Chapter - 03
The Date
Naman was sitting anxiously. Early morning he received a call from Saavi who asked her to meet at a particular restaurant. He almost had a heart attack when Saavi said it was a date and he better reach there right on time. And there he was, dressed up in formal suit and with a bonquet of flower, sweating profusely as if he was actually 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. It felt as if they had gotten married recently. 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 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 didnât 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. âI'll be there within 15 minutes..... Saaviâ Naman read the message and took a deep breath. He couldnât thank Saavi enough for taking care of Dafli. No wonder Dilruba too indirectly pointed to her. He went out of his way to sabotage Saaviâs date with her prospective groom and then bluntly said he loved her. With Visharika, Mohana and other things, she didnât answer to his question. However after Mohanaâs 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 otherâs decision and if Saavi would call him âIDIOTâ then he would make proper use of his Hindi and inherent wit to mock her for her over excitement. But both of them were aware about each otherâs dedication and had mutual respect. He was thankful to Saavi for taking care of Dafli 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, made him respect her even more. So may be something started blossoming between them. But love? Itâs a huge thing. They really needed to sort everything out. Piya was his childhood friend and he thought he loved her. Itâs another thing that she was a Daivik and was destined to unite with Ansh. But 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 didnât 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 team-mate. But there was no reason to complicate things if either of them felt burdened with this relation.
âNaman!â Naman got startled. He didnât notice when Saavi had arrived. He stood up hurriedly and greeted her. âRelax Naman! Itâs a date not a trial.â Saavi tried to smile and took her seat. âYou look beautiful!â âThanks! You look great too! Are these for me?â âYes!â 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 Namanâs expression she started laughing. âItâs okay Naman! Relax!â Naman was embarrassed big time and looked at another direction. They spent some time in silence and finally Saavi spoke up, âI 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 too seriously.â âI think you are right.â
Saavi 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. âWhy would I say it if I didnât mean it" âListen! I didnât 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 wouldnât lie, it definitely felt great when you said you loved me.â Saavi paused for a moment. âBut 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. Thatâs why I asked; are you sure about your feelings?â
It took Naman some time to absorb Saaviâs words. âI 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.â Naman took a sip of water from the glass kept on the table and continued, âIt has been really weird, the last couple of months. I lost Dilruba and then Mohana kept striking back. Thanks to Devi Maa, she is gone now but I never really got enough time to wrap my head around the facts. I couldnât even grieve properly. I got so busy with Dafli and you went out of your way to help me, so yes! I definitely have developed some sort of feelings for you and donât want to lose you. Even when Mrs Ji was there, you and Sir Ji, you were a part of our family. When she gave Dafliâs responsibility to both of us and asked me to find love again, I got shattered. Then you were right there and I kept thinking about whether she talked about you or not. I started feeling really guilty because the moment she left, I started wondering about you and felt conflicted. Then you came up and said you were getting married and I became afraid that I might lose you too. But I was afraid of being alone. I guess all these things led me to believe I am in love with you" Naman looked at Saavi and seeing her gloomy face tried to clear things up. âLook! You are not any random person neither have I developed any temporary infatuation that would pass with time. I truly care about you. But in the last one month, I got a lot of time to think and retrospect and I feel I have skipped a lot of steps and just jumped on you. For that, I am truly sorry!â
Naman started preparing himself for getting blasted by Saavi. But she was unusually calm. After a few minutes, he felt guilty thinking that he had broken her heart when she finally spoke up.âI am really glad Naman that we are on the same page.â Naman was astounded as he wasnât expecting that answer. âWe are?â âYes!â Saavi tried to smile. âWhatever you have just said, are the exact things that was going in my mind. 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, it was because she was trying to protect my sisterâs family whereas I was majorly responsible for that catastrophe. I have been living in 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 too! So I think all the things have had their collective affect on both of us and we kept running around the bushes.â âSo, where does that leave us?" âWeâll continue from where we had started. No matter what our relation is, Dafli will always be our daughter.â Naman got surprised at Saaviâs last sentence.
âYes! I consider her as my own and my marital status doesnât change my feelings. We will together 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 canât just end up together for Dafli and then keep fighting for the rest of our lives. That would eventually affect her also.â âSo you want to part ways?â âNot really! I want to date you, formally. Like, we should be open about our feelings and share things with each other and take things slow. If we feel we are really compatible and genuinely fall in love with each other, we can take things ahead. Are you okay with that?â Saavi asked with a serious tone. âTo be honest, right now you are kind of reminding me of Piya! She used to show such firmness while taking her decisions. But of course you guys are sister, so.....â He finished his sentence abruptly. âAnd thatâs the reason you keep getting rejected because no one likes to hear about another girl on their first date; even if itâs their sister.â She rolled her eyes.
âSorry!â Naman smiled nervously. âI guess you are right!â âOf course I am right! Now, shall we continue our official first date?â âYou want to?â He was surprised. âI thought you would be in a bad mood after such serious conversation.â âWell, 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 that?â âYou went to a parlor!â âPlease! Donât tell me that you didnât notice anything.â Saavi exclaimed in utmost disappointment. âUmm, I did. You look a bit different today. Although I canât really say why.â âMuch better!â Saavi heaved a sigh of relief. âLetâs keep the expectation at ground level. Donât get your hopes up Saavi! Specially when you are dating this idiot.â She thought to herself. âSo shall we order something?â âYeah, sure!â Both of them smiled at each other and started their journey on a new note.
******* The End *******
Edited by nushy1995 - 3 years ago
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