Skin

Part 16- Come Home

"Thank God you all came! What took you so long?!" Dadi asked excitedly as she got up to greet the person outside the front door...

Shockingly, it was none other than Nirmala, Kunal, and Meghna.

Everyone else remained frozen in their seats in shock.

"Oh... there was traffic." Nirmala said with a small smile and misty eyes as she broke out of her thoughts.

"This traffic always getting in the way." Dadi said shaking her head.

"But never mind that, come here, come inside." Dadi said with a soft smile.

"Uh.. actually-." Nirmala began to say, not knowing how to enter the house that she had left long ago, not knowing if she had the right to anymore.

"Are you a new bride or something?" Dadi asked raising an eyebrow.

"No..." Nirmala answered confused by the question.

"Then why are you standing out there like your waiting for me to do your 'ghar pravesh?' I can do it if you want... what do you think about that Nanu?" Dadi asked teasingly to both Nirmala and Nk, who was now slowly getting up, looking at Nirmala with an undefinable look, everyone slowly coming out of their shock, as they slowly made their way to the front door.

"Oye at least have some shame in front of your kids." Dadi said jokingly with a soft smile as Nirmala and NK kept staring at each other, not knowing what to do.

"And you come inside already." Dadi said sternly before she pulled a protesting Nirmala inside the house by grabbing her hand, not knowing the significance of the situation, as Nirmala looked around the house that she was now standing in with teary eyes. Karan and Khyati who had come out of their shock instantly hugged their Mom. While Naina remained glued to the spot she was standing in, not being able to process anything. And Rishi just stood awkwardly at the side, because he had never met Nirmala, Kunal, and Meghna before, but he gave a small smile at how happy Khyati looked after seeing her mom.

"Oh look at this, I tell the mother to come inside, but her children are still standing outside, do both of you need a 'ghar pravesh' too? I can do that if you want, after all, I missed your first one, because you didn't even invite me to the wedding." Dadi said with a fake cute pout.

"Hawh. Bua dadi we did invite you to the wedding, it was you who was too busy to come." Kunal said breaking out of his thoughts, with a teary chuckle, as unfallen tears pricked his eyes, longing to enter the house that he had grown up in, a house that was no longer his.

"Okay okay no need to get defensive, I admit it was a little bit my fault that I missed your wedding." Dadi said with a short chuckle.

"But look at how much you've grown, and my badi bahu is so beautiful." Dadi said lovingly as she cupped Meghna's cheek, breaking her out of her thoughts, Meghna stood there with a slightly angry look on her face.

"Namaste Bua dadi." Meghna said not being able to stop herself from smiling softly at seeing the joy on Dadi's face, reaching down to get blessings.

"Don't do that, come here, hug me, both of you." Dadi said happily, opening her arms for a hug, Kunal and Meghna looked at her, not knowing what to do because to hug Dadi they would need to enter the house first.

"Come on." Dadi said smiling, pulling them both in for a hug by grabbing their hands, simultaneously pulling them inside the house, not knowing the significance of the situation, as a few silent tears fell from Kunal's eyes and hit the floor of the Chauhan mansion, a floor that he thought he wasn't ever going to stand on ever again, while Meghna laid a hand over his hand behind Dadi's back as they were hugging her, to comfort him, making him smile a little.

"Kunal bhai." Both Karan and Khyati said at the same time with teary smiles as they rushed to hug him.

"You guys missed me a lot, huh?" Kunal asked teasingly as he hugged them back, tears running down all of their faces.

"Of course, we missed you, what kind of idiot leaves for a whole-!" Khyati began to yell angrily but then stopped mid-sentence when she noticed the confusion on Dadi's face because of her outburst.

"Meghna bhabhi." Karan said with a small smile, to cover up Khyati's slip-up, both of them hugging Meghna too as tears fell from all of their eyes.

And as soon as Karan said Meghna's name, Naina who was still frozen in shock let out a small smile, coming to the conclusion that this was indeed real and not just a dream, her smile getting brighter and brighter by the minute.

'Oh my God, this is real! This is real! Please don't let this be a dream!' Naina yelled in her mind, excitedly.

'Meghu di, Kunal jeeju, Maa, they're all here! Someone pinch me. No wait, don't. I want to be in this moment forever!' Naina yelled in her mind with a megawatt smile, hoping that this was real.

Meghna who had now separated from Khyati and Karan, looked towards Naina who was smiling brightly, in confusion. Pushing down the slight hurt that she felt when Naina made no move to greet her, wondering what she was smiling about.

'Aww cheeku looks so cute when she smiles like that, she should smile more often.' One side of Meghna's mind thought lovingly, with a smile.

'That smile probably means that Mrs. Chauhan is plotting something.' Another side of Meghna's mind thought bitterly, cutting off any protests of the other side. As Meghna's smile turned into a frown.

"Dad." Kunal suddenly said in a broken but hopeful voice at the same time, breaking everyone out of their thoughts as they turned their attention to what was happening in front of them.

NK and Kunal, Father and Son, stood in front of each other, both teary-eyed as they looked at one another, at a loss for words, because even one wrong word could shatter the relationship that had already broken.

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