Shadow of Desires

Chapter 15-

Please, don't leave me

Early morning sunlight streams into the room. Meher wakes up and finds Aditya still sleeping. She gets up, gets ready for university, and heads downstairs.

Meher - whispering to herself
Aditya is still sleeping. Let me get ready quickly.

Meher goes to the kitchen and starts preparing breakfast. Shakuntala enters and sees her.

Shakuntala - Arrey Meher beta, what are you doing in the kitchen?

Meher - Bas, kuch nahi dadi. I thought I'd make breakfast for everyone.

Shakuntala - You go and revise for your exam. The cook will handle everything.

Meher - Ji dadi.

She softly agrees and goes to the hall to start revising her notes.
Shakuntala calls Meher and Diya for breakfast.

Shakuntala - Meher, Diya, Come have breakfast.

Diya - Dadi, hum university kaise jayenge? (How will we go to university?)

Shakuntala - Aditya ko utha do, Meher. (Wake Aditya up, Meher.)

Meher heads upstairs to wake Aditya.

Meher - Aditya, utho. University drop karna hai. (Wake up, Aditya. You need to drop us at university.)

Aditya - half-asleep
Tum log khud chali jao ya driver se chali jao, mujhe sone do. (You guys go by yourselves or with the driver, let me sleep.)

Meher - mocking his dialogue
Bade promise nibhate phirte ho, ab kya hua? (You always talk about keeping promises, what happened now?)

Aditya - No, please. I'm not well. Tum log jao. (You go.)

Meher - angrily agrees
Fine, we'll go by ourselves.
She goes back downstairs and tells Shakuntala.

Meher - Dadi, Aditya nahi utha. Hum driver ke saath chale jayenge. (Dadi, Aditya didn't wake up. We'll go with the driver.)

Shakuntala - Theek hai, tum log driver ke saath chale jao. Usse sone do. (Okay, go with the driver. Let him sleep.)

Diya - whispering to Meher
Is he really not well or just lazy today?

Meher - shrugs
I don't know, Diya. Let's just go.

Diya - teasing
Maybe he's pretending to be sick so he can avoid work.

Meher - smiling
Maybe, but we can't be late for our exams.

Diya - Uff, boys! Always finding excuses.

Meher - Chalo, let's go before we get late.

Shakuntala - Tum log kuch aur chahiye toh bata dena, theek hai? (If you need anything else, let me know, okay?)

Meher - Ji dadi, thank you. We'll manage.
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-University Pickup and Unexpected Surprise

Aditya wakes up after three hours and realizes his mistake. He decides to pick Meher up from university to make up for it. He quickly gets ready and heads downstairs.

Aditya - Dadi, Meher came to wake me up, but I didn't wake up. I'm going to pick her up.

Shakuntala - Okay, that's good. But have breakfast.

Aditya - I'll eat something on the way.

Shakuntala - Are you sure? Breakfast is ready.

Aditya - Ji, dadi. I'll manage. I need to make up for not dropping her.