EPILOGUE

"Difficult Roads Often Leads To Beautiful Destinations"

(5 years later)

Mithra rushes to open the door from the kitchen hearing the constant door bell ringing sound.

She yanks the door open & the next moment her little girl jumps in to her arms from her grandmother's arms.

"Ruhi! Careful" she chides her daughter as she clutched her securely in her arms before settling her on her hip.

"Aunty, come in." She invites her mom-in-law, Radha into her house.

"Nah, Beta. Your mom & I have planned to go to temple this evening, so I have to get back home soon. I just came to drop Ruhi here."

Everyday Ruhi goes to her grandparents' place after school as both Karthik & Mithra will be in office by then and no one will be at home to take care of her so they let her stay with her grandparents & by evening they will come to drop Ruhi or Karthik & Mithra will go there to collect her after their work.

"Bye, Ruhi darling!" Radha says kissing Ruhi's chubby cheek.

"Bye, Dadi!" Ruhi kisses her back. Mithra shuts the door once her mom in law left & takes Ruhi to the bedroom to remove her school uniform.

"Momma, I missed you. I don't want to go to school!" Ruhi says to her momma, circling her arms tightly around her neck.

"I missed you too, baby, but you have to go to school."

"I don't like school."

"Why?"

"Miss. Stella always scolds me." Ruhi says with a pretty pout.

"Why does she always scold you?" Mithra asks in concern.

"She accuses that Ruhanika is always fighting with boys" Ruhi sighs, shaking her head, dramatically.

"Why do you always fight with boys?" Mithra asks frowning.

"They always bully my friends Rachel & Ria so I fight with them asking them to stop bullying my friends." Ruhi says with a casual shrug.

"Ruhi, how many times I have told you not to pick fight with other kids?" Mithra admonished her daughter. Though she knew her daughter did the right thing she didn't want her to get into unnecessary trouble and get hurt.

"Momma, they did wrong and I didn't like it!" Ruhi explains to her mother with her hands on her hip.

Ruhanika can't tolerate liars. She can't stand injustice. She is very honest and outspoken. She wants everything to be neat, clean & perfect. She is very mature for her age which surprises her parents to the core, especially Mithra because she still behaves like a baby.

"You had your snacks?" Mithra asks to change the topic as she knows only her husband can make their righteous daughter understand things.

"Dadi gave me fruits & chocolate..."

"Okay"

"...But I am hungry, Momma." She says & sticks her tongue out. Mithra giggle at her little girl's antics.

"What you wanna eat, my baby?"

"Noodles!"

"Okay, sweety, I will make yummy noodles for you but before that Momma will run you a bath." Mithra says & picking up her daughter in her arms she walks to the bathroom.

~~0~~

"Momma, give your phone, I will play games." Ruhi asks her momma as she sits on the kitchen counter while Mithra chops vegetables.

"Ruhi, I don't have my phone. Papa has taken it to the office." Mithra lies. She doesn't like her daughter playing games in mobile phones & spoiling her eyes so she said so.

"Ohhh" Ruhi nods & stealthily takes the noodles masala packet from the kitchen top & puts it in her shorts' pocket without her momma's knowledge.

After chopping the vegetables & boiling the water, Mithra searches for the masala packet but she couldn't find it.

"What are you searching, momma?" Ruhi asks innocently.

"I kept the masala packet here, baby... but I couldn't find it." Mithra says while searching for it in the shelves.

"Oh that!"

"Did you take it, Ruhi?" Mithra asks her suspiciously.

"I don't have it, momma. Papa has taken it to the office." Ruhi throws her momma's words back at her & look down at her lap hiding her smile.

Mithra gapes at her little girl with open mouth. She felt so embarrassed of lying to her & getting caught too.

"Here!" Mithra hands Ruhi her phone. "Play only for ten minutes. After that you have to hand it back to momma, okay?"

"Okay! Oh and don't ever lie, momma, its wrong." Ruhi says sweetly & takes out the masala packet from her pocket & hands it back to her momma.

