It was dark outside..
Lakshmi took kids towards the water pipe in the garden and made them wash their hands and legs.
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On the other side,
The whole family is seated in the hall room and as soon as they heard commotion from other side of the main door , they turned around to look at kids running in hall while lakshmi is scolding them to walk slowly as their feet are wet.

And as lakshmi expected, Noor slipped and she fell hard on the marble floor while trying to keep up her pace with her siblings...

Noor started wailing loudly while feeling pain in her elbows and lakshmi took her into her arms while telling  "ololu ololu edavak Amma"  ( don't cry)  and wiped away those tears. Noor snuggled her little face into her mother's bossom still crying.
Lakshmi rubbed her small legs and hands tentatively to relieve the pain.

" floor hurt you na !
See " said utkarsh and noor looked at her brothers while they are stomping on the floor. She started giggling while rubbing her red cheeks with her both hands...

" maa pail no " (pain) she said while wriggling out of her mother's arms and joined her brothers in beating the floor with her little hands.

' Nautanki bache ' lakshmi said smiling while looking at her kids. She turned around to find the family looking at her kids with a smile on their faces and she mentally noted to take disthi of her kids the next morning.

She was about to leave when dadi called her . She went towards them while the kids went back to their room.

Dadi started talking about their family and their ancestors while Lakshmi just threw a deaf ear, pretending as if she is hearing. Soon the topic changed to noor....

" from where did you get noor beta? " Nandini Devi asked as she already knew about Ibbu. She wanted to know where was Noor from...

"from Syrian desert near Iraqi border" lakshmi answered earning gasps from the ladies in hall.. She realized what she has just said .

" syria? Why did you go there? " and here lakshmi started fumbling with her fingers... She forgot that little story this family cooked up and fed this old lady...

" oh that....
Actually the owner of the orphanage told me that her parents were immigrants from Syria and they couldn't afford....
They left noor because they couldn't afford......and I have adopted her from the orphanage....." lakshmi said trying to cover up.
The old lady's suspicions spiked up more... She could tell that the whole family is hiding something from her...

Once upon a time,
she wasn't a queen for nothing...

" Now that you have your own children, don't you think that you wouldn't be able to be impartial?
They will come to know in the future that two of their siblings are not their own " Nandini Devi said while drinking in the expressions of lakshmi slowly...
Assessing her keenly to see how would she answer this question.

Lakshmi felt hurt at the mere thought of this....she never wants her children to seperate....
Hell she wouldn't let it happen.
Ibraheem is their elder brother and Noor is their younger sister.
That's it.

She looked up at Nandini Devi who is staring at her keenly...
" It all depends on how we nurture our kids.
My first child is my first son and my last child is my last daughter.
I will fight for all of them equally and give my love to them equally.
They are the ones who grew up in my arms.....
I might not have given birth to them but they are a part of my soul like the others.

And about future.
My kids are more matured than the adults. I have imparted them with the knowledge of wisdom far beyond their age.
As a mother, it's my duty to teach them ethics, morals and mould them into better human beings.

They already worship their elder brother who is like a mother to them in my absence, and look after noor like their own baby.

I know that they all will be together.
They are  'My'  kids and I'm  'Their' mother after all.
I know it. "
hearing to Lakshmi, Nandini Devi understood that her younger grand daughter in law is soft at heart....
She is strong, but still innocent at heart reflecting pureness in her every word that she spoke from with in...
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After having dinner in the kitchen with her children, Lakshmi hurried them to their room.
She changed into a night suit which saraswathi left in her room.

The boys wore 3/4th trousers while the girls just wore a long shirt with panties and sat around their mom on the couch. Lakshmi took the remote from table and switched on the TV.
Played Jabardasth in YouTube.

Within few minutes, the whole room is filled with laughter and the kids were falling on each other while laughing.

The ever green engine motor laughter of their mom made them laugh even more harder.

