himself. But yes. The truth was he was missing celebrations!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, mighty do fall! And Arnav Singh Raizada had fallen long back- hook, line, sinker...when he let a certain twinkling doe-eyed Lucknowi girl fall in his arms some decade or so ago...

But yes, the reason for his melancholy today was he missed celebrating their birthdays in their signature styles for 2 years in a row! From the year after their wedding, starting 2013 until 2022, Arnav had religiously celebrated Khushi's birthday every year in early September, being the first person to wish her at midnight and then taking the day off to celebrate it in the cocoon of their love (chapter 28) going so far as to declare it a holiday for entire AR staff. Likewise, Khushi too did something special each year for his birthdays in October, for all 10 years spanning 2013 to 2022. But 2023 was an exception and looked like this year too, there would be no much celebration happening and that had made him sulk.

The reason for missing it last year was, Aru and Pari had contacted chickenpox around August and then the gloom continued to loom over them as September of 2023 dawned (chapter 89, 90). With their daughters still recovering, both of them had no mood to celebrate their birthdays. He of course did wish her at midnight like every year and AR staff continued to have their holiday, but Arnav and Khushi spent the day of her birthday taking care of their ailing children. By the time his birthday came in October, their daughters were back to being bundles of energy but then his cousin Ashwin's desperate call for help had them wrestling through a catastrophic issue (chapters 91, 92) and thus, on his birthday too, except for his favorite food made by khushi, nothing much happened...

That was the story of 2023 birthdays and then this year too, it seemed to continue. Khushi's birthday which was 2 weeks ago, she had refused to leave Pari's side as Pari was still getting used to her home-schooling with a new set of teachers. So, the irony was that while the entire AR staff celebrated his wife's birthday with joy with a paid holiday from work, he had to make peace with reviewing Pari's syllabus with Khushi! Not that he minded. Pari was his baby too after all. But honestly, on this one day, he had hoped that they could just keep time for each other rather than another 10 different roles they had taken over the years. And as if that was not enough, to his utmost shock, Khushi told him to keep low expectations for his birthday which was about 3 weeks from now.

And Arnav just lost his cool! He loved getting pampered by her on his special day, damn it! Why was it hard for her to understand that? Didn't she know that he too looks forward to her gifts wrapped in her love every year, not just his kids do! At this point, he was aware that he did sound like his 8-year-old son, or more like his 4-year-old daughters who stubbornly demanded something from her, but come on, everyone loves getting spoilt and indulged, right? Fine, maybe he didn't once upon a time. But now he does. Sue him!

On a side note, this was only true for Khushi's birthday, and his birthday while their children's birthdays were celebrated with grandeur every year including this year.

--*--

Khushi ended the call with her Amma and took a deep breath. It had taken a lot of time and many phone calls from her as well as Payal jiji to convince her amma to come to Delhi for a gynecologist appointment. At the age of 53, her amma had hit menopause and had been going through some health issues. So, Khushi was trying to convince her to come to Delhi to get checked by a gynac she had come to trust in the past few years. And finally, today her amma relented to visit Delhi soon.