Then Ruhi went to play mobile games & Mithra went to cook noodles.

After sometimes, Mithra's phone alarm went off making her wonder who set it in the first place.

"Ten minutes over, Momma" Ruhi gives the phone back to her momma and says "Now, Ruhi is gonna watch Scooby dooby doo on Youtube"

She jumps down from the counter top and runs to her room singing all the way "Scooby dooby doo... Roohi Roohi Rooo... Scooby dooby doo... Roohi Roohi Rooo..."

How punctilious? She set the alarm & returned her phone back after ten minutes as promised? Mithra thought in awe of her daughter.

~~0~~

"Papa!" Ruhi shrieks & runs to Karthik when he returned home from work.

"Hey, baby doll" Karthik scoops Ruhi up in his arms & throws her in air & then catches back safely making her squeal in glee.

"Papa, you look tired." Ruhi takes her kerchief from her shorts pocket & meticulously wipes off the sweat beads from his forehead.

"Don't work too much, Papa!" she scolds & kisses her Papa's cheek.

"Okay, darling" Karthik smiles & kisses her back before setting her down on the floor.

"Baby doll, can you get me a glass of water?" Karthik asks Ruhi.

"Okay, Papa" Ruhi says & run into the kitchen to get water for her dad. Karthik smiles in adoration seeing his little angel dancing to the kitchen wagging her long ponytail. Ruhi too has long thick lush hair like her mother.

Ruhi returns back to the living room, holding a glass of water with both her hands, securely.

"Papa, here." Ruhi passes the glass to him. Karthik frowns seeing her little girl holding the glass with one hand at the bottom & other clutching the rim of the glass, her middle two fingers dipping into the water as she grips it tightly.

"Is this water clean, baby?" Karthik asks.

Ruhi plays mostly with her color clays but she always washes her hands properly, still Karthik wants to make sure the water is clean as her fingers are dipping in the water. Without replying to her father, Ruhi takes a sip from the water & says "It's clean & safe, Papa. See, even Ruhi drank from it." Karthik gapes at her daughter, stunned for a moment before apologizing to her "Sorry, baby. I should have known you are a cleanliness freak" he chuckles.

"It's okay, Papa." Ruhi smiles & takes the glass closer to his mouth to make him drink & he too drinks from it without any hesitance.

"Enough! Thank you" he says stroking his daughter's cheek and leans back on the couch in a relaxing manner.

"Ruhi! Baby, what are you doing?" Karthik asks sitting up straight and looking down at his daughter. She is sitting on the floor & undoing his shoe lace.

"Papa, how many times do I have to tell you to remove your shoes outside & come in? See, you carry lot of germs into our house." Ruhi chides her Papa like a grandma.

"Baby, you leave. I will remove my shoes." Karthik quickly picks his daughter up & places her beside him on the couch & starts removing his shoes. Then he takes the shoes & places them on the shoe stand. "Good!" Ruhi appreciates her Papa with a smile. Karthik laughs joyously.

They need not teach anything to their daughter, she will teach them everything.

"Where is your Momma, Ruhi?" Karthik asks wondering where Mithra has gone because every evening she comes running to welcome him with a bright smile but not today. All his tiredness washes off the moment he sees his beautiful wife & daughter.

"In the kitchen! Cooking, Papa"

"Oh!" Karthik says & starts to walk to the direction of kitchen but stops his daughter calls out.

"Papa, wait! Wash your hands & go to kitchen. You have the habit of eating in kitchen itself even if the food is not well cooked so it's better you wash your dirty hands and don't eat germs!" Ruhi orders.

"Okay, meri Maa!" Karthik says with a chuckle & makes a beeline to the bathroom to freshen up & then heads to kitchen.

Karthik slowly walks around the Kitchen Island & back hugs his wife, making her jump.

"Why didn't you come to say hi to me?" He asks as he kissed her shoulder.

"If I had come there before you wouldn't be hugging me like this now." Mithra winks at him. Karthik laughs and pecks her cheeks.

"Wow, you are making carrot halwa? Anything special, baby?" Karthik asks.

