Things had been going well for Avneil. They were both busy with work but spent as much time together as they could. Avni was getting accustomed to working again. And since it was a new place, it was definitely busy. She was very keen on making a good impression so that she'd be offered a full time position. Neel and the family were getting used to this fact about Avni- she was quite a workaholic. She now had a timetable literally. She would start her day with her exercise routine, shower and wake up neel. Then while he got ready she would spend some time with bebe and shweta. Once they all had breakfast together neel, prakash and avni would go to work. In the evening avni was often the last to get home although her working hours were only till 6pm, she was usually home only in time for dinner which the family would eat together. Post dinner Avneil would spend sometime together and sometimes Avni would stay up late working on presentations also. Neel didn't realise where she found the energy but she would try to meet/atleast talk to neelama and ali during lunch breaks and coffee breaks. He was so proud of how good she was at managing everything and he had no doubt that she would definitely get offered the full time post although he knew she was very nervous about it. Another thing neel really enjoyed was avni's official look..she had a seperate work attire wardrobe that neel had not seen before and if he thought she was beautiful in her casual wear and sarees then seeing her in her work clothes took his breath away every single time! The first time he saw her in her form fitting formal pants with a dress shirt tucked in and her stilettos, and her hair up in a high pony- on the day of her interview, he had been unable to tear his gaze away from her- she looked spectacular! And it had taken every ounce of his self control to keep himself from pouncing on her and kissing her senseless! She also had formal skirts and palazzos etc.in her workwear collection all of which complimented her curvy figure And for neel it was an exercise in self control every single morning!

Finally the D-day came and as expected Avni got the job. When she had come home to announce it everyone was thrilled but surprisingly neel saw that his mother was the most excited. Shweta was very elated about her bahu going to work and had splurged on shopping for her beloved avni. Neel was happy to see their bond growing by leaps and bounds everyday. Neel had been looking forward to some time with avni...he was looking forward to the weekend. It had been over a month since their last date. No wonder then that he was very bummed to realise on Friday night that he was not going to be able to get home early, in fact some important stuff had come up which may end up taking all night maybe. Meanwhile Avni had come home excited for the weekend. Neel and avni had planned to spend it together All of their last few weekends they had been caught up with stuff around the house not giving them enough ALONE time that both of them craved! As avni walked in she realised that neel wasn't back yet. Shweta had gone out for a wedding, bebe was visiting maddy bua. So it was only Avneil and prakash at home. She looked around for papaji and went to check on him. As she entered his room she saw him exit the bathroom. She was going to greet hi with a smile but the smile was wiped off her face as she saw him sway unsteadily on his feet. She was beside him in an instant

Avni- papa kya hua?

She supported him and guided him to the bed.

Prakash- kuch nahi puttar, zara si chakkar agayi

Avni- grew very worried- chakkar? Kabse ? aapne mujhe ya neil ko phone kyu nahi kiya?

Aap chaliye, leth jaiye

Prakash- avni tum tension mat lo. Main thik hun

Avni- papa, please aap mujhse behas mat kijiye please. Aap already bahut weak aur tired hain. Aap chaliye. She made him lie down and adjusted the sheets around him. She felt his forehead and realised he was warm

Avni- aap ko bukhar hai?

Prakash- nahi, bas aaj subah se thodi si sardi,khaasi hogayi

Avni- papaji aap subah se thik nahi hain aur aap abhi bata rahe hai she admonished him. Please mujhe poori baat bataiye- aur koi problem hai. Sar dard vagera?

Prakash- nahi nahi bus zara sa hai.

Avni- haan kitna zara sa hai dikh raha mujhe. Rukiye aap, main thermometer leke aati hoon.

She came back with her whole medicine kit.

She checked a temperature and read 102 with a frown.

She quickly gave him a paracetamol and said, ok papa ab aap bed se nahi uthenge. Aap ko fever hai. Lagta hai viral hogaya hai. And aap ko dekh ke lag raha hai ki aapne subah se thik se kuch khaay piya nahi hai. Toh abhi aap ye poora bottle paani khatam karenge aur main kuch khaane ke liye le ke aati hoon.

