"No need of explanations Mr. Maheshwari." She snuggled in his arms.
"Good night." he kissed her forehead before turning off the lights. "Love you."
"Good night. Love you."
The next morning there was so much silence in Maheshwari House that even the sound of a needle falling could have been heard. All thanks to Laksh Maheshwari.
"Where is Laksh? How is he?" Annapurna asked the moment she saw Ragini entering the kitchen.
"He got up but he has a severe headache." Ragini replied, she knew today's morning was going to be challenging for her husband. 
Durga Prasad Maheshwari had already sent a summon for his younger son for his last night's behaviour. 
Everyone gathered at the breakfast table, house ladies were filling everyone's plate. No one dared to break the deep silence of the dining hall.
"Ragini, call Laksh right now. He needs to be here." 
"He... he is not... he is not well, Papaji." Ragini stammered.
"He has a headache. I have called Dr. Singha." Annapurna seconded her daughter-in-law.
"Annapurna for your kind information, last night your son came home in a drunken state. His headache is just a side effect of last night's episode." Durga Prasad announced resulting, Annapurna to bow her head.
"Ragini, what are you waiting for?" Durga Prasad raised his eyebrows with a question. His son's wife and mother both were trying to hide his mistakes but he was not the person who would let go of it.
"I ... I will call him." Ragini left upstairs.
"Ji please, please don't say anything to him in front of all. He has grown up now, it would not be right to confront him like this, in front of everyone." Annapurna tried to persuade.
"If he can create a scene in front of the entire family, then he will have to answer our questions in front of all." Durga Prasad stressed pointing out.
"Durga Prasad ji,  please just think, it would be wrong to expose the son of the family like this in front of everyone..." Shekhar was interrupted by stern glare from the head of the family. 
Meanwhile Laksh joined everyone in the dining area, Sanskar and Swara were trying their best to finish their breakfast as early as possible to escape from the upcoming confrontation session, same was with Ram and Uttara, but Sujata was in a mood to hear some precious glorification of her nephew.
She could never forget the days when Annapurana and Gadodia family used to blame her son unnecessarily for  Laksh's absence, Sujata considered it as her pay back time. Truely, karma is bitch!
"Care to explain about yesterday's adventures?" Durga Prasad asked when he saw his younger son taking a seat beside his wife on the dining table.
"I am sorry Papa. I know... Ragini told me, I was awful yesterday. I promise, it won't happen again." Laksh apologised bowing his head.
"You always promise that you will not repeat your mistake but you always fail, as you find a way to make a new mistake." It was filled with total sarcasm this time by Durga Prasad Maheshwari.
"Papa please..." Laksh raised his head to look at his father submissively.
"Ji, please let it go this time." Annapurna intervened. 
Swara shook her head, taking a deep sigh. 'Badi Maa please don't always shield him.'
'This is the effect of your excessive pampering.' Sujata stared at his Jiji with wide open eyes. 'When you assumed that Laksh was running away from home because of my Sanskar, you did not say 'let it go'. You did not hesitate to taunt him, every day, every moment.' Her eyes filled with unshed tears remembering those painful days.