Rajas : Passion Unveiled

Chapter 16

Author's POV

3 days later

Its 6 pm and the Ranawats are all home , including Ayansh who was forced by his mother to come home early.

"God I am so excited to meet her" Yuvika exclaims.

"Ye aise chuhiya ki tarah uske samne matt chillana varna ye konse prajati ki aurat hain aisa sochegi vo tujhe dekh kar" Avyaan comments and the family laughs. Yuvika pouts in anger and turns to her eldest brother. Ayansh glares at the other two and they fall silent.

Aradhana and Devika are in the kitchen looking over the food prepared by the maids. "I hope its true" Aradhana says to Devika. "What?" Devika asks. Aradhana looks up "What Laksh said about Ayansh. I hope its true" she sighs. Devika understands her sister-in-law's predicament. She holds her "We also need to think about Ishani. Even if what Laksh said is true we don't know anything about Ishani". Aradhana nods in understanding , "Well lets find out then" she says with a smile and they both go to the drawing room.

The bell rings and Aradhana goes to open the door. She sees a woman standing there with a few people behind her. People who Aradhana recalls to be the designers.

Ishani's POV

"You must be Ishani" says the woman at the door with a kind smile. I nod. "Come in" she says as we all step inside. "These are my designers I believe you have met them ma'am" I say. She looks at me , " Oh don't call me ma'am. Oh" she says and hits her forehead " I didn't introduce myself didn't I" she says with a laugh and I smile. " I am Aradhana Ranawat. Wife of Trilok Ranawat and mother of Ayansh , Laksh and Avyaan. I believe you have met Laksh and Ayansh " she asks and I nod. "So don't call me ma'am. We don't need such formalities. I am your mother's age so call me aunty" she say and I smile. "Ok aunty" I say and she guides us inside.

The mansion is big. I must say this family is rich as hell. As I enter from the door there is a small room like structure with an open roof with sofas and a table in the middle and we cross this corridor and head inside to the drawing room.

I see many people sitting over there. They turn to look at us as we enter. I spot Laksh as he gets up and comes towards me with a smile.

He hugs me and I hug him back. "Hi di" he whispers, "We met after so long" he says. " I know right" I say brightly. He takes me to the sofas and me and my designers take a seat. He introduces me to everyone. I get up and touch his grandfather's feet and seek his blessing. He pats my head lovingly and smiles at me.

Only the elders are present in the room right now. Trilok uncle, yes he too asked me to not call him sir, asks Laksh to call the others while he asks me about my business. We talk and I find out that Viren and Devika Ranawat are lawyers.

We talk for a while and Rajveer sir and Trilok uncle give me some valuable tips on running a business. I listen to them attentively. I never had any authority figure in my life who would guide me and here are these men talking to me and guiding me as if I was their own family. I feel happy seeing the love in this family.

I have always wanted a big happy family but my dreams got squashed years before and I had forgotten what even feels like being home. But this , here , this has made me feel at home for the first time in many years. For the first time in a long time I am smiling from my heart. I actually genuinely feel happy.

"Isha di" I hear Laksh call me and I turn to see him come with a boy and a girl behind him. I get up and he introduces me.

"Di this is my younger brother Avyaan" he says and I shake hands with him. "And this is our younger sister. She is Viren chacha and Devika chachi's daughter. Par humari sagi behen jaisi hi hain" he says with his hand around her shoulder as he looks at her lovingly Yuvika Ranawat". I look at her with a smile while she seems to have frozen in one place. I turn to the two brothers and Avyaan wisper something in her ear and she seems to snap back to reality.

"I am so sorry" she says as she forwards her hand and I grab it. "Its just I can't believe that you are actually here. Like I have dreamt of meeting you. I admire you so much. I just-" she says in one breath and I laugh lightly. "Slow down slow down" I say.

I pull her hand sit down beside her on the sofa. "Laksh told me about you. I am glad that I have some contribution in you pursuing fashion designing" I say with a smile and she nods. "And now that I have met you , we will talk and breathe" I say with a smile and she laughs.

"By the way I must say your dress looks so beautiful" she says looking at my kurti. Yes since it wasn't exactly a business setting I decided to wear a simple designer kurti. It wasn't exactly simple but not too fashionable. Just perfect. I smile and thank her.

I ask her about the designs I sent and she seems absolutely stricken by them. She is so cute and bubbly. I smile looking at her as she talks. I look at everyone looking at us I see how happy they are for their daughter who has met her idol. This family is making me feel things I haven't felt in so many years. My throat clogs with unknown emotion.

"Isha di" I hear Avyaan call me. I look at him "I can call you Isha di right?" I nod at him with a smile. "Ha so di aap pehele apna kaam kar lijiye kyu ki ekbar ye shuru hogayi toh rukti nahi. And now that you are here she won't stop at all" he says while poiting at Yuvika who pouts and throws a cushion at his face. He throws another right at her and they start fighting. I laugh at these siblings. How expressive they are of their love.

I can feel my eyes tear up but I control my emotion. Not here Ishani.

I feel a gaze on me and I turn to my left to see Mr.Ranawat standing there looking at me. My lips part as I take him in. He is not weaing formals today. He is in simple pants and shirt but somehow he looks even more handsome. He notices me checking him out and he smirks at me. I scoff and glare at him as he enters further into the room.

"Are Ayansh beta you came" Aradhana aunty says.

Author's POV

The Ranawat family immediately falls in love with Ishani. The way she talks to Laksh, Avyaan and Yuvika like they are her own siblings. She is so kind towards them. She doesn't get irritated by Yuvika's constant talking but rather she answers her questions and even explains some things to her.

Rajveer notices the look on her face when she observes the Ranawat siblings fight. He senses the longing in her. The way her eyes are eager to absorb all the love that she is seeing among the family right now. He turns to Aradhana who seems to have noticed the same things.

The family looks at her staring at her left and find Ayansh standing there who is also staring at her. They feel the shift in their body language as they look at each other. The elders are excited on seeing this. This means that there is a slight chance, they think.

"Are Ayansh beta you came" Aradhana says to diffuse the tension between them as she sees Ishani scoff and glare at her son.

Ayansh comes and takes a seat and they all now discuss their outfits for the party.

Ayansh's POV

I enter the drawing room after finishing my call and find my family already gathered around the guest.

She looks so ethereal in her kurti. I have only seen her wear formals but her in traditional is a whole new look. She is wearing rose gold jhumkas and a silver chain around her neck. Her face is void of makeup. She has left her hair open. She is also wearing her bracelet.

She turns to find me checking her out and does the same. I smirk at her and she glares at me. Maa calls me and I join them and take a seat. My gaze goes to her right cheek and I find that the bruise is now healed completely. I sigh in relief.

My family , ever the group of enthusiast, don't give her a single minute to breathe and dive right in to the task at hand. After an hour they are finally done. Since I hadn't picked out something for me Ms.Agnihotri had brought some extra designs. I just shrugged and asked her to select and she did. She took one look at me and selected an outfit and I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy with her choice. But of course I didn't show it.

She gets up and is about to leave when my Maa and Chachi intervene and now I know what is going on over here.

I hope you liked this chapter.

It was a longgg one.

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