There was a knock on door and lakshmi turned around to look at the door while Abhimanyu went to open it.
She looked at her husband standing near the door and turned her head towards the TV which was no more hilarious....

" come papa
Join us!! " Abhimanyu pulled Arjun's hand excitedly while Arjun was doubtful... He didn't want to join them...he thought that he could take the kids and spend a night with them....
only if she allows...
But after seeing her expressions,
he knew that she didn't want him any where near them.

The kids squeezed on to one side to make place for their father to sit.
9 members on a couch.....
poor couch.
Neelu sitting on lakshmi's lap and noor sitting on arjun's lap while the boys were sprawled in between them on the couch and two of them got down and sat on the carpet....

Lakshmi was silent for few seconds until she forgot the presence of that person and got immersed in the comedy show.
She started laughing heartily while watching TV and listening to her children's laughter...

Arjun felt good.
In these few minutes, he felt that he returned to where he belonged... He felt the feeling of being accepted in his life...
He felt the feeling of belonging to someone...
He felt the feeling of responsibility of his family on his shoulder...
Imagining everyday coming after work and looking at his wife and children....
watching shows with them and laugh along with them...
Made him feel the warmthness...
A sense of belonging...

He looked at lakshmi's face and smiled seeing her funny laugh...
He remembered how he used to make fun of her when she used to laugh...
He used to say ' engine purring ' for which she used to be angry at him for taunting her like that...
He remembers every single detail about her and him
and together
their moments...

As soon as lakshmi felt a gaze on her, she snapped around quickly to find her husband staring at her whose presence has been long forgotten .
Anger spiked up in her while she caught him smile at her....

She went away from the couch towards the balcony to cool down her raging self.

Leeches
Insects crawling
Made her toes curl
In his presence.....

Arjun followed her and stood behind her while maintaining a distance from her knowing that she wouldn't like him standing near her.....

lakshmi's instincts were on high alert. " talk " she said. She didn't know why she said that.... All she could feel was anger and pain. A feeling of not belonging to this place made her more uncomfortable....

" n....nothing
How are you? " he stammered and lakshmi turned around to look at him. He looked at her thinking that she has grown into a beautiful woman.  Matured and elegant...
But he misses that little crazy and caring wife he was married to....
He knew that he has no right to ask for it after what has happened...

Lakshmi looked at her husband and observed him for the first time after many years...
noticing that he has lost weight.

" I prayed to god everyday for you " he said while gazing at her with love and fear as well, that she might disappear again after those words which he said...like the last time...

" oh...
Why didn't god listen to my prayers?
I too prayed to him to keep monsters away from our life " lakshmi pressed on the word 'our' to show him that he wasn't counted as one of them and he is a monster whom they don't want in their life... 
Arjun's heart clenched while her words kept on replaying in his mind.

He pushed it aside and looked at her while the pain in his eyes didn't go unnoticed by Lakshmi.

' pain my foot !
It's nothing compared to what he has done to me. Did he really think that his pitty self and two tear drops will make everything alright?...
And that I would forgive him? ' she thought and turned away while snickering .

He stared at her back... he felt the like...like she is going far away from him...
The whole atmosphere was silent....
when she turned back,
Her eyes landed on him, while leaving the room with his shoulders slopped helplessly...

A tiny bit of her heart pained looking at him leaving like that but as soon as those painful memories looked over her
that little pain she felt for him,
died....

' Just a few more days and when everything is safe,
We shall leave....
I should contact Alexander ' she thought while looking at her kids....
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Lakshmi yawned and got up while rubbing her eyes. She dragged her drowsy kids into the washroom.

They all brushed together while pushing each other to get a better view of themselves in the mirror while brushing.
For once, Lakshmi felt tall with her 5'3 height.
She made them take bath and later she bathed her drenched body.