"Yes, I have something special to tell you but not now. After dinner, okay?"

"What's it baby? Tell me now, please. I don't have that much patience..." Karthik whines like a kid.

"First taste this & tell me how it is." She takes a spoon full of carrot halwa & shoves it in his mouth.

"Ah! Ah! Hot!" Karthik shouts and spits out.

"Sorry sorry." Mithra pours a glass of chilled Tropicana juice & makes him drink.

"Papa, what happened? You alright?" Ruhi comes running to the kitchen hearing her daddy's scream & asks in a worried tone.

"I am alright, baby doll." He smiles assuring her & picking her in his arms he takes her to the dining room for dinner & a moment later, Mithra follows them bringing the dishes.

~~0~~

After dinner, Karthik takes Ruhi to her room to put her to sleep.

"Papa, I don't want to sleep." Ruhi says with puppy eyes.

"Papa will read Ruhi's favorite Cinderella book ans then you will sleep, okay, baby doll?"

"No! You read stories for me daily. Today I wanna see this album with you, papa" Ruhi says and takes out 'Ruhi's baby album' which she found in her mother's cupboard this evening. Karthik grins widely seeing that album. It's Mithra & his treasure. They have captured all of Ruhi's memorable moments... well, most of the photos were taken by Mithra as it was her way of cherishing her daughter's sweet moments like how Karthik has cherished Mithra's childhood memories by preserving her 'baby' things.

"Karthik, you still haven't put her to sleep?" Mithra asks entering into Ruhi's room after doing the dishes.

"Momma, tomorrow no school, so Papa & Ruhi are gonna see this album. You wanna join us?" Ruhi asks as she settles herself on her dad's stomach & places the album on his chest. Karthik smiles & brushes off a strand of hair and tucks it behind Ruhi's ear. Mithra smiles & sits next to Karthik & snuggles closer to him on the bed to see the album.

"OhmyGod!" Ruhi gasps in shock seeing her momma with a fat belly in the very first picture of the album.

"When was this picture taken, Momma? You look so fat like a pumpkin" Ruhi teases her mommy.

Mithra hits Karthik's hand & chides him "I told you not to take my photo when I was in labor ward. See, now she is teasing me."

"Baby doll, momma was pregnant that's why she was fat. She had you in her tummy, right?" Karthik explains to his daughter.

"Oh, Ruhi was inside her tummy? Then you look pretty mommy." She says so proudly & turns to the next photo making Karthik laugh while Mithra stares at her daughter's attitude with open mouth.

"Is this me?" Ruhi asks her Papa.

"Yep!" Mithra says as she adores her daughter's first picture which was taken just an hour after she was born. "You were so beautiful, baby, so soft and so pink in color. Papa and momma were so happy when we held you for the first time" Mithra relishes her life's one of the best moments.

"Even now I am beautiful momma"

"That you are sweetie" Karthik says with a chuckle.

"Hayee, Papa, momma & Ruhi" Ruhi smiles her baby smile seeing her family first selfie.

"What momma is doing in this photo, Papa?" Ruhi asks doubtfully.

"Feeding you" Karthik answers.

"Oh but seems like she was sleeping" Ruhi giggles. Karthik burst out laughing earning a glare from his wife. Yes, she was indeed sleeping while holding baby Ruhi in her arms & feeding her.

"She cried a lot & kept us awake all night. For every half an hour I had to feed her or change her wet nappy." Mithra says dreading. "I was tired and I slept while feeding her but taking a picture of it & showing to her now is too bad, you know?" Mithra chides her husband.

"C'mon, you always look so adorable when you are asleep, right baby?" Karthik asks Ruhi.

"Yeah, but not as beautiful and as adorable as me" Ruhi says with a casual shrug. Mithra glares at Karthik waiting for his reply.

"Of course, darling..." Karthik says & twitches her nose making her giggles.

"Then I am not beautiful?" Mithra asks shooting her brow up.

"I didn't say that... But then...you know babies are always more beautiful than the grown up ones right?"

"So I am not your baby anymore?"

