Just Wanna Be With You

Chapter 18 - Luncheon

Chapter 18 : LUNCHEON

What sets sisters apart from brothers and also from friends is a very intimate meshing of heart, soul and the mystical chords of memory. ~Carol Saline.

***

It had been exactly three weeks after the beach trip. Rucha, Ahaan’s sister was arriving in Mumbai today. She was to stay with him. He had been extremely happy. She was to stay at Ahaan’s house. They had an extra guest room at his home He picked her up late at night.

The first two days he was busy spending time with Rucha. Kavya knew she would hardly get time to meet him. Not that she was angry about it. She knew how much his sister meant to him. He raved about Rucha whenever the topic came up. Kavya actually had plans which she had kept stalling. Finally, she decided to get some of her work done.

She had gone home after a very long time that weekend. She had met her mother for the first time after the whole her-mom-getting-to-know-she’s-dating incident. Her mother had asked her everything about him. She was looking out for Kavya like any other mother would. Kavya convinced her that he was well-settled guy. He had a great job and owned a flat in Mumbai at this age and co-owned a car with his friend.

Ahaan had always been a genius. He was confident, smart and clever. He was a great asset to his company and thus had a great salary. He came from an upper-middle class family. And his parents seemed lovely.

Her mom went to the deeper details on how he was. Kavya couldn’t help but be delirious about him. Her mom had never seen her like this. She believed her daughter and believed that her choice was right, and she accepted Ahaan. Kavya had hugged her mom and the remaining weekend had been nothing but better. She was back in Mumbai on Sunday night.

*****

KAVYA’S POV:

It was a busy Monday morning. As I was working on a project given to me, I got a call from an unknown number. I picked it up to hear an unfamiliar female voice at the other end.

“Is this Kavya?” she asked.

“Yes, “I replied.

“This is Rucha, Ahaan’s sister. Could we meet for lunch today? Just message your office address and we will go somewhere nearby. And please do not tell Ahaan about this.” She said.

“Okay,” I replied wondering what she wanted to talk about.

“See you there,” she replied cheerfully.

She had got me thinking. What could she possibly want? Why did she want to meet me and not tell Ahaan about it? Re-assuring myself that I won’t have to wait for more than an hour I got back to working.

As I got down to the reception of our office I saw a girl waiting for me. She had some similarities to Ahaan. She looked very pretty. She was wearing a loose black top and blue jeans. She looked very young and not in the least, married.

As I approached her I was greeted with a very genuine smile.

“Rucha, right?” I asked.

“Yes, and you must be Kavya. Ahaan was wrong. You’re much more beautiful than he described,” she replied while getting up.

I smiled at her and took her to a nice nearby food joint. After settling down and ordering our food, we started chatting.

“So you must be wondering why I asked to meet you like this right?” she asked.

“Kind of,” I replied trying to be polite.

“No worries, I wanted to see you from a very long time. You know he’s never been this crazy about anyone? I was amazed when mom told me he has you for the last so many months. And I just wanted to meet you. He was going to take me to meet you soon but he never seems to get the time for it. And you weren’t home this weekend too. I had a feeling that he’s stalling. So this meeting,” she spoke hurriedly whilst clarifying herself.