As soon as she stepped out in her robe, she saw boxes being placed inside her room by maids and Saraswathi was guiding them....
'good morning' she said with a smile and the kids wished her while Lakshmi too wished her a 'good morning' while looking puzzled at those silver trunk boxes...

" I have arranged all your clothes in these boxes, do call me if you need help with unpacking " saraswathi said and left while asking them to come down for breakfast.

Lakshmi opened the large silver metal boxes and saw her clothes in them. She gulped looking at her jewelry and sarees....which she used to wear almost 6 years back.

She didn't want to discard them because they belong to her... Her family bought all those jewelry and clothes for her when she left for NYC for the first time...
As a Newly Wed.

She shut her eyes and looked back at her sarees... Remembering how happy her mother was when she was selecting all of these for her and spent almost 2 crores as if it was nothing... and how her dad acted as if we ladies rob away his sweat while he still wears those age old clothes....

She smiled feeling the texture of the cloth...

" Mumma, dad bought them? " Neelu asked looking at the clothes with her wide eyes...

" no baby
Your dad didn't give me anything (except for pain) 
This is all bought by my dad
Your nanu " lakshmi said and neelu smiled clapping her hand while placing a gold chain around her neck, which lakshmi helped her to hook it properly.

She took out another gold chain with a small pendent and placed it around noor's neck while noor immediately grabbed the pendent with her little fingers and stared at the sunflower on it with her large doe like eyes. She was amused seeing the yellow flower...
She pushed it behind quickly and looked at her mom while patting her tummy cutely and lakshmi nodded telling 5 mins.

Anu entered the room and looked at the boxes, before she could ask Neelu told her that her Nanu bought these for her mom. This made Anu to tear up remembering her own parents who were no more...

Lakshmi observed Anu whose eyes filled with tears which she was trying to hide with a smile on her face....
She pulled Anu and made her wear a necklace which Anu tried to dodge but couldn't as lakshmi held her tight by her arm.
" beautiful " Lakshmi said and Anu nodded while looking in the mirror....

She went into the closet and changed into her favourite saree and adorned herself after a long time...
The last time was when she was pregnant and Nastasha ( Alexander's wife)  arranged Hindu rituals for her preganancy....

She looked at herself for one last time in the mirror and stepped out of the closet while her kids stared at their mom with their jaws hanging down, she flipped her hair with a smile on her face... Feeling beautiful again...

As soon as they completed praying in the Pooja room, they all went to the dining hall together and kids wished the adults while lakshmi threw a ' namasthe ' to walls and sat on the chair...

It's now or never to get done with these fears. She can't let him rule her in her fears silently...

She was eating silently sitting on the long table in between her kids and also feeding noor with her baby spoon....

On the other side, saraswathi didn't like her step-sister sitting beside Arjun. She clearly knew that it is a place that must be occupied by his wife .
She felt Manika's presence as a hindrance to already deteriorating relationship of her Devarji and lakshmi... Though she is scared of Manika, but she can't tolerate this....

Nandini Devi followed Saraswathi's gaze and looked at Manika who is sitting too close to her grand son. She looked towards Lakshmi who is sitting between her children and behaving as if it doesn't really bother her....
But this very much bothers Nandidni Devi because rules are rules which are ought to be followed even by the kings and queens themselves.
No one can be exempted from this.

Without wasting another second she called out Manika's name loudly which made everyone to shiver in their seat due to sudden intrusion in the silent room .

" guests are guests
With whose permission did you sit in that place?
( she turned towards arjun disappointedly)
I didn't expect this from you Arjun " because this is a great matter of respect for them. No one can sit in a place that belongs to a wife except for the wife. Not to forget that those are the age old Royal seats meant for only the members of the royal family to occupy .

Manika stood up immediately looking at the old woman while gritting her teeth internally for embarrassing her in front of the whole family and maids .
She knew that she can't blow up her cover so she controlled herself while apologizing and sat in an empty chair on the other end of the table.

