Chapter20

A week passed by after their visit to the preschool.
It was pretty much busy after that, with the admission papers and school shopping.
The Monday morning came by quickly and the Verma Mansion is so excited at the news of Ava
joining for school.
Janani gave Ava a bath in the morning and got her dressed in a beautiful cotton frock, purple in
color.
"Now let's tie your hair," Janani said, combing Ava's hair and tying it in two pigtails with purple
color bands and placing a hair band finishing her hair style.
"Now for accessories" she said and took a beads chain and tied it around Ava's neck and also
made her wear plastic bangles of the same color.
"Not ready yet??" Aadesh asked coming inside the room with Advi perched on his shoulders
who was gleefully clutching onto his chachu's hair and hopping on his shoulders.
"Nearly over. Socks and shoes left" Janani said and she made Ava sit on the bed and went to
the shoe rack
Aadesh quickly examined the shoe rack.
"There is no purple shoe" he said frowning
"White socks and shoes would be perfect with her dress" Armaan said as he walked into the
room taking in the sight of his almost ready daughter on the bed and her momma bustling
around the room.
Momma??
He sucked in a sharp breath.
Where did that thought come from?
All the excitement of Ava joining school is getting to his head.
Yeah, that's the reason why he is having incoherent thoughts quite often.
"Right. White would go good with purple" Janani agreed as she made Ava wear a white
stockings and shoes.
"All good to go sweetheart" Janani said as she gave a loud kiss on Ava's cheeks making the
little girl giggle.
Advi ,being the attention seeker he is ,didn't like all the attention being on his big sister,
specifically his mama's.
He clutched harder on his uncle's hair and pulled it making Aadesh wince and he ended up
wailing loudly taking all attention back on him.
"Aww baby. Come here" she took Advi from Aadesh making the kid stop his cries as if a switch
went off.
Armaan made his daughter wear her new school bag and water bottle around her shoulders and
neck and they all made their way to the school.
******
It was past one in the afternoon and Advi was having his afternoon nap.
Janani was staring at the clock every two minutes willing the time to pass so that it would be two
soon and they could go and bring Ava back home.
This all feels so real.
She feels as if she is living her own fairy tale.
A man ,two beautiful babies ,a brother and a home.
And worrying for Ava as if she is her own child.
If this is how she feels when Ava had gone to school for four hours ,how would she feel when
Ava gets married and goes to her sasuraal.
She could see herself bawling her eyes out leaning onto Armaan's shoulders while Advi and
another little boy teased her for being a cry baby.
"Janani??" She heard him calling out for her and a guilty color spread across her cheeks at the
inappropriate thoughts.
She couldn't meet his eyes.
What was she even thinking?
Married to Armaan Verma.
Impossible!!
The man who didn't marry either of his kids' mothers is going to marry her?? No way in hell!
She is treading on dangerous territory here.
"Janani??" He called again when he didn't get any response from her.
He was fascinated by the red color spread across her cheeks. He would do anything to know
what is going through her mind right now, making her blush like that.
Would that blush extend to places where he can't see? The dirty part of his brain quipped. He
shook his head to get rid of those thoughts.
How could someone look so beautiful without any makeup.
"Huh??" She asked not meeting his eyes
"Stop clock watching. You simply can't forwards the time how much ever you glare at the clock.
Remember, it was your idea to send her to the school" he said and her face fell.
"I thought it would be good for her to mingle with more kids" she mumbled
"It would be." He sighed as he sat next to her
"Why are you at home?? You didn't go to office??" She asked
"I took an off as its Ava's first day. What if she cried at school and we were called upon??" He
said
And he had an inkling that Janani is going to be upset after Ava has gone to school. Somehow
he wanted to be around her.
He didn't understand why he was doing all this.
"Oh I didn't think of that. What if she had cried and they didn't call me?? Why didn't I think of
that?? What if she is not comfortable there?? What if someone bullied her there?? I should call
and ask if everything is alright " she was rambling in worry at the thought of all the scenarios
running in her head.
She stood up to make a call to the school only to be pulled back to the couch.
At the unexpected action from him she stumbled and fell against his chest and her breath
hitched.
She could feel his breath on her face and he was looking at her intensely, making her shiver.
"Relax! She is okay. I did call them half an hour ago" he whispered looking her straight into her
eyes.
He raised his hands and gently tucked the wayward fringes of hair behind her ears.
She sucked in a breath sharply.
"What is it about you that is so fascinating??" He whispered.
"What do you mean??" She whispered back.
"You are an enigma Janani Trivedi. And you are driving me crazy" he said and his fingers traced
her jawline.
His other hand which was holding her wrist moved towards her palms and he slowly lifted it to
his mouth and pressed a barely there kiss to her fingertips.
She was transfixed, her heart thudding behind her breastbone as she held his mesmerising
gaze.
"Why did you do that??" She asked
"I am not sure why" he answered somewhat gravely
"To be honest, Janani, I sometimes feel when I am with you that I am dealing with two different
people," Armaan said in wonder.
He paused for a moment, his dark chocolate eyes boring into hers before he added musingly.
"I wonder which one of the you is real??"
Janani pulled her hands out of his and put some distance between them as she tried to stem
her rising panic.
"I don't know what you mean by that? You make it sound as if I have some multiple personality
disorder" Janani said with an awkward laugh.
"I got to know many things about you ever since you showed up for the surrogacy, up until two
months back where you were last seen in Delhi ,and I am at loss for I do not see any evidence
of those things that disturbed people involved" Armaan said
"Perhaps I have changed," she said, deliberately avoiding his eyes.
"People do, you know. Having a child is a very life changing event" she added
"Of course. But I cannot help but think there must be more to it" he said
Armaan watched the play of emotions on her face, the shadow of worry in her eyes and the way
her smooth forehead adopted a slightly anxious look that he found so incredibly engaging.
He has been spending most of his time nowadays thinking about her, wondering what it would
be like to have her in his arms, to have her long hair splayed across his chest, her limbs
entwined with his.
It was as if, knowing she was forbidden to him, his body had decided to crave her relentlessly.
He could feel it now, the steady throb of desire pounding through his veins.
He wanted to hate her, needed to hate her, in order to keep her at distance, but in spite of all his
efforts the hatred was slipping away to be replaced by something much more dangerous.
Janani was at loss to know what to say in response.
She thought of snapping back with a Saanvi style retort but couldn't bring herself to do it.
"Have you nothing to say Janani??" He asked after another long silence.
She lifted her gaze to his, deciding the only way out of this was a complete change of subject.
"I think it's time Ava's school got over. When do we leave??"