Chronicles of Life

#chap17 #chroniclesoflife #Sagas_by_Irvika #sweetlovestory

Shruti and Atharva both recalled the special moments of the day that they had spent together, looking forward to the next day when they would step into a new world, together, with abundance of love. Both drifted to sleep… with lots of dreams …

To be continued….

The next day morning was unlike any other day for both Shruti and Atharva. Both saw love blooming everywhere around. Shruti woke up a bit early and went and stood near the window pane, to be transfixed by the most ethereal visions that nature can ever bestow us with. Or, shall we say, it held all the more charm owing to her happiness within. The rising sun dispersed the chill of the night. The vast blue sky basked in a majestic glow due to the sunlight. Little fleecy clouds hung in clusters, adorning the sky in a picturesque manner. She stood there for long, lost in her thoughts.

Here, Atharva stretched himself lazily on the bed, and, as if linked through some cosmic connection, went near the window, absorbing the morning sunlight penetrating through the stretch of windows. Through a little opening between the branches of a huge banyan tree, he witnessed the sun rising in all its glory, feeling the same glow warm his entire being with the love that had recently enveloped him.

He took his time getting ready, purposely wanting to linger around, hoping that his dad would call up Mr Verma first thing in the morning.

Usually, Mondays are hectic for everyone. Mr Shah and Shankar were involved in a discussion related to their upcoming project when Atharva came out. As such, it was their dream project and a lot of efforts and investment was going into it. But strangely, Atharva couldn’t put his heart into it on that day. He was extremely distracted. Though Shankar found it strange, Minish understood the reason and knew that if his father didn’t remember about the call, he will have to jog his memory. Atharva won’t be able to sustain for long under pressure.

Minish waited for the talk to get over and was biding for the correct time to put up. He very calmly approached, saying, “Papa… so when are you planning to call up Verma uncle?”
Atharva became alert at the mention, though tried to be nonchalant.
Mr Shah replied, “Oh yes! It had skipped my mind… will do it right away.”
Atharva mouthed a silent ‘Thank you’ to Minish who winked at him.

It was almost 10 a.m. in the morning when Mr. Verma received the call. He had left early for the office, as he had some pending work. Although he had it at the back of his mind to have a talk with Mr Shah, he was quite stunned to get the call so early.
He received it anxiously, “Good morning Dilipbhai.. Jai Shri Krishna… was going to call you today.”
Mr Shah greeted in return, “Jai Shri Krishna Anilbhai, ya I thought of calling up. No point in lingering. I hope I haven’t disturbed you.”
He assured him, “No not at all. I am at office, nothing important.”
Mr Shah continued, “Okay Anilbhai, I had called to say that we have given our consent to Atharva and Shruti’s matrimony. I hope our feelings are mutual.”

Mr Verma was euphoric, his happiness knew no bounds. “That is great news Dilipbhai! Thank you so much. I cannot express my happiness to you!!”
Mr Shah smiled and reverted, “Same here, am glad that it’s mutual. Achha... I was wondering if the kids can have a word with each other.”
He reverted, “Yes sure, please share Atharva’s mobile number. Will let Shruti know first, then both can talk to each other.”

He felt a bit uneasy, as he wasn’t sure how Shruti would react. Hope by then, she had a clear mind and was not upset. He noted down Atharva’s number, generally mentioned that will call up again to discuss about officially declaring about their engagement, both greeted each other politely and disconnected.

All this while, the entire Shah family had surrounded Mr Shah, and was listening to every word with total concentration. All could judge from the conversation that Mr Verma was equally delighted, and once Mr Shah was done with his talk, all congratulated the besotted Romeo. His happiness knew no bounds. He was impatient to talk to Shruti.

Mr Verma immediately called up his wife and said, “I have some excellent news Jyoti. Dilipbhai just called up and confirmed that they all are in favour of Shruti and Atharva’s betrothal. I hope Shruti doesn’t have any hard feelings now. Please make her understand… Atharva is an excellent person and she will be lucky to have this kind of a family.”

Mrs. Jyoti was overjoyed to hear the news; however she was also not too sure about Shruti’s feelings, though she could make out that Shruti had definitely mellowed. She decided to confide in Rohan first. She went to his room and had a word with him, and asked his opinion.
Rohan exclaimed, “Wowwwww! Finally… that’s awesome mumma… you don’t worry about Shruti at all. Let me tackle this.”
He already had Atharva’s number, but since they were yet to disclose about the secret Sunday meeting to their parents, Rohan decided to play along. He jotted down Atharva’s number and went to Shruti’s room.

Rohan thought of a plot, changed the name to Gaurav under which the number had been saved, and entered her room. “Shru… one of my friend wants to know the details about NIFD and get reviews about your centre. Wait will call him. Please have a word.” His expression didn’t give away anything, and Shruti also didn’t see through his farce.

Rohan dialled the number… the screen flashed calling Gaurav and he handed over the phone to Shruti. She waited for the person at the other end to pick up. Rohan could barely keep a straight face, but tried his best.

She said, “Hello? Hi… this is Rohan’s sister Shruti… am I talking to Gaurav?”
Atharva was still in the hall when he saw his screen flashing ‘Rohan’. He hastened towards his room, picked up the call, but was taken aback to hear Shruti addressing someone else.
He hesitantly said, “Hello… Shruti?” She felt as if she had heard this distinct voice, and looked at Rohan. He burst out laughing, unable to hold back any longer.

Instantly Shruti realised that Rohan had once again played some prank and checked the screen to see the name… it read Gaurav… but she knew very well whose voice that was. The baritone was unmistakable and she knew she had been tricked. She stood rooted to her place, tongue tied, and felt blood surging to her face.
Atharva repeated, “Shruti? You there??”

Shruti somehow found her voice, and said, “H… hi… just a second.” And she gestured Rohan to leave or else she will just kill him. He laughed and left the room, leaving it to Atharva to let her know about their betrothal.

Shruti somehow found the courage to get back to the call, unable to believe that she was actually talking to him. “Hi… sorry about that. I guess Rohan was up to playing his stupid pranks again.” She felt compelled to clarify.
Atharva smirked, “Hmmm… I thought so. Did your parents tell you about something?”
Shruti was baffled as to what was he talking about; in fact she was still confused as to how come they are talking to each other over the phone. She replied, clearly confused, “Nooo.. what do you mean? I am sorry… I didn’t understand.”

Atharva said very lovingly, “Well then… I guess Rohan has given me the privilege of letting you know about something very special. Will thank him later for the same.” Her heartbeats increased, just listening to his voice. She pinched herself lightly, to assure that she wasn’t hallucinating or day dreaming. Well, she wasn’t. That incredulous feeling was slowly sinking in… and she was yet to ponder over exactly what was he talking about.

Shruti shrugged, “I am sorry… I am still very confused. Why would you want to thank that idiot?”
Atharva was amused. “I guess the banter between the two of  you never stops. Well.. I still owe it to him for yesterday’s meeting as well as giving me the opportunity to let you know that our families have agreed to our matrimony.”

She thought as if her heart would stop beating completely and literally broke down. A very strong emotion which she was yet to identify, pierced her heart and all her defences came crumbling down. She simply couldn’t stop the avalanche of emotions that overflowed from her eyes in the form of tears.

Atharva realised that she was sobbing, and was quite petrified. “Hey Shruti! Are you okay? Hope you are happy with the alliance.”

She found her voice, somehow got a grip on herself, and asked helplessly….

To be continued……

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