To Where It All Began ✔

34. BONUS CHAPTER II: AM I HONEST TO MYSELF?

5:10 PM, Amna's home, Mumbai

As he parked his car a few meters away from the house with the nameplate, "Dr. Amna Biswas", he saw the house decorated with colorful lightings and floral decorations at the entrance. Unable to comprehend, what was happening he walked inside to find a couple of people decorating the place and the house.

The door was wide open and judging from the sight of cone-like boxes holding the sugar and beautifully decorated with ribbons, he could finally make out what was happening, "It was Sakharpuda ceremony, the traditional Maharashtrian engagement"

He entered the house and found a familiar face who rushed towards him, "Shreekant, how are you here? When did you come back?"

He humbly nodded back, "Sarita Aunty, I just came back today"

"It's so nice to see you, Amna must have told you everything and invited you, she is getting ready in her room" Her conservation with him was interrupted when a man came to her, "Madam, where should I keep the sweets and the garlands?"

She turned at Shreekant, "Sorry dear, I am very busy, the groom's family could be coming any minute. You just sit down on the sofa comfortably" and she hastily went with the man.

He walked quietly towards the sofa with a gloomy and notably irritated face and lots of thoughts lingering in his mind, "Amna is getting engaged? To whom? She didn't mention anything about this four days back in her mail. She didn't even bother to share such an important thing with me, why would she share? Does she even consider me as her friend? I came here to meet her and she..."

As his mind was busy hovering over the situation, he heard a familiar voice from his behind, "Uncle, when the ring exchange ceremony happens, I want the Zala Sakharpuda song by Lata Mangeshkar to be played in the background"

There she was, just the same... She was wearing a light blue Paithani silk saree with bright, shiny, and thick golden borders carefully wrapped in clean pleats. The matching jewelry of blue bangles, maang tikka, a Marathi Nath, and a pair of gold earrings with a necklace complimented her look in every sense. She tugged her hair behind her ear as she screamed, "Where is Shira bhaat and kurma puri? Are you people planning to spoil such a special day for me?"

Her words were echoing in Shreekant ear's who was getting irked for an unknown reason every time, he heard her voice in the background. Her melodious voice was harmonizing the house but for him, it was the source of an unknown irritation. He finally decided to meet and stood up from his place walking towards the source of the voice.

She kept ordering people as she walked forwards with her head slightly turned back until she collided with a sturdy figure in front of her. He was caught off guard by the sudden collision and encircled his right arm around her waist to prevent her from tripping. As his brilliantly shining eyes met hers both froze then and there. 

She shrieked in a peculiar voice, "You! What is this? How is this? Am I dreaming?", and he withdrew his hand from her waist making her stand upright, and rotated his eyes her and there trying to avoid her gaze.

She folded her hands behind her back and pinched her skin, "Ahhh..." Her pain was enough for her to believe that she was not dreaming. After a few moments of hesitation, he looked into her eyes, "You didn't tell me about this ceremony in your last message"

She murmured in a feeble voice, "Hmm... This ceremony, I also came to know about it yesterday night only, everything was decided by the elders of the family, so... When did you come back? You also didn't mention your arrival" Her eyes were still stuck as if a dream had become a real one.