Chapter 4:
So soon after, Balraj, Teji, Lalit and Gayatri left to Ludhiana, where Heer and her two sisters were waiting their arrival.
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Heer, who had been sleeping on the sofa of her living room, was awakened by the knocking on her door. Her sisters had already gone to sleep in their rooms upstairs, and she had chosen to wait for her parents to return with Lalit, Gayatri, and their kids.
"Ma. Bauji." Heer said, opening the door, where she was met by the smiling, overlyexcited faces of her parents. "You both seem to be really happy."
"Well of course beti, why wouldn't we be happy? It's been years anyways since we've even seen our best friends" stated her father, as he moved away so Lalit and Gayatri came into view.
"Namaste" said Heer, as she bent down to take their blessings, and the two stared at their future daughter-in-law with happiness. She not only looked beautiful, but she was also very cultured, polite, and respectful. All in all, within the first five minutes of meeting Heer, the two Juneja parents decided she was the perfect match for their daughter.
As everyone walked into the house, Balraj looked around asking Heer where his two other daughters were. "Oh they're both already sleeping Bauji. We had gone to see a movie and they were so tired afterwards" replied Heer, handing over glasses of water to all the parents.
"Han Ballu. We should go get some sleep too. It's late and I want to go visit everyone tomorrow. See how much my home has changed" said Lalit.
All this time, Heer wondered where the Juneja children were, after having heard so much about them from her Bauji, but not seeing them present with their parents. However, she chose not to ask, knowing that her parents would take it the wrong way.
So soon, everyone retired to their respective rooms to retire for the night. Balraj and Teji wrote a note for their two younger daughters, explaining to them that they had to go to Mumbai and meet Preet, Prem, and Harman Juneja.
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The next morning Heer woke up at the crack of dawn, wanting to help her mother around the house with the guests. So she set out preparing breakfast for everyone. Soon by 7 am, everyone began trickling downstairs into the dining room, wanting to eat something in the morning before they headed out to their respective works.
"Namaste" greeted Meher and Ashlesha as soon as they saw Lalit and Gaytri, and took their blessings. Lalit instantaneously took a liking to Meher, as her antics and her bubbly cheery self reminded him of his own son, Preet, the nautanki.
Everyone sat at the dining table, talking away as if they had been seeing each for years, when Meher suddenly asked Gayatri "Aree Auntiji, hamari Prem jiju kahan hain?"
Balraj and Teji just looked at each other, wondering why their daughter hadn't seen the letter they had left them in the morning. However, Lalit quickly covered by saying "Oh. He had a lot of work so he was held back because of the business."
Heer, who had been hearing this entire conversation from the kitchen, heaved a sigh of relief. "Oh good. Now she had time to escape this situation and wouldn't have to face Prem and be awkward."
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Teji was fuming at her Meher and Ashlesha for not reading that letter. So when the two of them went upstairs after breakfast, she stormed up after them, taking Gayatri with her, and leaving Heer back in the kitchen to take care of the work.
Entering the room, the two women saw the girls sitting away on the bed, chatting and gossiping. "Meher. Did you guys not see that letter on the table?" screamed Teji, as she went to the nearby nightstand, and picked up a white sheet of paper that was lying there.
"You both should get ready to go to Mumbai for today."
"Wait. Why Ma?" questioned Ashlesha, wondering why her mother was so frantic about them not seeing the letter.
"Because your Prem jiju is in Mumbai, with his brothers, and he's waiting for you both to help him figure out what to do about Heer" responded a frustrated Teji, as she got a small bag and began to throw her daughters' clothes in there.
Meher and Ashlesha stood dumbfounded. What was their mother talking about? Lalit uncle had just said that Prem hadn't come from Canada. Confused, they looked at Gayatri, hoping she would find a plausible explanation. "Haan. Who teeno toh yaha hi hain, but when we found out that Heer didn't want to get married to him, we decided to make her fall in love with him. And you both are going to help. No problems na?" stated Gayatri, as she looked back and forth from Meher to Ashlesha.
"Of course not! Why would we have any problem?" questioned Meher, who was already thinking about ways to make her di fall in love with her jiju.
Always the hesitant one, Ashlesha questioned "Are you sure this plan is going to work? It's ok that we're doing this, right?"
Teji, Gayatri, and Meher convinced her that the idea was fine and that they should leave as soon as possible, in order to get to Mumbai quickly.
So the two sisters set off, telling their Heer didi that they were meeting up some friends.
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(I'm sorry I have no idea about traveling between Ludhiana and Mumbai and stuff, but we'll pretend it's a train ride… 😆)
Meher and Ashlesha alighted from the train, holding their bags in their hands, wondering how they were to recognize who their jiju and his brothers were. However, this task proved to be very simple, when they saw someone holding two papers, which said "Meher Maan and Ashlesha Maan."
"Haha. Woh dekh Ash. I feel like some kind of queen with that driver holding those signs to wait for us" Meher laughed, and looking at the man next to the "driver" Meher was like "WOW. That must be Prem jiju. He's so handsome, right Ash?"
Ashlesha just laughed at her sister's excitement. Although they were twins, that was only for namesake. These two were NOTHING alike, not in appearance and definitely not in personality either. The two sisters walked up to the two men, "Um. Are you Prem Juneja?" questioned Meher, eyeing the man in front of her up and down.
"Hi. Yeah I am, and you both must be Balraj Uncle's younger daughters?" stated Prem, as he smiled warmly at his future sisters-in-law.
"Yeah. Ma aur Gayatri Aunti were telling us how you wanted our help" laughed Meher. Then turning to the man next to Prem, she said "Driver. Can you take our luggage?"
The man looked at her shocked, while Prem stifled a laugh. "I am NOT a driver."
