Chapter 14
"Cute family"
Janani looked up from feeding Ava when she heard the voice and saw the sales girl who was assisting her looking at them and sighing, a dreamy smile on her face.
"Oh no. We are...-" Janani began to correct the sales girl but Armaan beat her to it.
"Thank you" he said with a smile and added "why don't you go ahead and bill all those clothes we selected. We will be right behind you"
"Sure Mr Verma" the sales girl smiled and walked away taking the shopping bag with her.
"Why did you let her think that we are a family? I was going to tell her" Janani frowned at Armaan
"And have her advertise our surrogacy deal?" He asked dryly
"You could have told I am the nanny" Janani countered
"She heard Advi crying for you calling you mama. I don't have the time to sit here and explain the complicated relation we share" Armaan said taking the empty bottle from Advi and giving it back to Janani.
"Right" she mumbled reluctantly
"Now come on. The shopping is over right " Armaan asked standing up.
He looked at Advi and saw he was occupied with the pen he took from Armaan's shirt pocket.
When did he take that??
"Over? Not in the least!" she said, making him frown.
"We need more things that could keep them both occupied during the day so that they would sleep through the night" Janani said, her eyes already wandering around the shop
Shopping isn't too bad, she thought
When she isn't the one who is spending the money.
She cringed at her own thoughts.
"You mean we need more toys. She doesn't even play with the ones I already bought" Armaan said with a sad smile looking at his daughter who is clinging onto Janani's hands.
"That's because the only thing you bought her are dolls" Janani said
"But I thought baby girls likes dolls" Armaan said with a confused frown.
"They do. But even baby girls love more than dolls" she said
"So what is it that we need to buy??" Armaan asked bending down to pick up the pen Advi dropped and handed it back to him.
"First of all we need a play yard" Janani said and Advi again dropped the pen down making Armaan bent down to pick it up again.
"Keep that pen away Armaan. He will keep dropping it as long as you pick it up. It is a game for him" Janani said and Armaan chuckled at the naughtiness of his son.
"Well, about the play yard, I will ask one of my architects to design one and we will begin the construction soon," Armaan said, nodding eagerly as this is something he knows very well.
He had made his first million through construction business.
Now he have spread the empire in different areas, but construction business would always be the paragon of his business.
He looked down to see Janani gaping at him
"What??" He asked frowning
"Why would you need an architect??" Janani asked in wonder
"That's right! We don't need one. I will design the play yard for my babies myself" he said with a touch of pride in his voice.
Janani shook her head and walked towards the elevator with Ava in her arms and asked Armaan to follow her.
Once they reached a floor down, Janani took him to where some colourful structures, some with bars and some with net around the sides, but open at the top where stocked.
There were multiple designs in multiple colors .
"This is??" He asked already feeling like a fool
"Play yard. Back in the days moms used to call them playpens. We have gotten more politically correct and call them play yards now" she said
"We can put them both in this together so they can sit together and play and the walls are high enough so that they can't crawl around and get into trouble" Janani said
"Ah" he said, watching Janani drag a cart towards them and make Ava sit in the cart seat making the little girl giggle in excitement.
"I take it there is going to be some assembly required" he said as he watched her load a compact box into the cart.
"Unfortunately yes!! " she said wincing
"Maybe we could ask the manager to send someone to set it up for us" Janani said making Armaan gape at her
"I worked in construction sites for years before I started my own company, and even then I had to work with the crew sometimes" he said pride singing in his veins
"I think I can handle putting together a playpen" he said indignation firing his voice
"Play yard " she corrected absently
She thought he had inherited everything he had.
She had no idea he had worked so hard for everything he has now.
"What else do we need?" he asked
"Swings that could be set up inside the house" Janani said already walking towards another section pushing the cart along.
Advi started swaying in another direction and he looked to see walkers set out there.
"Ah!! That's your thing haa. Want to sit on that??" He asked already walking towards the Walker section.
He made Advi sit in one and the next second he saw Advi taking off at high speed making Janani gasp.
"What have you done Armaan? There is a reason why I didn't bring his Walker along" Janani said running behind Advi, who seems to be on a demolition mission, handing over the cart to Armaan.
"Why didn't you bring his walker" he asked, pushing the cart forwards.
"Walkers are to help them learn walking and he is already walking, infact flying" Janani said scooping up Advi from the walker despite his protests.
"Of course he would!! After all he is a Verma" Armaan said with a proud smile
"That's right!! Last night I even had this vision of him barking out orders to the staff through the bars of his cot, setting his own development targets and threatening to leave home unless we let him sit up to watch the stock market close" Janani said dryly
"I don't bark out orders" Armaan said, a reluctant smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Of course no!! You are an incredibly polite man. Who knows better than me??" She asked, shooting a very sweet smile at him.
They walked around the shop picking up things Janani deemed would be useful for the kids, for the next hour.
Armaan stopped when he saw the cute little T shirt and Jeans on a little girl mannequin
"Could you get that one off" Armaan asked the sales girl.
Soon Ava was dressed in that outfit and Janani smiled looking at the writing on the yellow T shirt.
Mumma's princess
"You miss her, don't you?? Janani asked softly, looking at a grinning Armaan.
"What??" Armaan asked confused
"Ava's mother" Janani said pointing at Ava's tee shirt
Armaan's blood froze in his veins.
It hadn't been Ishana's face he saw when he spotted the tee shirt.
It was the image of Janani and Ava huddled together in bed last night, he had in his mind when he saw the damn tee shirt.
What the hell is wrong with him!
She is getting under your skin Armaan.
Her act of innocence is getting to you.
No more!! He thought determined
"It's none of your business Ms Trivedi" he said coldly, wiping off that soft smile from her face.