First Posted on 04/04/2015

The flight had landed some thirty minutes ago and Anaisha still couldn't go out of the airport to meet her family, who was waiting outside for her and Aarush, or her Aaru. She and Mr. Aaru still had to finish all the airport formalities and collect their luggage before they could move out of the airport.

But the way these airport officials were working did nothing apart from infuriating Anaisha more. Darn this airport people! They were slower than her pet turtle which she had when she was 10.

With each passing second, she was getting even more irritated and really wanted to strangle those immigration officials. Why couldn't they just hurry up? It wasn't like she was an alien or carrying anything illegal. Why were these lazy bones even employed here? She wondered annoyedly.

Calm down! She waited this long to meet her family, just few more minutes, okay just few more seconds. Calm down! She chanted in her mind for hundredth time to cool herself down but no use.

She was about to explode at the airport official, who told her to have patience and stand properly in line with rudest tone possible. If looks could kill then Aaru and that official would've been dead by long back.

Dumbo Aaru! He was telling her to stop being so agitated and calmly wait for their turn to come. Idiot. Seemed like someone didn't want to go home alive.

But finally after what seemed like eternity, it was their turn to complete their formalities. Both of them quickly finished the formalities and headed to the luggage area to collect their bags.

After collecting their bags, both of them moved toward the exit and as soon as Anaisha saw her dad, Arnav standing there with her favourite flowers, red roses, she ran towards him, leaving Aarush alone to push their luggage carts forward. Hugging her father, Anaisha cheerfully said, "God, Dad, I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, princess. Welcome home!" said her father, pecking her forehead.

Silly girl! thought Aarush as he saw his twin sister merrily hug their father. Wasn't she the same girl who was angry as hell just some mere 15 minutes ago and now she was giving her biggest smile to their dad? His sister was really a single piece.

But he simply put a stop to all the thoughts and went ahead to hug his mom, who was waiting for him with a big smile. Ohh he missed his mom and her hand cooked food so much. No one could cook food better than his mom! No doubt in that! After all he was his mother's little baby, who missed his mother's pampering. "I missed you so much, Mom! Finally I'm back," said Aarush while feeling extremely happy in his mother's arms.

"Ahem, ahem!" Aarav faked a cough to grab Anaisha's attention.

She grinned seeing her brother do that and untangling herself from her father, hugged her Bhai ... after almost two years. She then went on to hug Advay or her Adi Bhai, her second eldest brother. After him, she had a group hug with her BFFs, Zaina and Rohan.

"I missed both too much, crackpots!" said Anaisha to her besties. She had missed their senseless banters a lot.

"We missed you too, Annie," said her best friends together, calling her by the nickname which only her close friends and immediate family used to call her with.

Lastly she pulled her mom in a big hug. Gosh she had missed her mom's warmth so so so much! She gripped her mom tight and said affectionately, "There are so many things to tell you, Mom! First of all I missed you!"

"Aww, baby, I awfully missed my doll," said her mom emotionally.

It took fifteen for this reunion to get over, after which Aarush and Anaisha got settled in their cars and the Gujral family left for their sweet residence where the rest of their family was waiting for them impatiently.

Half an hour later, Aarush and Anaisha reached home and walked to the main door of their house, where their paternal grandmother, Aradhna, their sweet Dadi was waiting for them with an 'Aarti Thal' in her hands.

"Finally my grandkids are back home," said Aradhna and started doing their aarti, and her grandkids passed their cute smiles.

After Aradhna, their Nani, (maternal grandmother), Kavita did their aarti and blessed them both. Then it was their paternal aunt, Avni's turn, whom Anaisha lovingly called Buiji and lastly it was their Chachi (paternal uncle's wife), Niharika's turn to bless them. Frankly sometimes Anaisha felt like she lived in an Indian daily soap opera. Everything in her family started with an aarti and ended on an aarti.

