When Amaya meets Atul

Growing emotional attachment 💞

Amaya was having dinner with her parents after a hectic day at work on Tuesday night when her phone rang. Her mobile was kept on the dining table and the ringtone attracted attention of her parents. She got startled looking at the caller ID.

She panicked immediately and looked towards her father who was casually eating his meal much to her relief. She looked at her mother who was smirking at her. After Amaya had praised Atul for his immense knowledge regarding beneficial investment plans, her mother was fangirling Atul. Like a school going teenager, Nirmala was shipping for Atul and Amaya.

Innately, Amaya was glad that her mother had given green signal to her relationship with Atul which obviously was not even unofficial right now. Her trance of thoughts were broken when Nirmala cackled, "Gattu, receive the call".

"Let her eat", Manohar countered. Being a disciplined man, Manohar disliked the disturbance while the family enjoyed their meals. He was under the misconception that the call was perhaps, not important which is why his daughter was ignoring it.

Taking a deep breath, Amaya received the call ignoring the weird glances of her mother. "Hi", she mumbled. She immediately reduced the volume from the keys at the side of her phone to ensure her privacy. Moreover, she was sure her father would not appreciate her keeping in touch with Atul.

"Hello, how are you, Amaya? Is it right time to talk to you?" Atul bombarded her with questions on the other side of the phone. Having finished his dinner, he was all ready to sleep but to his utter disappointment, his mother called him up to give a dreadful news he had least expected at the moment.

"Umm... I was having my dinner", Amaya answered sheepishly.

"I will get back to you in an hour", spoke an anxious Atul from the other side of phone. He was truly disappointed and frustrated at his parents as of now. He needed someone to talk about his newly developed problem. Also he felt the need to inform Amaya about Neha.

As much as he wanted to avoid Neha, he knew it was not possible at all. Moreover, he realized avoiding Neha would surely hurt her and hurting someone's emotions was not his cup of tea. On the other hand, Amaya gobbled down her food quickly. She had lost her appetite after noticing the anxiety in Atul's voice.

Against their night ritual of talking about their day and watching television together, Amaya smiled shyly and said, "Papa, I have work. Good night."

Without waiting for her mother to react or her father to revert, she scurried away to her bedroom. Closing the door she took sighed and dialled Atul's number. Lying on the bed, melancholic Atul was scrolling down his Quora feed when his face lit up with a hundred volt smile.

"Hey, had dinner?" Atul questioned politely receiving the call while Amaya's heart fluttered at his raspy voice.

With a shy smile on her face and blood flushing on her cheeks, she answered "Yes and how about you?"

"I am done too", Atul replied. As they talked about their day, both of them were lost in their own blissful company until Atul dropped the bomb, "Amaya, I need to inform you something".

After an affirmative reply from her, he decided to develop the premise for the conversation. After a long debacle, he spoke, "Amaya don't take me wrong. Umm..."

"Atul, I will understand. Speak." Amaya encouraged in a monotone. She could feel her voice getting hoarse as the idea of getting rejected crossed her mind. She wondered that perhaps, she lacked qualities to be a life partner of Atul and she despised the whole concept of arranged marriages for a moment.

Atul, on the other hand, could not realize Amaya was zoned out. He lamented, "Amaya, Papa has asked me to meet Neha, his friend's daughter on this Friday."