Divya, Vijay, Khushi, and Sid stood outside Rithika's home, waiting for her to open the door.

"Rithu, are you coming or should we kick this door down and make a cinematic entrance?" Khushi yelled.

"Coming, coming, just give me two minutes, Khu," Rithika replied from inside.

In a matter of moments, she swung the door open and greeted her friends with a wide smile. Just then, a loud cry came from inside the house.

"Hi Divi, Hi Khu! Hi Vijay anna, Hi Sidd," she exclaimed and gestured for them to come in.

Divya and Khushi immediately noticed Ritisha crawling towards them and scooped her up into their arms.

"Hello, little Ishaa," Divya cooed, nuzzling her nose against Ritisha's cheeks and planting a gentle kiss.

"Isha is my love, Divi. Beware," Khushi playfully warned, taking Ritisha from Divya's arms.

"And here I thought I was the reason you all came. Thanks for the reality check. I'll remember this forever," Rithika teased, and the three of them shared a friendly side hug.

"By the way, where's Nikki akka and Arjun jiju?" Divya inquired.

"They arrived at 5 am. I think they'll be here soon. While you two play with Ritisha, I'll wake up my husband, who sleeps like a log. And Anna, make yourself at home. Though I know I don't need to say that," Rithika said as she moved to wake up Aravind.

"Monkey, everyone is here! Wake up already!" Rithika exclaimed, playfully pulling his ear.

"Ouch, which wife wakes up her husband like that? My ears, seriously! They're precious, you know? They have to endure your rants, your sweet talks, my daughter's adorable chatter, and my boss's boring conversations. Don't hurt them," Aravind groaned as he got out of bed.

"Finally, you're up. Freshen up and come quickly. Meanwhile, I'll call Nikki akka," Rithika instructed, dialing Nikitha's number.

"Rithu, no need to call when we're practically right outside your door. Come to the living room; you'll find me waiting there," Nikitha's voice came through the phone.

Rithika dashed to the living room and engulfed Nikitha in a warm hug as soon as she saw her.

"Akka, I missed you," Rithika admitted.

"I missed you too, though I might've missed Ritisha a bit more. But my Rithu comes first, always," Nikitha teased.

"Wait, so you all came for Isha and not for me?" Rithika pouted with puppy eyes.

"I did say that you're my top priority, didn't you hear that?" Nikitha chuckled, patting Rithika's head.

"Hi jiju, how's everything? How was the journey?" Rithika directed her attention to Arjun.

As they engaged in conversation and played with Ritisha, Aravind joined them in the living room and exchanged pleasantries.

"Alright, now that everyone is here, shall we begin?" Rithika suggested.

"Absolutely, let's get started," Nikitha agreed.

Nikitha and Arjun took seats on the left side of the couch, followed by Rithika and Aravind, Divya and Vijay, and Khushi and Sid.

As their tradition dictated, the youngest sibling tied a rakhi to each of the older ones, moving up in age order.

Khushi retrieved an aarti thali and a box of sweets from her bag and approached Nikitha and Arjun first.

"Niki akka, let's start with the tilak and then the rakhi," Khushi said as she tied the rakhi to Nikitha's wrist after applying the tilak. She then repeated the process with Arjun and offered them sweets.

"Happy Raksha Bandhan, akka and jiju," Khushi chimed in with a cute voice, eliciting "awws" from the others.

"You have to protect me from my not-so-innocent husband, Sid. He can be quite mischievous," Khushi playfully warned, earning a playful glare from Sid.

"Hey, you're not allowed to glare at my sister in front of me," Nikitha scolded Sid with a grin, hugging Khushi and sticking her tongue out at him.

"Okay, it's time for your gifts from your favorite akka and jiju. Happy Raksha Bandhan," Nikitha announced, handing over their presents.

"Happy Raksha Bandhan, Khushi. May you be blessed with good health, prosperity, and happiness," Arjun offered his blessings.

"Thank you, akka and jiju. Now, please bless your dear sister," Khushi requested, receiving their blessings and eagerly stashing her gift in her bag before moving on to the next pair.

"Ahem, ahem, first Raksha Bandhan for my sweetest sister Rithu, and then for you, Anna," Khushi declared, tying rakhis to both of them after applying the tilak.

"Sweets for you both, and Happy Raksha Bandhan to the cutest couple," she added.

"My cookie, Happy Raksha Bandhan," Rithika embraced her sister and shared warm wishes.

"Happy Raksha Bandhan, Khushi," Aravind greeted her.

"Also, are you excited about the gifts?" Rithika asked, to which Khushi nodded eagerly.

"Isha, give a gift to your Khushi athai," Rithika instructed, guiding Isha to hand over the gift to Khushi.

