Epilogue
I was sleeping peacefully with my Princess snuggling into me with her head resting on my chest and my hands around her waist as I pulled half of her body upon me, our legs tangled with each other when the sunrays decided to break our precious sleep.
I felt Princess stirring in her sleep and held my hand in front of her face, blocking the rays, and searched for the remote to close the curtains with my eyes still closed. Once I got the hold of the remote, I closed the curtains and a satisfied sigh left Princess's lips as she got comfortable again.
I too dozed off, not wanting to leave my bed and my dear Princess just yet. After an hour more, I finally decided to wake up and made Princess's head rest on the pillow as I got down from the bed and walked into the bathroom to complete my chores. I got dressed in my regular three-piece suit which I am definitely going to change in a few minutes after Princess wakes up. But I have to attend an online conference so, I wore my formal.
"Nav," I heard Princess call out for me and walked to her. I kissed her forehead and she wound her hands around my neck as she slowly opened her eyes with a smile dancing on her lips. She gave me her breath-taking smile once she was completely awake and kissed my cheeks.
"Good morning, Nav!" She wished me with a grin.
"Good morning, Princess." I kissed both her cheeks and forehead before bending to her stomach.
"Good morning, baby!" I placed a gentle kiss on her baby bump. She is 14 weeks pregnant. Isha replied with a 'good morning Papa' in a baby voice to my wish and I chuckled at her reply.
"What do you want to eat for breakfast?" I asked once she got up and rested her head on the headrest. Her morning sickness is thankfully gone. It used to make me stressed and sad whenever my baby puked out everything she ate. Her exhaustion made me restless and I contacted all the top gynecologists but everyone was saying the same line that it was normal and it would go away once she entered the second trimester. If it was not Isha who stopped me, I was about to snap at all of them.
Thankfully, it really stopped once she entered the second trimester. Now she will just have cravings and mood swings. But her mood swings are not actually bad. She is either happy or extremely happy. She was never angry or sad with me, for which I am really thankful. But she snaps at everyone else except me, Ishaan, Abhishek, and Abir. Once when Khanna came to inform me about some work, she scolded him for literally 2 hours saying he was trying to snatch her husband from her. She also made me scold him for no mistake of his. But, when my Princess started tearing up, I couldn't help but snap at him.
After that, I gave him a bonus and a week holiday as I felt bad but that idiot said he wished Isha to scold him more so that he could get leaves with extra payment. After that, I forbade everyone from saying anything related to matters that involved me leaving her and attending work. I asked them to drop a message instead. She really hates it when I leave her and starts tearing up due to which I started working from home most of the time and visit the office only when it is very crucial. She usually stays with Ishaan or Abir at those times.
"I want Papa's poha!" She chirped and I nodded at her in reply. She had a bad morning sickness in her first trimester that made all of us worried and everyone in the family started cooking for her. She used to have one of the dishes we all made and to feed her at least something we all used to make one dish each. That's how Papa and Chachu who stopped cooking once they graduated, started entering the kitchen again for their daughter-in-law who's more than a daughter to them.
"I will inform Papa then. You freshen up by then." I patted her head and she slipped her legs into the slippers and walked to the washroom. I called Papa and informed him about her request and he agreed happily.
Once Princess was out of the bathroom, I took her to the ground floor where all our family members were waiting for us to have breakfast. I pulled out a chair for her and took a seat beside her. She had a few spoons of Poha and had her fruit juice after that.
"When will the artist come, bhai?" Abhigya asked me. It is her mehendi today. Yes, Abhigya and Ishaan are getting married and Abhishek and Priya are also engaged. I don't know why but Princess thinks Priya is suss and we have to wait for a while before getting them married. Abir being Abir supported his Bhabi maa and asked me to keep their relationship up to engagement for now. Not wanting to stress my Princess in this state and keeping Abir's doubts about Priya's family whom we never met, I made an excuse that we would get them married after Ishaan and Abhigya and Abhishek agreed happily.
"They will be here by three. " I informed and by the look exchanged between Ishaan and Abhigya they were going somewhere. Even though I want to stop them, they are engaged, and the moment any word of denial leaves my mouth he points out how his sister is married to me and he never throws tantrums like me. That was a complete lie. That idiot didn't even let us both meet until that day of the party and has the audacity to claim himself as a cool brother.
"Nav," Princess called out, giving me her best puppy eyes, and knew this was coming. Those idiots!
"No, Princess. We can't go out." I cleared out.
"Then why did you propose the idea of coming here in the first place? We were fine with a wedding in Jaipur but you proposed the idea of a destination wedding and now you are not even letting me explore the place!" she huffed with a pout, her hands folded on either side of her waist as she tried to fake glare at me.
"I proposed it because you were talking about staying at your parents till the wedding and I didn't want to stay away from both of you," I mumbled as I took her in a soft embrace. She smiled a little but covered it up quickly.
