19 Dates

Chapter 16

When he saw Vanessa leave he had a very big & bright smile on his face, God knows for what reason. 

He made it to the hotel right on time & asked the reception to connect the call to her room. 

Vanessa, "hello, this is Vanessa."

Dev, "Hi! It is 8:00 p.m."

Vanessa, "oh Dev! I was expecting you. I will be right there in the lobby."

Dev, "see you soon."

Vanessa came down to the lobby & she was looking absolutely stunning. Dev was definitely nervous & was trying to find perfect words for complimenting her but this was not easy for a guy like Dev who had very minimum social skills to support him, all he was used to was responding to Shalini's abuses.

Dev, "I have no words to tell you how beautiful you are looking."

Vanessa, "aww Dev, thank you very much!"

Dev, "let's proceed then, I am sure they would have a table as it is a weekday."

Vanessa, "don't bother about that, I already got a table reservation done for us."

Dev, "oh that's awesome. I am sorry I did not think about doing it."

Vanessa, "relax, you don't have to get that formal."

They proceeded towards the restaurant & took their seat, Dev had many questions in his mind about Vanessa & Vanessa wanted a good company as she was here for almost a week now & she had not found anyone interesting, Dev definitely had triggered her interest with this unintentional & effortless charm that he had.

Dev, "I am eager to know what it was that your neighbour had specifically shared about India."

Vanessa, "Dev I was brought up by my mother alone, dad had left us when I was five, until I was 16, mom never told me the reason why he had left. When I got to know that my mom was a victim of domestic violence & until a day when she could not take it any longer, she gathered her courage & reported a complain against my father. He was arrested & for all good reasons never returned back. I had such a deep hatred for him in my heart but my mother advised me not to think of him or hate him because the hatred always reminded me of the fact that my father was a horrible person. I used to sit outside on the porch & cry so that mom never got to know about how empty I felt inside. Never noticed that our neighbour Mr. Kapoor was noticing me everyday. One day he just walked up to me & invited me to his house for dinner. I said no because we did not know them very well but then he insisted & asked me to bring my mom along too, to try some Indian food. Mom agreed, so we went for dinner to their house & as we were eating what I noticed was that they were a very strong family, with his two sons & his wife, Mr. Kapoor seemed to be the most happy person on earth. It touched my heart to see how special each one was to the other & the mutual respect they shared. Family was the missing element in my life so I was soon attached to them, as they invited me to be a part of theirs. As time went by, I started sharing things with Mr. Kapoor. I asked him how was it that they had this beautiful strong bond & respect for each other & the answer he gave me was that it was a part of their culture back from India & most families in India were very much like his. Though the nation has several languages but the culture of respecting your family is the pillar every family is built on. This very culture has pulled me here & had always been my motivation to visit this great nation."

Her story touched Dev' heart & he was able to relate it to his very life.

Vanessa, "hey what happened? is that a drop of tear in your eye."