Khushi then moved to Divya and Vijay,she put tilak for both of them and tied rakhi to them. 

"Happy Raksha bandhan, Divi and Vijay anna",Khushi said.

"Happy Raksha bandhan, Khu. I am so happy I have a little sister like you",Divya said and wiped her non existent tears. 

"Happy Raksha bandhan, Khushi",Vijay wished and patted her head.

"And here is a small gift from us",Divi said and Khushi took the gift and did aarti to all the couples at a time.

Now was the turn of Divya, she prepared her aarti thaali and pulled out raakhis from her bag.

She went to Nikitha and Arjun first.

"To the person who is more than elder sister and no less than mother, happy raksha bandhan",Divya said and put tilak on her forehead and tied rakhi to her followed by Arjun.

She fed them both chocolate instead of sweet.

"Happy Raksha bandhan to you too, jiju!",she said and giggled.

"Happy raksha bandhan to you my dearest little devil Divi",Nikitha crushed her in a bone crashing hug.

"Here is a small gift from akka",Nikitha says handing her the gift.

Our over excited Divya couldn't hold herself and opened the gift as soon as she got it.

It was a beautiful bracelet with her initial along with a photo frame of her favorite quote.

"Akka, you the best okay?",she said and give her flying kiss.

Next she moves to Rithika and Aravind, she puts tilak on their forehead and also to the little one.

She ties Rakhi to both of them and then a silver Rakhi to Isha.

"This is for my princess who made me athai for the first time ever. You deserve princess treatment my love nothing less and athai will always be here to protect you",she says and kisses Isha's cheeks while Isha giggles.

"And this for the sister who always have my back no matter what and loves me",Divya says tying Rakhi to Rithika and then to Aravind.

She fed them chocolate🍫

"Happy Raksha bandhan anna",she says to Aravind.

"Happy raksha bandhan Divi, without you and Khushi I wouldn't have been with this wife of mine here today. So grateful to you both",Aravind said.

"I thought you were planning revenge on us anna, for getting you married to her",Divya joked earning a smack from Rithika.

"Isha, give gift to Divya athai",Rithika made Isha give gift to Divya and Divya took blessing from both of them.

Divya opened the gift to see her favorite chocolates and a letter which was a go to gift for her. She thanked Rithika and Aravind and moved on to Khushi and Sid.

"To the little sister who I always wanted in my life🫂, thank you for coming into my life, Khu. Love you and Happy Raksha bandhan",saying so she put the tilak and tied Rakhi to Khushi followed by Sid.

She fed them chocolate and then took their blessings as well.

"Happy Raksha bandhan divii, my cuddly potato! I love you so much and you mister Vijay, one tear drop from her eye I will make you drink whole ocean of water beware",Khushi said to which all of them giggled.

"Happy Raksha bandhan Divi",Sid wished as well.

"Here is a panda for you to cuddle",Khushi gives her a panda.

"I thought you brought that for Isha, seriously",Nikitha said.

"I brought something else for Isha",Khushi said and giggled.

"Too bad, Khushi! She wouldn't cuddle with me now, now that she has panda. That's one of the reasons I didn't gift her a 🐼panda",Vijay said earning playful slap from Divya.

She did aarti to all the couples at once and then went to sit in her place.

"It's my turn now, hold her and sit here. I will get my aarti thaali and rakhis just one minute",Rithu said and ran to the pooja room and got her thaali and rakhis.

"Tadaaa, here your favorite colour lavender, akka",Rithu said tying a lavender colour Rakhi to the couple.

She put tilak which she forgot to keep in the starting and then fed them halwa which she made at home.

"You becoming a better cook, Rithu! Like this is yummy",Niki said.

"That's nothing niku akka, you should taste her handmade pasta, Chefkiss it's amazing",Aravind said.

"Stop, you are praising me way too much now let me concentrate on what I was doing yes, bless me akka and jiju! Happy Raksha bandhan",she said and took their blessings.

"Here is your gift",Nikitha gave her and just like Divi she opened the gift too and found two chains and one small bracelet.

"Is this for Ritisha?",Rithu asked and Nikitha nodded.

"Oh my, this is so pretty",she said and kissed Nikitha on her cheek.

Next she moved to Divya and Vijay.

"Divi, oh my Divi! You me vibe to things like nobody does, visit me often we need to train my baby to vibe to her amma and athai",she said putting tilak to her and Vijay and then tied Rakhi to the two of them.

"Happy Raksha bandhan Divi and Vijay anna",she said.

She fed them the halwa and took their blessings.

"Here is your gift, Rithuu! Happy Raksha bandhan",she said.

"Happy Raksha bandhan, Rithu",Vijay said.

"Are you ready to see your gift?",Divi asked and she nodded.

