Author's POV

Steam curled up from the cup of tea, catching up with the contrary, slightly cold, dewy Lucknow mornings. The living room buzzed with the faint hum of conversation, light jokes and small smiles.

From the staircase, soft, frequent rustles of footsteps drew the family’s attention, announcing her arrival. The chaos in her footsteps totally mirrored that of her mind.

Her appearance looked exactly like her— beauty wrapped in chaos. Her slightly tangled open hair waving around her just like the curtains do with the breeze. Her clothes looked bizarre, just like someone who just won some WWE match with her sleep.

But her smile… it was like that star which can single handedly light up the whole night sky.

"Beta dheere." A lady dressed in a rich green saree, around in her late fifties said, with concern.

Yet, despite all the warning and the consequences of tumbling down she still ran down the stairs, with a wide smile and twinkling eyes leading the way.The whole family watched her with the same amusement and awe they had felt when they saw her rushing into the temple earlier.

As she entered the temple, her smile widened as she glanced at the statue of her beloved Kanaha in front of her.

She joined her hands, bowing in front of her deity she sat down close to him.

“Thank you thank you thank you Kanaha jii. I love you so much.” She chuckled softly and continued, “Aap hi to hai mere pyaare kanaha…thank you so much for helping me step one more step forward in my dream. Thank you so much Kanaha jii.”

About 10 minutes later, she left the mandir after joining her hands for the last time and muttering another thank you to her Kanaha ji.

As she entered the main hall with a wide smile where the family was already waiting for the news, curious for her sudden excited run.

Meet Aarushi Khanna, a 27-year-old young woman who carries the charm of a playful child with a warm personality, radiating a warm and bright glow like a ray of sunshine. Her dusky-hued skin tone complemented by her captivating blue eyes and a slender, petite body frame of 5 '6 . Professionally a serious journalist, while also hiding her lighthearted and mischievous spirit akin for her family and people .

She moved towards her eldest sister in law, her bhabhi, Aaradhna and with a mischievous and sincere smile bent down and touched her feet for her blessings. “I did it bhabhi maa. I did it! Gold level cleared!” She whispered with a teary, wide smile.

“Hey! What are you doing? Don’t make me commit a sin by letting you touch my feet!” Aaradhna exclaimed, flabbergasted. But before she could recover, her expression shifted to shock, excitement, and surprise. “What? Gold level cleared? Sachchi?”

Aarushi nodded, a watery chuckle escaping her lips. Without hesitation, Aaradhna pulled her into a tight hug. “I am so proud of you, little sister. I am so happy for you, girl.” she said, her brown eyes misty, mirroring Aarushi’s sparkling blue ones.

Aarushi chuckled, nodding with the tears of happiness, accomplishment, success and mostly of completing a dream and phrasing it as ‘the dream come true’.

Aaradhna broke the hug feeling the absence of the third member not being present. Siya. Aarushi's second sister in law, her second cheer leader.

Aaradhna moved her eyes from Aarushi to Ved, Siya's husband. “Where is Siya?”

“She's resting in the bedroom, maybe sleeping. As she has been having morning sickness since early morning.”

A look of mischief passed between the two, and without listening to anything more, both of them almost ran upstairs towards Siya's room hand-in-hand.

The rest of the family, completely clueless about this mysterious ‘Level Gold,’ exchanged confused looks.

Abhiyansh, Aaradhna’s husband and Ved gave each other a recognisable look, nodding at each other followed both the ladies knowing how much of a chaos they three cook together.

As both the ladies reached the entrance of Siya's bedroom without knocking silently tip-toed towards the bed where Siya lay, to check if she, the seven months pregnant woman was asleep or just resting.

"Siyu" Aardhana whispered softly, caressing Siya's hair.

Siya smiled seeing both of them in her room and sat up carefully.

“Good morning A square { A² }” Siya replied, her face pale from exhaustion.

“Adhira ki Chima, Ved bhai ki jaan, Aaru ki darling, aur humare babies ki mumma. Dil thaam ke baithiye, kyuki Aaru has something to tell you.” Aaradhna said dramatically plopping herself next to Siya on the bed.

Siyaa and Aarushi both chuckled at Aaradhna's theatrics. “Yes mam, tell me the heart holding news, miss journalist.” Siya giggled, asking.

"Bhabhi-maa, one second yeah!” Aarushi said chuckling and then touched Siya's feet to take her blessings.

Siya shared a surprised look of eyes with Aaradhna whose own eyes were teary due to Aarushi's gesture. Not because she touched both of their feet, but because she called them bhabhi maa . Adding Maa to a relationship, shows the immense respect and love for that person. And hearing their little sister calling them bhabhi maa was not something they thought they would hear so randomly on a one fine morning.

“Little one, I've told you a thousand times to not touch my feet.” Siya exclaimed softly, clearing her throat.

Aarushi chuckled and replied smiling," As if I touch your feet daily. Today it was necessary to take blessings of both my bhabhi maas. So I did what I felt was necessary"

“Okay okay. Aaru, tell her the news first.” Exclaimed Aaradhna.

“Level Gold Cleared.” Aarushi said excitedly covering her ears beforehand.

"Aaaaaaaaa. Yeeeahhhh. I kneww itttt ki meri aaru kar legii." Siya screamed excitedly, taking Aarushi in a hug, as much as it was possible with her baby bump.

Both Abhiyansh and Ved covered their ears, as they heard her loud excited scream and chuckled. "Koi hume bhi bataega , kya hai ye level gold, ki hum bhi thodi khushi mana le." Ved said entering the room with Abhiyansh, standing next to Aaradhna side hugging her, who leaned on her brother-in-law more feeling the brotherly comfort he exuded.

"Okay so just know that she was doing some research for her article for a long period of time and today she cleared the semi final stage, as she doesn't want to tell anyone about what it is right now." Siya replied excitedly, still keeping the secrecy of the level gold.

"I am so proud of you, meri chipkali. " Abhiyansh exclaimed, hugging her, feeling like an extremely proud father. For him, Aarushi was not just his younger sister who is three years younger than him but more like his first daughter .

Elder sibling thing!

"Thankyou Bhai.” Aarushi replied smiling when Ved hugged her and said, “Khushi, bache I too, am very much proud of you.”

"Mee too " Aardhana exclaimed, hugging both of them , while Abhiyansh joined the hug too, adding a “Me too” himself.

They broke the hug in a few seconds when they heard some sniffling sounds, finding Siya crying with big fat tears .

"Kya hua Siyu?" Abhiyansh asked, softly washing off her tears .

“You guys forgot me.” She pouted .

The room erupted into hugs, laughter, and happy tears—everyone expressing pride in their own way.

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