Renaming Destiny : Apsara To Myla

The Lavender Dress

Apsara's POV

It had been a few months since Aloo had started his basketball practice everyday. And that meant, everyday I got to watch Adarsh teach him while I dreamt about him teaching our kids like that someday. Actually, it had been more than just dreaming recently. One day after practice, he dropped me off in his car in which no woman had sat beside him ever. Not even his own mother. When he said that himself with his signature smirk, my stomach erupted with butterflies and I literally had to hold myself back from squealing like an idiot. We also had our first unofficial date. He had taken me to an ice-cream parlor and it was the best evening of my life. I was up all night thinking about how he laughed when I said something dumb or how he smiled when I was saying something really random. I wanted it to happen again and was waiting for a good opportunity to ask him out myself. 

As always, I was sitting on my usual spot in the resting area watching them when Ashwin walked to me panting like a thirsty dog. He sat on my lap making me whine about him being sweaty. But he did not move an inch. I moved him to the side and looked around the court to see Adarsh again but he was nowhere there. 

"Get up from her lap, you elephant. You'll crush her", Adarsh walked to us and sat on the backrest of the chair diagonally opposite to us. I had no idea when he had gotten there so quickly. Ashwin moved in my lap to sit sideways and hugged my neck while saying, "She is mine. I can do whatever I want", he just laughed in response and I smiled back awkwardly. "Hey! You are coming to the party tonight right?", Adarsh asked me suddenly. I had no plans to go anywhere and I was planning on fighting my mom to stay back at home but when he asked me, how could I say no? I nodded and suddenly, Ashwin stood up and sighed. He walked away from us without saying a word and it felt like something was wrong with him. 

"Yeah. Don't miss it. It's important", he said with a smile on his face. I asked him, "Why? What will happen in the party?", he looked at the ground and smiled for a second. But stood up straight and bent forward so that his lips were dangerously close to my ears and whispered, "There are too many unofficial stuff in our lives, Apsara. I want to make one thing official to our families tonight", he pulled away to look at me with a knowing smile for a second and walked away as if he had said nothing. I was as still as a statue even after he was gone. I did not know how to react to the news. He said he wanted to make something official. And as soon as he mentioned the party, Ashwin walked away frustrated. Did that mean he was about to propose to me-

I covered my mouth to hold back the scream I was about to let out and stood up in a flash. I took my book and ran out of the court and only stopped my moving legs when i had reached my home. "Oh! You are back early. Good. Get ready for the party, Apsara. Don't make us all wait later", my mom warned. "Yes, maa!!", I sang and ran up to my room. I closed the door and stood against it for a second before dropping my book on the desk and running to my bed in full speed. I jumped on the bed like a little girl and laughed like an idiot. "God! I am so happy today!!!", I screamed and dropped to lay on the bed. I sighed and wrapped my arms around myself, "Finally, all your dreams are going to come true, Apsara! Go get ready for the best evening of your life!!", I said to myself and got out of the bed to go find something to wear.

I was singing and dancing while doing my makeup and hair. I wore a beautiful lavender color dress which came up to my knees and had tiny butterflies on the end. The bishop sleeves added elegance to my outfit while the V-neck made it look classy. I wore my silver jewelries which went well with the silver butterflies on my dress and sprayed my signature perfume on. I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled widely. "I wonder how he will say it. Oh! What if I die out of happiness??!", I squealed dramatically and walked out of my room after grabbing a matching purse. 

I saw that no one was in the living room and guessed they were all getting ready and sat on the couch alone while waiting for them. Hushed whispers invaded the silence around me as a few formally dressed men walked out of my father's office and when they looked at me, they greeted me kindly. I nodded and just as I was talking to them, I saw my father walk out of his office and stopped talking. I took a step away from the men even though they were at a decent distance from me and looked at my father and smiled. He looked at me and nodded asking me to sit. I turned to my side to see the men had already left. 

I sat on the couch and played with my purse awkwardly as we weren't allowed to use mobile phones in front of my father. "How are your studies going on?", he asked in his usual scratchy voice. I nodded and said, "Everything is going well", he nodded. "When are you turning eighteen?", he asked again. I tried my best not to sound disappointed, "Next year, ummm, next September", he hummed and looked at his room that he shared with my mother. "Swapna! Exactly how long are you going to take?", my mother walked out hurriedly with Aloo behind her. "I told Adarsh to arrange the party in the lawn. That boy never listens to me!", she said. I couldn't help but smile when she took his name. I wondered how they would react to whatever Adarsh would say about us tonight. 

"Papa, let's leave. I'm hungry", Aloo said and earned a glare from our mother as we walked out of the house. "Before we leave", our steps halted before we parted to go sit in different cars as soon as my father gave us the usual speech, "I do not want any nonsense. A small smile to the paparazzi and a gentle answer to the others. Nothing loud and out of control. Do I make myself clear?". We nodded and walked to the car behind theirs and we left to the venue. "Do you think they'll have chocolate chip ice cream for dessert?", Aloo asked from beside me. I shrugged and looked out of the window to witness Bengaluru's first rain. As the rain drops hit the window and rolled down, it felt as if the land was finally cooling down and dancing with joy to feel the coolness after a long summer. 

We reached the venue and someone opened the door for me and I did not forget to thank him before walking fast in my heels to go stand behind my mother like always. A few people who knew my father shook hands with him and walked us to the party hall as the paparazzi clicked our pictures. "We had no idea it would pour all of a sudden", the man in a blue suit said as soon as the door of the elevator closed. "This city is beautiful, young man. I have learnt to like the rain because of it", my father replied. The doors opened again and my father was the first one to always walk before us so we waited but he stopped in his tracks, turned around and said to the man, "Also, if you want to stay employed, learn to wear a tie properly", and walked away as if nothing had happened. I muttered a very awkward sorry to the man who had turned white in embarrassment and walked behind my mother.

Loud music was heard as we got closer to the doors of the hall and once it opened, it got louder making me flinch. Everyone greeted us as we made our way to our table to sit with the others. "Oh! See who finally decided to arrive!", Adarsh's father, Avinash Simha said as he got up to hug my father. He had always been the energetic and motivating one among the other five. The others came to speak to me and we exchanged words of praise about each other's outfits and then scattered away to do our own things. But my eyes were on a constant quest to find Adarsh and see how he looked for the evening. And I was lucky enough to not wait for a long time as he walked out of the black screen on the dais with a mic in his hand and started speaking after welcoming everyone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as most of you know, today is very special for our family because of two reasons. The first one is that today was the day, 26 years ago my father finally gathered courage to go down on one knee and propose to my mother!", everyone cheered looking at the couple who were in each others' arms smiling widely while looking at each other. "And the second one is that my brother, Aniket Simha has been nominated for the Ernst and young businessman of the year award one more time!!!!!", the cheers got louder this time and we all looked at Aniket Bhaiyya who was covering his face while looking so done with his brother. That is when I realized Ashwin was nowhere to be seen. I looked around and spotted him near a window with a glass of champagne in his hands as he looked at the dais unbothered. 

I slowly made my way to him as each one from the family walked up to the stage to speak about how proud they were of Aniket Bhaiyya. He sensed me walking to him and looked at me but then scanned me from head to toe making me roll my eyes. "What are you doing here alone? Shouldn't you be celebrating with your family?", I asked him while smiling for the people looking at me. "I don't care about their party, Apsara. I know how this evening will end already", he said as he gulped down the champagne. When he was called to speak, he rejected the offer even after everyone forced him to. I sensed he wasn't his self since Adarsh had spoken about the party in the basketball court and decided to clear everything before the night ended. 

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