Everything seemed surreal when he saw his daughter with Anika, all he could sense over that time was he was living his dream life, this flash of his life appeared for a second when he held her hand for marriage and slipped the ring on her finger. Eyes teared up, he had no control over it.

"Anyone wants Hot chocolate..." He asked everyone present there in a little bit of a high tone so that it could reach the whole group. He mainly targeted his daughter who was in her mother's arms, laying upon her.

"Want chocolate??" Anika asked her while keeping her straight in her arms.

"No, Mumma," She said clearly, she sounded too low than before, she just lay above her mom.

"But I need some! Can you go with Dada and bring me some chocolates?" Anika asked her, but she remained uninterested and lay above her while holding her neck.

"I think she missed you more." Catherine, Anika's aunt told her when she saw his daughter's low face holding her mom tightly. He felt responsible for it, but he still couldn't believe that his wife prioritized him over their daughter and stayed with him for the continuous three months, still, he couldn't open up and ask Anika how she could able to do that. He felt guilty. And then his eyelids matched with Anika's, there was a smile, and that smile conveyed him to stop his rubbish thoughts.

"Come let's go!" Anika told and held her daughter in her arms and walked with him towards the kitchen.

"I want hot chocolate," Anika told Shivaay that when she kept their daughter in the kitchen slab, he didn't know what made her so beautiful that moment, he was confused about whether it was her way of carrying her baby not going away from her and took care of all her tantrums patiently, or the glow she was having in her face while trying to mend things between his daughter and him.

"Your wish, My command! Darling" He whispered in her ears while walking toward the shelf grassing his hands around her waist and making her jerk. Their eyes matched when she signed disbelief with a blush on her cheek. They ignored the third member who looked at them with a confused look. They both bust into laughter.

Shivaay noticed Aishi's attention fully on Shivaay when he added a scoop of cocoa powder to the milk. He smiled when both of his girls smiled at the aroma of hot chocolate surrounding the kitchen. He concluded with the fact that the way towards their heart is definitely from their stomach.

"For me?" Aishi asked him when he poured the chocolate into the cup.

"But you said you don't want chocolate..." Anika tricked her. He felt sad when she sadly pouted at Anika while nodding yes to her.

"Sorry Dada" Aishi whispered in a low tone which broke his heart. He stared at Anika angrily who gave the typical 'I didn't know anything' look.

"Why are you saying sorry, baby? It's for you!" He said and took it to his daughter.

"Actually she likes it in her cup." Anika interrupted.

"Yeah... My cup" Aishi responded the same. Anika took her Disney princess cup which had a sipper in itself. Shivaay carefully poured the drink into her cup and handed it to her which in turn presented him with a priceless smile.

"For me?" She asked Shivaay.

"Only if my daughter permits," He said and opened his arms for his daughter to jump in, as he predicted, she jumped to him after 65 minutes of staying with her mom in her embrace.

"Aishi, I am with your baby brother, you can't do this to your mumma," Anika asked Aishi. Shivaay keenly watched Aishi's reaction to this.

"No baby Shister." She said in an instant. Shivaay was shaken to hear that, from the time she opened up about her pregnancy to him, he didn't think much about that since there was a lot more to catch up on. But when his firstborn expressed her wish, even he felt the same to have two mini versions of his wife all around him.

"Sister?" She repeated with a smile and looked at him.

"I am with my daughter in this." He said with a smile.

"For that, I need my chocolate first." She replied poured herself it in the cup and took a huge sip. He didn't ignore her little expression change when they talked about the baby, he merely assumed that she was worried about the thing she shared with him on their way, and he knew when he was there with her she didn't want to take stress about anything.

***

"Turmeric milk?" Anika asked her mother-in-law while making a face, but her Jhanvi was not ready to listen to her, she just handed it to her and stood next to her while she started to sip the drink drop by drop. While Shivaay and others went to church to donate for the welfare of the unborn child, shivaay had no heart to leave her, while witnessing Aishi's excitement over going to church, he didn't have any other go.

"You go and sit, It will take time for me to finish the drink!" Anika said to Jhanvi while making a lot of effort to drink it.

"How much time it takes, I am going to stand next to you until you finish it." She said with a smile which made her drink the milk in one go and gave the glass to her.

