~When it's time, it's the time; right or wrong doesn't matter, just the time would~

Murthy Mansion

"Sooraj." Yashjeet scrunched at his nose before turning towards the television. "Why is it so loud outside? Ithna shor machana Kyu?"

Sooraj started to change through the T.V. channels, before turning to grin at his father. "Oh it's my daughter's birthday tomorrow. Hence, the preparation going on. It's gonna be in the garden. A theme birthday party." Yashjeet stared at Sooraj as if his son has gone crazy.

"Tu Pagal tho nahi hua? Teri kaunsi beti hui?" Yashjeet glared at his son, who was still busy in looking for the right channel. "Nandini Murthy. Naam tho suna hi hoga na."

To which, someone just let out a snort, and Sooraj turned to find it was Rudr. Karan, sitting beside him has already spat his juice out.

"Yar Rudy. Stop laughing at Tom and Jerry shows. Bache nahi hai hum ab." Karan smacked in Rudr's head, and took the mobile phone away. Yashjeet turned his attention towards Sooraj and Rudr mouthed a thanks to his brother.

"Sooraj!" Yashjeet's voice was firm and loud that people from inside the washroom have also come out to check if someone's losing their lives.

"Yeah, I know you don't accept her." Sooraj got the right channel, that he kept the T.V. remote on the table. "But I do, Papa. Wo Meri bhi bachi hai. Kyunki wo mere Bhai ki hain. Jithna Haq mene Apne beton ko dhi hai, usse zyada Haq hai Meri beti ko mujhpe aur Meri beewi pe. Baaki I don't know about you and your three sons."

Sooraj stared right through Yashjeet's soul, that the father in him didn't want to surrender to his son.

"Tho jaan lo ke tumhara mere oopar Jo Haq hai, wo zyada din thak nahi rahenge." Saying it Yashjeet stood up to leave, while others stared at him in horror.

"A mistake and then you're out of house." Yashjeet halted, but did not turn around on hearing the voice. "Kya Appa ke old man. After all these years, you haven't changed a little bit."

Yashjeet turned around with his face stoic, ready to blast.

But he got quiet.

"Pari!" Sooraj smiled at the sight in front of him. Nandini. She was at the main door wearing a saree, and he couldn't miss the similarities in her that she shared with his mother.

"Morning to Murthis." Nandini smiled at her brothers who smiled back at her. She waved a HI to Sooraj and her mothers. Once her attention was turned towards the elder 3 Murthis, she got blank looks in return.

She only grinned more at them and walked straight towards the oldest son.

"It's my birthday tomorrow." And then she moved towards Sohesh. "Birthday mein zaroor aana." Mallika chuckled on hearing her. "Wo Kya hain na, Appa ko iske barein mein patha bhi nahi." Nandini grinned at Dharmendra before taking his hands and placing a hamper in his hands. "That's the invitation hamper."

And then she moved towards Yashjeet. Bending down, she touched his feet, who moved backwards in the next instant.

"Relax. Not gonna grab your legs and make you fall." She stood up, and smiled at him. "I was only getting your blessings. You're not gonna come for my birthday, yeah? Isiliye pehle se hi liya."

Yashjeet grumbled under his breath and she put her left thumb in her left ear and rubbed at it. "Suna nahi mene. A little louder, can you?" Nandini asked, as polite as she can, and Yashjeet glared at her. "You don't have to hear anything from me."

"Kyu? Am I going to be deaf whenever you start speaking?" Nandini asked, and the boys palmed their faces. Yashjeet stared at her in disbelief. "Tameez hai hi nahi tum mein. Beti kiski hai aakhir." Yashjeet muttered out loud, and Nandini smirked.

"Aapke beta Shekhar Murthy ki." She replied, and Yashjeet glared up at her. "Wo Kya hai na, Mr. Murthy. Two hands are required to clap. It won't work with just one. Waise hi, mere paida Karna sirf Ma se nahi hui. Appa and Ma worked together for me to stand here and talk back at you."

Yashjeet shut his eyes tight in anger, while the ladies chuckled and lowered their heads down awkwardly.

"Ahem." Sooraj coughed to grab Nandini's attention, who just shrugged his attempt away. "Waise you do have a daughter, right?" Nandini questioned and Yashjeet furrowed his eyebrows. "One Mrs. Shagun."

