Chapter 2 Memories

"Mumma, who is this little girl in Messo's lap?"

This was the first interaction of little Juno with his little Minni.

"She is going to be your best friend Arjun, just like me and your Messo are!"

"Mumma is this mean she will never gooo away? She will play with me, I can share my toys with her if she wants... I will even give her my Transformer robot if she wants... can we keep her with us? Mumma please.... pleeeeasee...."

He was pleading with his puppy eyes, making his mother and Messo laugh.

When he didn't get the response from his mother, he shifted his gaze to his lovely Messo and started pleading again.

"Messo, please if she is my best friend, can't I keep her? I promise, I will be a good boy and will not fight with her, she is too cute to have fight with... but why she is not talking, maybe she don't like me?

Does she not want to be friends with me... or live with me? Messo you know, I always get bored whenever you are not here because mumma and daddy always have to go to work... I don't like to stay with Nanny... pleeeasee, please, pleeease let her stay with me!"

"Hihi, hihi... eww funny!" (You are funny!)

These were the first words he heard from her mouth, followed by;

"How can I stay here wis eww, I have my momma also na, I can't sleep without her, eww dumb! Hihi."

(How can I stay here with you... you are dumb!)

"Bad manners Manya, you know that teasing somebody is not a good habit, say sorry to Arjun... now!"

"I don't say sorry Massi, I am never wrong! Daddy calls me princess and princesses are never wrong. I won't say sorry, I won't!"

She shook her head vigorously, and it felt like she was about to cry any moment now. Arjun noticed that, and said quickly;

"It's okay Messo, she is right, she also has to go home... but can she please come to play with me?"

Manya smiled and nodded,then suddenly popped a question- "How old are eww?"

Arjun smiled at how the little one was still learning the vocab and pronunciation and replied,

"I am 3 years old and how old are you?"

"Eww are a big boy. I will be two years old, tomorrow is my birthday, will eww come to my home?"

"Yes, but where do you live? I have never seen you at Messo's house before?"

"Aeei why are eww calling her 'Messo' she is my Massi , her name is Massi... eww donn know?" (You don't know?)

"No she is Messo, her name is Messo, you don't know!"

He replied, clearly agitated.

It seemed like they were about to fight but before they got interrupted by the elders, Arjun suddenly changed his statement and said,

"Yeah I think you are right! I called her 'Messo' because I am dumb... sorry!"

"Heyy don't call eww- urself dumb, eww are not dumb... we just learn everyday, eww learn today... Do you have teddy? I wanna play... or car?"

(Hey, don't call yourself dumb, you are not dumb... we just learn everyday, and you learnt this today. Do you have a teddy? I wanna play... or a car?)

"Ohh I have both, let's go! Come to my room, come, I'll show you my toy collection. You know, my dad got me a new hot wheels set from his trip to...." as they left the room, Meenal and Swara looked at them, amused.

Meenal looked at her best friend with her eyes widened with amusement. She had a smile on her face as she exclaimed,

"Did you notice that?I have never seen Arjun behaving like this- he was acting so mature. I also really don't want Manya to leave this house-"

She was in the middle of her sentence when she got interrupted in between by Swara,

"Oh really? You too want me to be dead meat by leaving the precious, one and only daughter of the house at your place?! It's never gonna happen, so tame your imaginations- for now at least, I know your biggest dream was to see our children get married to each other but we have to wait!"

Meenal understood the message Swara was trying to convey, but she really was whipped for the cute girl, just like her son was! Just like him, she didn't want her to leave either, but she knew that it was really not possible at that moment.

However, she also had some solace in the fact that this would surely be possible someday... so she was relaxed, at least for now.

"Okay so tell me how's Sagrika Di (elder sister) and Manav Jiju (brother-in-law), and why are they not here with you?"

"Ah! Easy girl, easy- they had to preside over the preparations for the 2nd birthday of their only terror child! Like literally, Manya has got all the stubbornness from Di and an attitude with her quick temper from jiju.

It's really the first time she is playing with anybody whom she has met for the first time. She really has the princess attitude who can rant anytime to any of her subservient creatures in her castle- and by castle I mean,the whole world is her castle according to her! God knows how this girl will survive with this attitude."

"Oh come on, Swara! You are just going overboard now, but wait! Tomorrow is her birthday, right? My Goodness! She is really Arjun's soulmate: his birthday is on January 27, remember? And tomorrow is June 15, exactly 139 days after his birthday!"

"Seriously, Meenal? Nevermind, now I have to go... Let's have a look at what the kids are doing."

"Please don't go!"

"But I have to... but I will again come to play, promise!"

"Pinky promise?"

He extended his finger hesitantly, looking towards his new friend for assurance.

Manya grabbed his finger immediately with her own and squealed,

"Yes, pinky promise!"

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