"Maa. It's yuck..."

"I know but I am doing it for the baby." She said and touched her belly, her face changed in a moment and grazed her hands on her belly for a moment while Anika's heart came to her throat when she did that.

"Darling! You are showing!" She said with a smile and made her stand. Anika didn't know how to react. She brought her in front of the mirror and gripped her loose kurthi from the back so that it could hug her body. And the image she saw in the mirror was evident that she was showing.

"Oh my god! Beautiful!" Jhanvi expressed and wiped off her tears only to hug her.

"I never knew one day, My life would change this beautiful, my happy son living his life peacefully with his wife who loves him as her whole world and now, going to be parents of two children, oh my god! I am not dreaming right?" Jhanvi asked her while hugging. Tears crossed from Anika's eyes.

"Sometimes I wanted to ask this same question to myself!" Anika said to Jhanvi.

"But yes! This is not a dream, we are living each moment and experiencing the happiness to the fullest." Jhanvi broke the hug and kissed her forehead. But Anika couldn't control her tears then, she felt like her words were breaking her apart. And it was not happy tears.

"What happened, dear?" Jhanvi asked, her tone shaking, Anika could feel that she didn't know what would be the outcome of telling it to Jhanvi, but somewhere in her heart, she felt like her secret would be safe with her.

"Mom..."

***

Jhanvi couldn't process anything for a while, her inners shook apart when Anika finally opened up about everything to her. From the moment, she entered the house she knew Anika was hiding something, but she ignored it because of one after the other happy moments. But now after knowing what was bothering her, she was clueless. On the other side, she saw her daughter crying her heart out.

"Anu... Look," She said and took her hands away which she covered her face while crying. But she didn't stop crying, she fell on her lap, Jhanvi could feel her state, she was standing in-between love and trust. Not having enough words to wipe her sorrow, she hugged her tight and tears escaped from her eyes.

She didn't know how much time had passed, she heard the vehicle sound from the gate, she knew everyone arrived from the church, she quickly wiped off her tears when she heard her granddaughter running sound.

"Jhavviii" Aishi called her which provoked a smile on her face. Aishi will call her Dadi only when she is normal or sad and have a very normal conversation to make. But when she's happy or irritated, it will be always Jhanvi. And she never wanted to correct her. And with her voice, she knew her granddaughter was on cloud nine.

"Mumma is sleeping..." Jhanvi whispered when she ran towards her with stuffed toys in her hand, she was nothing like she went, her hairstyle changed from ponytail to braid and she stuck two glitter stickers in her cheeks while her other hand had a lollipop. She knew it would be an absolute nightmare for Anika if she awakened as she remembered her words when she left Aishi with her before going to Kolkata, Please keep her away from stickers and candies. Soon the reasons behind her every act arrived with a huge box of toy cars, reading her son's face she could say, he equally enjoyed with his daughter.

"Shhhh" Aishi whispered to Shivaay, who stopped everything as if something told him a statue, but soon walked slowly.

"Thank God, your wife is asleep," Jhanvi said while looking at her son, who switched his gaze from his wife to his mom. He was quite disappointed to see her sleeping.

"Yeah..." Aishi told to shivaay. He was confused.

"But you threw a tantrum for stickers and candy." Shivaay replied to Aishi and shifted his gaze to his mother "You don't know how her face went when I said no to stickers."

"But you eventually bought her that" Jhanvi whispered back.

"You have any idea how difficult it was to say no to your daughter." He said back.

"Finally I understood, how difficult it was to say no to him when he was a kid," Jhanvi replied with a wink.

"Yeah, You got your revenge." He said taking his daughter in his arms took off his shoes and kept them in the rack. It was not only beautiful but blissful to see shivaay on his father's duties.

"You go and change her to sleep. While then, I take care of my daughter." Jhanvi said while he looked at his wife with a pair of desperate eyes.

"Okay..." He said and walked towards the room holding his daughter in his arms.

In a few minutes, he was back to his wife who was relaxing in her mother's lap according to him, only she knew she was trembling with the reality and hid in her lap.

"Hey, baby!" Shivaay called his wife with a sweet voice while bending to her height and kissing her forehead to wake her up, but she was in a deep sleep. Jhanvi's heart filled with pride on seeing how her son treated his wife. But soon, he was confused to see her wet lap where Anika was sleeping and it was evident that he knew she was crying.