Once the ladies done with the aarti (which really seemed like it wouldn't end anytime soon) and the women of the family showering their 'Aashirwad' (blessings) on Anaisha and Aarush as if someone had told them that if they missed out even on a single Aashirwad then there would a permanent ban on them.

It took ten minutes for Anaisha and Aarush to move inside their house as the ladies of their house continued their 'showering all the blessings' programme.

Walking inside the house, Anaisha went ahead and hugged her cousin sister, Aashika, her darling Didda who was her father's sister, Avni's only daughter. Though Aashi was 5 years older to Anaisha, still they were extremely close because she was the only girl apart from Annie in the family and was Anaisha's inspiration as Aashi too was a medico and worked in New Life Hospital along with her father, Annie's dear Phuphu, Raghav, who was the director of the hospital chain and dean of the Delhi branch.

Both the sisters parted after some good five minutes and then as soon as she was out of the hug her paternal uncle's sons, Nihal and Nivan engulfed her in a group hug. "We missed you, Chhoti!" they exclaimed together, which made her giggle.

Soon they released her and then one by one she and Aarush hugged everyone. But why weren't these hugs getting over, right? Simple, she was part of a typical Punjabi family who by genes are high on Hugs and Kisses.

Once the hugs were over, her aunts and grandmoms started fussing over her weight and Aarush's lean body (which took him great deal of time to build). She wondered if they didn't know that she was an ectomorph and no matter how much she ate she won't gain even an inch. But who would tell this to them ('cause whoever will try, will surely become deaf). So she just smiled and let them fuss over it.

The entire family got busy talking with Anaisha and Aarush about their journey and other stuff like their colleges, life in Boston etc. About an hour later, their mom, Khushi sent Anaisha and Aarush to their rooms to take rest by saying, "Both of you go and take some rest. My babies must be tired after such a long journey. C'mon go now. Take rest for a while and then we'll proceed with the dinner."
Both of them nodded and left for their respective rooms as they wanted to get freshened up and change their clothes.

With a smile playing on her face, Anaisha entered her room after two whole years. That was the last time she came to Delhi for vacations as after that she didn't get time to visit her family due to her hectic study schedule.

Everything was still the same. Her books, her music collection, her stuff toys and the family pictures that covered her night blue walls, her bedsheets... nothing had changed.

Everything was same, just the girl who owned this room had changed. She was still the same girl but there were some major changes in her as well, which she knew had made her more mature and responsible. She was no longer her dad's little girl who didn't know anything about the real world.

Five years of staying from her family, she had become well versed with the world and its people! She had become independent and responsible. Five years without her family had taught her so many things about life that she couldn't even recall what she thought about those things earlier. It was her choice to go away from her family for her studies and she was glad she went.

She stood in the middle of her room and looked around her room, taking in the feeling of being back to home, to her family. This felt really nice and she couldn't help her smile, which just wasn't ready to leave her face for even a second since the time she had walked inside her house. Though she was a bit sad when she boarded the flight for Delhi but all that had gone. It felt so good to be back home.

Some minutes later, when she finally was done looking around her room, she went to change her clothes. Opening her closet, she took out an old pair of blue pajamas and a simple pink tee and went to change her clothes and freshen up in the bathroom.

She came out after few minutes and checked her reflection in the mirror. Her grin grew bigger as she gazed at the reflection of a young girl with chocolaty brown eyes. She blew a kiss to the mirror and went to pick her favourite childhood stuff toy, Beany the bear, whom she had kept in her handbag only, because she couldn't live without him, as he had been a part of her life for almost twenty years.

She took Beany and settled comfortably on her bed, with her head resting on the headrest and eyes closed, due to the exhaustion from her long journey.

Her mom, Khushi came into her room after some time. As she entered her daughter's room, she saw her dear daughter sitting on her bed with her eyes closed. Her baby must be really tired and jetlagged, the mother in her thought sympathetically.

Her eyes watered as she finally looked at her daughter without any disturbance, who, to her looked slightly thinner and very tired, probably because of her tiring journey.

