I am so sorry for being so late with this update. but, i really hope you guys like it and i will make sure i update regularly in future 😀
Love
Arika xx
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Link to Previous Episode : Click Here
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LAKSHYA
“Keerti, we have to go there tonight not next week. Can you please hurry up?” I called out to her impatiently
“In a minute” she practically screamed from her room
I hate it when, I am in charge of picking her up. She takes so long to get dressed. I mean how difficult is it to pick an outfit and stick to it, instead of checking out all the permutations and combinations just before you have to leave?
“Bye kiddo. We’ll see you in sometime” Keerti’s parents, Abhiram and Shanaya Sharma, said to be as they were about to leave.
“Hold it. Why do you guys get to leave before us? This is so unfair”
“Because sweetheart, we need to go there and check with the last minute arrangements.” Aunty said
“Also, we were given a choice between getting her to the venue and helping out with the arrangement, we took the easier option. And It was my idea to get you to escort her” Uncle said with a laugh
“Oh, you watch it Mr Sharma. I will get back at you for that” I said, as they waved and left.
I felt my phone buzz and saw Kabir’s name flashing “Did you guys leave for the restaurant?”
“Your girlfriend takes a million years to get ready”
“So I take it as a ‘No’ then?”
“Uncle and Aunty left just now, they should be reaching in 15-20mins”
“Keerti, it’s been 10 minutes since you screamed one minute” I called out to her again, as I settled on the sofa in the living room.
“Lakshya, do you know how irritating you are?” she said as she emerged from her room and she looked fantastic.
“Okay, who are you? And where is the ugly Keerti?”
“Is that your attempt to compliment me?” she quipped
“I didn’t intend to, but you don’t look ugly today”
“Lakshya, how difficult is to simply say ‘Keerti, you look beautiful’”
“Are you crazy? I would die but never ever say that. This is the closest to a compliment you will ever receive from me”
“Fine. Let’s go we’re getting late”
“That’s what I have been saying”
As we approached the venue, we could see the light and décor at the entrance. “Get down here; I’ll park the car and join you inside” I said to Keerti and dropped her off at the entrance.
When I entered the restaurant, I was stunned to see the interiors and designing of the place, as an architect, I tend to judge every place by the technical look and design. I know for a fact that Keerti is good at what she does, but this restaurant was out of the world. After drooling at the place, I found Kabir engulfed in the swarm of the parent clan, Mom and Dad, Keerti’s parents and his parents Raghav and Sheetal Mehra. Poor guy
“Parents, calm down. Let the boy breathe”
“Thank you” Kabir whispered to me as I stifled a laugh
“Firstly, you’re embarrassing him. Secondly, if Keerti sees you all ganging up on him, she’s going to get suspicious. Go mingle. Do the old people stuff, maybe?”
“Lakshya is right guys. If Keerti sees you all here having a mini meeting, she’ll get suspicious.”
“But I can’t wait” Kabir’s mom, Sheetal aunty said
“Sheetal, the kids are right. We cannot make it obvious and spoil the surprise” mom said to her and I mouthed her a ‘thank you’ for that
“But where is Keerti?”
“She’s with Sumi and Ragini, I think we should also go to them” Shanaya aunty said
“I completely forgot, we should be with Sumi”
As they started to drift into their discussions, Kabir and I made our way out of there. He was nervous, and I have never seen him nervous. Kabir is the ‘Voice of Reason’, between the three of us. He is calm in stressful situations and knows how to handle everything and looking at this guy sweat bullets here, is something else.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know”
“Please don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts” I quipped
“What? No. it’s not that” he said “What if I screw this up? Lakshya, you know how important Keerti is to me. What if I let her down? What if I’m not the husband material?”
“Kabir, have you seen yourself? As a third wheel I can tell you that there is nothing you can do to screw this up. You both love each other so much that minor inconveniences won’t matter”
“Since, when did you start giving relationship advises?”
“I have occasional bursts of philosophical traits and thoughts” I said “By the way, who are Sumi and Ragini? And why haven’t I met them yet?”
Kabir scowled at me and said “A. Ragini is our friend, whose restaurant this is and Sumi aunty is her mother. B, keep your flirting self away from her otherwise, I will punch you to death”
“Hey, what’s with the over-protective streak?”
“You call this over protective? If you toy around with Ragini, Keerti will feed you to vultures and she will not even flinch” he said with a laugh
“I definitely have to meet with this girl, she seems interesting” I teased him as he frowned at me “So, how for the grand proposal to unfold?”
“Few more minutes, there’s something wrong with the projector, the technician is fixing it”
Just then a girl walked over to us, to speak with Kabir “Sir, the technician is done fixing the projector. Do you want to start now?”
“Yes, I’ll just be there” he said to her “Oh, Reena. Where is Ragini?” he asked her as she was walking away
“Sir, she’s in the back office”
“Thanks, I’ll let you know when we have to start”
Kabir looked at me one final time “Kabir, you are not going to screw this up. Now, go, get your girl”
“Thanks man” he hugged me and pushed through the crowd
I never really understood why guys get nervous before proposing. I mean, if I have been dating a girl since even before I hit my puberty, I don’t think I would be nervous to profess my wish for a lifelong commitment. But then again, what do I know? I have never been in serious relationship ever. I was just happy that finally both of them are finally going to get married.
I have a theory, it’s not actually my theory I picked it up from my favourite sitcom, but it’s logical theory. So the theory is that, when you choose a life partner, see how she fits in with the people you love. That’s what I want, the girl who fits right in, such that it feels natural. Like things have always meant to be this way.
