After 16 years
It's been 16 years and the Rossi family is still in darkness, not getting over her. Isabella, Aria's mother died 4 years ago still waiting for her daughter but took a promise from her husband and sons to live together always and give their best to find their princess as they still believe that she is alive.
Leonardo was in his house office thinking about this while sitting on his chair puffing his cigarette when a knock brought him out of his trance.
"Come in"
"Dad. Come down. Dinner is ready!!" Gio said, peeking his head from the door.
"Yes. I'll be there in-" Leo said showing his son that he was busy but got cut off.
"Dad. Right now. Everyone is waiting downstairs." Gio said, making Leo look at him with a questioning gaze.
"Everyone?" Leo asked.
"Our uncles, aunts, cousins, nonna and nonno are here." Gio informed him.
"Oh god!! Why didn't you inform me before their coming time ?" Leo asked hurriedly while getting up from his seat taking his essential things and moving towards the door.
"Even I didn't know that they were coming." Gio said shrugging his shoulders and followed his father who was going downstairs.
They reached downstairs only to see everyone talking loudly among themselves making pairs while his mother and sisters-in-laws were in the kitchen making something
"Hello everyone" Leo cleared his throat and smiled slightly.
"Hi Uncle Leo" his nephews said.
"Hi, Leo." his brothers said while his father nodded at him.
"All of a sudden you all come, here?" Leo asked unsurely as they all came without informing which is unusual for them.
"Dad called everyone here and said to come with everyone." his brother, Enrico said making everyone look at his father, Salvatore.
"Umm... it was Tina who asked me to do that." his father said making everyone look at his mother, Valentina who came out of the kitchen followed by her daughter-in-laws and maids who were carrying food made by them.
"First everyone sits then I'll tell." she said making everyone take their seats at the dining table.
"So today is our Principess's 17th birthday." she said hesitating making everyone's smile gone as they stared at her.
"We all know whenever her topic comes into our house we all get sad but rather than being sad can we be happy instead in her memories and the time we spend with her? I'm not telling you all to forget everything that has happened but at least we can be happy when we're together. It's been 16 years since I saw my sons and grandsons coming towards me running, shouting and requesting to make food. You'll need to get over that thing." she completed but no one could utter a single word knowing that what she said was true.
Everything and everyone has changed since their princess was kidnapped. Nobody was fighting over small things like they used to. No one would even have cared but they were slowly getting better when their mother, Isabella died. And later everything went back to the same when their princess was taken.
"You know" Mas chucked and said gaining everyone's attention.
"Ari was the first girl whom I know who used to hate pink and strawberries." Mas said remembering something from the past making everyone smile remembering her.
"And you know, she used to cry whenever we made her wear pink dresses." Sandro said.
"You know she even peed on my shirt which was of pink colour just because she didn't like it." Gio said with an eww expression yet a wide grin making everyone laugh at him.
"You once I was wearing a shirt and was holding Ari in my arms. I thought that she was sleeping while keeping her face on my chest but later I got to know that she was playing with the shirt buttons with her teeth and broken them. She broke three or four buttons making the open and that day I had to cancel my meeting as I didn't have any other shirt." Enrico said remembering his niece.
"She even used to make angry faces when we were not playing with her." Mario said looking at his other triplet brother making them nod.
"She used to make us run the whole house when it comes to feeding her food." Domenico said looking at his twin who nodded with a slight smile.
"She used to make everyone play with her toys." Valerio said with a chuckle making his brother nod.
"The best part was that she used to share everything with us and sometimes she even tried to feed us with her little hands." Gio said remembering her sister's little moments making all of the brothers smile.
"No, that was not the best part." Leo said all of a sudden making everyone look at him.
"The best part was when she used to crawl and wait for us at the doorstep exactly at the time of our arrival. She used to crawl and wait for us at the doorstep and kept sitting there. I don't know how this used to happen but she was always there. Whenever I came home from work she was always there with a big smile and when she used to see us she started clapping and giggling making my all tiredness gone." He said remembering his favourite moment with her with a sad smile.