"Uske Naam math lo ladki. Aukath nahi hai, na tujhko aur naa hi there ma baap ko." Yashjeet barked out loud, and Nandini let out a not so decent snort. "Really, now?"

And she walked towards the television remote to increase the volume.

"How sweet of you!" Nandini faked a grin before staring at Yashjeet who stared back at her confusedly.

"It's not everyday you wake up to see indecent pictures of very much decent people in your mobile phone. I happened to have had a similar experience today morning."

Yashjeet's voice turned towards the news channel, and his eyes widened at the images.

Those were intimate images of Shagun with multiple men, who were also prominent business associates of the country.

"Mrs. Shagun Shukla claims to deny the pictures but the world famous photographers have given their affirmation that the pictures are very much real and not photoshopped. It's such a saddening as well as a controversial news that people like Mrs. Shukla uses cheap business tactics for profits. Mr. Shukla hasn't responded yet."

The images kept popping up and fading, that the family members couldn't even keep their eyes glued at such intimate pictures.

Nandini switched off the television and moved towards Yashjeet, who was standing as hard as a stone.

"Sahi kaha Aapne. Aukath nahi hai mere aur mere parents ke, uske Naam Lene ke. Kyunki unke aukath tho ithni giri hui hain." Yashjeet looked back at Nandini. His eyes were red and teary, but angry.

"It was my dream, you know. To find the real Shagun and expose her to you. I mean, ithni achi hona ki she used to come here often and have sweet talks with my dad but deny having feelings when you fixed her marriage with my Appa, and then telling you to forget about your own son because he didn't value your judgemental behavior. Tch..don't know about you, but I don't feel sanskari-ish." She stepped forward to face Yashjeet to look him in the eyes. "I want you to know how bad of a choice you could have made for your son, if he wasn't in love with my mom."

Saying it Nandini stepped back and smiled.

"And now I'm happy. Shamishti Murthy ke samne haar gayi aapki so called golden beti." With one last smile, she left the place but Yashjeet stood there without moving an inch from the place.

***
"Appa! Tea!" Vandana kept the tea cup on the table, but Yashjeet still had his palms folded under his chin. He looked like he was in deep thoughts. He looked like he failed in something that could have never happened before.

"Papa ji?" Hema bent to touch at Yashjeet's palms. "Huh?" He looked up absentmindedly at her. "Ha. Yes? Kya hua?"

Hema smiled faintly at him and nodded her head in negative. "Your tea, Papa." She pointed at the cup, and he nodded before taking the cup along with him and walked out of the dining area.

"I haven't seen him so sad before today." Vandana muttered to herself. "Because this time Pari hit the right chord." Sujata said and the women nodded at her in affirmative.

***
At MruNi's

"I can't believe this. She hasn't changed a bit? She must be having kids like our Shona, right?" Shekhar looked over at Shamishti, from the television which was all about Shagun Shukla's extramarital affairs for business profits.

"We shouldn't judge, Shekhar. She denied everything. So what if everything's wrong?" Shamishti answered while staring at the screen, sighing.

She did not know that it was her children's doings!

"Yeah, right. Shammi, the photographers have said something different to what you said. They know their work, yaar. Aur waise bhi, she was like how they portrayed her in here, back in her youth. Mein jantha Hun na. Tu bhi janthi hai. I talked to you about her na." Shamishti nodded at Shekhar as she does remember getting angry at Shagun, in the past, for her advances towards Shekhar.

"Hey Appa-Ma/ Hey Uncle-Aunt!"
On hearing that MruNi were home, Shekhar switched off the television so that the girls don't see those intimate pictures.

"Cad! Don't talk anything about this matter to the girls. They're too innocent for that." Shekhar said, and Cadbury let out a snort. "Yeah. Right." He mocked and Shekhar glared at him. "Shut up, Cad."

"Why shut him up?" Mrunal asked and Nandini jumped on the couch before switching on the television. "Waise why aren't you watching the news channels? There's news, Appa."

Shekhar stared at his daughter with his eyes widened.

"No, no. There's nothing's special today." He tried to grab the remote from Nandini, who gave it to Mrunal. "Kyu? Shagun Shukla's extramarital affairs are not news?" Mrunal asked, while looking for the news channel.

