Chapter30

Drishti changed into her casual wear and walked out of the bedroom.
Shravan was waiting for her in the living room
Drishti is back to her usual self
"Order placed? She asked
"Yeah. Italian" he said without looking at her.
Drishti rolled her eyes at the awkwardness
"Come on. Stop being so awkward. So what if we kissed? It was mind blowing. Wasn't it?" Drishti asked and then a scary thought gripped her.
Didn't he like it? Is that why he is so
awkward with her now.
Shravan looked at her in disbelief
Why is he even surprised?
He should have known she would be back to her usual chirpy self pretty soon.
"You didn't like it?" Drishti asked accordingly
"Ofcourse I did" Shravan said
Drishti sighed in relief
"Great. I got worried for a moment" she smiled cheekily
"How are you so cool about it?" Shravan asked in disbelief
"Why shouldn't I?? Ah! If you are going to ask for an annulment, what happened a while ago will turn awkward" Drishti admitted.
"I'm not going to ask for an annulment" Shravan said
"Great. So no worries. No annulment means ,marriage is on. Which means we can kiss to our hearts content" Drishti declared happily
"Good God Drishti. Let's first talk okay?"
"We already did. You said you don't want an annulment. Which means marriage is ON" Drishti said in confusion
Shravan took in a deep breath and turned
in his seat to face her directly
"Listen. There are things you need to know. Things you should understand for our marriage to work out" Shravan said
Drishti frowned
"As you already know ,I'm a workaholic Drishti. I work long hours. I need you to understand that. And your expectations on love is so fairy tale like. I don't know if I will be able to be that man" Shravan said
"But I so wanted a prince charming to sweep me off my feet" Drishti said huskily
Shravan took her hands in his and looked into his eyes
"I'm not a prince charming Drishti. I'm a
normal man. And I will try my best to keep you happy. Yes, I will make mistakes. We both will. I have never been in a relationship before. So I'm pretty much a novice with girls. So I need to you to let me know when I make a mistake. I will do the same with you. We will learn together. You understand, don't you?" Shravan asked
"I will try to understand. And about working long hours. If you keep working long hours, how will we bond. So you will have to make a compromise there. You will have to be home by five in the evening" Drishti demanded
"Five? That's too early Drishti. I usually work until seven"
"My Paa used to work like that. But after Maa came, he stared delegating his works"
Drishti said
"You father was an established hotelier by the time he got married Drishti. Ours is an upcoming group."
"Okay. We will come to a compromise. Six in the evening. You will have to he home by six"
"Fine. Six it is" Shravan agreed
"Great. And no working in the weekends"
Shravan took in a deep breath.
"Sundays I can take off. But I will have to go to office on Saturdays Drishti"
"Saturdays you can take half day off." Drishti offered another compromise
"Fine. Half day on Saturdays"
"Wonderful" Drishti clapped her hands happily
"Any more demands?" Shravan asked dryly
"Nothing I can remember of right now. Will let you know when I remember"
"Ofcourse"
The food arrived and they had their dinner soon.
"Drishti, if you don't mind me asking. I didn't really understand about your adoption and all. Why were you adopted when your parents were alive?"
"Anjali Singhania was my Paa's elder sister. They adopted me when I was born"
"Oh you mean your aunt adopted you. But why?"
"Its a long story. I will tell you the shortened version"
"Okay"
"Paa went on a backpacking trip when he was twenty. While he was in Mangalore, he met Maa. It was love at first sight for them" Drishti said dreamily
"Maa was only sixteen. Paa didn't knew that. Maa's only had her stepmom and she was a cruel lady. Meeting Paa was the happiest day of her life until then. But they were caught by the step mom and Paa
realized Maa is a minor. So he had to leave her. He promised to keep in touch and come back after two years"
"And he didn't?" Shravan asked. Somehow he couldn't imagine Vihaan Malhotra abandoning the woman. They looked so much in love.
"He got into an accident while surfing. He had a head injury and suffered a memory loss. He forgot his Diya" Drishti said, her heart aching for the anguish her Maa went through.
"Memory loss??" Shravan asked in horror.
Does that really happen? He thought it exists only in floppy movies.
"Yes. And Maa got pregnant"
"At sixteen?" Shravan asked, though he saw that coming.
Drishti grinned
"Are you wondering how they did it at that age?" Drishti asked
"Noo" Shravan protested, color slashing his cheek bones
Drishti laughed
"I always use that as a leverage over Paa, if I want something to go my way. How pathetic we are. I'm twenty three and I got my first kiss only now" Drishti said disappointed with herself
"Good God Drishti"
"What??"
"Nothing. You tell me what happened after that" Shravan changed the topic, because he was getting tempted to kiss her again
"Yeah right. Maa came to Mumbai in search of Paa as she didn't get any letter from Paa as he promised. Maa met mom instead. Mom refused to let Maa get in touch with Paa. Mom said some cruel things to Maa. And then persuaded Maa to give me up for adoption"
"She must have been terribly hurt"
"She was. She was only seventeen and she didn't have any other option other than giving me up for adoption. She was happy I was going into my Paa's family. A part of her believed, Paa would come for her as
soon as he got to know about the baby" Drishti said sadly
"And how did they meet again"
"That's where the genius me come in. A year after Mom and Dad passed away, dadi was adamant on getting Paa married to a family friend. I rebelled against it. I said I wanted my real mother. Up until then Paa didn't knew that I was aware of the adoption."
"So he went in search of her. How did he find her"
"It was actually easy. Moms solicitor knew where Maa was. Mom had promised Maa to send my pictures every year. So Paa got the address from the Solicitor and he went to meet Maa"
"And?"
"And they fell in love all over again. Even though Paa forgot meeting Maa, he used to get dreams about her. He always thought he is simply imagining a woman. But then he met his dream woman in real. As they say, memories might die, feelings doesn't." Drishti said
"That must have been one strong love. They both didn't have any other relationship in the years they were apart?" Shravan asked curiously
"No. Maa couldn't move on from Paa"
"Understandable. But your Paa didn't remember her right? So why didn't he get into any relationship?"
"He was in love with his dream woman." Drishti said dreamily
Shravan nodded. Now he understands why Drishti has unreal expectations on love.
Her parents had what you could call an unnatural kind of fairy tale love.
Drishti picked her phone and typed a message to her father
'We are giving this a go. Wish me all the best' - D
"By the way. Where are you taking me for honeymoon?"