"Mithra, baby..." Karthik starts panicking & takes Mithra's hand & kisses her little finger before biting it to calm her down. Karthik knows her weak points. "...I love you" he mouths at her.

"Yes, momma, you are not a baby. You are an adult. Ruhi is the only baby here."

"You are not the only baby here." Mithra tells him. Karthik looks at her with a confused frown and Mithra blushes. Seeing her blush he thought she was referring to herself as baby so he let it go.

"This is your momma's favorite photo" Karthik tells.

"Our angel's first smile" Mithra says & pokes Ruhi's cheek gently.

"You know what baby? I was in office and your momma called me and just told me to come home as soon as possible & I came rushing home as I thought something was wrong but then she told me you smiled for the first time after two weeks since you were born. She even took that picture & showed it to me but I wanted to see your smile for myself but you made me wait for so long." Karthik pouts remembering how much his little girl made him wait to grace her smile to him.

"Ruhi's smile is priceless, papa, so she made you wait. Simple." Ruhi tells her dad batting her eyes cutely & starts laughing.

"Oh my Ruhi... I love you, I love you so much." Karthik says & pulls her daughter to him & kisses her head.

"I love you too, Papa." Ruhi says & sits back on top of him to see the remaining pictures. Karthik props his legs up so that Ruhi can lean her back on his legs while sitting on his torso.

Mithra smiles as she admires the love between her two loves.

Suddenly she feels Karthik's hand come around her waist and he pulls her closer to him before kissing her cheek & whispering "I love you, baby." Mithra blushes hearing him say that and mutters "I know and I, you"

"Hayee, dada, dadi..." Ruhi is so special to both her maternal and paternal grandparents as she is their only grandchild.

"Momma, dadi made jelly chocie for me, today. It was yummy." Ruhi says to her mommy licking her lips. Mithra giggles.

Ruhi sees so many baby pics of hers taken on her naming ceremony, her crawling pic, her foot print pic, her piggy ride on her papa's back pic, a pic of her eating first solid food when she was five months old, she hugging her favorite teddy pic, taking bath in her blooming bath pic, Ruhi sitting on Karthik's lap & trying to drive his car by holding the steering, her first birthday pictures, her first day school in her uniform... so many pics were taken by Mithra.

She has become a photo freak since the day Ruhi was born.

Mithra has even taken Ruhi's first tooth picture & waiting for her milk tooth to fall so that she can put it in her chain locket & preserve it forever.

"Momma, why are you sulking in this picture when papa and I are smiling?" Ruhi asks with a curious frown.

"That was the day you uttered your first word." Karthik says proudly grinning at Mithra.

"So?" Ruhi asks in confusion.

"Your first word was 'Papa' & your momma got upset because you didn't say 'Mama' first." Karthik explains. Mithra pouts.

"Ohh"

"C'mon Mithra. Even your first word was 'Papa'... like mother like daughter." Karthik tells to appease her and puts a smile on her face.

"Papa, Sanju uncle" Ruhi says excitedly seeing her photo with Sanjeev.

Sanjeev is her favorite uncle as he pampers her so much and he is also her partner in crime.

"This is so funny" Ruhi giggles seeing the next photo. It was taken on last valentine's day when all the men Mohan, Manohar, Karthik, Sanjeev, Sunil & Micheal proposing their respective wives holding a rose & bending down on their knees & the ladies smiling shyly at them but the main focus of the photo was Ruhi as there were three boys Siddharth, Roshan & Steve, dressed in black suits, kneeling down in front of her with red rose in their hands.

"Why those three idiots gave me roses, the other day, momma?" Ruhi asks still not getting out of her confusion.

"Ruhi!" Karthik chides her daughter and asks her not to call them 3 idiots. After all they are kids too. Well, crazy kids crazily in love with his baby girl.

"They love you, baby, so they gave you roses like how papa gave to momma"

"It's Ruhi we are talking about so obviously everyone will love her momma" Ruhi says to her momma pompously.

"From where did she get this much amount of attitude?" Mithra wonders.