"What?" Shekhar asked dumbfounded, and Nandini rolled her eyes. "Appa, we got to know about it on our way back home. Radio news bhi hain na Appa." And Shekhar palmed his face, while Cadbury hid his grin.

"Radio news?" Shamishti stared at her daughter with her eyes squinted. "Yeah, Ma. Must say that you really saved my Appa from her."

Shamishti had her face stoic before walking out of the room, and Mrunal acted like she's dying by pushing out the tongue and bulged out eyes.

Nandini nodded in understanding.

At night

"Gussa ho abhi bhi?" Manik questioned, while passing his icecream stick to Nandini, who was sitting beside him. "I don't like sweet stuffs, Grumpy coffee." She made her face at the icecream, and Manik rolled his eyes.

"Black pepper flavor." He said, and Nandini stared at him aghast. "But you like Vanilla."

He shrugged.

"Ice cream share Karna hai tho someone has to sacrifice." And Nandini took the stick from him, but kept staring at him. "You know I don't like sweet stuffs in not just edible stuffs, yeah?"

He rolled his eyes at it.

"It's about sharing and sacrifice, madam. You're going to do the same next time." And she snorted. "Yeah, right. As if I'm gonna eat sweet. I don't like sharing and sacrificing, anyhow."

And this time he let out a snort.

"Yeah, right. As if you didn't delay everything for your parents." And Nandini glared at him, but he was looking lost. Almost a little scared.

"I did tell you to get a cure for loveria." She spoke and looked away, up in the sky,at the shining stars. "Better said than done."

Manik said, grabbing her attention.

"It's not always about others, Lilliput. Sometimes it's about our health, our happiness, our life." Nandini listened carefully yet she kept staring at the sky. "I remember the first time I met you."

Manik chuckled and looked down while shaking his head.

"You were there for a damn contract marriage to get Yash Daadu's attention. I kept thinking about the reason. Why would Shekhar Uncle's daughter take such a selfish step? Didn't she think about her parents? Even though your goal was for good, I thought you were selfish enough to not think about your parents. Lekin galath mein tha." He looked at her, and smiled. "You never cared for yourself. It was always your parents."

Nandini let out a sigh.

"It's nothing like you say, grumpy coffee. It's just...I know them. They wouldn't be able to see me in the operation theater." Nandini mumbled, sounding a little worried. "And you think they would be able to take in the fact that you delayed everything because your Appa-Ma could be here, in India, with their family?" Nandini's attention was turned towards Manik, the next second.

"They might not. But it's far more better than being in a place where they don't have too many shoulders to rely on." And Manik nodded. "Right. So what if your Appa feels so miserable because his daughter thought he needed his family beside him to be a little confident? So what if your Ma feels that all this while these games were to get your life saved and not just about reuniting her husband with his family? They'll get over it. Definitely!"

And Nandini bit onto her lips, staring at Manik without blinking her eyes. And he stared right back at her.

"You mean...a little blame game?" And he nodded at her question. "Oh! Not a good thing. Yeah? Socha Kyu nahi mene? They're such sensitive bache type parents of mine!"

"Kyunki kabhi kabhi insaan ko doosron ke help lene se sirf ache outcome milthe hai. For that to happen, Kisi ke sunna hain. Doosron ke advice mein believe karna hai. And I guess you're not so good at it. Kyu?" Nandini rolled her eyes at Manik's taunts.

"Don't try to be me. Acha nahi lagtha." She stated while flipping her hair backwards. "Don't try to be me either, being impulsive you know? Acha nahi lagtha." Manik mimicked her tone, and she grinned.

"So you know you're impulsive!" And he just smacked in her head. "Cabir se bhi CHOTI ho Tum kabhi kabhi." And she smacked right back in his head. "Maybe he is also a big bro type."

"Lilliput"

"Grumpy coffee "

They sighed before Nandini looked at Manik, who was looking away. She took his right arm and rested her head on his shoulder, taking him in surprise.

"Alright, I did a mistake. But peeche nahi jaane wali. Gonna complete my mission anyhow." And she looked up at him. "Warna acha nahi lagega!"

He chuckled before resting his head on hers. And he realized his Lilliput wasn't moving away but only getting cocooned in his warmth.

He smiled because he finally felt the peace missing in him!

***
Hey guys!

How's the chapter?

With love,
Affu!