After the naming ceremony, with Tej in his arms, Arjun was standing in front of the wall where all their ancestors' portraits were hanged.

He was standing in front of his mother's portrait as if talking to her. Tia quietly came and stood beside him. There was silence for a few minutes till he spoke up.

"If Maa-sa was here today, she would have been very happy...." he smiled sadly.

"Wherever she is, she must be watching us and will be very happy."

"Hmm..."

There was silence again.

"I miss her a lot...." his cracked voice broke the silence.

She turned her gaze from the portrait to him and saw his eyes turn glassy. She kept a hand over his shoulder.

"She must be very proud of you. The way you took care of Gayatri, she must have been very proud of you."

"Maybe..." he took a pause before continuing "Gayatri and Tejaswini were very small when that accident happened. Gayatri was immature, it took her very long to realize what tragedy took plave. She had thought that like always Maa-sa must have gone somewhere with Meera-maa, I mean...Tejaswini's mother. And Tejaswini...she literally used to follow Meera-maa like a shadow. She was totally traumatised..."

Tia was intently listening to him but her eyes were stuck on Tej.

"Rani-sa, why did you name him...." he couldn't even finish the question.

"Why did I name him 'Tej'?" just like always she completed his question with a chuckle. "Accidentally Gayatri had blurted out in front of me. And even the meaning of it is so nice. Just like his name, even he has lightened up our lives," she placed a light kiss on his forehead, "And he's my pride, that's why 'Pratap'," she rubbed her nose with the baby's with a huge grin.

A smile automatically curved on his face.

"Rani-sa, tell me...."

"Hmm," she replies lightly caressing Tej's head as he sleeps peacefully in his father's arms.

"I don't understand how do you always know what I am going to say?" he laughed in surprise.

"Maybe....." she acts to be thinking, "Maybe we are soulmates!"

Both bursted out laughing which broke Tej's peaceful sleep.

"Oh so sorry, baby," Tia took him in her arms as he yawned cutely.

"Awww, he yawns so cutely."

"Just like you..." Tia blurted out and immediately bit her tongue.

"Hmm....someome seems to be observing me very closely. Isn't it, baby?" Arjun asks Tej teasing Tia.

Tia blushed.

As they were busy playing with their little bundle of joy, someone cleared their throat. They turned around to find Gayatri, closely followed by her friends.

"Sorry to disturb, newbie parents. But everyone wants to see our little prince charming," teased Gayatri.

One-by-one Reema, Freda and Payal hugged Tia, while Nikhil shook hands with Arjun. Yohan just waved at them from a distance.

"Oh my God, he's so cute!" chirped Payal.

"After all he's my nephew," Gayatri dramatically flicks her hair.

"Ha ha ha! Very funny," says Reema.

"His eyes are so lovely!" exclaims Freda.

"Just like Arjun's," replied Tia with a smile.

"And look at his nose! It's just like his mother's," Arjun teased.

"What did you say?" Tia was angry, "I gave you such a nice compliment and you are bad-mouthing about me!" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"When did I bad-mouth about you? I meant, his nose is very cute like yours," Arjun pinched her cute little nose lightly.

"Awww!" Everyone exclaimed at once and laughed.

Yohan watched from a distance as they laughed and talked together.

At midnight, Tia squirms in sleep. Her hand lands on the bedsheet beside her. Immediately she opened her eyes and found that side empty.

"Where did Arjun and Tej go?" she wondered.

While getting down from the bed, she looks towards the balcony. She sees Arjun walking in the balcony, trying to put Tej back to sleep. She admires the view and silently takes a picture of it.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" she asks in a low voice as she enters the balcony.

He turns around, surprised to see her awake.

"I didn't want to disturb your sleep. Aap bohot ghehre neend mein thi."

"You have to go to office tomorrow morning. Give Tej to me, you go to sleep."

"No," he held her hand to stop her from taking Tej. "Rani-sa, if I have to go to office then even you have to recover quickly and resume university. You should sleep peacefully. I am here, don't worry."

"But how will you...."

"Tej is my responsibility as well, I will take care of him. You go and sleep," he assured her. "And from today, whoever's sleep is disturbed first will take care of him without waking the other. Deal?" he forwards his free hand.

She chuckles and takes his hand, "Deal."

~

Sitting against the headboard, Tia was reading a book.

"Hey, hi," Tia greets as Arjun enters.

"Hi. Where is Tej?" he sits beside her on the bed.

"He's with Gayu and Baba-sa. How did you come home so early?"

"I wasn't able to concentrate in the office. So came back."

"Did you have lunch? Or should I arrange for food?"

"No, I had it in the office. You tell, how are you?"

"Much better."

"So...when are you resuming your classes?"

"Arjun, it's not even a month since I came back home. How can I resume so soon? Let Tej grow up a bit."

"Rani-sa, he is not going anywhere. But you cannot quit your studies in between. When Tej will be older, he will feel so bad knowing that his mother is a university drop-out?"

He questioned that so dramatically that Tia burst out laughing very hard.

"On a serious note, why do you worry so much about Tej! There is so many in this house to take care of him. And Baba-sa will be more than happy if we leave Tej with him!"

"Yes, that's true. I will think about it," a yawn escapes from her mouth, "For now... I am very sleepy."

"It's okay, you shold take some rest," Arjun searches for something in the bedside table drawers.

"I wasn't asking for your permission, but thanks," she says getting down from the bed.

"Hmm," his full concentration was on the search.

"What are you looking for?"

"There was an important paper.... Can't find it," he continued his search.

"Tell me, I will help you find it."

"No, it's fine. I will look for it. You go."

"Okay," she shrugged her shoulders and went to the washroom.

