Shrishti Reborn

Chapter 14. April and Exams come to an end

'Pappa! Come and have dinner!', Shrishti barrelled into her dad's study only to stop and stare. Shrishti's exams were about to start in two days and hence, she had been studying in her room and had been called by the cook to come and have dinner. Only on dinner table, she was told by her Dadi that Pappa was busy and Shrishti needed to call him to eat. Her Dadi must have known that Pappa was with a guest and that the guest was Raghav, Shrishti mused. That was why her Dadi sent her - to interrupt these two.

Shrishti smiled, 'Oh. Raghav is here. You two look busy. Sorry if I disturbed you.'

Shrishti was about to turn and walk away when Pappa waved her in, 'It is ok. Come in. I am sure Raghav won't mind you listening in.'

Raghav nodded and Shrishti walked in. She stood next to Pappa as he spoke, 'Haan, yes. Raghav. What were you saying?'

Raghav nodded, 'I have already made plans for my future.'

'Good. Tell me what are your plans.', Pappa leaned back on his chair and swayed in it as he looked at Raghav keenly.

Raghav took in a deep breath before explaining, 'I want to be a Chef, Uncle.'

'Chef?'

'Yes. There is a culinary course of two years at a college few streets away from my current college. I want to study there. They also provide employment opportunities there after graduating. Once I get a job, I wish to gather some experience and later become a head Chef. My final goal is to open my own restaurant.', Raghav finished his explanation and pulled out a file from his lap.

Shrishti watched as he handed over the file to Pappa and Pappa opened it and read it.

Shrishti was totally surprised now. This was Raghav's plan? And going by the file, the plan had been in works for years! Then why did he join business in her first life? Why study business, join her father's company and later take charge of the company when her father fell sick? Was it all for her? Did he do it because he was engaged to her? Did he throw away his dreams for her? Was her theory from few days back right? This was too confusing, Shrishti realised and pushed those thoughts away. This was her new life and things are different here, she kept reminding herself.

'You are very thorough.', Pappa commented as he leafed through the documents in the file.

Then he sighed and shook his head, 'You know, Raghav beta, I actually thought you would do business like your father. Not only because you have inherited his sharp mind, going by your top scores in school and college, but also because I have seen you having the skills needed to be a leader. This completely blindsided me.', he gestured to the file.

'I am sorry to disappoint you, Uncle.', came the response from Raghav. Shrishti was surprised to hear no change in his voice and see no change in his expression. How can someone be this unaffected?

Pappa shook his hand at Raghav, 'No, no. No disappointment. Just surprise, that's all. So you are into cooking, haan?'

Raghav nodded, 'Yes, Uncle. When I was a child, I used to help mom in cooking when she was pregnant with Arpit and later Megha. I fell in love with cooking since then. Also, about my father's skills in business, you are right that his son inherited it. You just got the wrong son.'

Pappa's brows raised, 'You mean Arpit wants to be in business?'

Raghav nodded, 'He plans to study business in future, work from the bottom and he aims to become a CEO of a company in future. That's why he joined Commerce in college.'

'Huh! Impressive.', Pappa nodded.

Raghav took a deep breath and said, 'Infact, Uncle, if you could guide him in some way towards his future goal, I would be very thankful. I know he is in first year and you waited till I finished final year before you spoke to me and you said you want to do the same with him. But he is a bit confused about how to go for his goal. So any guidance from you now would be helpful.'