Chronicles of Life

#chap15 #chroniclesoflife #Sagas_by_Irvika #sweetlovestory

Shruti went inside, hunting for Priyanka and Vikram. Just as she was about to call Priyanka to know about her whereabouts, someone tapped on her shoulder lightly, and said, “Hello…”

Shruti completely lost her balance and was about to fall down at the unexpected presence, when that person instinctively held her by her hand to support her.

Both felt as if electric shock waves ran through their body,  although for a second, as she blurted, “What are you doing here?!”

To be continued….

Shruti held a nearby table for support and steadied herself. Her pulse rate had gone in a frenzy and she just stood there; her mind and soul dancing a jig of joy. She didn’t know how to react, and just stood there gaping at him.

All the emotions were clearly visible on her face, from surprise, to disbelief, awkwardness, shy and finally a heart-warming smile that touched the deepest chores of Atharva’s coldest, farthest chambers of heart. Her face was as transparent as a veil, mirroring her emotions with crystal clarity. His hope started soaring seeing her reaction. He looked at her intently. Both stood there for a full minute, completely forgetting that they were in a public place, just stealing glances at each other.

At that point, a waiter said, “Excuse me,” and they both jolted out of their dreamland. Atharva was the first one to gain composure, cleared his throat and said, “Shall  we sit somewhere?”
Shruti hesitantly said, “Y..Yes… sure.”

She had too many questions popping in her mind, all at once. Why had he come, all the way here? Obviously, he had coordinated with Rohan, but when did he do that and more than that, she didn’t remember him asking for Rohan’s number.

She asked a very stupid question, "Why did you come?"
Atharva made a face,  and shrugged,  "Well.. Nashik seems to be a good place for a long drive."
She gave him a look stating that she is not buying that. He shrugged and replied, "Well,  why do you think I drove all the way here?" Shruti instead of answering, came up with another query, "By the way...  I am intrigued. It's obvious that you planned to come here and Rohan knew about all this, but when did you get his number? I don't remember seeing you ask him to share his contact."

Atharva was enjoying this thoroughly, although he didn't let it reflect on his face one bit. He dodged her list of questions and said, "Take it slow lady. First you have to answer my question. Why do you think I came to Nashik?"
She went crimson in her cheeks, unable to bring herself to answer and said meekly, "I...  I don't know..." and looked down.

He kept looking at her, giving her an intense look, that made her melt. She said instead, before she changed her mind,  "Look.. I am really very sorry for behaving abominably with you yesterday... I usually don't. But I felt genuinely hurt and blurted whatever came in my mind, without weighing my words." There! She said it. She felt so embarrassed that she couldn't gather courage to meet eyes with him.

He said in the most understanding manner,  "Shruti, I understand completely. Please don't mention. I was equally distraught. But then, am extremely thankful that life gave me a second chance. Let me assure you that there is no more misunderstanding now and everyone is in favor. I know you were not satisfied yesterday, in spite of me telling you repetitively. So just had to come.  My mind didn't let me be at peace until I met you once more... So here I am." He answered her query and she sat listening to him.

She was in awe of the way he said it all; without mincing words, in a very straight forward way.

A waiter came at that point to take their order. Atharva asked, “What would you like to have?”
Shruti shook her head, “Nothing much... had a late lunch.”
He responded, “Oh...ok.”
She looked at him and asked, “Did you have lunch? You were traveling na.”
He answered, “No.. didn’t have time.”
She asked, “Oh .. did you leave late?”
He shook his head, “No.. not really.. left around 11.30 a.m.”
She knit her eyebrows together and questioned, “So you should have reached by 2.30 p.m. max or taken lunch on the way. It’s already 4.30 p.m. now… wayyyy past lunch time. What took you so long?”