AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Letting her go, he walked into the bathroom to freshen up and get ready. During this time, Roshni got the bag ready and tidied up the bed and room. The thought of her staying back in India bothered her. Her eyes were moist. She did not want to stay away from Deepak anymore! As she gently wiped her tears, Deepak came of the bathroom and noticed her.
He came closer to her. “Roshni, are you okay? What’s the matter?”
She immediately hugged him tightly and cried, “I don’t want to be away from you anymore.”
Deepak was confused by this statement. “Roshni, why do you think I will leave you? Why would you be away from me?”
She looked up to his face with tears in her eyes. “What if I’m unable to come to the US with you? Will you leave me here and go away?” she asked, being very sad.
Deepak smiled at this innocent question of hers. He pulled her to him. “Roshni, what made you think I would leave you and go away? If I wanted to leave you here, I would not have come here to spend time with you in the first place. I would not have gone through all these pains to bring you back in my life.”
He lifted her head to face him. “Roshni, you are my breath…how can I leave you. If all goes well, both of us will go together to the US. If not…then I will stay here until you get the VISA. I promise you, dear, I will not leave you here alone anymore.”
Roshni was relieved to hear this. She hugged him again, and like a little child, she put out her right hand. “Promise me you will never leave me alone.”
Deepak smiled at this action of hers and placed his right hand over hers. “I promise you, dear, we will always be together.”
Roshni felt better. She smiled and hugged him again. She felt secure in his embrace, and Deepak expressed the same feelings!
He was in a joyful mood. “Roshni, we need to catch up on all that we lost in the last year.” He smiled at her.
Roshni was shy and hid her blushing face in his chest again until they decided to leave for Mumbai.
They had breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel and headed out to Mumbai. Roshni volunteered to drive, but Deepak persuaded her to take the passenger seat and keep him company while he drove. Both enjoyed each other’s company, and they halted a couple of times to enjoy the beauty around them before finally arriving in Mumbai.
Roshni and Deepak got busy distributing the wedding invitation cards as instructed by Sashank bhaiya and Kusum didi. In the list of invitees, Roshni looked for Satish’s name and did not find it. She was unhappy and discussed this with Deepak. Deepak tried to make her understand that if Sashank bhaiya did not want to invite Satish bhaiya, that was fine. He did not want to create any tension prior to the wedding. However, Roshni was not ready to give up. She asked Deepak if he would support her if she talked to Sashank bhaiya, and he
promised her he would.
~ ~ ~
That evening during dinner, Roshni initiated this conversation with Sashank bhaiya. “Sashank bhaiya, I did not see Satish bhaiya’s name in the invitee list, why not?”
Sashank looked at Roshni. He did not have an answer for her. He shrugged his shoulders and tried to avoid the topic.
“Bhaiya, we talked about it already, right? You have invited so many people; what is the harm in inviting him? He apologized to you, so now you should go beyond and forgive him. Bhaiya, please, let us not have any harsh feelings towards him anymore,” she pleaded with Sashank.
Roshni was known for her calmness and had the talent to persuade and provide rational arguments. Everybody else was quietly waiting for Sashank to respond. He stared at her; part of him felt he should invite Satish, but part of him resisted. The brothers had talked a couple of times since Roshni went to Bangalore, but they’d never met, and Sashank was nervous.
Roshni came to him and held his hand. “Bhaiya, please…what are you thinking? It is our responsibility to invite him, and whether he comes is up to him. He did not attend our wedding, he was not present for your wedding, and this is the last wedding in this family. Please…let us forgive him and invite him,” she literally pleaded with him.
Sashank finally agreed, “But I’m not going; you and Deepak can go invite him.”
Roshni was so happy; she hugged him and thanked him. None other than Roshni could do this. Akash and Deepak were relieved. Roshni and Deepak went to his house the next day and invited Satish and Nirmala. They were very pleased to hear about Akash’s wedding, and since he was still recuperating from his stroke, he could not travel. Nirmala promised she would attend the reception.
~ ~ ~
“Deepak and Roshni, December 14th is your first wedding anniversary. We have been so busy with Akash’s wedding preparations, we completely forgot about this date. I think we should celebrate this day,” said Kusum.
Sashank and Akash agreed instantly. Deepak and Roshni looked at each other; they had already celebrated their anniversary in Poona. Both were silent.
“Why don’t we all, as a family, be together and go out for dinner,” suggested Deepak, and everybody agreed.
~ ~ ~
December 11th
All the arrangements for the wedding were complete. Akash was nervous and excited. All the rituals were being performed before the wedding, and Roshni took an active part with Kusum. Everybody was getting ready to leave for Poona one day prior to the wedding when the postman arrived with a registered letter for Roshni.