Lakshmi didn't move from her place. She didn't even lift her head and continued eating.
She heard everything.
But she won't let them affect her by giving these so called 'Royal' tags which are meant nothing to her...
She didn't fight for these....
She never wanted them and whatever she wants, she will earn it on her own...

Anita was scared thinking of how her mother in law would react to lakshmi who didn't even lift her head nor stopped eating during the whole fiasco. She didn't even move from her place to sit beside Arjun...
which was disrespectful as Nandini Devi was siding with Lakshmi.... who didn't even bother to glance towards them for a second....

Nandidni Devi looked at stubborn lakshmi and continued eating thinking that the little girl is angry with her husband for allowing an outsider to sit beside him.
Nandini Devi felt that it was right to behave like that with Arjun, who didn't know how defaming it would be if this spreads out of the 4 walls.
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As soon as they all stepped into the hall, they heard a howling sound and the kids sprinted on their legs to the entrance without a care for the world.
They hugged the hell out of husky with their small arms while husky felt suffocated with their extra cheesy overwhelming love...

Lakshmi went towards husky and let her hands rub behind his ears lovingly. Noor climbed up onto husky and hugged him from behind by circling her little hands on his neck. She missed putting clips in his fur.....

Lakshmi laughed thinking how her children are suffocating him with their love.
All this while Rahul stood near the entrance and smiled seeing them happy....
He can do anything for his sister....
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It was evening and Manika went to kitchen feeling thirsty...
She was gulping down a glass of water in the kitchen and heard the sounds of anklets . She turned around to look at the little girl whom lakshmi always treats like a precious jewel.

Noor was hungry and she wanted milk. She descended the big stairs slowly and carefully while holding on to the side railings with her small hands... As soon as she reached the hall, she cutely sighed " phoo " as she was exhausted....

She went straight in to the kitchen as she saw her Di always being fed by Big aunties (cooks) in the kitchen. But as soon as she saw the aunty from earlier on the table, she gave a smile to her....

" milc....mich-e " (milk)
Manika heard and smirked while seeing the little girl's face thinking how would her mother react. Even though they were distant relatives of royal family, but still she got humiliated because of these outsiders.

She was burning with anger and couldn't find better chance than this to satisfy herself.

" oh wait. I will give " she said and brought a bowl of green paste from the fridge and placed it infront of Noor with a spoon in it.

Noor sat down quickly with her legs sprawled on either side on the floor and bowl in the middle. She smiled remembering her brother's favourite mint ice-cream and touched the cool bowl . She stuffed a spoon full of it in her mouth and gulped it down while thinking of saving some for her bhaiya...

The next second,
the whole palace echoed with loud screams and cries of the little girl who is wailing loudly as her tongue is burning...
She rubbed her little tongue to her frock and it pained more. She started chocking on her own sobs as she felt pain in her throat...
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Lakshmi was in her room reading journal when she heard the loud cries. She ran out of the room immediately and came down the stairs while arjun too came out of his room running and followed his wife while listening to those cries....

Lakshmi halted seeing her daughter.
She felt like her body was stabbed multiple times while seeing her daughter crying on the floor helplessly with red eyes and tears, pressing her tongue with her little fingers and chocking on her own sobs. She took her into her arms and patted her back while asking what happened..... the little girl trembled in her mother's arms and her face turned more red .

Lakshmi looked down to see a bowl of green Mirchi paste and looked up to see Manika standing with a glass of water in her hands and care in her eyes while looking at Noor...
She forwarded the glass to lakshmi.

" I told her to not to eat.. " before Manika could sprout more, Lakshmi slapped her hard making her lose her balance and fall down, causing her forehead to hit the kitchen island and bleed with the impact.
Lakshmi knew all too well by seeing her face......she can read the woman who is laying on the floor.....

She looked at her sons and gave noor to them while asking them to feed her something cold.

She went towards Manika who was still on the ground unable to believe what has just happened with her . Lakshmi looked at her angrily while gripping her hair harshly and made manika face her.

