Shadows Of The Past

C H A P T E R - XI

S U S P I C I O N

"6:56"

Time flashed on the phone's lockscreen as Devika stepped out of the 24/7 store and sat down on the driving seat of her car after placing the grocery bags on the backseat.

Her body ached after a long day of work and visit to the child care center, where the kids had been enthusiastically waiting for her for so long, and she didn't want to disappoint any of them. But amongst all that she has on her plate to get done with, the strangest thing that happened was Atharva and his weird behavior yesterday and eversince she met him, his thoughts haven't left her mind. But more than anything, what scared her was the dinner she was going to have with Vashisht's at their residence today. It's been only a week or so since she met his family last time, at their engagement ceremony, which turned out to be a memorable evening for both families luckily. But meeting at a huge ceremony or a grand celebration is way different than meeting for an intimate dinner with just the immediate family present at the table.

She was happy though, his family seemed way more sweet, considerate and accepting than her imagination of her in-laws but it was still really intimidating for her as this time she would be at their place and now that she's officially their daughter-in-law to be, there must be some sort of expectations that they must be having in their heart, regarding her.

And, 'The Perfect Outfit' was one of the most important things that she had been thinking of. She did not know what she was going to wear yet and how she should react to seeing everyone together again. Speacially, of course, her future husband. But putting her dilemma aside, she reached back to her apartment and found her sister and daughter almost quarreling with each other, about something she had no interest in knowing. The grocery bag that she had in her hand traveled with her past the two angry birds and into the kitchen as she placed it on the counter and poured herself a glass of water. She knew she needed to shower before anything else, so she ignored the two again, walking past them and went inside her bedroom and then into the shower.

There was something about him yesterday that seemed off when he was speaking to her. As if he was trying to divert her away from something or someone he didn't want her to know or see. But the moment he pulled her into himself, she realized her assumptions were right. There was someone standing behind, and Atharva didn't want Devika to see who it was. Her mind was clouded with strange possibilities, but the only one it wandered back to was what if he was here not with his mother but someone Devika wouldn't be pleased to meet. The reason behind him telling her that he would not be able to ever love her, or the woman behind it, to be more precise, was kind of or maybe more hurtful than what she actually showed on the outside, even to herself. She was basically fooling her own self, and she did realise that. But a truth that hurts is worse than ignorance that can preserve her mental peace on so many levels and now, she preferred her mental peace over and above anything else after spending so many years in this frustrating and emotionally, mentally and physically draining medical feild. Maybe on her way of finding her perfect dream man in Atharva, she was forgetting what he himself told her. All that this marriage is or can be is an arrangement to satisfy both his and her family and in her case speacially Aarushi.

And maybe the best choice will be to keep it like that only without expecting much from neither Atharva nor this marriage. But as the thoughts seemed neverending, she stepped out of the shower and got dressed before entering the kitchen. She had speacially bought carrots and condensed milk from the grocery store today to prepare some 'gajar ka halwa' because she was so sure her mother would eat her alive if she went to the dinner without taking anything for the Vashits's and even though she wasn't so sure about what to get for them, she was sure no one would hate or dislike this sweet anyday. So she chose to play safe tonight.