ALWAYS & FOREVER

Chapter 10

Author's POV

The Malhotras leave after all the details have been finalized. Meera reaches home a few hours after they leave. The moment she enters  the house, she sees her father sitting on the sofa. 

"Dad? You are still awake? It's 11pm. You need you rest", Meera scolds him.

"I was waiting for you-"

"You shouldn't have. Now chalo, I'll help you up", Meera says holding his hand. He places his hand over hers and makes Meera sit beside him.

"Ok, but listen to me first. Only 5mins", Sameer says and Meera sits up waiting for him to continue.

"So, we finalized a date for your wedding. Is the 26th of June fine?"

"Thats just 20 days away", Meera exclaims.

"Yes are you happy?"

"Are you happy", Meera asks in return.

"Of course, I can't wait", Sameer says excitedly.

"Then I'm happy too", Meera forces a smile. "Ok, now get up. It's already very late. We'll talk about the rest tomorrow."

Sameer complies and Meera leads him up to his room. She then goes to her room and replays the conversation in her head. 20. Just 20 freaking days till her marriage. Just then her phone pings indicating an incoming message. She opens it to find a message from Alia, asking if she was free day after tomorrow for shopping. 

Right, shopping- for a wedding dress she thinks bitterly. Anyways she replies with a yes. A moment after she send the message, Alia calls her.

Alia: I'm sorry I called so late but I figured you are awake since you responded.

Meera: No problem Alia, you can call anytime.

Alia: Great, so I just called to finalize the time. Does 3pm work? 

Meera: Day after tomorrow at 3 right?

Alia: Yes

Meera: Ok done. Text me the location and I'll meet you there.

Alia: Awesome, I'll tell ma also. See you then, Bye.

Meera: Bye.

She disconnects the call and tosses her phone on the bed. After changing she lies down on the bed but sleep is the last thing on her mind. A million possibilities run through her mind. Her life after her marriage . A husband who couldn't seem any more less interested in the wedding. But she doesn't blame him, her condition is the same. After a few minutes, she forces these thoughts out of her mind and closes her eyes trying to sleep.

********

2 days later

Nandini goes to Abhimanyu's house in the morning along with Sameer. She finds him sitting on the dining table feeding Reyansh who is sitting on his high stool. 

"Abhi", Nandini calls out. He turns around and gets up after seeing them. 

"What are you doing here so early?", Abhi asks them.

"We wanted to talk to you"

"Haan chalo lets sit. Give me two minutes, Rey-", he stops in the middle of his sentence when he sees Reyansh push the bowl off the table. It falls on the floor and all the contents spill out. "Reyansh, why would you do this?". Rey just sits and stares at the bowl on the ground and then at Abhimanyu and giggle. Abhi goes to lift him up but Nandini beats him to it.