Heartbeats And Halos

Chapter 21

• P a l a k •

"What excuse do you have for today?" Diya teased me. "You have been on a date with Roshan, you have also spent time with Abhinav. So now you absolutely cannot say that you don't know them."

"I--" I cleared my throat and looked away.

Bhabi shook my shoulders again and I peeked up at her.

"How was the date Palak tell me? Did he treat you with respect? Does he respect your wishes regarding your career? Did he say he will always support you?" Bhabi asked in a serious tone, the playfulness in her voice was gone.

I thought about it for a second. He did respect me, his father had already told me I could do whatever I wanted and they would always support me with my career, I am pretty sure Roshan will support me too. He is a gentleman after all.

Well, it wasn't too hard to guess. My answer was obviously yes. I know Roshan said that he might never be able to love me and I could sense how much agony he has inside him. Therefore I want to heal him, I want to be the one to make him believe in love again, I want to spend my life with him beside me---I don't know why I think this way but I just do.

I took a deep breath before replying.

"Yes," I mumbled in almost an inaudible voice.

"Yes!?" Suddenly Ragini came out of nowhere and squealed.

"Really?" Bhabi squealed too and Diya clapped her hands up in the air. Bhabi then hugged me tightly and Diya and Ragini joined in.

"My Palak has grown up so much! I can't believe she will be getting married soon." Bhabi laughed wiping an invisible tear off of her cheeks and I softly hit her arm pouting.

"Hey, why the sad faces? I am still here" Ragini pouted even more when tears pooled up in Bhabi's eyes, for real this time. "And you know what bhabi? I will never leave you." Ragini told her hugging her from the back while she patted her cheek lovingly.

"Chal jhuti!" (Go away, lier) Diya slapped Ragini's arm playfully laughing. "Bhabi I am telling you Ragini will tell you that herself that she wants to get married!" Diya stated, Ragini pouted more and we all laughed.

"Alright let me call up Sarmila and Nirmala Aunty!" Bhabi told us and all of us frowned a little. Then she informed us about how Mumma and Papa had told her to call them to bring the Pandit ji and fix the date of the marriage.

Looks like my parents are too eager to get rid of me.

I pouted but Bhabi assured me there was nothing like that. It's just a part of the formalities because the marriage season will start in around June-July so there was a lot of time.

After which practically all my family members hugged me. Mumma and Chachi got a little emotional, Srikant bhaiya joked that he was thrilled to get rid of me but I knew it wasn't true if anything then he was just as upset as Mumma, Chachi, and Bhabi.

I chased Bhaiya all throughout the kitchen then and ended up throwing a banana peel into his face. Everybody was very happy.

Papa and Chacha blessed me wholeheartedly. I could see a little moisture in their eyes so I hugged both of them tightly. Then Dadi hugged me and cried a little and I had to console her for an hour that I wasn't leaving yet.