9. The Strange Dream

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Aarohi Goenka Birla found herself in a beautiful garden with waterfalls, colourful flowers, huge trees and before her stood an unbelievable unicorn. She pinched herself to confirm whether it was a dream. She felt no pain, indeed this was a dream, a dream x100 times better than the reality. She smiled widely as she climbed up the horse and rode it with ease.

She roamed around the whole huge garden, her giggles echoing in the air. The birds welcomed her with their chirpy songs and the butterflies danced to them. Aarohi soon halted the horse when she saw a mysterious cave behind the waterfall. She climbed down, and pulled out her sword, tip-toeing towards the cave, fighting all the hurdles in between.

She stopped at the entrance and couldn't believe her eyes at the scenario infront of her. There was a huge, dreamy palace before her eyes. Aarohi squealed with excitement as she ran across the corridors of the beautiful palace. She entered into the king's court only to find the throne pre-occupied by someone. She scrunched her nose as she couldn't see the person's face, and suddenly everything got so blurry. She gradually took steps ahead, each step revealing something about the person. She stopped exactly before him, dumbstruck seeing Neil Birla before her eyes.

He bowed down before her saying, "Welcome to my palace princess, Wanna be the Queen?"

And Aarohi, who was so mesmerized at the beauty of this dream, nodded her head in affirmative. The King held the queen's hand and they began a slow dance. Everything was so surreal and wonderful except the music that played in the background when they danced, it sounded like an alarm.

_________

Neil Birla woke up pissed at the noise of the continuously ringing alarm. He half sat on the bed, and widened his eyes seeing Aarohi still laying on the couch and smiling with her eyes closed. He scrunched his eyebrows and rubbed his eyes expecting this to be dream, cause Aarohi sleeping still, paying no heed to the alarm was so rare. He got up, walked to her and realised she was dreaming. He surprisingly smiled and quickly caught her pictures in the camera.

"Khwaab me hi sahi, khush to hai." He said to himself nodding his head sideways still smiling at Aarohi who was now even making slight movements.

He chuckled as she half raised her hand in the air and moving her head as a nod. He brought the alarm clock close to her ears sitting on his knees and her features got tense. He whisper chuckled as she started murmuring gibberish and gradually started opening her eyes.

As soon as Aarohi saw Neil beside her, she screamed and sat up while he fell on his back with a thud.

"Tum yaha kar rahe ho?" She screamed again, looking at him with a questioning face.

"Apne aap paas bhi dekhlo Chipkali, ye mera room hai, aur 2 din se to yahi ho tum, aise puchrahi ho jaise kisi palace se aayi ho." He replied holding his elbow, wincing in pain.

Aarohi roamed her eyes around the whole room gulping. She looked at her husband who was before her and the king she saw in her dream. She placed her palm on her chest to feel her racing heartbeats, "What a dream!" She whispered to herself with a sigh and took an exit to get ready.
________

Aarohi walked downstairs, settling the bag on her shoulder when Manjiri Birla came between her way.

"Today is Sunday. Mujhe pata hai doctors ke liye nahi hota hai, lekin phir bhi, aaj mat jao." She asked kindly smiling at her daughter in law. Aarohi opened her mouth to resist but gave up smiling and nodding her head.

Thus, Aarohi stayed back to spend her first Sunday at her in-laws. She entered the kitchen and helped her mother in law, who was making pancakes for the breakfast.

"Yes, that spoon." Manjiri pointed out and Aarohi got it for her.

"Tumhe pata hai, Neil also helps me in the kitchen. He loves spending time with his family, especially with me and Abhi-" She paused in between, her smile fading and Aarohi sighed. Some scars are hard to heal.

Their trance got disturbed by Neil, who entered the kitchen with his hand locked with Nishtha's neck. "What's brewing? We're hungry maa." Manjiri smiled and they had a small conversation about the breakfast.

Aarohi looked at the happy-go-merry Neil after ages, he cheered up his mom, laughed along with Anisha, played the role of the referee for Shefali and Parth, teased Nishtha and started lame joking again. She then looked at Manjiri beside her, who wiped a lone tear from her eyes smiling.

"He is the life of this house." Manjiri spoke and Aarohi keenly kept listening to her, "My Neil is such a pure soul. You know,-" Manjiri looked at Aarohi with pride filled eyes, "He never fails to refresh everyone's mood, khud ke andar toofaan bhi chal raha ho, phir bhi his first priority will always be his people. I'm so proud of him."

Aarohi smiled unknowingly as she stared at her husband. Neil suddenly grinned at her, bringing her out of the trance and she realised she was staring at him the whole time. Shittt! Aarohi's self respect is at stake.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

To,
@_blueslays_

Just like how a
little light can glow
Up the whole dark room
His smile can keep everything in flow

I never wondered
Nor ever tried to understand him
But now that I'm doing it
I cannot not withstand him

The dream my brain
Just hit me with
Why does it seem like
There's a message behind it

Is this again a sign,
That I've to be his for lifetime?
Is this the message,
That we're going to be together all the time?

Listen to my heart? Mr blueslays, Heart only pumps the blood, okay? Don't romantisice this scientific thing please, it's ewww!

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

To,
@_writerrohi_

Ewww? Dude, fall in love once, and see how everything gets romantisiced by itself. You'll feel it too one day, my gut feeling says. And yes, never ignore your dreams, they reflect your feelings. It's just a way, your body communicates with you, listen to it.

I'm in my dreamworld
Where she's there
And where we are together
Literally everywhere

Seeing her bond
With my family gradually
Stops my heartbeats, and I fall for her
again and again, simultaneously

Seeing her smiling again
And getting back normal
Being carefree once again
And stopping being so formal

Just stabs my heart
With love and only love
And this feeling I've for her
Will be enough to live the rest of my life.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•

A/N:
A bit late, Ik.
Do tell me how did you imagine princess Aarohi, Like I imagined the 'Princess Jasmine alike' look of Karishma from Akshu's mehendi.
Also, all thanks to floatingstarsx who inspired me for writing the "Queen Aarohi" dream sequence.

Thank you!

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