Prakash- tried to interrupt saying he wasn't feeling like eating but avni didn't let him speak

Avni- mujhe pata hai ki aapko bhuk nahi hai, taste sensation bhi nahi lag raha hai but this is not a discussion. Khaana toh padega, I'll make something light don't worry. Main abhi aayi, aap tab tak paani peejiye. And kuch bhi chahiye hoga toh mujhe bulaiye. Don't even think of getting up ok

Prakash- just nodded like an obedient child

Avni hurried into the kitchen. She thought of informing the others on the family watsapp group but decided there was no point worrying shweta and bebe. She thought neel would be home soon so she didn't text him. She went and made a soup . She also got some salt crackers, bread toast and heated up some haldi vaala dudh and put it in a thermos flask. She also grabbed another bottle of water and headed back up.

Avni- chaliye papaji uthiye, soup peena hai appko.

She dragged a table and placed the bowl in front of him along with the toast

Prakash- avni beta mera man nahi kar raha kuch khane ka

Avni- papa please bachon ki tarah zid mat kijiye. U need to eat something. Please mere liye kha lijiye

Prakash- grudgingly finished the soup and toast.

Avni- ok good. 2 ghante baad ye doodh bhi peena hai she said. Ab aap let jaaiye.

Prakash- beta main thik hoon. tum jaake aaram karlo.

Avni- maine pucha aapse? Main kahi nahi jaane vaali hoon.

PRakash- shook his head fondly at avni's bossing. HE could see her care and concern oozing out of her. He had always told her - She was not his bahu ,she was his daughter. And today she was proving it because she was taking care of him like one.

She placed wet clothes on his forehead while she turned on the news for him to watch because she knew that it was his daily ritual to watch it.

An hour later she checked his temp again and was relieved that it was lower.

PRakash- dekha, zyaada kuch serious nahi hai he started to say but shut up as soon as he saw the glare avni shot him

Avni- accha chaliye doodh peene ka time abhi. We need to make sure that you have small meals and are adequately hydrated also.

Prakash- avni, main bore ho raha hoon

Avni- accha I'll tell you what- agar aap doodh peeyenge toh we can play a round of cards. What say?

Prakash- sachi? la jaldi la tu. Main peeta hoon, tu deck le aa tab tak.

Avin just chuckled at her dad's excitement to play cards

While she found her deck of cards she suddenly realised neel wasn't home yet and it was getting late. When she checked her phone she realised he had called 2-3 times and then dropped a message apologising that he was caught up with work and that he may not make it till quite late and had asked her not to wait up for him. When she tried calling him back she realised he was outside network coverage area.

She made her way back to papa and found that he had indeed finished the doodh like a good boy.

Avni- very good papaji. Ab muje pata chal gaya ki aapse kaam nikalvana ho toh kaunsi bargaining strategy use karni hai, she chuckled

Prakash also grinned back at her- chal aaja. Aaj main tuhje itni asani se jeetne nahi dunga

Avni and Prakash played a few rounds. Avni let him win and enjoyed the glee on his face. It was true that as parents aged they behaved like kids!

Avni- accha thik hai, ab bahut hogaya. Ab aapko rest ki zarurat hai. Kaafi der hogayi hai.

She adjusted the comforter around him, gave him another dose of antipyretic and waited for him to fall asleep. She read a book as she sat by his bedside and nodded off to sleep at around midnight, but woke up once in between to place some more wet cloths. Once she was satisfied that his fever was down, she finally ended up sleeping only around 4am by his bedside itself.

Meanwhile neel finally wrapped up his work and made his way back home waiting to jump into bed with avni. As he made his way home at around 530am he also saw his mother getting dropped off after having come back from the wedding

Shweta- Tillu tu abhi ghar aaraha hai?

Neil- haan mom, voh kal raat ko bahut zaruri kaam agaya

Shweta- avni ko bataya tha na tumne? Varna voh bechaari tumhare liye wait kar rahi hoti

Neil- haan mom. Aaj kal aapko bas apni bahu ki hi padi hai. Mujhe toh aap puchte hi nahi ho he mock pouted

Shweta- accha thik hai chalo ab andar. Main tereliye jaldi se kuch khana banadeti hoon. uske baad tum so jao. Vaise bhi tum ab sone jaoge toh lunch ke liye bhi nahi uthoge

Shweta went into the kitchen to make him a meal.

