a feel good book about two people arranged together, falling in love.
the entire phase of courtship between two strangers after their marriage is arranged, it's incredibly underrated.
it's like falling in love with an intention to remain in love, t...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Monday early morning, 6 am, Atharva was ready, sipping on his coffee and packing up his bags. He was going back to Hyderabad with Ram and Valli. Ram was going to drive his car, but Atharva and Valli had made plans to go on the bike already. And he was really excited. He was dressed in a pair of sweat pants, a sweater, a jacket and he wore his wrist grips.
His father was still asleep, and Atharva didn't want to wake him up. He slipped into his room to take a look. He was sound asleep, looking so peaceful and slept on his side with one arm tucked under his head. He pressed a kiss to his head, whispering a goodbye.
"Madhu, tell nana that I left after seeing him. Don't let him get strained too much. Give him his diabetes and BP tablets on time. I won't come next weekend also, I have to go to Mumbai. So he won't see me for a while. And I won't be here. If there is anything... He's not listening or feeling sick, tell Valli." Atharva instructed.
"Okay Chinnayya." Madhu nodded.
"Can't we wake him?" Ram asked.
"He's too deep in his sleep..." Atharva sighed.
"Yeah. It's fine." Ram nodded. They packed up the car with their bags. Atharva took another peek into his father's room before he got ready to leave.
They drove to Valli's house first. The household was already up because that's how early Valli usually had to leave to catch a bus to the city. She was already dressed in all black today. They decided against telling their families about this little escapade. Everyone believed that they were going in Atharva's car. And they wanted to keep it that way.
Her home was empty now, with everyone gone back to wherever they had come from. He quickly parked his bike on the other side of the road, opened the gate and went inside. Valli was rushing around in the hall with her hair still down in a mess. She was packing up her bag while her mother packed her lunch. A smile tugged up onto his face. She was so adorable, Buddi followed her around the house wherever she went.
"Kumud! Come here. Take this roll. I packed for Atharva and Ram also. Don't forget to give it to them in the car for breakfast. Lunch and take your lunch bags. I found only one extra so I packed Ram's and Atharva's in one." Her mother yelled out. No one had even noticed that he had arrived.
"Where is my ID card? I cannot go in without my ID card amma!" Valli yelled out.
"You should put it one place everyday. What is this behaviour? So careless. How will you take care of an entire house after getting married if you can't take of your things now?" Her mother scolded her.
"Atharva mama will take care. I won't." She said loudly.
"Siggu ledu! Pelli Taravatha occhi adugutaadu Ela penchipampichamu memu ee pilla ni Ani. (You have no shame! He will come and question us for how we brought you up!)" She said.