"Nav, please na!" She requested again and I don't have it in me to say no to her twice.
"Okay, but you will stick with me." I put forth my condition and she agreed happily. We are currently in Kashmir as Abhigya saw a movie where the couple gets married in the snow and she wants that. She said either we were going to Kashmir or we would settle for Jaipur and I chose Kashmir simply because I didn't want my Princess to stay away from me nor did I want her to miss her brother's wedding rituals and the destination wedding was the best solution.
I made sure to cover her up with all the warm clothes from head to toe and she didn't throw any tantrums as she was very much excited to go out. Once we were at the mountains she smiled happily and hugged my arms as she enjoyed the snowfall and the people playing in the snow. Once she was satisfied with the walk, admiring the scenic beauty of the hills covered with a blanket of clouds and the beauty of the greenery around, she urged us to return to the hotel and we did.
"Let's take a nap. We still have time," I suggested and she agreed. As I laid down on the bed, she got into the covers and rested her head on my chest as my hands found their way around her. Her soft breaths fell on my body as she closed her eyes smuggling into me. She always prefers my body warmth and as I am habituated to sleeping shirtless it didn't make much difference.
As I looked down at the woman sleeping peacefully on my chest, I couldn't help but thank god for sending this angel into my life. Women, do have a great impact on how a man turns out. Two women made a significant impact on my life. The woman who gave me birth made me so insecure that I couldn't even see myself as a worthy man. All the fame, money, awards, and success couldn't make me believe in my abilities and I was always under a constant fear of what if that was not enough.
Then this woman in my embrace, my wife entered my life. She is bold and confident but also a softy and a child at heart. She has the capability to mold her personality and demeanor according to the situation. She is a child in front of the family but once she steps into the office or her duties as Queen, she is that bold and confident woman who makes people look up to her. She is a true inspiration to many. She is a loving wife, responsible daughter-in-law, great boss, and compassionate Queen.
It was her ways of living that inspired me to try to strike a balance between my professional and personal life. Her entry into my life is like a miracle. She is someone who made me fall in love with myself. I love her and will keep loving her a little more with every passing day.
Her love for me is something I am proud of and will cherish for my life. A smile made its way to my lips as I reminisced about my life before her entry and how it changed with her beside me. She is not my want or need but my oxygen, my heartbeat without which I can't live. With a smile still lingering on my face, I gave in to the sleep.
"Nav," I get her hand softly caressing my jaw and opened my eyes. She was resting her head on my chest and looking up at me with a sweet smile.
"It's time to get ready, my King," she giggled as she stroked my jaw affectionately.
"Can't we go a little later, my Queen?" I asked as I took her hand in mine and kissed her palm. She shook her head with a smile and got up from me. I too sat up and hugged her to my chest and we stayed like that for a while before the villain of my romance decided to pop up.
"Bhabi maa!" Abir yelled from outside and Isha grinned hearing him.
"He was just away for two days. No need to get that happy!" I chided. I mean he just went out for two days for some stupid adventure with his friends and she is feeling so happy as if he got a medal in the Olympics on his return.
"Nav! He must be tired. Let me make his favorites for him." She chirped and got down to meet her dear Devar.
"Princess!" I exclaimed as my lips turned into a pout on their own.
"I still love you more than everyone Nav." She confessed and I felt my heart flip at her words.
"Won't our baby take that place once he/she arrives?" I inquired again. She's pregnant and I am worried about sharing her love instead of her. I mean I heard Maa(Isha's mom) saying she asked such questions to Dad but here I am asking them while Isha was cool about it.
"Nope. I can die for our baby but I live for you, Nav. You were, are, and will always be my first priority no matter what. I have already had a deal with our baby about that." She grinned.
"What deal?" I raised an eyebrow in amusement. She keeps talking to our baby all the time. I do too, but she speaks more.
"That I will give my entire attention to him the whole day but my nights will be his dad's and he won't disturb us. I also said to him he can have you all the evening." She said with a proud smile and I shook my head at her.
"It's her!" I exclaimed. I and Isha both are happy with whatever gender our baby is but we still bicker about it just for fun.
"It's him!" She argues.
"It's.."
"I love you!" She cut me off with her confession and my mouth hung open at that. She does that every time she wants me to stop speaking and my brain stops producing words as soon as it registers those three words from her.
"I know you love me too! More than our baby too." She leaves me alone and walks to her devar with a grin plastered on her face and they both squeal in joy once they see each other.
"I do, Princess. I love you more than everyone and everything in this world," I confess to myself.
Then I took out clothes for both of us. I specially requested the designer to make her clothes less weight and comfortable so that she won't feel suffocation and he did a great job. Once I settled the clothes on the bed, I made my way to get my princess back from that demon brother of mine.