Chapter 123

The next day when Shreya woke up, it was already well into noon. But wait, she did not wake up on her own. Somebody was actually calling her name out.

As she blinked her eyes open, she was greeted with the sight of Charan's smiling face.

Charan approached her and caressed her head as he said, "Hey, there sleepy head."

Once she was sure that Charan was actually there and that she was not seeing things in her sleep, she gestured him to sit on the bed. And when he did, she scooted over and laid on his laps snuggling in without bothering to reply.

Charan's lips twitched. He kept stroking over her gently but did not speak.

After a long while, Shreya mumbled in an extremely groggy voice, "Why are you here?? Weren't you guys supposed to be at your parents' place this weekend??" She was barely coherent.

"Preethi ditched. And my parents had a last-minute function to attend to. And Bharath kept throwing a tantrum that he wants to see your apartment. So I brought the kids and him back here." Charan replied softly.

Shreya only heard about half of it. She was in and out. When he looked down after a while seeing as he was not getting any reply from her, Shreya was once again snoring away drooling all over his pants. She had even sn.a.k.e.d her arms around his torsos keeping him in place and snuggled most comfortably.

Just then, the door clicked open and Bharath peeked in with his mouth wide open to say something. But he shut them when Charan sternly gestured him to keep quiet and go out. Bharath puffed his cheeks but complied.

Charan knew she had been very busy the past couple of weeks. Just as she came back after the New Year holidays, work had been hectic. For both of them actually. But Shreya more than him. She barely had time to reply to his texts. And amongst all that he would never know where did she get the time to actually compile a list of viable and potential office spaces for their expansion and run a background check on their potential hires. Things she does for the people she cares about are extraordinary.

And moreover, she was still sporting panada eyes even after sleeping through the day. So he could only imagine. So he did not have the heart to wake her up. So he just sat there without moving a muscle after kissing on her temple.

It took another hour before she blinked open her eyes again.

"Hey," her hoarse voice came with much difficulty.

"Hey, back. You up at last??" Charan asked looking down from his phone.

Shreya nodded her head at first but then shook them after a while.

Charan chuckled and said softly, "You get some more sleep. I will have to go check on the kids now. I am afraid they would trash the place if they haven't already."

Shreya did not reply but just tightened her arms around him clearly not willing to let go.

Charan smiles and strokes her head as he tried to convince her, "You sleep here. Nobody will disturb you. But I have to go check on them now. You know Bharath is not exactly reliable."

Shreya stubbornly shook her head making Charan helpless. But before he could get a chance to convince her, the door clicked open and three heads peeked in. One big and two smaller ones. Of course, it was Bharath, Akil, and Akira. When Akira saw that Shreya was actually awake, she sprinted from her place and was beside Shreya in seconds followed shortly by Akil.

Next thing you know, the room is filled with the sound of giggling and squealing of kids and Shreya alike. The kids had Shreya pinned and vigorously tickled her to point where Shreya's eyes started tearing up from laughing. But then after a while, Shreya returned the favor. But she was, of course, outnumbered two to one. So when she got one under control the other would escape.

But after a lot of struggle, she got both the kids pinned under her but before she could even give them a smug look, she felt her self floating in the air and swung around. When she came back to her senses, she found herself dangling off of Bharath's shoulders, and on the other hand, Akira and Akil were happily laughing at her expense while hopping on the bed cheering for him.

"Bharath, you idiot!! Let me down now." Shreya exclaimed pissed.

But Bharath did not bother to heed. He just had a very smug look on his face as he replied arrogantly, "This is for not greeting me when at the New Year's celebration. You ignored me throughout the evening deliberately. But as soon as I turn my back, you were happily giggling away. You think I did not see that!!" He said puffing his cheeks.

Shreya loved to tease him and the banters between them were more idiotic than the banters between Akira and Akil. When these two got together, somehow even Akil's and Akira's behaviors looked mature… they were that childish.

It took at least an hour to pull them apart for the rest of them. Even then, Shreya walked around with a smug smile while Bharath kept puffing his cheeks.

"Okay, enough you two. Eat with your eyes on the plate! Akira and Akil are behaving more like a.d.u.l.ts than you two," Charan scolded exasperated.

Akil and Akil giggled quietly with their hands covering their mouths.

Thankfully for Charan, that was the worst of it. After lunch, everyone had settled down in the living room and made plans for the day. The rest of the day flew by with movies and video games. The house was filled with laughter the whole day. By the end of the day, different packs of snacks and cans of soft drinks were left lying around in the living room. There was also a pack of cards scattered around. And of course, the empty pizza boxes.