While I was on an imaginary trip and the grand proposal was few minutes away, my eyes fell upon her. She was talking to Kabir’s mom. To be frank, I have seen prettier girls, but there was something about her, that held my gaze. I just couldn’t pry my gaze off of her.
“What are you doing, standing here alone?”
Keerti popped up and started blabbering something to me. But I wasn’t listening, because I couldn’t stop looking at that girl. I suppose I ought to get to know her
RAGINI
“What are you doing here all by yourself?” Keerti asked me as she entered my office
When Keerti was designing the place, I had to beg her to make me this office in the corner most area of the place. Every restaurant of mine, I made sure that my office was in a corner where I savour few moments of solitude. I have never been a crowd person, I prefer to be behind the scenes and run the show from there.
Ever since dad passed away Keerti constantly checks up with me, to make sure that I am not alone, she fears that being alone might affect me adversely. I know for a fact that as long as she is there, I will never be alone; for she is one person I truly can share all my thoughts, feelings and fears.
Life has taken a turn in the past 2 years, I don’t really know how to put a work for what has happened, and I guess it cannot be expressed in words. But I have started appreciating life much more now. When an important part of your life is taken away from you, this tends to happen. You feel like you have all the time in the world to live your life and one day just like that it’s all over. Even though I love my dad, his nature of putting work before everything was something I never liked, he spent his entire life working and he wasn’t left with anytime for himself or for his family.
I didn’t want to be like that, I didn’t want to live with a constant regret of not being able to do something for myself, I didn’t want my mom to live a life that. So we decided to do what makes us happy and never think back about anything.
“There you are” Kabir said as he entered my office. “So, you convinced Keerti to give you a corner office”
“You have no idea how much I had to beg for this, but leave that aside, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be out proposing?”
“Without you being there and getting all over-emotional like a parent? No” he said and I laughed. God this idiot knew how lift my spirits every time.
“Shall we go then?” He asked me
“You go ahead; I promise I will be there in 5 minutes. I have to wrap up this paperwork”
“I’ll wait”
“Kabir” I whined. Sometimes he acted like a stubborn child
“C’mon quick”
“Fine, let’s go”
As we emerged in the restaurant area, I saw mom chatting with Sheetal aunty. “Kabir, I’ll just call mom and aunty. You be ready on your spot and give Reena the cue to start”
I approached mom and aunty “Hello there ladies”
“Ragini, sweetheart” aunty exclaimed as she hugged me “I am so proud of you. This place looks so beautiful”
“Thank you so much aunty. I am so glad you like it”; “Anyway, I came over to tell you both that Kabir is going to propose now. Let’s go”
As we walked towards the centre area, mom whispered to me “When will you find your happiness, Ragini”
“Ma, we have had this discussion. Let’s not get into it again”
“Ragini, you cannot spend your life alone beta”
“Ma, we’ll discuss this when we get home. I’ll just be back”. I left mom and went to Reena, to check with the arrangements.
“Raj, dim the lights and put the spotlight on Keerti and Kabir” I said to the light guy
The whole room went dim and the spotlights were on. I played the picture slide with all of their pictures on the projector screen. Understandably Keerti was shocked at what was happening.
“What the hell is happening” she asked to the guy standing beside her while he laughed at her expression and pushed her towards Kabir
“Keerti” Kabir said as he went down on one knee “When I met you, I knew I’d met my match. It was only a matter of time until we arrived at this moment. I know there will be tough times, at some point we might want to give up on each other, but I also know that today if don’t ask you this, I will regret for the rest of my life. So, today I promise to love you forever…every single day of forever”
“Miss Keerti Sharma. Will you marry me and make me the luckiest man to walk on this planet?”
I looked at Keerti who was struggling to stop her tears. “Yes” she said in a barely audible voice as she bent down to Kabir and held his face in her palms “Yes I will marry you” and there was a loud cheer
“Reena, flower shower” I instructed the petals fell on them, as Kabir slipped the ring in her finger.
Everyone came forward to congratulate the couple. I decided to stand back and give them their space. Oh, I was so happy for them. I stood near the bar counter and looked at the crowd cheering and celebrating. Reena, presented the cake I made for them and Keerti’s dad popped open the champagne bottle.
“Hi” I heard someone say, as I was having my drink. I turned to see the same guy; Keerti was talking to earlier standing beside me. I gave a small smile and turned to look at the couple again.
“Are you a friend of Keerti or Kabir?” he asked me
“Of both” I said in a clipped tone. Go, doesn’t he take a hint that I am not interested in talking to him.
“Me too. We’ve been together since school”
“Okay” I said
“In fact, this restaurant had been designed by me as a favour to Keerti and her friend”
Now, that caught my attention and I turned to him “Really? This restaurant has been designed by you?” I asked him with faux-interest
“Of course”
“And all these arrangement?”
“Everything has been done by me” he boasted. What an idiot I thought to myself.
“So, you’re an architect?” I asked him
He nodded and said “Lakshya Maheshwari” extending his arm for a handshake “and you are?”
“Ragini, there you are” I heard my name being called out and so did he, that’s why his drink came out from him nose and then started his unstoppable coughing
“I am Ragini Gadodia” I said as I shook his hand “owner of this restaurant that you designed” I said sarcastically
“Ragini” someone called out again. We both turned to see Keerti and Kabir coming towards us
“I hate you for hiding all this from me” Keerti said as she pulled me into a hug. I laughed and hugged her back
“I’ll live with that” I said as I broke my hug with her and hugged Kabir “Congratulations guys. I am so happy for both of you”
They looked behind me and saw Lakshya coughing incessantly. “What happened to you?” Keerti asked rushing to side
“I see you’ve already met Lakshya” Kabir asked me
“Oh, yes I did.” I said with a small laugh