"Where are your kids?" Ragini asked as she and Neil were standing on the side of a heavily decorated large lounge area inside the hotel where the gala was being held, and by the looks of the crowd, almost everyone was already there.

"What do you mean? Why are they only my kids when they upset you? It's not fair." Neil said in a whiney voice.

But before Ragini could say anything else they heard a voice coming their direction, a voice that they knew all too well.

"Why do all them scatter and then disappear for the rest of the day? Amrit's still not back from her meeting. We sent Purab to do one thing and as always he's vanished into thin air. Even Neha di left us to catch up with old friends and I can't see her anywhere." Akshara said annoyed as she was walking around the room searching for her family while Naitik was following behind her.

"Akshara, calm down, we'll-." Naitik began to say, however, pausing mid-sentence when he realized that Akshara had stopped walking, looking up to see Neil and Ragini standing a few feet away from them.

All of them just looking at each other, not saying anything, the atmosphere in the room became much tenser, and if someone were to look closely they would see everyone's eyes filled with unfallen tears, they would see how everyone instantly took a step towards each other but stopped as if there was an unseen force holding them back.

"Uh…. How are you?" Neil asked awkwardly after a long tense silence, instantly regretting his decision to do so because the hurt look in Naitik's eyes turned into a look of pure hatred.

"How are we?! As if you-! Naitik began to yell angrily, pausing mid-sentence when Akshara grabbed his hand and shook her head silently telling Naitik to not do this right now, shooting Neil and Ragini a pained-filled glance before she all but pulled Naitik away from there.

******
"Naitik! Naitik!" Akshara yelled as she chased behind Naitik who was angrily speed-walking after having pulled his hand out of Akshara's.

"What?! What do you want?!" Naitik yelled angrily because of misplaced anger, turning around to face Akshara as she had once again grabbed onto his hand, preventing him from leaving. 

"And yet you say that Amrit gets her anger from me." Akshara teased jokingly to lighten the mood hugging Naitik with her head on his chest, as he let out a short involuntary chuckle.

"I can't- I don't… like them." Naitik struggled to explain after a short silence as he and Akshara remained hugging, finding comfort in each other's arms.

"I know that isn't true, you know that isn't true." Akshara said, looking up at him with an indefinable expression.

"Oh, there you guys are, Bua I found them." Purab said from behind them, as they separated before Naitik could say anything else.

"I should've known that Bua and nephew would be together." Akshara said teasingly as Neha made her way toward them.

"Of course, we're a package deal aren't we, Bua?" Purab asked jokingly, linking arms with Neha for show.

"Yes, absolutely we are." Neha said playing along, both of them chuckling softly.

"Lowlife… dust everywhere… just so annoying." Amrit whispered angrily to herself as she made her way down the hallway, looking for her family.

"See Akshara even though they disappear at the same time, we also find them at the same time." Naitik said jokingly.

"True, but before anyone can disappear again let's go to our table, shall we?" Akshara asked, walking forward, arms linked with Naitik, everyone else following behind them.

"What are you mad about?" Purab asked curiously as he could hear Amrit mumbling under her breath as they walked.

"Nothing. It's not worth talking about anymore. But what were you doing outside for so long? I saw you come in right before me." Amrit said curiously.

"I saw a duck." Purab said blankly.

"A duck?" Neha asked, confused.

"What, how?" Amrit asked, just as confused.

"Really, I'm serious." Purab said to which Amrit and Neha just chuckled.

******
"Nothing will ever be the same again, will it?" Neil asked in a broken whisper.

"Yes, it will. Someday, I know it will." Ragini said with conviction as she reached up to wipe a lone tear that had trailed down Neil's cheek, wrapping him in a tight hug, her head on his chest as he leaned down to put his chin on the top of her head, both of them seeking comfort in each other's arms.

"No fair. I want to be in this hug too." Alia said jokingly from behind them.

"Aren't you too old to be a third wheel parents' parents relationship even now?" Neil asked teasingly with a short chuckle as they separated.

"Stop it." Ragini said with a light blush coloring her cheeks, as she lightly hit Neil on the arm.

"See now I will hug Mom but you're not getting any hugs." Alia said jokingly as she side-hugged Ragini.

"Now who's being unfair?" Neil asked jokingly as Ragini hugged Alia back, giving him a 'this is what you get for making fun of her' look.

"Well I don't need you two either, I'll just hug my son….  Where is he anyway?... Oh look there he is… Abhi come here let me hug you." Neil said jokingly as he searched for Abhi, seeing him come their way, and pulling an unsuspecting Abhi into a side hug.

"Not that I mind, but why are we hugging?" Abhi asked, confused to which Ragini and Alia chuckled while Neil made a face at them.

"Why do you need a reason to hug your own father?" Neil asked sternly.

"No... I didn't mean it like that… I…" Abhi awkwardly began to explain.

"Stop bothering the poor kid, Neil. And you tell us where you've been all this time?" Ragini asked Abhi. 

"Oh, I had to go back home to change my clothes… don't ask me why." Abhi explained making a face as he thought about earlier this day.

"See you saying 'don't ask me why' just makes me want to know more. So come on bhai tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me." Alia said, eager to get an answer out of Abhi.

"No, I will not, it doesn't matter anymore. But yet why don't you tell us where you've been all this time? I saw you enter just as I parked my car in the parking lot." Abhi said with a smirk putting Alia on the spot.

"Well as I was parking our parents' car as they always make me do- I saw a toad." Alia explained narrowing her eyes in annoyance while they just smiled at her.

"You sure you didn't just fall asleep and dream about a toad?" Abhi asked teasingly.

"I'm serious it was really there." Alia said in all seriousness making everyone chuckle a little.

"Well, we can discuss whether this toad was real or not once we are seated at our table." Ragini said knowing that her children would start a whole debate soon.

"It was, I will prove it. But first group hug!!" Alia yelled happily everyone chuckling at her antics as they hugged each other tight.

******
"We are so late! The gala has already started. All because of that mannerless jerk!" Pragya yelled angrily as she pulled up in front of the hotel in which the gala was being held, slamming the car door shut in anger as she got out, having spent most of the evening trying to get the mud out of her hair, and even now she felt like it was still there.

"I mean you did kind of throw mud water on him first." Dev reasoned as he got out of the car too, having endured Pragya's angry rant about a 'mannerless jerk' for most of the evening.

"Then technically you also stole that seat from that girl on the bus." Pragya shot back defensively, she too having endured Dev's rant about a 'miss entitled' for most of the evening.

"Don't even, the seat wasn't hers she hadn't even sat down yet, miss entitled just thought that she deserved everything because she's better than everyone!" Dev yelled angrily in his defense. 

"See Dev, this is how it feels when your best friend defends a stranger over you." Pragya retaliated.

"Why are we fighting?" Dev asked, confused. 

"I don't know, let's just go inside." Pragya said with a sigh, realizing that they were releasing someone else's anger on each other.

They went inside, Pragya whining about how the gala had already begun because the lounge was dimly lit as on a stage that was in the front of the room, dancers were performing classical dance forms, and so they slowly and quietly found the empty table that was reserved for them.

They sat down and enjoyed the dance performance, but as soon the performance ended and light illuminated the lounge again, they stood up to clap for the dancers, over the sea of people both of them spotted a person, respectively, who they thought they were never going to meet again.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me." Both Pragya and Dev said at the same time, in an annoyed whisper…

******
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