Thank you everyone for the response. The next part is mostly exposition and Avni's thinking. Please do like and comment, and if possible; share with your friends on the forum 😳
-----Avni Aunty
Part 4
June 2016
"Yes Neela Ma! I am just about to bored the flight. I'll whatsapp you the flight details in just a bit. And please do not! Tell anyone I'm coming. You promised me! No. Not even Aman. Okay, love you bye! I'll call you when I land.
Avni started to turn her phone off, in preparation for take off, when she felt someone looking at her. She turned around to see a set of warm golden brown eyes peering at her with laughter. She smiled. It was an old lady, dressed in a pale blue saree and her mane was white as snow but something about her was so familiar that it hurt Avni's heart.
"Puttarji! Tussi apne bebe si gaala kaarava? (beta, you talking to your mother?)
Ma. The word hurt her soul. She had avoided hearing it and saying it aloud except when she attached it at the end of Neela Ma's name. She deftly put on a fake smile, hoping the lady wouldn't notice.
"Nahi Aunty-ji. It was my maasi- actually, when I was younger I couldn't say the entirety of the word Maasi--so just Ma stuck. And its not like she's my actual maasi--- she and my mother were best friends, but she deserves me calling her Ma, she's been like a mother to me since I was a child --Avni stopped talking in the hope that this much personal information would be satisfactory to the aunty and she wouldn't have any follow-up questions.
"Acha. Acha. Her head bobbed up and down. "You are going back to India, to visit family? Hum toh apne family se milne London aye thay. ( We came to meet some family in London).
"Ji aunty-ji"
Ladies and Gentleman please fasten your seatbelts as we prepare for take off.
The announcement made everyone turn around refocusing their energies on making sure their seatbelts, families, baggage, etc was all secure. That was the end of this conversation, Avni guessed and turned to look out her window.
Avni was moody. She knew it. She was also an expert in self-doubt, second guessing every decision she took, making last minute decisions, and panicking over things at the wrong times. Which is why, it had taken her a whole month to make a decision.
Yes. She would have to fly out to India. It had not been easy for her to stay so far away from the people she loved most. Especially for the last 4 years...but she had made a vow to herself. She wouldn't go back to that place. It had taken away everything she loved. In the depths of her mind, Avni was convinced if she stayed in India, something bad would happen to the reminder of her family. She couldn't bare that idea. If something happened to Neela ma, Aman, Maira, Nanno, Shweta Aunty, Prakash Uncle, Neil, Kar--- she shifted uncomfortably as she realized where her thought process had taken her.
Avni had shifted to London with Neela, Aman and Maira. But she soon realized how miserable it was for the rest of them, so she had convinced Neela Ma to go back with Maira and Aman. The next two years, Neela and Aman had journeyed over to spend the holidays with them. But the past two years, Neela had been preoccupied with her business while Aman and Maira had school and exams.
When Aman had requested her to come to his graduation in April, she had been apprehensive, and tried to convince him to spend his summer holidays with her in London; she'd fly him out and for the next 3 months it would be just him and her. But even 12 year olds are tricky to convince nowadays, so she had to throw in a bribe of new videogames and trips to the London eye every weekend but in the end he was convinced. So that had been Avni's plan. But life had a habit of throwing her curveballs.
She received a package in the mail. At first, assuming it was just some care package Neela Ma had sent over, she hadn't bothered to open it. It wasn't till her weekly call with Neela ma that she realized the package had not been from Neela ma.
Flashback
May 2016 ~one month after her phone call with Aman.
Looking at the package, Avni noticed it was wrapped in shiny green wrapping paper and had a small bow attached to the side, she had placed face down on the table; along with the bow was a small handwritten notewell, a scribble with a sharpie more like it... As if someone wrote it down as an after thought. this side up ^ ....
oops. muttered Avni as she flipped the flipped the package over and began to open it.
It was a crate/box, a very fancy but old fashioned one. Made of wood, it looked quite rustic like the ones she had seen on her Instagram feed. The top most layer had a heavy embossed card. White with pink rose petals, she turned the card repeatedly, Before, finally ripping open the seal to reveal the invitation:
We hereby, Cordially invite you, Ms. Avni Ayesha Mehta, to the wedding of Riya Malhotra and --Avni let out a gasp and dropped the card on the floor, stepping away in shock.
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Okay, that's it for part 4
some still unanswered Questions, Whose Riya? Whose Maira? and most importantly. WHO IS RIYA MARRYING? 😆
All will be answered in the next part. *promises* Just remember to comment for a update sooner
Crate box
Edited by _Tabs_ - 7 years ago
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