Yudhi [# A Love Story - Completed]

Reena - Part 2

A/N: If you wish to continue the story without reading the flashback, please go to chapter 5.

Aunt Reena's POV

Reena was eagerly waiting at the San Francisco airport to receive Yudhi. She was hoping Yudhi had a comfortable flight, as he was travelling alone to US, for the first time. She promised Yudhi’s mom Archi, that she would take care of Yudhi in US. She also convinced Yudhi to take up Google’s offer, instead of joining some other company, as she was sure, Yudhi would have to come to San Francisco and spend time with her family.

Reena and Archi were childhood friends, very close to each other. They grew up together and even went to the same medical college. After graduating as doctors, Reena came to US for her post-graduation and Archi remained in India for her post-graduation. After coming to US, Reena fell in love with Arvind, who also was doing his post-graduation and both got married after getting consent from their parents and settled down in US. Arvind’s dad was from India and mom was French, hence he looked more European than Indian. Although he didn’t look Indian, he was very much into Indian traditions and culture, hence her kids were fully aware of Indian traditions, inspite of  growing up in US.

Even though they were separated by distance, they remained close by sharing information through letters and later by phones. Earlier overseas telephone calls were very costly,  hence they used to write long letters to each other. Later advancement in technology and internet made it possible to communicate more often through phone.

Since her kids got older, Reena has been making yearly visits to India and spent considerable time with Archi and her family. She knew Yudhi very well and it was Yudhi, who used to take her around the city for shopping and visiting other friends. She had two daughters and Archi had a son and daughter. She and Arvind, always thought of having a son, but gave up after two girls and were happy with them. So, when Reena met Archi’s son Yudhi, she grew fond of him and started looking him as her own son. Whenever she visited India, she would bring him latest gifts and electronic gadgets from US.

Reena was very much involved with her kids education, so she always kept track of Yudhi’s education along with her kids education and would give him suggestions and any help he wanted from US based universities. Yudhi knew the history between his mom and aunt, so treated her like his mom and was happy to take her help. Reena, like Archi, was very proud of Yudhi’s accomplishments and wanted to make sure he had all the resources to make a mark in his life.

Reena always considered Archi and her kids, as her extended family and wanted to  maintain the same relationship forever. Until the day, almost two years ago, when Reena was on a visit to India and went to shop Indian style clothes for Arohi, her daughter, who was two years younger to Yudhi. She was busy looking at different styles of dresses for classical Indian dance and when she turned back to ask Yudhi for his opinion, she noticed he was talking to a good looking girl.

She noticed them from a distance and could easily make out the girl’s interest in Yudhi, the way she was laughing and poking him. Then she started hugging Yudhi and was acting as if she was making out with him. Yudhi, while trying to get away from her, noticed his aunt staring at them and then quickly steered the girl towards Reena and introduced her as Mallika, daughter of his father’s friend.

Reena, trying to dig deeper, asked Mallika, if she can help her with finalizing her purchase. Immediately Mallika said, “sure Aunty, I will help you. If you are important to Yudhi, you are important to me too, as long as you are not planning to marry your daughter to Yudhi.”

Luckily Yudhi was out of earshot, but it struck Reena as a bolt. She never thought about it, as the kids were still young and studying, but she knew, sooner or later, the moment will come and someone was going to snap Yudhi and she may not even get a chance to meet with him or spend time with him, like now.

Since then, Reena’s views about Yudhi started changing and she started to think, the only way she can keep the families together, is to make Yudhi marry her daughter, Arohi. She was not even sure Arohi would agree, as she was growing up in a completely different environment and had completely different views from Yudhi, who grew up in India.

After thinking about it for six months, she felt confident enough to talk to her husband about it. Though Arvind never met Yudhi, he knew about him so much, because after every India visit, Reena would be talking about Yudhi for at least three months. The kids were so bored listening to their mom talking about Yudhi, that just the name “Yudhi” would auto shutoff their ears and make them stare at their mom, waiting for the signal to reopen their senses.

But Arvind had to agree with Reena, as they both knew, it would be very difficult to get anyone close to Yudhi. He was the perfect guy for their daughter, as they know the family very well and more important knew Yudhi very well. He was well educated, good looking and was sure to get a good job considering his accomplishments. Money was not an issue, as they were rich enough, both being successful doctors, to make sure the kids are going to have a comfortable life. They just wanted to make sure, their daughters marry someone who is honest and responsible to take care of his family, and Yudhi was just the guy.

After getting Arvind’s vote, Reena was still not sure, if Arohi would agree to marry Yudhi. She thought, maybe she was to blame for it, because she oversold Yudhi to her kids and now Arohi cannot even stand the name. She knew, the moment has come, when Archi called her to discuss Yudhi’s job options and she was able to convince Archi and Yudhi to pick Google.

As soon as Yudhi’s job at Google got confirmed, Reena started to plan her game to convince Arohi. It was three months back, when Arohi came home for spring vacation, Reena and Arvind, took her out for dinner at a fancy restaurant and started asking her questions about her social life. After coming to conclusion that Arohi was not dating anyone or was serious about anyone, they told her that Yudhi got a job at Google and was going to stay with them. Then they casually threw out their wish, that as parents, they would be very happy to see them get married. Arohi, looked at them and said, “Ok, if you are happy then I am happy.”

They were surprised, as they didn’t see any negative reaction from Arohi, and congratulated themselves on good job done. They couldn’t imagine that it would be that easy to convince Arohi. They didn’t realize that, as soon as Reena started talking about Yudhi, Arohi tuned out and wasn’t even sure to what she agreed to. She thought her mom was, as usual, comparing her with Yudhi and probably wanted her to also join Google, so she said ok.

But, Reena and Arvind, were in seventh heaven and started talking about grand kids. Reena, immediately after reaching home, planned and booked her tickets, for a short visit to India. She even called up Archi and informed her about the visit. She wanted to give the good news to Archi on phone, but decided to hold her horses and instead discuss it first with Yudhi, and then ask Archi’s permission. She and Arvind were convinced that it was the right way to go about this issue.

                                                                                                                To be continued …