Chronicles of Life

#chap31 #chroniclesoflife #Sagas_by_Irvika #sweetlovestory

Shruti shivered thinking over Preksha’s words. They left along with Isha in a while and amidst conversation and having fun with the baby, they reached the store.

To be continued….

The brothers were already there since the office is relatively nearer to the store. Surprisingly, Atharva didn’t take long to select his. Shruti looked at her handsome fiancé and drooled at the way he looked in that Sherwani. He was freely and directly asking for her opinion since the elders weren’t around. By now, Shruti was also openly talking with all the family members, and they shared a good rapport.

Atharva kept looking at her often, thinking iski bolti bandh karneka sirf ek hi ilaj hai… and grinned remembering about last night. In fact, during the day also there were times when he had tough time concentrating on his work.

Generally, he wouldn’t bother trying out his regular stuff, just pick them up. But with this, he had no option. He tried a few that they liked, agreed on one which suited him the best and were done. She received a call from Nainaa, and went out to talk as the network range wasn’t good. She was about to come in, when Atharva came out. She was unaware that he was standing behind her, did a quick turn and almost dashed with him.

She took a step back and said spontaneously, “Oh.. I was unaware when you came.” He grinned and bit his lip, “I had never thought I would ache for a typical Hindi movie scenario that I used to abhor so much.” Her face was blank, unable to decipher a thing. He shrugged, “You know… when the heroine loses her balance and is about to fall, and the almighty hero comes in and saves her from getting hurt… then they share some intimate moments with each other… blah blah blah.”

All this while, Shruti’s eyes were widening slowly listening to him. She blurted, “Atharva! You guys cannot think about anything else, can you? Too much! I doubt your family has any inkling of this side of your nature!” He murmured, his voice going hoarse, and looked intently at her. “Even you have no idea what all I think.” She went crimson in her cheeks, and was saved from confronting him as the others had come out.

Shankar simply handed over the car keys to Atharva and said, “Enjoy yourself… have a good time.” Shruti looked questioningly, “Kya ho raha hai?” He replied , “We are going out for dinner.” She looked at him and questioned, “And who will bother to let me know?” He replied, “I thought of surprising you, any problem?” She smiled, “ahh nooo…” He nodded with a grin.

They went to a nearby restaurant, and sat down for dinner. He asked for her preference while placing the order, to which she replied, “Anything is fine with me.” He confirmed, “Sure?” And she nodded. She was back to being her nervous self again, more so coz of their conversation recently. He was observing her and said, “May I know where did the chatterbox Shruti go?” She answered, “I am very much here.” He teased, “I thought I am sitting with some shy, timid girl.” She stuttered, “N…no.. nothing like that.”

He continued to goad her, “I think the Sherwani didn’t look good on me.. hai na?” She blurted, “Arey No! You looked too…” and she faltered, stopping in the middle of the sentence. He made a face, and said, “Too bad.. I know.” She reacted in her normal way, and hit him lightly on his hand, “Atharva! Why do you have to do this?!” He chuckled, “Trying to make you express yourself .. but my luck… abhi toh shuruaat bhi nahi hui and you are already thrashing me… not done.” She shook her head and laughed heartily. He was mesmerised seeing her laugh and enjoyed their conversation.

He repeated, “I am waiting.” She said, not exactly looking at him in the eye, “Hmmm… you looked good.” He raised his eyebrows, and said with a disheartened face, “Only good? I was expecting more.” She could see through his farce, and blurted, “Oh please… I can see through your pretence. 5 year old Shruti would have easily believed you.” He was intrigued, “And what was Kid Shruti like?”
She began to recollect the incidents. “Arey.. sab ullu banaate thhe… specifically papa. I was the sole target on 1st of April every year, never doubting them. You know? Once, after we had shifted to our villa, he had fooled me by saying I have an extra grammar class on that day… he said my teacher had called. By the way, my grammar teacher was our old neighbor in the previous apartment, where we used to stay… a good 20 minutes of cycling. I was about to leave, when mumma took pity on me and revealed that they were playing a prank. Imagine going all the way and coming back in the sweltering heat! Papa is too much… he is very friendly though.” She continued her monologue, while Atharva kept listening to her. “Oh ya… when I was just 6 year old, I had gone to take my bath. Papa banged on the door asking me to come out quickly saying that my best friend had called and needed to talk urgently. I dressed up in a hurry, and came out in a disheveled condition to know that he had made me a fool and there was no call for me.”

He kept looking at her intently, realising that she can really get carried away while talking. He remembered Rohan mentioning in his style, ‘ Beware of Shruti… if she sits down to describe about something… toh poori history geography bataake chhodegi… in fact you will forget what the topic was and where did it begin.’ She was in that mode at that time, forgetting about her shyness and timidity.

Atharva decided to try his hand again, “Sasurji ne achha idea diya hai… but the difference will be I won’t give you enough time to dress up.” And sat looking at her, seeing her expressions change from being baffled, to realisation dawning, and then gasping. She just hid her face, and got up uncertainly, mumbling, “I need to freshen up… will be back in a minute.” And just hurried from there, not daring to glimpse at him. He burst out laughing… God! He was having a good time.

They were eventually done with their meal and ordered for desserts. Shruti tried to act as if nothing had happened and asked for a tiramisu… whereas Atharva asked for a caramel custard. Once the waiter went, she suddenly remembered and asked him, “How come you ordered for caramel? You prefer hazelnut, right?” He nodded, “Yes I do, but this place serves excellent caramel custard so I thought you will relish it.” She stared at him, amazed that he thought about her so much. It wasn’t a big deal, but still it made her really happy. She enjoyed it all the more due to his gesture, and they left in a while.

Today, without any hesitation, Atharva took hold of her hand and they drove throughout like that, not once leaving the hand. She could feel those sensations again, and realised that he will be waiting for a chance to get close to her once they reach home.

To be continued...

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