She walked up to her daughter and sat down next to her, caressing her face and hairs softly. Anaisha being her only girl child, Khushi had badly missed her baby daughter and Aarush as well, who had just told her that he had missed immensely.

Both of them were her youngest kids and it was extremely difficult for her to let her youngest kids go for their higher education that too to UK, a place so far away from her. Her heart never wanted her kids to go but she had no choice. She didn't even visit her kids because then it would've been hard for her to leave them there alone, though it made difference as she kept worrying for them all the time.

But now those five years were over and she was happy for that. She could now pamper both her kids as much as she wanted. Shrugging her shoulders to stop herself from recalling all those hard times, Khushi smiled merrily as now her kids with her and she no longer had to miss them.

Anaisha opened her eyes and saw her mother sitting beside her, stroking her hairs. She held her mother's hand in hers and softly said, "You know, Mom, it feels so good and satisfying to be back home. I missed all of you so much. I still feel, I'm in my dream and when I'd wake, I'll be in London not here with all you."

Khushi dropped a kiss on her daughter's forehead and with motherly love said, "You're home, darling, and it's for real. Now get up and let's go downstairs. Everyone is waiting for you to proceed with dinner."

Anaisha nodded saying okay and got up from her bed. Along with her mother, she went downstairs to the dining area where her family members had already taken their seats.

She sat down beside her father and her mother served her and Aarush. She and Aarush sheepishly seeing all the dishes as Khushi and Anaisha's aunts had made her and Aarush's favourite dishes and both of them couldn't stop themselves from relishing on them. And then their joy increased 10 folds as their Dadi's special Khoya Kheer was served to them by but Dadi, Aradhna herself. Their Guilty Pleasure!

After dinner, the entire family got settled in the living area and chatted for a while. Soon Annie's paternal uncle, his wife and their sons went to their home as it was getting late, followed by her Buiji and Phuphu, Avni and Raghav along with whom, Rohan and Zaina also left as they had job interviews the next day.

Anaisha's cousin sister Aashika stayed back as she had loads of things to share with Annie and plus she had an off day from work.

Everyone retired to their rooms and Aashi and Annie went to Annie's room. They talked about clothes, movies, music, their experiences in college, and their friends. While talking, Aashi revealed about her relationship with her boyfriend of two years Viren Khanna, who was a lawyer by profession. Her love Viren was a childhood friend with whom she came in touch again after a gap of 8 years and instantly sparks flew between them.

Anaisha kept smiling seeing Aashika's shy smile when she spoke about Viren. Even though they were first cousins, but they were more like real sisters and best friends. And Anaisha was very happy for Aashi as Viren, from whatever she knew about him, seemed decent, which increased Anaisha faith that good guys still exist in this world.

While they were talking about Aashi's relationship with Viren, with curiousity Annie asked, "Didda, how do you feel when your with Viren? I mean to say, how does it feel to be with the love of your life?"

Aashika smiled at her and with a tinge of blush on her cheeks, shyly answered her.
"Before me and Viren started dating, things were really fine but after I started dating him, things are bit different now. It's like there's someone who knows exactly what I'm feeling at a particular moment. He knows about me so well that it's feels like I have never known so many things about myself. He knows what I like, what I dislike, what I do when I'm sad or when I'm happy. When I'm with him it's like we are the only two people in the world at that time! He makes me feel like I'm the most special person in his life and that's really amazing!"

By the end her sentence, Aashika had a shy smile on her pretty face and only love in her hazel eyes. Her cheeks turned to deepest shade of red as she received a call from Viren and how could Annie miss a chance to tease her dear sister?

After a little teasing, Aashi received the call and got busy talking to Viren who was telling her about his day and asking her about hers.

Anaisha admired her sister from the balcony as she left Aashi alone in her room to give her some privacy. Looking at Aashi talking smilingly to Viren, she wondered if it really felt so nice when you're truly in love with someone. Will she also feel like that when she'll fall in love with someone? Will she also feel this blissful? Will there be all those cute little gestures that are mentioned in books and shown in movies? She hoped in her heart that it do happen.

