Chronicles of Life

#chap27 #chroniclesoflife #Sagas_by_Irvika #sweetlovestory

Both the families mutually agreed to the plan and parted ways. Shruti and Atharva went with her parents to get her bag, bid adieu, took blessings and left.

Once they reached home….

To be continued…..

Once they reached home, all the family members gathered in the living room, trying to make Shruti relax. She loved her bonding with Isha, who had grown fond of her in a very short period. She was hovering around Shruti as she was attracted to the bangles she was wearing on her hands. Shruti took her on her lap and was baby  talking to her. They were all generally discussing about the function when Mr Shah declared that it went off well. It was way past his bed time, so he took leave of everyone, told Shruti to be  comfortable and went in his room.

Atharva didn’t leave her side even for a minute, trying to make her feel as much at home as possible. She wanted to change her outfit now as it had been too many hours already, but felt awkward saying so.

Her would be mother in law got up to change and mentioned, “I will change and come. Preksha, please help her with anything that she needs.” She continued, looking at all present in general, “Shruti and I will sleep in the boys’ room tonight and Atharva and Minish can go to the new room.” Saying so she left.

Just then, Isha who had been playing with Shruti, tugged at her dupatta and said in her baby language, “Rina Rina…”
Shruti was unable to decipher as to what she meant and she repeated, pulling her by her hand and said, “Rina Rina…”

Everyone got up on cue and started forming a circle, holding hands. Atharva jumped at the opportunity and said enthusiastically, “Yes yes.. let’s do it.”

She was still unable to understand when they all starting going round and round, and it clicked…. Ring a ring a roses… they had just started when they changed places with a tacit understanding such that Shruti was holding Preksha’s hand on one side and Atharva’s hand on the other. It struck her then; no wonder her Romeo was so enthusiastic about doing this again and again. Atharva mentally thanked Isha… they went around a couple of times.

All the while, both were holding hands; gently at first and then Atharva squeezed it slightly, making her jittery. But she didn’t have any option. Both were feeling the texture of the other’s hand, one soft and the other slightly abrasive, but not rough by any means. She simply couldn’t think about anything as, his fingers played a havoc on her senses.

Soon, Isha got tired and unwillingly, the love birds had to release their hands, but not before Atharva gave her hand one last squeeze. She didn’t have the guts to look at anyone; she was sure all present there knew what he had been upto.

As such by nature, Atharva hated exhibiting emotions in public view, but then, he had been desperately waiting to have some sort of physical contact and this was a very sweet opportunity to do so. They all settled for a while on the swing and sofa, chatting in general when Preksha offered, “Come with me Shruti. I will help you with your jewellery and all.”

Both went in the room where Preksha helped her keep away all her jewellery carefully, exclaiming that it was exquisite. She helped remove the safety pins from the dupatta and then left the room so that Shruti could change into her night wear.

By then, Alpaji had come out. After a while, all dispersed to their allotted rooms for the night. Shruti didn’t know what to do. As such, it was almost 11.30 p.m. Atharva came in the room in his tracks and tee and made sure that everything was to her comfort. The boys room had one double bed and a single bed, since all 3 of them used to sleep in this room before Shankar’s marriage. Shruti was thankful for that and preferred sleeping on the single bed, while her mother in law occupied the double bed.