"So I made a cake for her." his brother's wife, Emilia said with a smile and slight tears.
"Yeah, we can celebrate her birthday, in her room." his second brother's wife, Lucia said making everyone look at Leo for permission who nodded making everyone happy.
Later every elder went to her room only to see all of their sons decorating her room for a birthday celebration together with her photos and many more decorating things. Elders smiled knowing that their only sister would be the one to bring them together in happiness with or without her presence.
They all celebrated with happy smiles and shared many memories they all spent with her.
Later the elders went in their room while all the sons slept in her room as they found warmth in her room.
While on the other side,
A girl woke up with some tingling on her face only to find her mother peeking at her face making her giggle. She sat up indicating to her mother she had woken up but being in a sleepy daze she again put her head on her mother's lap only to hear everyone shouting in her room.
"Happy Birthday Aru."
That's when she opened her eyes but she couldn't see so started rubbing her eyes which was stopped by her brother as he held her hand to stop but later blew some air from her mouth to make it easy for opening her eyes, making her and others smile as it's his small gesture or you can say habit to avoid her from rubbing her eyes.
Later she opened her eyes slowly to see her Karan bhaiya standing while holding her face while other family members except for her Baba on the other side.
She smiled at every one of them which she received back but had a frown on her face as she began searching for her father.
Everyone tried to hide as they were planning to surprise her knowing this was going to happen as it's always her Baba who wakes her up.
"Baba kaha hai?" Ari asked with a frown. (Where is Baba?)
"Baba kam pe chale gaye." her Karan bhaiya said making her even frown while everyone was trying their best to hide their smile at her cuteness. (Baba has gone to his workplace.)
"Chale gaye? Aise kaise chale gaye??" she asked everyone. (Gone? How the hell did he go?)
"Aree baccha, Baba koi zaruri kaam tha isliye who chale gaye. Warna tujhe lagta hai kya ki woh tujhe aise tere birthday ke din chod ke jayenge?" her Aaru bhai said while coming near her and sitting beside her. (Oh baby, Baba has gone to the workplace as there was something important. Otherwise, do you think he will leave you like that too on your birthday?)
"Nahi toh, Baba aisa bilkul bhi nhi karenge." Aria said with a sad pout looking down as she expected her father to be the first one to wish her. (No, he will not.)
"Toh fir ab tension mat le aur sabko thank you bol. Sab tere birthday ke din tujhe wish karne subh subh aaye na." her mother, Anika said in a soft yet strict voice making Aria nod later touched her elder's feet and hugged her brothers and went into the washroom to get ready in a traditional dress given by her twin brothers. (Now don't take tension and say thank you to everyone. They all came here this early to wish you well.)
When she got ready in the dress and wore some accessories like earrings, bangles and anklets with some light makeup and went downstairs only to see everyone at the dining table waiting for her.
"Ek minute ha." she said and ran off before anyone could speak and later went towards her Bappa in the temple. (Just a minute.)
(Bappa is a Hindu god worshipped worldwide but generally by Indians. Also known as Ganpati or Ganesha.)
She like always joined her hands and prayed for her family's well-being along with some prayers with a smile on her face as she believed that her Bappa was always there for her and her family.
After prayers, she went towards the dining room only to see others still waiting for her at the dining table. When she sat down she noticed that she didn't have plates in front of her so she was going to get up to get herself a plate when a plate along with bowls was kept in front of her. She was going to thank thinking it was her Karan bhaiya but was shocked only by her father, Ranjit.
"Baba" she said happily and was going to hug him but stopped looking at him as he was wearing an apron along with a cap on his head. (Father)
"Yeh sab kya hai?" she asked seeing her father's new avatar. (What's with your new avatar?)
He bowed down and said, "Aaj humari Rajkumari ka birthday hai toh hum unki seva mai hazir hai." (Today is my princess's birthday so I'm present in her service)
Aria chucked at her father's acting and said playing along with him, "Toh agar iss Rajkumari ko aaj apke hath se khana khane ka maan kar raha hai, toh kya aap usse khilayenge?" (So if your princess wants you to feed her with your hands, so will feed her?)