Neel- went to his room to change but was surprised to see that avni wasnt around. Hmm maybe exercise kar rahi hogi.

He quickly freshened up and changed . Shweta meanwhile entered with some naashta.

Shweta- tillu,avni kaha hai?

Neil- exercise karne gayi hogi.

Shweta- nahi hai. Voh subah garden ya terrace main hi exercise karti hai aur vahaan pe toh nahi hai.

Neil- kya? Phirse study main toh nahi sogayi?

Shweta- tum donon na too much hog aye ho! she huffed

And they both went towards the study looking for avni. On the way they passed prakash's room which was slightly ajar and noticed avni sprawled on the floor resting her head on the bed.

Both of them entered and seeing the scene they quickly figured out that avni had been tending to prakash.

Shweta's eyes welled up looking at them. Everyday she was realising just how amazing her bahu was. Neel was also surprised. He knew avni considered his dad as her own and loved him to bits but seeing this scene was definitely making him also a little emotional

Prakash slowly stirred from his sleep and saw his wife and son.

Shweta- Prakash ji kya hua.. she started loudly

Prakash- shhh...dheere boliye he whispered. He looked at avni- ye bahut late soyi hogi...sone deejiye. Bas zara sa viral tha- fever aur thodi thakan. Abhi main thik hoon. then looking at neil he said- tumhaari biwi na hitler hai ekdum he mock complained to his son. Maine bola ki main thik hojaunga but voh toh raat bhar yahi thi.

Neel just smiled at his father and said- accha hai, mere saath saath sabko uske hitlergiri ka dose milna chahiye from time to time.

Shweta- whacking neel she said -aap donon meri bahu ko kuch mat boliye

And then turning to prakash she whisper-yelled- aur aap ko toh main baad me dekhungi. Aapki tabiyat thik nahi thi toh aap mujhe phone ya message kardete. Main jaldi vaapas aajati.

Prakash- sorry ji. Ab aap gussa mat karo, vaise bhi kal kaafi daant kha chuka hun avni se he said. But as he said this he looked at her fondly and caressed her head.

Suddenly avni stirred and she woke up with a start and said- papa aap uth gaye. Kya hua, kuch chahiye aapko? She scrambled on her feet and quickly checked his forehead for fever- thand lagi hai kya? Garam paani la doon main? - She said all this in a rush

Prakash- dekha, this is what I had to deal with all evening and night yesterday

And she heard chuckling behind her.

Avni suddenly turned and realised that neil and shweta were behind her. She hadnt noticed them till now.

Avni- arey aap donon aagaye.

Shweta- bas abhi abhi aaye. She walked upto avni and caressed her head- accha chal tu jaake so ja. ab prakash ji ki tabiyat bhi better lag rahi hai. Tum dono jaa ke so jao she said looking at neel also. Tillu le jaa ise. Aur tu bhi aaram karle

Prakash- vese avni puttar mujhe pata hai ki kal tumne mujhe jeetne diya but next time na pukka main hara ke rahunga!

Avni just chuckled at him and said- mujhe aapka challenge manzoor hai!

Once they went back to their room

They lay down and avni dozed off almost immediately but neel just stared at her for a while with all the love. He felt lucky that he had found such an amazing life partner who was so genuine and caring and he was so happy that she had truly found her family in his. She was definitely the apple of everyone's eyes now and had replaced him as everybody's favourite!

HE placed an affectionate kiss on her cheek and pulled her into his arms before drifting off into a peaceful slumber himself.

When they woke up it was late afternoon and they were lazing around still in bed...

Neel- Avnil I have something on my wish list that I've been meaning to do with you for a while...

Avni- ok bolo kya farmaish hai aapki?

Neel - I want it to be a surprise.

Avni- seriously? Ye baat baat pe surprise thoda zyaada nahi hogaya hai?

