Hope everyone had a chance to read chapter 10 that I posted over the weekend. Thank you again for reading my story and providing your comments. I am sorry I am unable to send PM's to anyone at this time., hardly manage the time to do this write up. Chapter 11 is now up (just below). I dont want to give too much away with a preview...but I can definitely say that its only going to get more interesting in the future. Chapter 11Yash looked at his reflection in the mirror... it was a couple of weeks since the alliance got settled, and he took Arpita out last night upon Prateek's insistence. They barely talked to each other...and the topics mostly revolved around his work, her studies and her research ideas. They hardly looked at each other eye to eye.
Today was the engagement day., and next week was the wedding. He had decided to stay true to Arpita, and restrained himself from having any thoughts about Aarti.
The engagement ceremony was a grand event, held at a resort. There were a lot of people from all around, from both sides of the families. Dr. Shankar requested the Scindia family to manage all the events. Pankaj and Vidhi put in a lot of effort with the decorations, seating arrangements, Prateek decided on the food and catering, and Suraj Pratap managed the guests. Gayathri and Shobha took care of all the rituals. Both the families decided to make the engagement a larger event, and the actual wedding to a limited guest list due to more traditional rituals. Everyone talked about how Yash and Arpita looked like the perfect couple.
Gayathri and Shobha were with the other ladies arranging for the rituals. They had asked Yash and Arpita to change into a different set of clothes for the ring exchange ceremony. Yash was tired from standing for hours now...he always wondered how people did that at wedding events...and now he couldn't believe he was in those exact shoes. Sighing, he was walking towards his room, when he saw a girl with her back towards him...she was sitting with a lot of kids in a circle and they all seemed to be engrossed in a story that she was reading out to them...he saw Palak and Payal too...the kids were listening to her very intently. He smiled at them and walked into his room...wondering who that girl was...
Wanting to freshen up, he closed the door, didn't bother locking it, took off his clothes, wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped into the bathroom to wash his face. As he splashed cold water on his face, he knew his head was clear, no havoc in his heart...taking a deep breath, he knew he was ready for this wedding. He stepped out from the bathroom..only to be jolted to the spot where was standing...
He saw a girl hiding behind the door of his room and peeking out as if she was looking to someone to catch her. She was wearing a light pink anarkali set with a long pony tail. Yash could only see her back and head bobbing in and out of room at the door. She seemed to be unaware of Yash's presence in his room. Yash never expected a girl to be in his room especially when he was only in a towel!! He frowned and walked to her, tapped on her shoulder. On his touch, she got startled and turned his direction, and screamed when she saw a half naked man in front of her!!!
NO!!, it cant be her!...Yash thought, he was sure he was probably just imagining her...until he heard her "ayyo, sorry, ayyoyyo...I am so sorry, I thought...I am sorry, I was just hiding from the kids...we were ...playing ...they ...me ...that ...oh god..." Aarti was at a loss of words...Yash was completely stunned!
He was looking at Aarti without saying a word...he just couldn't believe that this was happening to him.
Aarti stopped talking, when she suddenly realized she was looking at the same guy from the temple...the one her dupatta got stuck on,...the one whose thoughts lingered in her mind...do they still??
...she just stared at him...Yash was still looking at her intently..."YOU...here...??" was all he managed to say...she looked down feeling shy... turned away and ran outside the room without looking back.
Her heart pounding, thoughts racing, she ran until she found a corner to hide and recollect herself. "oh no, what was I thinking, just barging into someone else's room like that..I should have checked atleast...poor guy and what would he think of me..?" she was thinking and then started to curse herself "dont even know who he is. Hope no one else saw me coming out of that room. Should have just sat in the main hall with the rest of the people and enjoy the ceremony, but no, I had to go and play with the kids and run around..hope Shankar uncle did not see me like that, I better take leave now, it was nice of them to invite me..but I dont even know anyone here". She went in search of Shobha, found her talking to Gayathri. Aarti waited for Shobha to be alone. She then walked over to Shobha, took her leave and left the event.
Yash closed his eyes, ruffled his fingers through his hair and slumped down on his bed...and it started again! His heart was beating fast...this cannot be happening he thought. Prateek walked into his room "Bhaiyya, here is your suit...Bauji wanted you to change into this. There are some of our clients coming now..he wanted you to be in formals to meet and greet them". Yash did not say anything, got up and took it from Prateek.
"Are you ok Bhaiyya?"..
"Yeah, I am ok, why do you ask?"...
"no just that you look like someone just punched you in the stomach!"
Will try to post Chapter 12 in next 2 days. Stay tuned! Edited by ng_cooltools - 11 years ago
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
