Unreachable Destiny- The Curse Of Your Love

Chapter-31: Flower Shower.

"Sleep early, Maya. We have to leave for the temple tomorrow." Akshay is about to leave the room when Maya calls out for him. He turns back, avoiding Maya's piercing gaze.

"Do you have something to say?" Maya has been observing Akshay for a while. He had not been himself since he came on this trip and Maya has no idea what's happening with him. Akshay had always been her support system so it is only fair that she gets to share his worries too.

"What? No, everything's fine." Akshay says with a straight face. Maya has to admit that Akshay is really good at not letting others know what's running in his mind, but that does not affect Maya as much since she knows him better than the mask he goes around wearing.

"It doesn't seem fine to me. You have been more silent than usual and barely spent time with me."

"I am just too tired from all the work and wanted to enjoy some time alone. Don't worry, I will go to my usual self soon enough."

"But you just-"

"I am really tired, Maya. Let us get some rest. We will talk about this tomorrow." Maya does not press further but the thought that Akshay is choosing to bear with everything by himself keeps nagging at her. After all, they are the closest of all.

***

Maya wears a plain red silk lehenga with a pearl beads border, which Ranav has selected for her when they went shopping for the party. Instead of wrapping the duppata, she wears it over her neck, letting the cloth fall over her back. She ponders over whether she should put on some make-up but decides against it since she going to a temple. She leaves no such courtesy for the bangles. She loves wearing bangles, their clanking sound on her hand makes her feel playful and lifts her mood immediately. She then also puts on the anklets that she got from Parul Dadi as a gift. She pulls the front part of her hair to the back, under a plucker and looks into the mirror with a smile, satisfied with her look. She then leaves the room, locking it behind her. Ranav wears a white Kurta and leaves the room in a hurry. He promised to help Parul Dadi with the decorations for Pooja. The temple offers devotional services for various things like the well-being of loved ones, Prosperity or to gain knowledge and devotees can pay for it to get the Pooja done. Ms. Meenakshi had paid for the Pooja for the wellbeing of the Rajvansh siblings, Amish, Maya, Aditya, Rithika (Atul's daughter) and Aishwarya (Ketki's daughter).

Akshay stayed back in his room as he had to attend an online meeting regarding an issue that the client had raised. Amish helps Aditya hang the strings of flowers from the roof of the main temple, where the Pooja will take place. 

Maya takes a plate full of flower petals from Parul to decorate the Rangoli patterns at the entrance. Ranav lights all the diyas placed on the glass rows. there is a glass wall just next to the stairs which has rows on the other side to place diyas. Maya walked towards the stairs with the plate in one hand and set her hair into the plucker on the back of her head with the other. She doesn't notice Ranav walking backwards towards her as he looks at the glass wall that he decorated with Diyas. They crash into each other and Ranav instinctively reaches out to catch her. The plucker in Maya's hand slips out of her grip, letting her hair loose and the plate of petals tipped over them as she falls into Ranav's arms. Even though he manages to catch Maya, Ranav can barely balance himself and they both lean onto the glass behind them, which has the Diyas on the other side. The glass was strong enough that it sustained despite their fall. Maya instinctively ducks her head down to protect herself from the plate that was mid-fall and Ranav covers her with his body. The plate ends up grazing his shoulder as the flower petals showered over them. Maya hesitantly looks up and her face comes right up in front of Ranav's. They locked eyes in silence as Maya's hair blew out of her forehead with the wind and the flowers rained on them. 

For a second they didn't move. Maya could feel Ranav's hand on her waist and it felt unfamiliar, that touch. They both froze as if this moment was stuck in their head but then Maya stood straight as Ranav leaned back, just inches away from her face. Yet again,  Images flashed through Ranav's head. Images of Maya in his arms, in a similar position that they were moments ago and some sparkly stuff was falling over them as Ranav looked into Maya's eyes, falling in love. Love?

"Ranav!" Maya's voice snaps him out of his vision. He shakes his head to focus on the present. He got the information to that place and soon he will be able to find the truth behind these visions. 

"Yeah?" Luckily, no one saw what just happened or so they thought. Little did they know that Meenakshi was just around the corner. Meenakshi eyes them suspiciously as the scene in front of her feeds into her fear of losing yet another family member to someone who does not fit into their family. This only meant that Meenakshi couldn't take any chance, she needed to strike first if she wanted her granddaughter to be with her.

Ranav helped Maya pick all the petals into the plate, after which they both went their ways. Each passing day left Ranav with a weight in his heart. Every moment that he is in Maya's presence leaves him with such pain that he can't even seek comfort in her smile, yet every step that he takes away from her leaves him empty inside and he has no explanation for what he was feeling, or what he was supposed to feel.

Later, they all sat for the Pooja and Maya kept looking at him but he completely ignored her to his best because he was not ready to face her yet. Meenakshi didn't utter a word as she contemplated her actions but she was sure that if she wanted to keep her granddaughter to herself, then the strongest weapon she could use was the closest to her. Aditya? Akshay?

***