If They Parted Ways

.10.

Naina wiped her tears and reached for him at the other end of the table.Sitting on the chair in front of him, she smiled, "Chachaji, I have no regretsor complaints. You did your best to stop this marriage. Moreover, let me tellyou, you never discriminated among me, Preeti and Pooja Didi. In your andChachiji's presence, I never felt unloved. I married to Sharad Ji by my ownwill." Saying this, she fed him the bite in her hand. To change the topic, Preeti spoke up, "Naina, come with me. I will deck you up all nicely. I cannot come with you to distribute the engagement cards but I will dress you elegantly." Naina nodded and Bela got reminded of something important. "Naina, did you call Damad Ji yesterday night? You told him that you are going to stay here for one more day, right? Elsewise, he will be angry on you."

Naina recalled the incident of last night. Yesterday night, when everyone was almost asleep, she called her husband, as she was afraid of not being able to hide her tears in front of her loved ones. "Hello", she uttered as she got a little shock when she heard a voice from the other end after almost 6-7 rings. She thought that nobody was going to pick up the call. Twisting the wire of the receiver, she heard a "Who is calling at this time?" response. "Sharad Ji, I am speaking, Naina", she spoke. "Oh! You're speaking. You finally recalled you have a Sasural, you have a family, and you have a husband. What now?" Before Naina could say anything, he continued, "Let me guess- You want to stay for some more time at your home." Naina flinched hearing her shouting from the other end. She was on the verge of crying but she then she recollected the promise she had made. Hence, mustering up her courage, she uttered, "Just a day, please." She then explained how she had made a promise, only to receive some more cold, harsh words in reply, saying, "Yeah right! You just have responsibilities and promises to your Maayka and none to your Sasural." "Great!" He said and hung up. Naina, being quite used to this behavior was not hurt or angry. Wiping the little drop of tear on her cheek by the back of her hand, she headed to her room.

Bela was perplexed seeing her niece not saying anything. She questioned to confirm, "You called right?" After hearing a low voiced 'yes' in reply, the expressions on her face eased and after collecting the plates, she moved towards kitchen.

About an hour later, at both the houses, few people were all set to head out from there; for different reasons. After a discussion, the day was decided to be spent by catching up with some close friends followed by watching film and spending few hours on the banks of Sabarmati. Naina, Taiji, Tauji, Chachaji, Pooja and her husband, Varun were going to distribute the cards to all the friends and relatives in the city. Everyone reached the doors of their houses when they were stopped seeing a postman there. After receiving the envelopes, they were opened by Munna and Anand. It was from PVKM (Pragati Vidya Ka Mandir), the school that held many memories with itself. The content was read aloud to let everyone present know what was written in there. After listening for a minute or two, everyone was aware that a school re-union was held today, on the occasion of completion of 50 years of the school. It was mentioned that being the most memorable batch, they (Naina, Sameer, Munna, Pandit, Preeti, Swati, Kamya, Hema etc) were specially invited.

I know this is not fair to write after so much time and that too such short updates. Nevertheless, I really cannot do anything. As they say, something is better than nothing is, I will be posting such short updates frequently. Lastly, stay tuned to know that will the ex-students re-visit their school, will they meet each other, what will happen etc. Do not forget to vote and comment.

Thanks for reading.