Armaan was desperately waiting to reach Udaipur, so he could call Ruhi. On reaching home, he removed the paper from his pocket, 'Ruhi.. I know you are also waiting for my call.. I can't wait to speak with you!' he said to himself.
"SURPRISE!!!" someone shouted making Armaan turn. It was his younger brother, Rohit.
"ROHIT!!" Armaan exclaimed. He placed the chit on the table, ran and tightly hugged his brother. "I missed you so much!. What an amazing surprise!" he joyfully stated.
"I missed you more Bhaiya!" Rohit smiled.
Rest of the family were equally surprised by Rohit's arrival.
Rohit entered the house and gave them gifts that he had brought for all of them. He spoke about his experience at the camp and in their chit chat Armaan forgot to call Ruhi. Finally he remembered and rushed towards the table only to find that the chit wasn't there. He searched nearby and found that it inside a decorative water bowl.
"Shit!!" he cursed as the number had smudged from water. "How can I be so irresponsible!... What will Ruhi think of me.. I can't even manage a phone number..." he dejectedly stated.
He thought of finding her on Instagram. He was searching for her when Fufasa called him regarding a case. "Armaan, you will have to go Jaipur for a case"
Armaan was shocked at this new plan - "Jaipur? Now? What case Fufasa?"
"No, not now.. Next week.. It's a simple property case but the client is our family friend.. Let's go to the firm, there is one more case and on the way, I will brief you both.. " Fufusa said while Armaan nodded as he was trying to find Ruhi on Instagram.
"Armaan!" Fufasa said raising his voice. "These cases are more important than what you are doing on your phone.. It's just 3 hours work. After that you can use your phone. Till then please put it on silent."
Armaan didn't want to but reluctantly agreed. They were leaving for the firm when Vidya stopped them, "Armaan, can you donate these items at the temple while returning from the firm, please.."
Armaan - "Sure ma.."
***
Ruhi was waiting for Armaan's call. Her patience was running out and she was getting restless. "Stop it Ruhi! You aren't a teenager to behave this way.. Calm down..." she said to herself.
"Why hasn't Armaan called me yet? Did he get the note that I gave to waiter? Did he find my chit in balloons? He would've have reached Udaipur by now.. Still why isn't he calling me?" her mind annoyingly asked.
In order to stop thinking about this, she started organising her already perfectly organised room. Manish and Swarna was shocked seeing her like this. "Beta, what are you searching?"
"Temote.." she replied.
"Remote.. It's in front of you.." Manish replied
Ruhi - "Then something else.. B Nanu, you leave me alone for a while.."
"Ruhi didn't say 'wahi wahi' on being corrected like usual. Something is definitely bothering her." Manish said to Swarna.
Swarna - "I will talk to her later about this.. Now I will have to go to temple to offer chunri to Goddess."
Ruhi heard this and said, "B Nani, I will go to the temple..."
'It will be a good way to escape this restlessness... At least my mind will get deviated for sometime' she thought.
***
Armaan after completing his work reached temple. His phone had ran out of battery. It was one of the worst days of his life. Since morning he was desperately trying to speak with Ruhi but somehow everything was going wrong.
He was walking absentmindedly when he tripped from the steps but a known hand held him. He instantly recognised it. And their eyes met. Armaan instantly felt a wave of tranquility pass through his heart. Ruhi was also pleasantly surprised into Armaan here but didn't express it as she wanted to be sure of his thoughts.
Ruhi took a step back and without greeting him went to the pandit and offered chunri to the goddess. Armaan stood behind her and waited for her to complete the Pooja.
"Ruhi! Hi! Kaisi ho? (How are you?)" Armaan asked.
"I am fine. Bye." saying she decided to leave. Armaan held her hand, "Ruhi, suno na, I know tum naraz ho bas ek baar meri baat sunlo, uske baad mein tumhe nahi rokhunga.. (Ruhi, listen to me, I know you are upset, just once hear me, I won't stop you after that.."
Ruhi - "Armaan mujhe laga kuch nahi toh at least hum ache dost hai... But jis tarah tumne aaj subah se mujhe avoid kiya hai.. I don't think tum mujhe apna dost bhi mante ho.. Yaha main tumhare phone ka wait kar rahi thi. And tumne toh mujhse baat karne ki khoshish tak nahi ki (Armaan, I thought we are at least friends, if not anything else. But the way you have ignored me, I don't think you even consider me as your friend. I was waiting for your call. And you didn't put any effort to contact me.)"
Armaan pulled her close, "Maine kitni khoshish ki hai agar ginane pe ajao toh raat khatam hojayegi par baat khatam nahi hogi. Par ek baat batao, tum mere phone ka intezar kyu kar rahi thi? (If i start counting the efforts I have put then the day will end but not the count. But tell me, why were you waiting for my call?)"
Ruhi froze at this question as she didn't know what to answer. She was waiting as her feelings had started to grow but was she feeling for a genuine person. Instead of answering, she looked in his eyes and asked, "Tumne itni khoshishe kyu ki? (Why did you put so many efforts?)"
Armaan smiled, "Yeh rishton ka mathematics hai, Ruhi. Kabhi ek umar bhar mein ek pal tak ka rishta nahi banta aur kabhi, ek pal mein ek umar bhar ka rishta ban jata hai. Aur ek pal main tumse woh umar bhar ka rishta ban gaya. (This is how relations work, Ruhi Sometimes we aren't able to form a bond even in lifetime and sometime a second is sufficient to form a life long bond. And that bond has formed with you)"
Ruhi's heart soared hearing this beautiful confession. She felt assured of her feelings seeing the honesty in Armaan's eyes and words. She took a step forward and hugged him. Armaan hugged her back. His heart was overflowing with emotions and he had tears in his eyes.
Ruhi realised they were standing in a temple, left the embrace and took a step back. But Armaan didn't leave her arm. He looked at her and said, "Tumhe pata hai Ruhi, I knew, chahe lakh mushkile aaye woh hum dono ko mila hi degi.. (no matter how many problems come, I knew she will makes us meet" he said pointing at the goddess.
Armaan - "Destiny has always been our cupid, Ruhi. Even before we met in person, we had met twice the same day. The first time I heard you when you were buying laboons, I mean balloons from a kid. It flew away, and I catched it.. "
Ruhi was surprised hearing this, "Really? And when was the our second meet?"
Armaan - "When you bought the Lillies that I had selected. And while leaving you said that those flowers were razoori..", he chuckled. "You were the "Ms. wahi wahi girl".. who had intrigued me even before we met. My Dadi had once told me that if something happens twice, its bound to happen the third time. When I met you at the Jewellery store, I believed in this theory."
"At first I didn't recognise you, but your kindness touched my heart. But when you were speaking with your grandfather, I heard you say 'wahi wahi' and that's when I realised, you were the one I was unknowingly searching for...", he continued.
"And you won't believe, in our first two interactions, when we collided, I started speaking like you... mispronounced words. Bina mile, itna gehra asar hogaya (You had such a profound effect on me without even meeting me)" Armaan said putting a hair strand behind her ear making Ruhi blush.
This was all feeling like a fairytale. She couldn't believe destiny had put so much efforts in writing her love story. As a kid she had once heard her Poppy say that love is the most magical feeling in the world. And it's bewitching to experience how destiny plays cupid in making two soulmates meet. Today she realised how true her Poppy's words were.
***********
Author's Note - Hope you all enjoyed reading the chapter. Do vote and share your thoughts in the comments. Next chapter is going to be interesting as Armaan and Ruhi would be going on their first date. So keep reading and don't forget to follow me!!!