"Oh really? Then why were you carrying the signs like you were?" questioned Meher, shocked at how rude this man was being to her. Ashlesha hopelessly tried to calm her sister down, but was having no results. The annoyance was still blazing in her eyes.
Prem interrupted before the man could say anything though. "Woh Meher, he's not the driver. He's my youngest brother, Preet."
Meher blushed from embarrassment, her cheeks turning a bright red, while both Ashlesha and Prem began to laugh out loud now, at Meher's mistake. Preet, on the other hand, was enjoying how embarrassed she was, thinking how she deserved it for calling HIM a driver. A DRIVER! He knew he would have some fun with her 😉
So the four of them headed out to where Harman was waiting with the car. Seeing the two girls, well especially Ashlesha, Harman, the man who never ever paid attention to any girls, was weirdly pulled towards them, one in a more friendly sisterly way, while the quieter one did something to his insides.
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While the five were driving home, the girls called their mother to let her know that they had reached safely. Putting them all on speaker, Gayatri spoke to the kids "I want you all to think of things and make her fall in love with my son. I love Heer and want her as my bahu as soon as possible."
Soon after they reached home, where they decided they would discuss the Heer issue later. But first, Meher wanted to play some soccer with Preet and Harman, because in the car, Preet was arguing about who was better, boys or girls, and Meher had set out to prove to him that girls were awesome at everything they did.
"Prem jiju. You be the referee and scorekeeper, ok?" questioned Meher, when Preet returned with the soccer ball. "It's going to be me and Ashlesha against these two, who think they are so much better than us."
Prem had stopped paying attention after hearing the word jiju. He had then been transported into his own world. Jiju. He would be officially referred to that after they got married. Marriage. With Heer. A girl he had never met. Would he like her? His mind wandered into a different world, various ideas and questions whirring around in his brain until he suddenly saw Harman snapping his fingers in front of his eyes. "Bhaiya? Are you ok? Where were you lost?" he questioned, genuine concern lining his eyes.
"Of course in Bhabhi's thoughts! Right PB?" winked Preet, as he kicked the soccer ball back and forth. "So girls, do you really think you can beat us guys?" Preet asked, turning to Meher and Ashlesha, as he tried to show off some f his tricks.
Ashlesha, who was quiet until then, turned to Preet anger boiling over on her face, and stated "Just wait and watch. We'll definitely win. Don't you worry."
So the game started, Preet and Harman dribbling the bal back and forth, using fancy footwork in order to get past the girls, who were still playing in teir salwars. The girls were no less though. Determined not to lose and prove the boys correct, they played back fiercely, getting in their way and taking the ball away from their opponents every chance they could get. Twenty minutes later, which was their decided halftime, the score was 1-1. Everyone decided to take a break for five minutes and strategize.
Preet and Harman discussed more soccer moves, while Ashlesha whispered something to Meher, promising her that this would ensure their winning. So the four set off again. "Two minutes left!" shouted Prem as he sa the scoreboard, which still read 1-1. Meher looked over at Ashlesha and nodded to her, smirking. Harman, who was dribbling the ball, was suddenly blocked by Ashlesha. He looked up to see her trying to kick the ball away, and laughed, thinking she would never be able to do so. However, she lookedback directly at him, giving him a soft smile, and winking at him, leaving him standing, his mouth open in wide surprise.
Before he knew it, he heard the two girls screaming and Prem blowing the whistle, marking the end of the game. What had just happened?
"Harman Bhai! How did you just give up that ball? You could have score?!" exclaimed Preet in astonishment.
"Uh. Well. Um." Harman began, not really knowing how to explain his behavior. Ashlesha. He had really begun to like her and she had just utterly shocked him!
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Forty minutes later, it was lunch time, and everyone settled around the table, munching away silently on their plates. Meher finally broke the silence, "So Prem jiju. What do you want to know about Heer di?"
Prem literally choked on his food, hearing how directly Heer's sisters were asking him. However, he was saved when Preet chose to respond. "What we need to know is the kind of stuff she likes and what my PB has to do in order to get her to fall in love with him."
"Hmmm. Weelll" and Meher and Ashlesha started. They both listed tons of different things that Heer likes, from her favorite movies to her favorite presents. Prem, Preet and Harman, meanwhile tried to take as many mental notes as they could possibly do so.
"Waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. Stop" screamed Preet, his head bursting with information about Heer. "You both are going to be in Ludhiana, right?"
"Well duh." responded Ashlesha, "Where else do you think we would possibly live?"
Harman caught on instantly. "Well. Not that. But the point is we can just get all the information when we come there and meet Heer Bhabhi."
Ashlesha practically spit out everything she was eating. "Meeeeeeet Heer di? Are you guys crazy? If she knows who you both are, she's going to flip!"
"Weeelllll. That's why we don't introduce ourselves as Prem, Preet, and Harman Juneja. We introduce ourselves as Prem, Preet, and Harman Sharma. And waise, she wouldn't know mine and Harman Bhaiya's names. So don't worry, she won't know anything about who we actually are, ok?" smiled Preet, looking from one sister to another.
"Sigh. Good point, we will help you in getting Prem jiju nd Heer di together, just let us know whenever you need us to bring her somewhere or need our help with anything!" chirped Meher, as she smiled over at her twin.
Prem heaved a sigh of relief. So now, everyone, except for Heer was officially on his side. Now he would make that trip to Ludhiana to get his girl.
Precap: The Juneja boys at Ludhiana. Premeer meet!
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Hi Everyone! I hope you enjoyed this update :) Next update will definitely be Premeer meeting, and I know a lot of you are looking forward to that! Anyways, Please do read and comment!
Thanks,
~Naina
ps. i hope you enjoyed the littler World Cup tribute, with the soccer 😆
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