After a while, Tia came out of the washroom and  was surprised to see Arjun already asleep.

"Weird! I was sleepy but Arjun went to sleep," she chuckled.

She got on her side of the bed and admired him sleeping. She bent down and planted a kiss on his forehead. On pulling back, she found him staring at her with a grin.

Laughing, she said, "You didn't sleep?"

"No..." he rolled over her and said, "Weren't you asking what was I looking for?"

She nodded slightly. He slid his hand under his pillow and brought a paper out. He turned it towards her for her to see it.

"Contract of Marriage. Of Arjun Goenka & Tia," all the colors from her face drained as soon as she read it.

Realization hit her! It reminded her the deal they had, which she had forgotten long back. She had forgotten it because she thought their relationship was evolving with every passing day and it might become something more than just a contract marriage. But maybe she was wrong...

Cupping her face, Arjun kissed on her forehead. His lips lingered on her forehead longer than necessary, which confused her. He pulled back and stared deeply into her eyes before doing something she had never expected him to do....

He tore the paper into smallest possible pieces! She couldn't believe her eyes. The hope she lost just a few minutes earlier, was back on track again. She could finally see their relation actually becoming something more than just a deal. Her inner self was doing a happy dance while her outer self was frozen.

"From now onwards..... Friends?" he smiled at her.

She smiled back, "Friends!"

He planted another kiss before getting down the bed.

"I don't think that was very friend-ish..." she narrowed her eyes at his retreating figure.

"That was for the mother of my child," he chuckled, "I am going to bring Tej," and closed the door behind him.

As he left, her mind was busy considering all the possible future they could have together.

~

Tia arrives outside Maharaj's room with a tray with a glass of milk and finds it open. On entering she sees him going through a photo album with a smile.

"Baba-sa," She goes beside him and peeks into the album. "Milk for your medicines."

"Hmm.... Keep it on the table," his eyes were glued at the photos.

"Baba-sa...what are these?" She enquires keeping the glass on the bedside table.

"This is my very close friend Maharana Viren. Look at this one... Arjun, Tejaswini, Gayatri, Jai and Praneet," he chuckled seeing a picture of them playing.

"Who is this? She's so beautiful...." Tia stops at a photo of a young pretty woman with little Arjun.

"This is Maharani Meerabai, Tejaswini's mother. She was a very good friend of Kadambari. I and Viren became friends because of them actually. Arjun was so fond of her that he used to call her 'Meera-maa'. She was the one to suggest that we should turn our friendship into kinship."

Tia turned over some more pages as Maharaj narrated.

"What is happening over here?" She pointed towards a picture where Maharana Viren and Maharaj are scribbling something on a paper.

He frowns seeing the picture, "This picture is from that day when we decided to turn our friendship into kinship. We were just sitting idly when we thought that..." he pauses.

"Baba-sa, you can tell me," she keeps a hand on his shoulder.

He smiles at her and continues, "We had thought that that Arjun-Tejaswini and Gayatri-Jai's relationship will be the foundation of the merging of our ancestries. And if any of them have a son, we'll name him Neevansh, Neev for foundation and Vansh for ancestry," he smiles caressing the photo, "We were writing about that here."

"Neevansh..." she repeats the name thoughtfully. "Why didn't you say this during the naming ceremony? If you wanted this, you should've said it. It's such a lovely name!"

He looks at her astonished, "This name wasn't for my grandson only, it was for Viren's grandson as well. I thought it will be very selfish of me if I give my grandson this name," he says sadly.

"Ow..."

After giving medicines to Maharaj, Tia came back to their room where Arjun was playing with Tej.

"Where have you been?"

"Sorry, I had gone to give medicines to Baba-sa."

"Okay. You stay with Tej, I am going to take a shower."

Tia nods as Arjun goes for a shower.

She took Tej in her arms and talks to him, "You are very lucky. You are so small yet everyone has so many names for you. You might not have the blood of the Chauhans but you are definitely the foundation of my and Arjun's relation. That's why, I will call you Neev. Okay?"

Tej smiles a bit.

"Looks like you liked your new name. But this should be a secret between Neev and Mumma, okay?"

He smiles again as if agreeing to her.

"That's like my good boy!" She kisses his cheek.

~

Tia is demonstrating Arjun how to put a diaper on Tej. He watches with full concentration.

"Understood?" Tia asks once she's done.

"Yes! Now my turn."

"Arjun, this is your one and only chance. It's not good to make him wear and remove the diaper continuously."

"Arre, Rani-sa, you don't have to worry. I will do it at once!" he says confidently.

"Okay, let's see."

As soon as Arjun unstraps the diaper, Tej pisses on him. Tia couldn't help but burst into laughter seeing Arjun's shocked face. He glares at her angrily.

"What did you do, Tej..."

"Go and change," she manages to say in between her giggles.

"Laugh, Rani-sa, laugh as much as you want. I will definitely avenge for this. I am warning you...."

Tia rolls her eyes at him and takes Tej in her arms to change his clothes.

"Awwllee my baby, Mumma..." her speech gets interrupted as Tej pisses on her as well.

"Baby, what wrong did Mumma do to you...." she pouts.

This time Arjun laughs uncontrollably like a mad person.

"Arjun, stop laughing!" Tia hisses in anger.

The subtle chuckling of their little one interrupted their fighting session. They turned around to see Tej chuckling which made them smile in adoration as well.

~Updated on 20th Dec'18~
~Translated on 7th Feb'19~

Another super loooooong chapter. This was supposed to be a 4k+ words chapter, but moved the last portions to another chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to comment about the good parts you liked and the parts you didn't liked. Your feedbacks are the most precious for me.
Thank you❤