Neel i- I had told you mrs.khanna ab chote mote dates aur surprises ki aadat daal lo! Ok so hum 2 ghante me chalte hain ok...

Avni ok mr.khanna, aapka hukum sarakhon par

Neel- leaned over and gave him a peck on his cheek

Later that evening avni got ready and neel said- ok wifey are you ready for the date?

avni- ofcourse baby. I want to see ki ab kaunsa awesome surprise plan kiya hai tumne!

Neel- he drove them to THE GAMING ARCADE

Avni- (sounding slightly pissed off) Are you serious? Ye yahaan pe aye hum DATE pai?

Neel umm...haan. I'm sure we'll have fun. Come na. until you try how will you know, hiana

Avni- ok lets see...

Neel- was nervous. Umm ok what do you want to try first?

Avni- tum laaye ho na date pe. Tum hi batao

Neel- uh umm..how about bowling?

And so they made their way to the bowling parlor. Avni was silent.

And once they wore their shoes Avni and Neil were assigned a bowling lane.

Avni just stood in front of neel with her hands on her hips...

Neel- uh umm...ok so basically we just have to roll the ball and hit all the pins. I thought we could do like a competition with each other, he trailed off...because avni was blank.

Avni- fine lets do it. You go first

Neel- ok, he said and he rolled the ball, it knocked down half the pinsand in his next attempt he knocked the remaining half also.

Neel- Turned back at avni and said, ok your turn...

Avni- she picked up the ball and then she dropped it back almost immediately...what is this? Why is it so heavy

Neel- it's a bit heavy the first time but if you hold it for a bit you'll get used to it and you just have to run and use your momentum to roll the ball. Don't throw it...

Avni- tried to do what he was asking but it was a terrible attempt. She slipped and fell and the ball missed everything going into the side lanes. Some people nearby snickered at her.

Avni got up in a huff and looked at neel- happy now?!

Neel- he was genuinely worried now. This was SO not the plan. avni, baby don't worry. It was your first attempt na. u'll ease into it...

Avni- picked up the second ball and said- Like this? and suddenly with a fluid grace she had run in and rolled the ball perfectly and all the pins were down!

She turned back to him and flashed him a mischievious grin!

Neel- stood looking at her open mouthed in confusion...what just happened? The people who had snickered at her also stared dumbstruck!

Avni- mr topcop, aapko bewakuf banana bahut asaan hai! She laughed

Neel- you little monster! And he went up to her threatening to tickle her and avni squealed and ran away from him...

Avni aacha sorry. Sorry. Please maaf karo mujhe she said with a cute pout and holding her ears

Neel- this is not fair ya avni. Tum ye cute shakal banaogi toh I cant stay mad at you!

Avni- so don't be mad. Come lets play...

Neel- gave in and both of them had an awesome time bowling. As neel had expected avni's competitive streak was ON. Its one of the things he loved about her. She was always game to get down and dirty! And that's something he related with! The scores were tied after 1 hour and finally they decided to just call it a draw

As they made thier way out of the arena after handing over the shoes at the counter Neel said- I cant believe I fell for your trick...acting like the ball was too heavy and all...for a while I was like this is too stereotypically girly which no one is like, especially you!

Avni- ya I didn't know I was such a good actor she said cheekily.

They enjoyed playing various other games in the arcade. They tried their hand at the pool table which avni was naturally good at because of her carrom skills- she was good with angles and aiming. but as she leaned over the pool table to putt the balls neel saw that all the guys there were gazing at her lustily and neel's possessive streak roared in full swing and he had whisked he away from there in the middle of the game! Avni realised what the matter was and initially she thought she should go back and teach the guys a lesson but then gave up thinking there would no point creating a scene. She wanted to enjoy the evening with neel. SO she decided to let it slip and somewhere she was happy to see his fiercely protective side also. So to cheer him up she bought them the masala corn followed by icecream and candyfloss. And after that she was on a sugar rush. She had attacked all the video game parlors and Neel watched avni basically transform into a 10 year old! She was clearly having a blast especially with the ones that involved racing and shooting and watching her like this gave him immense joy! Neel realised that just doing regular things with her also was so much fun because it was like she was a different person altogether now- childlike, enthu, and mischievous. These days she would often pull his leg and crack really funny sometimes even double meaning jokes which neel would have never even imagined a few months back. Its like he was discovering a whole new person- the real Avni which had been buried under so many layers. And neel also felt a small tinge of pride that he was the catalyst for this unravelling so to say. He had been able to uncover layer after layer to finally see the real avni. Neel had fallen for avni even when she was ananya but now seeing the real her, he was head over heels in love! and there was nothing that made him happier or more contented than seeing his beloved wife with a sparkle in her eyes and her megawatt smile.

