The feisty, bubbly and hyperactive Mihika was walking around the room talking non stop while the calm and composed Ishita was trying to concentrate on the text message she was sending to her colleague.
"Akka please! If you will behave this way, who will help me to convince periamma?"
Ishita rolled her eyes and looked at her pouting little sister. Mihika was one persuasive girl and when she has set her mind into something, then nobody can divert her from her goal.
She and Mihir her Punjabi boyfriend have made her partner in all their crimes despite herself.
Ishita sighed.
"What will I do there Mihika? You know very well I am not interested in such late night gatherings."
"I know Akka. Mere liye please. If you don't come, Periamma won't give me the permission to go. You know her jappam about Delhi not being safe at night and all. It is important for Mihir. He has bagged his first big assignment and his brother is throwing a party for him. I need to be there for him."
" Mihika I understand but what am I going to do there?"
" Akka plea...eassse. Periamma won't let me out alone. And what will I tell her if she asks me where I am going? I promise we won't stay till late. I just want to be there for him when he does his speech."
"I think it is time you spill the beans about your Punjabi boyfriend. Kab tak yeh sab chalega?"
" Agree Akka! You know how much I want to live my love life in the open air! I am only waiting for the right moment. You know how the family will react about it. This is why I am relying on you to support me...
"Wait a minute young lady! I am not getting into this. You fell in love with a pure non-veg Punjabi you better prepare your own case in front of the family."
" Ok! Pyar kiya to darna Kya! I love my Punjabi Munda. He is so loving and caring. But Akka If I don't go he will not like it and I must say that these Punjabi guys na are really...Ummm...
"Short tempered!"
"Yes! You are so right. Most of the time he is my loving Buddhu Ram but when he get angry na...Murugan! He can bring the roof down with his excessive shouting...Akka I promise. I will talk to Periamma very soon but this time you help me out plea...eassse Akka.
"Ok! I am going with you but I am warning you... THIS IS THE LAST TIME.
In response, Mihika only hugged Ishita back and planted a kiss on her cheek before retreating to her room to get ready for the evening.
An excited and overwhelmed Mihika failed to notice the fleeting of emotions across her Akka's face moments before. Ishita was disconcerted when she had completed Mihika's sentence about Punjabi men and their temper.
Something stirred inside her. The memories she had tried to suppress in the farthest part of her brain was again resurfacing, troubling Ishita to the very core.
Shaking her head as if to clear her head from the fogginess of past, she moved to her cupboard to pick a beautiful red chiffon saree with golden lace border for the function.
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It was almost almost 9 pm when their car managed to get out of the dense traffic to head to the Blue Sky Hotel where the function was being held. Mihir was a nervous wreck.
"Bhai how am I looking?"
The man sitting besides him was just the opposite of him. Confident bordering on arrogance, in a startling black suit, perfectly tailored, a clearly annoyed Raman Kumar Bhalla turned his no-nonsense look towards his brother to put a halt to his non- stop nonsense.
"Mihir bas kar yaar! You can't ask me the same question every single minute!"
"I am nervous bhai...my first speech in front of so many people and Mihika will be there too...I want her to proud of me and I also need to look good... She is such a gorgeous girl. Slim and tall and model like and...I am so...short..."
"Women like successful men and you are successful and they definitely don't look at your height but at your performance and I assume that two years of courting is enough for her to know how good you are...
"Bhai...aap bhi na!...
" What? Ladkiyon ke tarah kyun sharma rahe ho? Don't tell me..."
" Bhai!!...Ok one last time, Kaissa lag raha houn?"
Raman had to smile despite himself.
"Paagal! You are looking great and you will do great now STOP IT or else I'll break your teeth if you keep going on like a broken record".
"Ok. I am sorry...A dentist is the last person I would visit right now."
Mihir laughed while Raman's chuckle died in his throat at the mention of the word dentist. His thought immediately wandered to a certain lady dentist who crossed his path one fine day and since then life had never been the same again.
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