"Tadaa, your favorite book collection that you were crying your eyes out that you couldn't order them because Isha was cranky",she said and Rithu hugged her tight.

"How do you-? You the best no more words only",she said and moved to Sid and Khushi.

She put tilak to both of them and tied Khushi and Sid royal blue colour Rakhi..
She fed them halwa.

"To my cutest little sister,my baby koala, happy raksha bandhan and Happy raksha bandhan Sid",she said and took their blessings.

"Happy raksha bandhan, Rithuu",both Khushi and Sid said at a time.

"Here is your gift",she said handing her some horror novels and some jhumkas and toys for Isha.

"Hey, this is too much Khu! But thank you so much❤",she said and hugged Khushi.

She did aarti to all the couples and went to settle down in her place

"Last but not the least, it's finally my turn to tie rakhis for you three",Niki said getting up from her place.

She made her aarti thaali and rakhis ready. Starting with Rithika and Aravind.

She put tilak and then tied Rakhi and fed them sweet.

"To my sweetest sister, happy Raksha bandhan, I love you so much and Happy raksha bandhan to Isha also, happy raksha bandhan Aravind",she said

"Happy raksha bandhan akka",Rithika wished her.

"Happy raksha bandhan athai",she mimicked in baby tone on behalf of Isha.

"Happy raksha bandhan nikitha akka",Aravind wished her.

"Here is your gift",Rithika said handing gift to Nikitha via Isha.

"Thank you, little Isha",Niki said and kissed Isha.

Further Nikitha moved to Divya and Vijay. She did tilak to them and tied Rakhi, fed sweet to them.

"Happy raksha bandhan, Divi my baby! I love you so much and Happy raksha bandhan, Vijay",she wished them.

"Happy raksha bandhan, akka",she said and pulled out a huge frame from her bag and gave it to Nikitha.

It was a frame of all eight of them when they went on a vacation and it was something very memorable for them!

"Thank you, Divi and Vijay",she said ans hugged Divi.

"Now now, it's time to tie Rakhi to the youngest potato",Nikitha said and put tilak to both of them and tied Rakhi and fed sweet to both of them.

"Happy raksha bandhan Khushi and Sid",she said.

"Happy raksha bandhan akka, here is your small small gift from small small potato",she said and giggled.

"Happy raksha bandhan niki akka",Sid said.

This had been their tradition for two years, taking turns to celebrate Raksha Bandhan at each other's homes.

Despite the distance between them, their unbreakable bond remained unchanged.

"Alright, we have some news to share with all of you," Arjun stood up, capturing everyone's attention.

"Please don't tell me...don't tell me," Rithika exclaimed.

"Okay, we won't tell you," Nikitha began.

"But we're expecting, and we couldn't wait until today to share the news," Arjun announced, sparking wide-eyed reactions from the two others.

"Wait, are you serious, akka? Really, really serious?" Divya asked, sharing a meaningful glance with Vijay.

"Yes, we are. Why does it feel like..." Nikitha's voice trailed off.

"We're expecting too," Divya revealed, leaving the others in shock.

"When did this happen? How did you manage to keep it a secret? And how on earth did you travel in this condition? Divya, you're bending to receive blessings, huh?" Rithika's emotions ranged from excitement to concern.

Amidst the excitement, Ritisha started crying.

Aravind gently picked her up and moved away, knowing the enthusiastic chatter would continue for a while.

"No, I didn't fully bend, Rithu," Divya offered a puppy-eyed explanation.

"Stop pretending, you cute potato," Rithika laughed.

"Congratulations, akka. I'm sure the baby is incredibly fortunate to have you and jiju as parents," Divya congratulated Nikitha.

"Congratulations to you too, Divi," Nikitha responded, and the two sisters shared a heartfelt hug.

"Did you forget that I'm and will always be your first baby?" Khushi chimed in from behind, and Divya playfully embraced her in a side hug.

"Alright, everyone, sit down and tell us how far along you both are," Rithika prompted.

"I'm at two months," Divya shared.

"I'm at three months," Nikitha added.

"Ahh, I can't wait to attend your baby showers and hold your tiny babies in my arms," Rithika gushed with excitement.

"I remember holding Isha in my arms. She was so tiny," Nikitha reminisced.

"True," Divya agreed.

The four of them chatted for a while longer.

"Bava, I'm so thrilled today. Two more babies are joining our gang. Just imagine all these babies playing together at home, going on vacation, and having endless fun. Let's hope the evil eye stays away from our happiness, our family, and our babies," Rithika expressed, hugging Aravind, who affectionately patted her head and kissed her forehead.

Here's a special part of them on Raksha bandhan! How are you all doing? Thank you for the response on this book! Means a lot ❤✨