" I . dare . you . to next time even think of my children.
I will cripple you and make you eat your own organs .
I will cut your body in to pieces and feed them to pigs.
Got it? " she asked and Manika moved back scared of seeing lakshmi too closely...

" GOT IT? "
Lakshmi screamed again while gripping her hair tightly, making her yelp in pain and Manika nodded quickly with fear embedded in her eyes making lakshmi loosen her grip.

She took weeping noor back to the hall while the kids followed their mom silently with fear....
This was the second time they saw their mom like this after coming to this place... They were shaking in fear when they saw how their mother was looking at that lady...

Tears rolled out of lakshmi's eyes looking at her little girl's red face. She took honey bowl from Rudra and applied it in noor's mouth with her one finger . Neelu plopped beside her mom on the couch and fed her sister a spoon full of ice cream making noor move out of her mom's grip and sit close to her Neelu di as she fed her ice cream....
Noor felt relief and so did the mother and sons....

But those tears didn't stop brimming in lakshmi's eyes....because which mother can tolerate their child being tortured ? She knew that this place ain't safe for her kids....

She snickered thinking how the whole family stood like pillars. Now she is sure that she can't leave her children with them at any cost.
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It's not that the whole family is okay with Manika's actions.
It's just that before they could take a step, Lakshmi pounced on Manika like a lioness for hurting her kids.

Before Arjun could stop and deal with Manika on his own, his wife already gave the family a huge blow by slapping Manika fiercely . Her ruthlessness while talking to manika who was bleeding, made the family to re-evaluate their assumptions on lakshmi.

Arjun was worried about her but his heart did swell with pride seeing her strong.... But he knew that his innocent wife has disappeared long ago after his father showed him about the evidences of her involvement in mafia.
But they couldn't find under whom she was working.... ( which veer didn't want to reveal to his son )

He followed behind his wife like a shadow and looked at her crying silently while feeding Noor who was wailing... It pained him to see the little girl in soo much pain...
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It was after noon and lakshmi was sleeping peacefully in her room while the kids got up and left, making sure to not to make sounds and disturb their mother's sleep.

Noor hung around her utku bhaiya (utkarsh) and yelled "pash pash" ( fast fast)  while clinging around his neck from his back.
He nodded and started walking in a faster pace.

As soon as they got down the stairs, they noticed that everyone were seated in the hall. They went and sat on an empty couch while looking at them.

The whole Rajput family smiled seeing the children cutely climbing on to the couch and sitting quietly while looking at them.

They feared thinking of the drifts that would occur between the children and their father as they were their only hope for them to get back their younger daughter in law of this palace.

The kids looked at the new member who is a middle aged lady whom they haven't seen before.....

" Anita
How can you take them in without doing a Paterniy test?
What if our lakshmi has met unfateful events and they are not our Arjun's ? " asked the lady with exaggeration in her eyes. She has been talking about this to the family since the time she has entered the palace.
She wants that girl out of the palace so as to make a place for her daughter Manika . For which she is ready to do anything....

Neelu whispered asking her Ibbu bhaiya what it is and he explained back to his sister in her ear.

Neelu's eyes searched for her father and saw him fisting his hand tightly. She smiled thinking that her father believes in them....

" so what if we are not his kids?
Do you want to throw us out?
along with our mom?
What's your next step after that aunty...? " Abhimanyu asked looking at her innocently with his not so innocent words. Anita's eyes bawled out hearing those words while Veer looked proud and amazed with his grand children....
For the first time ever,
he showed an expressions on his face which stayed longer.....

Sanjay smirked looking at those outsiders whom he detests the most as they were the ones who made his wife's life a hell before she got married to him.

" see
They are so disrespectful towards their own father and are also referring him to as an outsider!.
They are a bad blood.
I feel bad for lakshmi...
Sure she must be forced... " that lady said pouring out her crocodile tears to make people believe that lakshmi was tainted while playing her pity card....