She knows her husband is a sweet, humble, down to earth man & she was or is a brat but never shown this attitude at her age or even now, then how come their daughter be like this?

"Dada, Dadi, Nanu, Nani, Momma, Papa, Sanju uncle, hmm... Deepa aunty, Sunil uncle, Tara aunty... hmm... Nisha aunty, Mic uncle... Everyone... everyone loves... oh I missed Dr. Rishab uncle, Madhu aunty, Aaru and..." she stops her long list & starts blushing cutely.

"And?" Karthik asks his daughter curiously.

"And Aarav. He too loves me." Ruhi says with a glint of childish glee in her eyes.

Lucky Aarav! Ruhi loves him too.

Karthik and Mithra shares a glance as they both thought the same.

"Everyone loves Ruhi" Ruhi says throwing her hands wide open making her parents laugh at her antics.

Ruhi studies in Aarav & Aaradhana's (Their family doctor Rishab's kids) school & Aarav was her first friend in her school. She used to cry a lot in the initial days of her joining school. She used to sit alone in the ground and cry for her momma & papa but no one cared until this boy of 7 or 8 years noticed her one day crying alone and he came & talked to her. He also fed Ruhi her lunch & gave a chocolate he had in his pocket & brought a smile on her face. Soon they became best of best buddies and the boy is none other than Aarav (future Doctor) who called Ruhi a 'lazy sleepy head' even before she was born. His sister Aaradhana also became a good friend to little Ruhi.

"Momma, Papa... Mermaid Ruhi!" Ruhi says showing her dimple smile. She got chubby rosy cheeks from her momma & cute dimple smile from her papa.

"She is our blessing, Mithra" Karthik whispers to Mithra. Mithra nods with a happy smile as she cares Ruhi's hair. "I want her to stay this happy, always"

"Even I want the same"

"Momma, for this year's school fancy dress competition I dressed up as Mermaid... what will I wear for next year? I want to win the first prize next year as well"

"We will think about that later, Ruhi. Now quickly see the album & go to bed. It's getting late." Mithra orders her gently.

"Okiee!" She says & went back to looking at the album.

"My last birthday photo" Ruhi's fifth birthday went just two months ago. "I love this group photo" Ruhi says caressing the photo of their family & close friends.

"And I love this photo too." Ruhi says pointing to the next photo taken with her family & Aarav's family. Dr. Rishab has become their family doctor as he monitors Ruhi's health in regular intervals to make sure she's healthy.

Mithra got close with his wife as the two ladies meet at their kids' school when they come to pick them up and once they got close friends, they started hanging out together.

"And finally we are at the end of the album" Karthik declares with a huge sigh as they have been watching this huge album for nearly two hours now.

The last photo is of Ruhi crying.

It was taken on the same day of her fifth birthday.

When the party was going on full swing, Ruhi came running to her parents & asked them loudly "Momma, Papa, I want a baby." Karthik looked down at her daughter in shock while Mithra looked at her husband with eyes full of hope.

She has been demanding for another baby for the past three years but Karthik was so firm with his decision of having only one child as he didn't want to see Mithra in labor pain again.

Even Mithra agreed that Ruhi will be their only child when she was in labor but then after a couple of years, she started pestering Karthik that they will have one more kid as she felt Ruhi will get lonely but Karthik convinced her saying Ruhi will get their undivided attention so 'NO' to another baby.

"Aarav has a sister & they don't get bored at all as they play together but what about Ruhi? I have no one. I get so lonely. Even I want a baby bro or baby sis to play with me so that I won't get bored or feel lonely at home."

"You can play with my son. Every day after school I will drop him at your place or you can come to ours so that you can play with Roshan, what say, honey?" Sanjeev asked hopefully.

"I want a baby to pamper, not a big boy." Ruhi shouted throwing her hands in the air making everyone laugh at her cute antics.

"No doubt she is taken after you, Karthik. She wants to babysit a new brat." Sanjeev commented and laughed. Karthik & Mithra both glared at him.