"Was she crying?" He asked in a doubt. For a while, Jhanvi left with no words but understood the priority.

"Yes, she was crying. We were talking, soon the topic shifted to Anusha and Sebastian, she couldn't stop herself from crying..." Jhanvi told him. His face changed.

"Nothing to worry. She was fast asleep. You do one thing. Carry her to the room, let her sleep for a while, we will discuss the rest in the morning." Jhanvi suggested, he nodded and took her in his arms, walking towards the room while Jhanvi promised herself whatever happened, she would be with Anika in hiding the truth.

***

There was some disturbance, she could feel her stomach grumbling in hunger, she knew it would be close to midnight and she was again hungry. Previously during Aishi, she didn't feel anything to eat but it was quite the opposite during this time, with constant salt cravings and feeling dissatisfied with everything, she felt tired of it. Even though she didn't have any mood to eat, she felt irritated with herself. She moved away from the bed without opening her eyes just to feel a hand helping her to sit on the bed. She knew it before she opened her eyes.

"Careful" She heard it from her husband, it was nothing like he had woken up from sleep, she opened her eyes just to see his all awake figure who was sitting next to her, she tilted her head to the left and saw her daughter asleep with pillows and toys stuffed in the corner to resist her falling.

"Hey! What time it is?" She asked and searched for her phone, it was 2 AM.

"Are you still awake?" She asked him. He didn't say anything but cupped her face, and looked at her while before pulling her to his face for a kiss. The kiss was warm and comforting, it was not his dominating kiss this time. When he broke the kiss, there were tears in his eyes, she was still confused. Before she could ask anything he pulled her to his lap and hugged her sidewards, she felt wrapped in his embrace.

"What happened?" She finally asked.

"Nothing! Just wanted to feel you all over around me." He replied and united their forehead together. She didn't say anything but enjoyed their meaningful moment together.

"Mom told!" He spoke. A sudden jolt of current hit her at the spot and made her loose all her happiness in a second, she became conscious in a bit.

"What?" She asked while raising her head but he made her head buried in his chest again.

"Ani. You know right? Anu maa and seb dad just left you physically, and they are here with us, blessing us in each step." He said she heaved out a deep breath from her.

"Hmm," She responded.

"Then don't shed tears, they don't like your tears, not for anyone at least for them?" He asked her.

"I will, not only for them, for you too," She said with a smile touching his lips with a smile.

"I love you," She said with a smile looking at his eyes straight to straight. Tears again grouped in his eyes, he didn't reply anything but kissed her tightly on her forehead. For Anika, no words were required other than that gesture, and she promised herself that she would never let this happiness in his eyes leave him. She moved ahead pulled his face to her face, and kissed him, she didn't know when her kiss turned dominating and hungry, and her hands automatically to her waist and pulled his t-shirt from his head and kissed him hungrily. 

"Ani. What happened?" He asked while holding her hand and backing off from kissing. 

"I want you." She told in a determined tone and moved to his neck and kissed him which eventually made him lose his balance. 

"Ani... Aishi" He finally managed to say. She broke the kiss and looked at him. 

"Is that only me who wanted this at this moment?" She asked him in a stren tone, looking at his hand which was passionately her waist. 

"No... I don't want this. I need this..." He said holding her from her waist and moving to the couch. He carefully placed her on the couch. 

"Anu. Please tell me, she won't wake up in the middle right." He asked her, smilingly looking at their daughter. 

"It's my creation, you can trust it 100%" She chuckled when he climbed above her. 

"Our creation..." He whispered in her ears and kissed her in the crook of her neck which made her inners tremble. 

She felt it very difficult to control her moans when he undressed and concentrated on her valleys, it became more sensitive. When he placed a kiss on her slightly bludged baby bumb, there was a smile on both of their faces. She buried her fingers in his hair and moved him to her face, he was paused for a moment. 

"You know you are the most beautiful thing that life can ever gift me!" He whispered while kissing her forehead. 

"Same here!" She said and over that moment, she couldn't control her tears when a slight thought of losing him hit her. He entered her in a moment leaving that fear to go nowhere, it just faded away from her temporarily when he made her love in his way. 

****