Anaisha smiled thinking of all the sweet little things, she wanted her Prince Charming to do for her. Since Aashi was still talking to Viren, Anaisha picked her diary up and started writing a poem.

She loved scribbling in her diary, a habit inherited from her mother. She kept her diary side and gazed at the sky, thinking about her future. Maybe during her internship, she might fall in love with someone she never met before or maybe she might have known that person for a long time but never paid attention to him.

Feeling the cold breeze against her skin, she closed her eyes. She stayed like that for some minutes, before Aarush came into the balcony (which was a common balcony to both of them) with two cups of her favourite hot chocolate. She took her cup from him and motioned him to sit beside her on a bean bag.

Aarush sat beside her and mumbled quietly, "It feels so good to back home na? I feel really happy after coming back here. I missed home a lot, Sis!"

Anaisha sipped her hot chocolate and smilingly said, "Yeah, I too missed home a lot. It feels great to finally be home, with mom, dad, Aarav Bhai, Adi Bhai, Aashi Di, Nihal Bhai, Nivan, Zaina, Rohan and everyone else! Though I did like living in UK, but home is home and nothing can replace it."

"You're right, Sis! Finally I'll get to spend time with Zaina. You know I hardly got any time with her in last two years. But now I'm gonna compensate for that and make up for all the time I was away from her," said Aarush with a lovely smile on his lips.

Anaisha giggled lightly while shaking her head, and teasingly said, "Someone's madly in love!" She paused as a small blush came over Aarush's cheeks.
"Gosh, you and Zaina are so much in love! Throughout the time she was here, either she was with you or was staring at you. I mean my BFF was so busy ogling at her boyfriend that she didn't even listen to what I was telling her. That's bad!" exclaimed Anaisha with a pout.

Aarush chuckled at her silly expressions. Some people aren't meant to grow up ever. For example, his twin sister who always gave the world's worst and funniest expressions!

He pulled her cheeks and with a goofy grin, said, "Well seems like Zaina's ex-boyfriend is jealous! Poor you!"

It took Anaisha some time to comprehend what he was saying. Once she understood what he had said, she shouted, "AARU! I'm not gonna leave you!"

Aarush laughed and chortled, "First catch me, Sis!" He ran away from there with Anaisha running after him to catch him. They kept running like that for some time and stopped only when Aarush collided with Advay in front of his room.

Advay, who understood what was happening, glared at Aarush and signaled Anaisha through his eyes to execute her plan.

Aarush gulped in fear looking at Advay, who looked really agitated but only if he knew what his dear siblings were about to do. He scratched the back of his neck and stammeringly said, "Bhai, wo ... actually er ... WHAT THE HELL?"
He was about to apologise to Advay but before that, Anaisha poured cold water on him, drenching him completely with it. He stared at his siblings who were laughing at him.

Hearing their laughter, Aashi too came out of the room and joined Advay and Annie in laughing as she saw Aarush completely soaked in water and glowering at his sister for her prank.

Arnav, who was moving towards the kitchen to fill his empty jug with water, heard the sound of laughter of his kids and niece. He moved toward them and asked in a stern tone, "What is happening here?"

Aarush who was glaring at his siblings saw his dad and went toward him to complain about his darling siblings. "See na, Dad, they drenched me in this cold water. How mean of them!" Aarush complained to his dad in a childish tone. Thinking his dad would scold his siblings, he smirked at his siblings but what his dad said left him astonished.

Arnav, after listening to Aarush's complaints, suppressed his laugh and tried to speak in a scolding manner, "Annie, what is this? Is this the way you behave with your brother? If you wanted him to take bath then you should have pushed him into the pool rather than pouring only a jug of water on him. Now see poor Aarush is so much upset with that!"

Hearing Arnav's words, Advay, Aashi and Annie again starting laughing along with Arnav, who couldn't hold his laugh anymore! Aarush grimaced with a sulking face as they all laughed at him.

