Meant to be

Chapter 13: Ambigous

"Shehbaaz sana didi ab khush lag rahi hai na? Yaar itna tension mein thay yaar sab log! Shukhar hai rabji ka ki sab theek ho gaya hai na! Acha sunn maama aur maamiji ka mood kaisa hai?" Rajbir shehnaaz's cousin brother asked him. The past few weeks had been a roller coaster ride because himanshi's entry and all the ensuing drama. "Bapu hamara itnay tension mein hai ki unhone tiktok videos bhi nahi banaye! Kehtha Shaba patha kar woh shukla kaisay Kisam ka aadmi hai! Mainay bola bapu gane show hai dost hai rishta thodi na leke jaana hai!" Saying this both the cousins shebaaz and rajbir doubled up in laughter! "Sahi hai yaar bapu bhi mera unko laga Hoga ki beti to gayi, trophy bhi gayi daamaad hi sahi!"
High-fiving each other rajbir on a more serious note said "lekin hurt na ho jaye Sana didi game kheltay kheltay." And shebaaz agreed "haan ab usko hee sambhaalna padega, usnay toh bola tha ki pyaar pyoor ke chakkar pe nahi padegi yeh, phir bhi. Rabji khair karein bas, uskay toh lekin itnay followers badh gaye hai! Haye....voh bahar aayegi toh khud paagal ho jaayegi."

Far away in Bombay strangely Rita Shukla too had similar thoughts, strange that as much as she thought of her son she thought of that jhalli girl who seemed to have unlocked something in
Sidharth. She picked up her phone and asked Adith,Sidharth's trusted assistant, man Friday, confidante everything, to come up. For what she had in mind he could be trusted. If she shared this with Preeti and Neetu they will really think she has gone crazy but she had the mother's instincts about these things. She knew Sidharth had feelings for this girl more than he showed or more than he realised. Her only prayer was that he does not mess things up by his fierce ways. Her son was deeply loyal and expected as much loyalty back but all of this was bottled inside of him. Even when he was a kid when he was upset he would just scrunch his face up in a corner and brew and stew but would never articulate why he was upset but the good thing about him was that love always won him over, sometimes he got angry with himself about it but as much as he was a giant he was a gentle giant one who always bowed down to love.  In Sana she felt he had found someone who would recognize his vulnerabilities and turn them to strength. Of what she had seen she was a strong girl who who would celebrate everything about her son without using his weaknesses for wrong reasons.

While she was deep in thought, adith came up and was at the door. "Ji mummyji boliye kya Jasoosi karna hai Aaj?" He grinned while he said this, "Maar khayega tu! Lekin jasoosi ke Liye hi Bulaya hai teko!" This made adith laugh out loud "Patha tha! Boliye aaj kya investigate karna hai Sanaji ke baaremey! Mummyji mein ek baat bolooon? Seedha na apan kundali hee milwadete hain? Kay khayal hai aapka?"

"Adith tu aaj pitega! Preeti aur Neetu ko yeh sab pata chal gaya na chodegi nahi dono na teko an Meko! Acha sunh, mujhay bas janna hai ki Voh kaisay log hain, matlab ghar parivaar, Sana Kaisi hai.mil toh nahi saktey atleast jaan toh loon." Rita Shukla said.

"Jee mummyji, mein Instagram Aur twitter pe dekhta hoonh and jo bhi hai dikhaatha hoon. Vaisay aapney Kal ka unseen dekha? Hamaarey Sid bhaiya ke Toh payr zameen pay hi nahi hain patch up ke baadh! Bas Sanaji par sahaara Lekar baithna padta hai unko! Woh ab kis mooh se khadoos bannay phirenge ab? Soch soch ke mujhe hasee aa Rahi hai!" Adith said, leaving the Shukla home.

Just as he was leaving Rita Shukla went to see some Unseen footage from the previous few days and true enough as adith had said it delighted her to see that her grump of a son was the sweetest companion to that bubbly girl she had grown so fond of. They truly were intertwined both as two souls and as two people sitting next to each other. As mum she wished that she would always get to see her son this happy always, was she being prematurely happy. She did not know anything about Sana, except for the honesty and the sweetness and simplicity that shone through so brightly. Even though she did not know Shehnaaz, she certainly knew her son. He was very wary if whom he allowed into his inner circle let alone give such a long leash to, so if he found her worthy of his affections then she could not be dangerous.   She also was acutely aware of the fact that Sidharth had almost vowed to himself and her that he would never be one of those losers who went inside this reality show and find love, recalling the very thing he said to her the night before he left "matlab mummy kuch bhi, Saala 38 yrs se single aatma bankay idhar udhar bhataktha raha aur 3 Mahinay ke liye ek reality show mein Gaya aur bas the love of my life appears! So stupid it sounds and you know how much more stupid it will look!" Preeti from across him said "lekin Sid soch tu agar koi apnay jaisa Milay, isnt it a great opportunity to get to see each other in such a stressed environment. You will get to know each other at such close quarters and see na. It's not the most ridiculous idea ever!"  Sidharth let out a loud guffaw "haan bilkul yahi honay wala hai, sachayi ki deviyaan aa rahi hai na udhar! I bet you half of them are fake inside and outside and if i wanted to settle down with any of them toh ab tak toh 2 divorce aur 3 bachhe bhi paidha kar leta mein! So thank you but no thank you aur yeh tum 3 deviyon pls snap out of it...i am going in very single and i am not going to mingle and the only thing i am coming back is the trophy!"
Rita Shukla chuckled at this memory as she saw her 'single and not going to mingle' son chasing Sana around the dining table and at one point pulling Sana'a tshirt down when it had ridden up, she almost did an air pump as she had noticed her grandkids do.  That's my boy, she knew if he was allowing this girl to invade his space he would not do it casually or lightly. "Recognize love, choose love beta...Mera acha beta" she whispered to herself and the universe.