But who dosen't know her games in the palace?

" you dare raise your finger on the Royal family affairs?
You dare raise your finger at my grandfather's judgement who took us in? " Ibraheem, who didn't speak since he entered the palace asked coldly while looking at the middle aged lady without fear in his eyes.
He couldn't contain his anger while his mother is being bad mouthed.......
It was the same way Alexander would speak.....

The whole family was astonished at the way a little child held a double edged sword in his words.
No one will dare to open their mouth as the little kid shielded his mother with the great Veer Singh Rajput's decision .

Nandini Devi smirked seeing Sunita (Manika's mom) cowering back while looking at Ibraheem and Veer .
She felt proud of her great grand children once again...

No one has noticed Lakshmi who slolwy sat on the sofa beside Utkarsh, who got scared at his mother's ghostly presence all of a sudden. This was not the first time for her kids.

Lakshmi smiled looking at how her kids fought back. She didn't know if she should be happy that those drugs affected their intellectuality or sad for them to not to have a normal carefree life like the other children of their age....

" they are unruly brats ! " Manika said gritting her teeth with anger, which was heard by everyone . Lakshmi glared at her angrily which made Manika to step down , but this time she pulled up herself because she has her mom now.

" mumma what is 'brats' ? " Neelu asked while giving her juice bottle to Noor who took it happily while grinning.....because her di never gives her food and sometimes she even eats noor's share too....

" it's a bad word kanna " lakshmi said smirking knowing what's going on in her daughter's little brain.
Neelu is anything but innocent.

" ohhh
Bad word!
Then aunty... You a beach'.....um...bich....
Oh no no no
Husky feel bad....
You a...um.....bashar' ! " ( bastard) 
Noor said while looking at her brothers who smirked back at their sister.

Before Manika could open her mouth , a loud grunt erupted from Arjun .
" you better keep that mouth of yours shut. Another word from your mouth on my children, you will not be able to breath the next second " Arjun said and manika felt chills at his low growling voice....which made her shiver internally.

The whole family dismissed one after the other leaving behind a fuming mother and daughter who faced humiliation....

______________________________
Guys I have informed (warned) before to not to ask me anything related to updates . I can understand your eagerness to read the next chapter but it irks the author to core . We write so much and update but in the final all we see in comments is you people asking us to update more .

How is it possible yaar ?

Chalo leave about others , let's talk about this book . I give approx 4000 words in most of my updates which is very high in count compared to most of the books I read on wattpad . That's mostly equal to 2 or 3 chapters of other books which they update for one whole month . 

Okay leave that , I just gave back to back 2 chaps updates after my exam which had solid 8000 words in them . Do you think it's easy to write so much ? Do you think it's easy to revise and correct the whole chapter before publishing it ?
Do you think it's easy to keep myself in the shoes of all the characters in my book and write ?
I am keeping myself in Lakshmi as an assassin , doctor , mother and still trying to maintain her innocence in the book . Then myself in Arjun's weak state , obsessive state , domineering state . Then throw myself into all the friends , parents , grandparents , children and a dog too !

My book is not only a superficial Third POV. I'm writing in depths , feeling their pain and sorrow . I have to make plots too .

I'm not pointing out anyone in specific . There are many personal texts that I receive regarding this word 'update' which I started to detest the most . We authors are trying to give you the best chapters and the best from us . I personally made sure that you learn something useful from this book rather than it just remaining as a story in your library .

I have a life too yaar....

Do you want this book to be a baseless book with small chapters and for me to wind it up as fast as I can ? Then I am telling you , you will surely be disappointed as I can assure that I can end the book in next chapter itself and erase all the drafts . I know I am very much capable of it .

There are two new on going stories in my drafts which are in progress .
Please don't piss me off guys
I love you all a lot .

Don't make me hate myself for giving you people importance and also my hours and hours of time .