After they headed back home after their date at the gaming arcade and got ready for bed-

Avni told Neel- mr husband I have a gift for you

Neel- Really? How come though? Aaj toh kuch special din bhi nahi hai

Avni- what do you mean special nahi hai? This was the BEST date ever! So u deserve an award and so saying she brought out a cute little trophy which had World's Best husband scrolled in italics at the bottom!

Neel- looked at it in surprise and glee! He gave her a quick hug and peck and said- thank you baby! vaise ye kahaan mila tumhe?

Avni- arey uss arcade main ek gift shop bhi thi na. Vahaan pe mujhe trophy dikhi so I knew I had to buy it for you! What do you think that super long bathroom break was for? She winked at him

Neel- just shook his head at how adorable his wifey was! Vaise ye kaafi nostalgic hai...matlab I think after school ye bahut dinon ke baad mujhe aisi trophy milrahi hai! And I used to really like getting trophies and shields in school! Isko toh sambhal ke rakhna padega! And he went to keep it on the little shelf on their wall

Avni- arey wait, iske saath ek selfie toh banti hai. She whipped out her phone and made him pose with the trophy and clicked a pic of him holding the trophy and her kissing his cheek! And she had promptly saved it as her new phone wallpaper too.

Neel just smiled at her antics. This was another fav hobby of hers nowadays. She'd click candid pics of him or take pics of them together and use it as her phone and laptop wallpaper.He had first noticed it only last month when he casually looked at her phone as it was ringing when she wasn't in the room. He remembered being so overwhelmed with happiness! Every little gesture of hers showed him how much she loved him and he loved her back measure for measure! HE had realised that although she had taken her time to open up avni was actually very expressive in her love!

And anyway neel could relate to this photo clicking addiction- he also had a whole bunch of avni's pics but unlike his wifey he had put it all in a secret folder on his phone gallery which he would randomly scroll through when he was missing her at work!

Neel placed his trophy on the wall mounted shelf and gazed at it happily! This was definitely the most precious trophy he ever got!

Avni came up and stood behind him wrapping her arms around his back- thank you for such an amazing date neel. I always loved playing video games and stuff but bachpan main zyaada time nahi mila to indulge...she trailed off...

Neel grabbed her hand and pulled her in front and looked at her with a sad smile at a loss as to how to comfort her. Even though avni was back to being more like her 12 year old self personality wise it would never be possible to erase everything that she had endured. And he realised that he shouldn't want to erase it either because it made her the person that she was today

And as if echoing the same Avni said- but its ok, because now I can do it all with you! She snuggled into him and let out a content sigh.

Neel held her and caressed her hair lovingly-hmm...and she looked up at him and he bent down and gave her a peck on her head

Avni tsk tsk- she clicked her tongue

Neel- kya hua?

Avni- tumhaara aim kaafi kharab hai ACP

Neel- hein? He was a bit confused as to what she said AND then suddenly it occurred to him what she was referring to and in an instant he had picked her up and moved to the bed as she let out a squeal

Neel- no problem wifey, main apni aim sudharne ki practice kar leta hoon tumhaare saath

And he placed her on the bed and this time when he bent down he went straight for her lips!

As he kissed her he could feel her smile into it and as he deepened the kiss, she reciprocated enthusiastically and it wasn't long before they lost themselves into each other!

Hope you guys liked the father-daughter bonding in this chapter. I  hope to explore avni's relationship with her family and friends in addition to Avneil romance and Avneil moments in this FF.  I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please do comment if you liked it!