Chapter 7

Every morning, the nannies would carry the babies to Shrey and Akanksha’s room and leave them there. Shrey would play with them, and then leave for office. But since last night’s party went on for too long, Shrey woke up late today and the babies were waiting for their dad to wake up. Akshan climbed up on Shrey’s face and scratched his cheeks.

‘What the fuck!’ Shrey woke up with a jerk.

Both the babies were frightened and started crying. Shrey rubbed his eyes, and was brought to senses by Akanksha, who just got out of the bathroom, and was still in her towel.

‘Good morning, sweetheart. Come here you both!’ Shrey picked up crying babies and placed each of them besides his chest.

‘I’m sorry, boys! Daddy didn’t want to scare you…’ he kissed both of them, and Akanksha picked one baby.

‘Time to feed them…’ Akanksha sat on the bed, beside Shrey.

‘I’m also your baby right? Won’t you feed me too?’

‘Sweet Lord! Shrey, you’re already two hours late for office, please go!’

‘Rude mother!’ Shrey got up, and removed his quilt by springing it in air. As the quilt rested down on the bed, it covered the second baby boy completely, and he started crying again because it was all dark inside the coverlet!

‘SHREY! Remove the blanket from Nirvaan, you covered him up. He’s scared of dark.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry, sorry…’ Shrey removed the blanket, picked him up in his arms, and took him to the washroom.

‘Where are you taking him now?’ Akanksha couldn’t move as she was feeding Akshan.

‘I’m going to pee, then brush, don’t worry, he’s safe!’

‘Oh my God, Shrey don’t drop him in the toilet…’

‘Sweetheart, you worry too much! Oh, FUCK!’ Shrey screamed from inside the bathroom.

‘What happened? Are you okay? Is Nirvaan okay? You didn’t drop him, right? Shrey, I’m so going to kill you if anything happens to my baby!’ Akanksha got up with so much difficulty, with Akshan, still nursing on her, and ran towards the bathroom.

‘What happened?’

‘My brush fell into the commode…’ Shrey was sitting on the floor, trying to locate his brush.

‘Where is Nirvaan?’

‘There…’ Shrey pointed towards the wash-basin, with the tap running. Shrey had placed the baby inside it. The baby was playing with water and the basin was almost half full by now.

‘What the hell, Shrey! You’re the worst father ever! Don’t you dare touch my babies again! Screw you!’ Akanksha picked up Nirvaan from wash-basin, and took both the babies to their room.

‘Ugh! Only God knows what women want! I’m totally tired of doing everything.’ Shrey said to himself. He came out of the bathroom, took out a new brush from cup-board, brushed his teeth, and called up Abhinav. He finalized the evening’s dinner with him, and also told Natasha to stay for the dinner. She agreed and Shrey got ready for his office.

‘Akanksha? Where are you? Where’s Akanksha?’ Shrey was shouting in the lobby.

‘I’m here, coming down…what happened?’

‘Where’s my wallet?’

‘Oh, it’s upstairs, wait, I’ll get it…’ Akanksha made a U-turn from the middle of the staircase and ran in her room to get his wallet and car-keys.

‘Here…’

‘Thank you, sweetheart.’ He kissed her on her cheek and went to his office.

In the evening, Abhinav arrived at his home.

‘Hello, Akanksha, hey Natasha!’ he greeted them both with a cheerful smile.

‘Hi, Abhinav! How are you?’ both the ladies said in unison.

‘Oh! I’m great, where’s Shrey?’

‘Here I am…buddy!’ Shrey said, while climbing down the stairs and buttoning his coat. He hugged him tight, and Abhinav met Shrey’s parents, who were delighted to see him after years. After the short and sweet re-union, four of them left for dinner.

‘Let’s go to our farm-house tonight, what say?’ Shrey asked Akanksha. Everyone agreed.

Shrey took everyone to their farm house which was located on city-outskirts. Soon he stopped his Audi in front of a large gate which shined with the name ‘Akanksha-Mansion’. A gatekeeper opened the gate and saluted Shrey. Shrey drove the car inside, and parked it in front of another door. They all got down from the car and went inside. The farm-house was lavishly built. It was beautifully lit and they had everything, from a billiards-table, to a home-theatre system. The terrace had a swimming pool, and an open garden, where they told the butler to arrange a sitting for them. They planned the dinner at the roof, while they selected a room at first floor, to chat and share their old memories.

‘I’ve visited this place for the first time, and it’s beautiful!’ Natasha said to Akanksha.

‘Yeah, thanks. Shrey gifted it to me when the boys were born.’ Akanksha smiled. This mansion was her gift and sole property.

‘Wonderful! Shrey is a perfect husband, any girl could wish for!’

‘Haha, you think? Today in the morning, he placed Nirvaan in the wash-basin while water was running on him, and he was hunting down his tooth-brush, inside the commode!’

‘Oh my God! Really? Hahaha…’ Natasha couldn’t control her laugh.

‘Whatever you say, Akanksha. He’s still an ideal husband, at least for me, he is!’

‘Dreams are always lucrative! Try spending one day with him, you’ll get to know what I go through everyday!’ Akanksha said, and meanwhile Shrey and Abhinav both arrived.

‘So, how many times did she cursed and abused me, Natasha?’ Shrey asked, pointing towards Akanksha.

‘God! Shrey, she was praising you, alright? Don’t fight!’

‘Ha! Praise? And Akanksha? Never! Let’s go upstairs, because I’m really hungry.’

‘What about food? Have you ordered anything Shrey?’ Akanksha asked.

‘No, why should I order when we have permanently appointed cooks here.’

‘Really?’ Akanksha was amazed. She also had visited this place for the first time in six months now. Since the babies were born, she had visited it only once, on the day it was inaugurated.

‘Yeah, mom has all her kitty parties and get-togethers here only, because the other farm house is too far away. So, we appointed a permanent butler here, few months back. What do you want to eat?’ Shrey forwarded the menu cards to all of them.

‘What is this? A menu card? Seriously?’ Akanksha couldn’t believe that.

‘Yes! Why else do you think mom will organize parties here, if there was no management?’ Shrey flipped a few pages, and ordered his food. Soon Akanksha, Abhinav, and Natasha also made their choice and ordered.

‘Okay, till the food arrives, I’ll tell you about me and Abhinav! Why and how we share this strange bond of friendship…’ Shrey rubbed his hands, and started with his story…