"Don't laugh everybody!" Ruhi shouted. She hated when others make fun of her.

"She has a temper, dude! Just like her mother." Sanjeev butts in again & earned a slap on his forearm from Mithra.

"Momma, I want a baby, please."

"Go ask you Papa" Mithra said trying hard to keep a straight face but inside she was dancing as she knew her daughter will succeed in her demand.

"Papa..."

"Ruhi, go play with your friends" Karthik tried to brush off the topic in hand.

"Papa, please..." Ruhi pleads with teary eyes.

"Hey, dude, she looks damn cute when she whimpers" Sanjeev grinned & took a snap of a crying Ruhi.

"Stop crying, Ruhi darling." Karthik picked up Ruhi in his arms & walked a little away from the crowd to convince her.

"Do you think she will convince him?" Nisha asked Mithra.

"I guess she will. If she wants something then she will get it. Besides Karthik can never say no to her wishes because he loves her so much."

"He loves you so much too but he said no to you when you asked for having another baby, right?" Deepa reminded her.

"I will screw him if he agrees to her demand." Mithra said through gritted teeth now realizing that her husband actually said no to her wish.

"But then you want another child right?" Tara asked her.

"Yeah. I love babies. They are so adorable. Ruhi brought so much happiness to our lives... every day we see the world through her eyes & it's so beautiful so I would love to have at least one more baby, maybe a boy!" Mithra started dreaming already.

"Better not twins." Madhu, Dr. Rishab's wife said with a dramatic sigh.

"But I love twins" Mithra said with glee.

"They are hard handle." she said looking at her twins Aarav & Aaru.

"C'mon, they are so sweet. See, my Ruhi is asking for a sis or bro only after seeing your kids. Aarav cares a lot for his sister and Ruhi wants someone to care as well. Hope my girl makes her hard headed daddy agree to her demand."

"Papa, please... I want a baby sis or bro as my birthday gift." Ruhi declared & finally Karthik gave in to her demand. From that night, Karthik & Mithra started trying for another baby.

"Still you both haven't given my birthday gift." Ruhi complains with a pout.

"Wait. I will come." Mithra says & walks out of the room leaving the father daughter duo confused. A minute later she returns with her right hand behind her back.

"What?" Karthik asks. Mithra brings her hand forward & opens her fist hand showing them a chain with locket.

Karthik's face breaks into a huge smile guessing what that means.

Mithra is pregnant again & that's the special news for which she made carrot halwa.

Ruhi continues to frown.

Mithra puts the chain around Ruhi's neck & hooks it.

"Momma, I didn't ask for a chain. I want a baby." Ruhi protests and tries to remove the chain.

"Ruhi, no" Mithra stops. "Keep this chain safely with you."

"Why?" Ruhi asks.

"See, Papa & Momma have similar chains so you too have one."

"What's this?" Ruhi asks holding the locket.

"It's a locket. In that locket you will put your baby sis or bro's tooth."

"Tooth?"

"Yes! Papa has my first fallen tooth. I will put yours in my locket when it falls..."

"My teeth will fall?" Ruhi asks shocked as she cups her cheeks.

"They will fall and then grow back again."

"Okay. So where is the baby?"

"Coming soon" Mithra winks at her baby girl & Ruhi in joy jumps off her Papa's torso & launches herself on her momma.

"Ruhi, careful." Karthik quickly picks her up in his arms & settles her back on him.

Then he pulls Mithra closer to him by slipping his hand around her waist & caressing her bare belly under her shirt.

"I love you, Mithra" he whispers and kisses her cheek.

"I love you too, Karthik."

"I love you, Papa, Momma" Ruhi shouts & hugs her parents.

Mithra settles Ruhi between them & takes a family selfie in her phone, creating yet another sweet memory, the date they came to know about the special member who will be joining them in another 7 or 8 months.

Few months later Mithra gave birth to a baby boy as she wished & Ruhi named her baby bro - Rihaan.

And they lived happily ever after!

@@@@@ THE END @@@@@

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Thanks all for supporting me throughout the journey of MY BABY BRAT!