Khushi, who was unaware of all this commotion, didn't know what was taking Arnav so long to come, and strutted out of her room to see why he hadn't come back yet. That was when she saw what was happening.

She went toward her kids and looking at Aarush, said laughingly, "Aarush, what happened baby? If you wanted to take bath then you should've done that in the bathroom not here beta."

The other four who were trying to control their laugh again broke into a round of laughter. Aarush made even a sulkier face then and whined, "What are, yaar, Mom?

Anaisha controlled her laugh and said teasingly, "Alele mom's little baby is upset?" She smirked at him. Aarush just gave her a scoff and rolled his eyes.

After a few minutes, Khushi stopped laughing, and made others to stop laughing as well. Looking at Aarush and she softly said, "Beta, go and change your clothes before you catch cold." She turned to the other four and continued sternly, "And you all apologise to him and go to your rooms. It's quite late now!" All four of them apologised to Aarush then went back to their respective rooms, trying their best to not laugh more.

Aashi and Annie came back to Annie's room and lied down on the bed. They continued talking till they couldn't stay awake anymore. Both of the girls slipped into deep slumbers, losing themselves in dream of their sweet future!

The sweet reunion of Gujrals proved one thing for sure, although meeting new people is fun but nothing can replace the warmth and love of your family and native land!

In the meantime, in the same city, Dr. Kabir Thapar was finally ready to leave for his home, though it hardly even meant a thing to him since he was more comfortable in his workplace than his own house.

Picking up the case files he had to read, he stuffed them in his office bag. Just as he was going through the report of a patient, his phone buzzed and he knew who was calling him at this hour of night.

"I'm on my way, GM, will reach in 20 minutes," said Kabir, in a soft tone and ended the call because if he hadn't, then his grandmother or whom he lovingly called GM, certainly would've again started her lecture on how he shouldn't work for such long hours and should take more care of himself.
He finished analysing the report in just few minutes and called in his intern, Dr. Sara and Dr. Jay to his office to give them instructions for their night duty.

" ... make sure the tests are done on the exact time I've prescribed. And check the patients in room 304 every couple of hour ... You both know which medications are needed for patients of room 217, right? ... If there's any emergency then call me immediately," Kabir said, in his menacingly serious voice, which his interns were used to now.

His interns nodded, making mental notes of his orders and left his office. He too walked out of his office, after few seconds, taking his office bag. Without paying much attention to anything around him, he strutted to his car. Dumping his bag on the passenger seat, he got in and started the engine of his car.

As it was past 11 in night, there were only trucks and very few cars on the road, which made it his ride to home shorter than usual. In last than half an hour, he was home and parking his car, he walked inside to his always quiet home, The Thapar Villa.

The door, as he expected was unlocked as his GM must've left it for him while she was busy in the kitchen, reheating his dinner as she and his parents already had their dinner, which he had purposely given a miss.

He went inside and closed the door securely behind him. Like usual, whenever he came home late, there was only his GM, still awake and waiting for him with a welcoming smile. He returned her smile and sat down beside her. Leaning back on the sofa, he closed his eyes, finally letting his body relax.

His grandmother, Gayatri, passed him a glass of water and stroked his hairs softly. He looked very tired and pale and this made her feel guilty for not being able to maintain a peaceful environment for him inside this mansion, they called their home.

Gulping the water down his throat, he got up and before leaving for his room, said wearily, "You go and sleep, GM. I'll have my food."

"If I'll go and sleep, then who'll listen about your day? You freshen up and come down, I've reheated the food for you. C'mon go now and come down fast," said his GM, in a tone, he knew, meant no more arguments.

He sighed and left for his room. Quickly, he took out his polo t-shirt and a pair of comfortable track pants. He kept the clothes on the bed and went to freshen up in his bathroom. Few minutes after he came out and changed his clothes and headed for the dining area, where his GM was serving food for him.

Taking his seat, he smiled at his GM (one of the few people for whom he genuinely smiled) and silently started eating his food. His GM, as he guessed already had her food along with his parents, both of whom were resting in their respective rooms, not bothered for him and he was somewhat happy for not having to face his parents now when he completely out of energy.

