[IshRa SS]Full Circle: Chapter 4 - Page 23

Almost in a deep slumber, Raman heard his phone ping. As much as he wanted to ignore it, he lazily picked it up to see the name and to his surprise, it was Ishita. He sat up abruptly and opened the message.

"Sleeping?" was the single word that stared at him. He frowned as a million scenarios inevitably crossed his mind and the confusion was visible on his handsome features in the semi dark luxury hotel room in Bangalore.

He hastily replied in negative and enquired what the matter was and in less than thirty seconds the reply came, but it felt like thirty minutes to him. He heaved a sigh of relief and propped himself against the fluffy, white pillow and leaned back against the mahogany bed frame as he smiled at the message, "Nothing Raman. Relax, I couldn't sleep."

He looked up instinctively at the time and realized that although it has only been an hour since he returned to his suite at Leela Palace and fifteen hours since his arrival in Bangalore for one of his important land deals.

"Oh okay. How is Ruhi?" he typed. But before he sent the message, he added, "And how was your day?" and hit send quickly before he pondered too long on the last question. He couldn't help but wonder if she'll over think the question. He was genuinely interested in her activities, more interested than he'd like to admit.

Across the country, Ishita stared at her phone screen with a shy smile adorning her pretty features. She obviously missed him tremendously; despite their usually friendly banter, she had become attached to him and he rarely went on business trips, so when he had announced an emergency trip to Bangalore merely thirty six hours ago, she had been sad. Upon remembering their phone call on his previous out-of-city trip, she decided to text him and carried on with, what they called, phone romance - a trendy thing of recent times. She suppressed a giggle and shook her head as she looked at the sleeping form of their daughter, Ruhi.

"Ruhi is sleeping and my day was good. Yours?" she replied after some time, as she got up and stood by the window, basking in the moonlight and trying to feel his presence even in his absence.

Their conversation lasted for almost an hour until he received, "Happy Father's Day!" amidst an inevitable banter on South Indians' habits. He was puzzled for a brief moment and soon enough, a huge smile plastered on his face. It was exactly midnight and the mother of his child had taken it upon herself to wish him on behalf of Ruhi; his wife was truly one in a million. A minute later, she chased him to bed after revealing that she had purposely kept him up until midnight. He chuckled at her gesture and slept surprisingly peaceful in the strange city. He convinced himself that it was because of the exhilarating feeling of going home in twelve hours, rather than his wife's cute gesture that was the cause of this.

Raman was expected to return in two hours and as usual, the Bhalla's household was in a mass confusion. But Ishita wasn't miffed, or atleast she had convinced herself of that, she had planned to cook a fantastic meal for the occasion because she knew her husband would be too tired after his trip to host a party or go out for dinner. Her mother in law was very corporative and had cooked all the non vegetarian dishes, whilst Ruhi was gift wrapping the present for her father. Ishita smiled as her daughter and Shravan argued over the colours of the gift papers. Vandita and her family came over at the Iyer's, as did they annually, and spent the day with Appa. Now that Ishita had her small family of her own, she smartly divided her time between the Iyer's and the Bhalla's, devoting ample time with her own beloved father.

An exhausted, but content Raman walked through the door, just as Ishita walked out of the room after the hours of cooking the luxurious meal. Their eyes met instantly and suddenly Raman knew his life had come to a full circle. Her eyes had spoken a million things, but the one thing that stood out the most was the special smile she gave him, one that indicated how much his Ishita had missed him. He could certainly get used to this, he thought ruefully. Soon, all the peace was disturbed by their personal mini tornado, Ruhi. She excitedly ran out of her room and grabbed Raman's legs as she bounced up and down yelling, "Happy Father's Day!"; "I missed you!" and "I love you" all in one breath. Raman looked at his daughter and picked her up in his arms lovingly and returned all her kisses. This was indeed a full circle for him; however, he couldn't repress the passing thought of Aditya, his son, though. But he hadn't gotten the chance for that thought to linger because soon the Bhalla's were all grabbing the opportunity to hug him and welcome him back.

As if on cue, Mihir and Mihika arrived with the Iyer's to complete the mini reunion. He slowly faded into the background and looked around at his crazy, but loving family as a whole. It felt complete to see all his family members in the same room, enjoying and chatting. Raman's eyes landed on the woman that made it all possible. His home had come alive the day she stepped in as the elder daughter in law of the Bhalla's.

Stealthily, he made his way next to her and teased, "Aren't you happy to see me?"

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Chapter Two