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Episode8:
               Adhya slowly took her hands back and dropped her face, thinking deeply. Every second she remained silent, Sandesh felt a dagger moving closer to his heart. He didn’t know what to do or say. He controlled himself and spoke again,
“Sorry, Adhya. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just...”
He was cut in the middle by Adhya, whose lips were blocking his lips from letting out long trains of sorry. It took few seconds for Sandesh to understand the situation. And when he realized it, he felt a great weight has been lifted off his head. They kissed passionately for long. Then, it’s intensity started to drop slowly coming to a halt. They opened their eyes slowly; their faces still close enough to feel the breath. Adhya smiled and whispered in his ears, “I love you, too”
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          “REALLY?” Pradeep exclaimed after hearing his best friend’s words that he proposed the woman he loved. Pradeep was off his seat and his eyes were wide open with excitement. Sandesh pulled him back to his seat, bringing him close and continued in a low voice as if he was disclosing a top national secrete.
“Yes. I did it”
“And, what did she say?”
“She said she loves me too”
“And?”
“And what?”
“What else did she say?”
“Nothing much”
He made sure that the ‘kiss’ part didn’t skip out of his mouth.
“Ohhohhoo!! Man!! This’s worth celebrating an entire week. I want a big party on this Saturday”
“Ah!! How about some other day? I’ve promised Adhya that I’ll take her to a movie. So...”
“Aha!! Already started dating, eh?’
“Oh c’mon, man. It’s just a movie. Nothing like dating and all”
“What more do you expect on a date then?” Pradeep winced at Sandesh. They both broke into laughter. Sandesh remembered something and shared the same with Pradeep.
“Well, I was planning on buying a bike. Which one do you think I should go for?”
“There’re many, bro. just look around this city, you can find varieties of bikes. Is there something in your mind?”
“I was thinking of Royal Enfield Thunderbird...”
“Enfield’s great. 350cc or 500cc?”
“500cc”
“Hmmm. It suits your personality. Have you booked it?”
“No. I said I just had a thought. Besides, have to wait for delivery for months after booking”
“So, what? Can’t you wait till then?”
“I can. But...”
“Oh!! I see. You’re eager to ride around with bhabhiji, huh?”
“Ha ha ha ha. It’s nothing like that. I just want to own a bike as soon as possible. If you think Enfield’s worth waiting that long, then I don’t mind booking it”
“Enfield is the best. I can assure you that”
Sandesh booked the bike the same day after his work. No matter how much he denied, he was eager to roam around with Adhya in his own bike. But, few good things can wait for some time, he thought.
                    Now, as he knew about Adhya’s feelings for him, he had become completely open with her. He shared almost everything with her. He had never been that expressive with anyone earlier. He felt his life’s now complete.
                    He worked with great spirit. His team successfully completed their project a week before the deadline. Even his behavior and activities at home changed. He had started spending more time outside his room. His parents were happy about this change. More than just happy, in fact. Savita had thought it would be better if Sandesh starts speaking to his father. But, Shankar had convinced her saying it’ll take it’s time and once again they’ll be happy. They both didn’t know the cause for the change in Sandesh. They didn’t even care to look for one. Their son was happy. That’s all mattered to them. However, that very reason was about to enter their home soon.
                  In one of their conversation, Sandesh had insisted Adhya to visit his house. She kept postponing the event giving one or the other reason. But, at last she had to visit when she felt she can’t keep doing this forever. It was a Sunday. Sandesh was getting ready from the moment he woke up. Once he was ready, he came down and sat in front of the Tele-Vision, blankly switching channels. Savita was busy in the kitchen and Shankar was in his room.
                  TING TONG!! The doorbell rang. Sandesh jumped off his seat shouting, “I’ll attend” and ran to the door. He hadn’t let anyone attend the door since morning. Every time he ran to the door, before opening it he made sure he looked neat. After repeating the same routine, he opened the door. He saw Adhya standing there in dark blue salwar. Everything she wore was matching with her dress. Her hair was, as usual, untied. She held cellphone with her both hands. Her face glowed with smile as she saw Sandesh. They both leaned forward for a hug to greet each other. But, it was cut in the middle by Savita’s loud voice, “Who’s at the door?”  Sandesh replied as he took Adhya inside.
“My colleague”
“Colleague?! Who, Pradeep?”
She came out of the kitchen saying that and noticed a female who was covered from top to bottom in dark blue. They exchanged a warm smile. Sandesh introduced them to each other.
“This’s Adhya, my colleague. And Adhya, this’s...” he cut himself there thinking what to say; mother or step-mother? But, the females were busy in scanning each other that they didn’t notice Sandesh’s dilemma. They exchanged a formal Namaste and Savita guided the guest to the living room. Adhya and Sandesh sat on the sofa. She was looking the house when Savita brought glasses of lemonade. Savita then joined them, talking about Adhya’s family and other things related to her. Hearing cheerful voices, Shankar came out of his room. Adhya noticed a new entry in the room and shifted her face towards him. Savita saw her husband and introduced Adhya to him.
“This’s Adhya. She’s from Sandesh’s office”.
She gave a pause while Adhya got up for another round of exchanging Namaste. Shankar asked her to remain seated as he joined them. Savita continued,
“This is Sandesh’s father. He owns a computer hardware business”
Then, the same series of questions about Adhya’s parents and other members of the family were fired, this time by Shankar. When it was time for lunch, they all went to the table. Savita had cooked ghee rice and chicken curry. She complained to Adhya, “Sandu didn’t inform me that you’re coming home. Or else, I would’ve prepared some sweets”
“It’s okay, aunty” was all Adhya could respond. Well, even if Sandesh had informed earlier, there wouldn’t be any special dish prepared for the guest. She had said that just for the sake of formality. Savita continued,
“In fact, he doesn’t speak at all. He never comes out of his room. God knows what treasure he hid there. But, he’s changed recently, spends some time outside his room these days”
Sandesh gave her a cheap look. She noticed it and said reluctantly,
“What!? Am I telling any unwanted things? Can’t I share that much about my son? Besides, she’s no stranger, she’s part of our family now”
Sandesh banged his left palm on his forehead, realizing it’s useless to argue with her. Some people don’t know when to talk and when not to. Shankar noticed uneasiness on Sandesh’s face and tried suppressing Savita’s talk show.
“Let the children eat, Savita. We can talk later”
Fortunately, it worked. She remained silent throughout the lunch. When they were finished with lunch, Adhya said, praising the cooking, “Lunch was tasty, aunty. I loved it a lot”
Hearing it, Savita started again, “See? Everyone likes it but my son. He likes to eat that road side dhaba food than eat healthy food at home...”
Before she could say more, Sandesh interrupted her by offering Adhya to show around the house and took her away. They walked around the house. Every item in the house was explained briefly by Sandesh to her. After an hour’s tour around the house, they came back to the living room, sat there on the sofa and chatted for some more time. When it was 5pm, Adhya got up to leave. Savita called out Shankar who was back in his room after lunch, doing some work. Adhya bent down and touched Sandesh’s parents’ feet, seeking their blessings. They then joined her journey outside the house till the main gate and when she got onto an auto-rickshaw, Savita spoke out, almost to herself, “Such a good girl”. When she noticed Shankar drift inside the house, she turned to Sandesh and asked him with greedy eyes,
“Do you like her?”
“When’ll you learn to talk?” Sandesh shouted and went to his room. Lying on his bed, he thought about his mother’s words which echoed in his head, “Do you like her?”

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