This was why he purposely came home late and his GM knew he was trying to avoid his parents, probably because he wasn't just ready to face them, at this time when he was not at his best with his conflicting emotions and the troublesome past of the family. And then the family dinner only meant a heated row with his parents and untouched plates of food, which he didn't want to happen to today, rather he wanted some peace and calmness while having his food.

As he was completely silent, his GM thought to cheer up his mood and decided to start a conversation with him. She looked at him and asked cheerful about his day.
"So, Bir, what did you do today in hospital? Had fun while working with all those surgical instruments and medicines?"

His lips curled into a smile with his GM's childlike chirpiness and looking at his GM, with humour in his tone, he said, "GM, I'm not a kindergarten kid that you're asking me this question. My work in hospital is like how work's supposed to be, awfully serious, right? And anyway it was usual. Surgeries, patients, more surgeries, more patients! So like usual."

"Waise, Kabir, you're life's so simple and robotic, I have an idea which, if you accept, would spice up your life and make it exciting. Do you want to know that idea?" asked his GM gleefully.

Listening to this, Kabir, who was about to take another bite of 'dal chawal', stopped in his action and rolling his eyes, said calmly, "GM, I know what your idea is: get married and everything will become fine, making my life great, right?"

His GM nodded smilingly and shaking his head, he continued, "But I think you have forgotten that I've rejected this idea for a million times, and even now I'm rejecting it. Because my life is perfect the way it is and I don't want more complications in my life. So please, would you drop this topic and let me have my food silently."

Gayatri grimaced and indignantly said, "Fine! I won't bring this topic up again! Do whatever you want!"

But Kabir knew she won't stick to her words for long and tomorrow again would bring this topic of his marriage up, though he'll again turn her down. And this made him grin, as he could easily picture his GM's sulking face when he'll turn her idea down tomorrow.

He shook his head as his GM raised her eyebrows, wondering what made him grin. She shrugged her shoulders and got up from the chair to take his plate back to kitchen, when he stopped her and said softly, "You go and sleep now, GM. I'll manage this."

"But, beta, you must be tired after a long day's work, don't strain yourself more now. I'll do it," said his GM , trying to take the plate from his hands.

He frowned and holding his GM by her shoulders, he made her move toward her room and said, "Go and sleep now! No arguments on this!"

His GM made a face but couldn't maintain that for long as he winked at her, which made her chuckle and patting his shoulder, she left for her room.

As she left, Kabir went to keep his plate in the kitchen and made himself a cup of strong black coffee. Once his coffee was done, he poured it in a cup and left for his room.

Entering his room, he went to sit on his bed and started reading the files he had brought from his office. The files had information of his patients on whom he was treating currently or was supposed to operate on tomorrow.

Sipping his coffee, he continued to read his files for almost an hour. When he was done, he closed them and kept them back in his bag and decided to retire to bed as it was almost one in morning.

But suddenly his head started aching, which made him groan to himself. Due to continuous working hours and his own not so pleasant family environment, he seemed to be avoiding his health, and was exhausted to core.

He was worked up due to his messy personal life and his chaotic professional life. Sitting on his bed, he constantly ran his fingers through his hairs and pressed his temples, but it was of no help. He got up from the bed and went to stand in his balcony. And miraculously, he felt better. He felt as if the cold air was soothing him. Yet he knew it was temporary, because there was no permanent cure for his problems. He was just cursed to it for life! But he still wished in his heart that someday, just someday he'll be free from his miseries.

Since he had work the next day, he, even though wasn't sleepy because of his headache, went and lied on his bed. He closed his eyes and after tossing and turning for some time, feel asleep with the hope that he'll get through the next day with ease.

Who knows, if God would grant his wish, and someday someone would come in his life to drag him out of the dark pit he was in. Or maybe God had already planned everything for him and that someone would soon enter his life, to teach him how to live again and love without any fear.