"Zarur. Aaj jaisa aap kahe waisa hi hoga. Toh bataye kya khana chahenge app? Aaj ka saara khana humne banaya hai." he said proudly making everyone chucked. (Yes. Today whatever you will say that will happen. So tell me what do you want to eat? Today I made a whole breakfast.)
"Haan, Ranjit ne sab kuch banaya aur usne kise ko bhi kitchen mein aakar jaanch karane nahin diya. Usane mujhse ya fir Anika se bhi kuch nahin poocha" her grandma, Anjali said chucking at her son's tactics for her only daughter. (Yeah he made everything and he didn't even let anyone come inside the kitchen and check. He didn't even ask me or Anika anything.)
"Ohh kya baat hai, toh hum phele gajar ka halwa khayenge." Aria said praising her father who made so many efforts for her. She eyed all of the dishes and later wanted to try her favourite sweet dish at first. (Oh wow!! So now I want to eat carrot pudding first.)
Ranjit quickly took a bowl and added a big spoon or two of carrot pudding to the bowl took a seat near Aria's chair and started feeding her with a smile.
Aria took the first bite when she realized her father added salt instead of sugar but smiled at her father who was looking at her with a questioning gaze as he wanted to know, how it was made.
"Bahut aacha bana hai. Ekdum meetha. Aab chalo aur khilao mujhe." Aria said looking at her father and everyone telling them that it is good and to feed her more. (It's too good to be true. Very sweet. Now come on, feed me more.)
Even though it had too much salt still she ate it happily seeing her father's efforts for her birthday surprise.
She got out of the trance when she looked at her Raghav uncle who had tasted the pudding and was coughing. She widen her eyes as he said, "Eww, yeh gajar halwa hai ya namak na? Kitna namkeen hai." (Eww, is this carrot pudding or salty pudding? Too salty.)
His wife, Meera gave him water while others looked at Aria who had almost tasted half of the salty pudding. Ranjit quickly tasted a small bite of the pudding started coughing and took a glass of water.
"Eww, yeh kitna namkeen hai. Aru, tumhne kuch bataya kyu nhi? Aur tumne yeh kha kaise liya? Ek kaam karo phele paani pe lo." Ranjit said in a worry as he understood that he had used salt instead of sugar and her daughter had almost eaten half of the bowl of pudding. He quickly took a glass of water and made her drink it. (Eww, this is so salty. Aru why didn't you say anything? And how did you eat this? Firstly drink some water.)
"Chalo abb doctor ke pass, jaldi." Ranjit said panicking when he was held by her daughter stopping him and she made him sit back on the chair which was beside hers. (Now let's go to the doctor, come on.)
"Baba mujhe kuch nhi hua. Thoda sa hi namak tha aur aap itna tension na lo isliye maine kuch nhi kaha. Aur upar se aapne itni mehnat ki toh thoda toh khana banta hai na?" she said convincing her father to calm down. (Baba nothing happened to me. That was just a little amount of salt and I didn't say anything otherwise you will take tension. And on top of that, you took so much effort to cook this so eating it wasn't that bad.)
He just sighed at her daughter's tactics and was going to scold her but seeing her puppy eyes which no one can resist he started feeding her food which was good which feeding he said, "Next time agar aisa kuch hua aur agar tumne mujhe bataya nhi toh mai zyada tension zarur lunga. So next time batana zarur thik hai?" receiving a nod from her made him kiss her forehead making everyone smile at their relationship. (Next time if something like then tell me right away otherwise I'll have to take tension. So next time remember to tell me, okay?)
To be continued...
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So hey guysss
I hope you liked this chapter.
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And I am so sorryyyy to tell you this but from now on there will be very slow updates and my exams and assignments are a little pending and as always I'll try to do it asap and also it takes time to make a spoiler so I'm sorry.
Lysm guysss
<3
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