Chapter - 03
The Date
Naman was sitting anxiously. Early morning he received a call from Saavi who asked him to meet her at a particular restaurant. He almost had a heart attack when she said it was a date and he better reach there on time. And there he was, dressed up in formal attire and with a bonquet of flower, sweating profusely as if he was suffering from a cardiac arrest. He looked at his phone. It would take at least another half an hour for Saavi to arrive. He tried to go through all the points he had written down at home but then scrapped the idea. He decided not to make a big issue out of it and go with the flow.
Another couple was sitting nearby. From their antics they seemed like newlyweds. Naman heaved a sigh. The couple reminded him of his time with Dilruba. He was scared to death when Dilruba brought him to a restaurant after they had just gotten married. He never realized when he had fallen in love with that stupid Chudhail. And just when he thought everything was fine and they could start a family, she left him alone. She tried to save everyone but didn’t think about how he would survive without her. Had it not for Dafli, he would have lost his mind by now.
Suddenly his phone beeped. “I'll be there within 15 minutes....... Saavi” He read the message and took a deep breath. He couldn’t thank Saavi enough for taking care of Dafli. No wonder Dilruba too indirectly pointed towards her. He went out of his way to sabotage Saavi’s date with her prospective groom and then bluntly said he loved her. With Visharika, Mohana and other things she didn’t answer to his question. However, after Mohana’s death things have returned to normal and both of them have had ample time to think about everything.
Naman himself was having second thoughts. Did he love Saavi? Yes, he did. He loved her as a friend. Sure, every time they would be on a mission, both of them would question each other’s judgement and if Saavi callef him an “Idiot” then he would make proper use of his Hindi and inherent wit to mock her for her overenthusiasm. But both of them were aware about each other’s dedication and had mutual respect. He was thankful to her for taking care of his daughter and a certain amount of dependence formed due to their close association. The way she went out of her way to reunite him with Dilruba, it made him respect her even more. So may be something started blossoming between them. But love? It’s a huge thing. They really needed to sort everything out. Piya was his childhood friend and he thought he loved her. It’s another thing that she was a Daivik and was destined to unite with Ansh. In between everything, he did some serious blunders and burned all the bridges with her. Thankfully, they were able to bury the hatchet later and became friends again. He didn’t want to repeat the same mistake with Saavi. If not anything else, he would surely love to keep in touch with her as a friend and teammate. But there was no reason to complicate things if either of them felt burdened with this relation.
“Naman!” Naman got startled. He didn’t notice when Saavi had arrived. He stood up hurriedly and greeted her. “Relax Naman, it’s a date not a trial.” She tried to smile and took her seat. “You look beautiful!” “Thanks! You look great too. Are these for me?” “Yes.” Naman was passing the bonquet but as luck would have it, the ribbon got loosened and all the flowers fell down. At first Saavi got startled but looking at Naman’s expression she started laughing. “It’s okay, relax.” Naman was embarrassed big time and looked at another direction. They spent some time in silence and finally Saavi spoke up, “I guess I should have visited you directly or called you to meet me at Dad's office for some work. You seem to have taken this "Date" way too seriously.” “I think you are right.”
She waited for a few moments and then started talking, "I just wanted to ask you openly, when you said you loved me, did you really mean it?" Naman got confused. “Why would I say it if I didn’t mean it?" “Listen, I didn’t mean to offend you. I just felt it came out of the blue. I mean, we have been friends for quite a long time and we are co-parenting Dafli. I wouldn’t lie, it definitely felt great when you said you had feelings for me.” Saavi paused for a moment. “But I felt it was too sudden. Like you were mourning Dilruba's death a couple of days ago and then out of nowhere professed your love for me. That’s why I asked, are you sure about your feelings?”
It took Naman some time to absorb Saavi’s words. “I know I proposed you all of a sudden and I would be really glad if I could say I was 100% certain about my feelings. But the truth is, even I am confused.” He took a sip of water from the glass kept on the table and continued, “It has been really weird, the last couple of months. I lost Mrs. Ji and then Mohana kept striking back. Thanks to Devi Maa, she is gone now. But the truth is, I never really got enough time to wrap my head around everything that had taken place. I couldn’t even grieve properly. I got so busy with Dafli and then you went out of your way to help me, so yes! I definitely have developed some sort of feelings for you and don’t want to lose you. Even when Mrs Ji was there, you and Sir Ji - you were a part of our family. When she gave Dafli’s responsibility to us and asked me to find love again, I got shattered. You were right there and I kept thinking whether she meant you or not. I felt guilty. Wondering about another woman when my wife just left this world made me feel conflicted. And then you came and said you were getting married, and I became afraid that I might lose you too. I guess all these things led me to believe that I am in love with you" He looked at Saavi and seeing her gloomy face tried to clear things up, “Look, you are not any random person neither have I developed any temporary infatuation that would pass with time. I truly care about you. But ever since Mohana died, I've got a lot of time to think and retrospect, and I feel I have skipped a lot of steps and just jumped on you. I am truly sorry for that!”
Naman mentally prepared himself for getting blasted by Saavi. But she was unusually calm. After a few minutes had passed, he started feeling guilty thinking he had broken her heart when she finally spoke up, “I am really glad that we are on the same page.” Naman was astounded as he didn't expect that answer. “We are?” “Yes.” Saavi tried to smile, “Whatever you have just said, I was thinking the same. I know I have been skeptical about your marriage with Dilruba since the beginning and multiple times I tried to get rid of her. But when she died, I realized how wrong I have been this whole time. She might be a Chudhail, but she was honorable. She died because she was trying to protect my sister’s family, whereas I was majorly responsible for that catastrophe. I have been living in this guilt ever since. Which is why I wanted to protect Dafli at any cost and tried to bring Dilruba back. Her last words affected me as well. So I guess everything has had their collective affect on both of us.” “So? Where does that leave us now?" “We’ll continue from where we had started. No matter what our relation is, Dafli will always be our daughter.” Naman got surprised at Saavi’s last sentence.
“Yes, I consider her as my own and my marital status won't change my feelings for her. Together we will give her the best life. But we deserve happiness too. You deserve to mourn the death of your wife and I deserve to find the right person for me. We can’t just end up together for Dafli and then keep fighting for the rest of our lives. That would eventually affect her too.” “So you want us to part ways?” “No, I want to date you, formally. Like, we should be open about our feelings and share things with each other and take things slowly. If we feel we are really compatible and genuinely fall in love with each other, we can take things ahead. Are you okay with this?” Saavi asked with a serious tone. “To be honest, right now you are kind of reminding me of Piya. She too used to be absolutely sure about her decisions. But of course you guys are sisters so.......” He finished his sentence abruptly. “And that’s the reason you keep getting rejected because no one likes to hear about another girl on their first date, even if it’s their sister.” She rolled her eyes.
“Sorry!” Naman smiled nervously. “I guess you are right.” “Of course I am right. Now, shall we continue our official first date?” “You still want to?” He was surprised. “I thought you would be in a bad mood after such serious conversation.” “Well, normally I would. But then again you got all dressed up and I wasted enough money and time in the parlor. So why waste all of that?” “You went to a parlor!” “Please! Don’t tell me you didn’t notice anything.” Saavi exclaimed in utmost disappointment. “Umm, I did. You look a bit different today. Although I can’t really say why.” “Much better.” She heaved a sigh of relief. “Let’s keep the expectation at ground level. Don’t get your hopes up Saavi. Specially when you are dating this idiot.” She thought to herself. “So, shall we order something?” “Yeah, sure.” Both of them smiled at each other and started their journey on a new note.
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