U And Me Will Always Be Together

Chapter 24

Rishika stopped in her tracks as she noticed the garden – not because of the decorations but because of the crowd.

Santhosh felt her going stiff beside him and looked at her worried "Basket, are you fine?" he asked looking at her.

"Santhosh, I am not good at handling people at parties." Rishika replied nervously glancing around to find some familiar faces.

Santhosh smiled at her fear. "Don't worry Basket. They won't eat you. Afterall dinner will be served right after the party" he said with a big grin while she glared at him.

Soon Suganthi took them towards the dias and then she noticed Santhosh's dad for the first time in her stay at chennai.

He smiled at her and asked "How are you Rishika? I hope Santhosh is not bothering too much."

Rishika's heart skipped a beat at his words and turned red of embarrassment while Santhosh grinned at her. Before she could answer him she noticed her dad coming towards her.

As he reached her she hugged him while her eyes welled up. "I missed you dad" she whispered closing her eyes.

Rajsekhar patted her back and said "I missed you too." Rishika moved back and smiled at him "How are you Rishika?" he asked after a moment.

"I am fine dad." She replied with her heart full of joy at her dad's question.
"Arey what is this? She didn't reply to my question but to Rajsekhar's one.

This is not fair." santhosh's dad whined like a small child. Rajsekhar giggled at him and put his arms around his friend's shoulder saying "That's because she is my daughter."

Rishika felt the pride in his voice when he talked to santhosh's dad about her and was overwhelmed. How she wished to hear such words from him.

Santhosh noticed the change of expressions on her face and asked "Rishika, anything wrong?" but she only gave him a wide smile and shook her head while he looked at her face glowing with happiness and unknowingly felt happy. Soon they were greeted by the guests.

After what felt like ages, they got down the dias and joined the guests. Where ever they went Santhosh made sure that Rishika was always by his side- lest she would feel nervous.

While Rishika was glad that Santhosh stayed with her all the time.
After some time, Santhosh spotted some of his friends along with Abhi waiting for him.

Quickly he excused himself and Rishika from them pulled her aside. "Rishika, we'll go to meet my frinds. They will ask us hell lot of questions and pull our legs. So don't panic and don't get nervous." He whispered in her ear while walking towards his friends.

As they met his friends, she realized the person standing beside Santhosh as Abhi and all others were his friends from Medical University.

Santhosh was true, his friends bombarded them with questions on how they met, how they fell in love etc etc. Rishika felt awkward at their questions while it was Santhosh who answered most of their stupid questions.

But apart from that, she realized his friends were easy to talk and she felt good meeting them.

After sometime, Suganthi came and excused Rishika from them and took her to introduce to her friends. But all the while, Santhosh's gaze followed her wherever she went. After being convinced himself that she was comfortable, he moved towards Abhi.

"What's up?" he asked as he met Abhi at the bar. He asked for a bottle of beer and settled beside him. Abhi looked at him and smiled a bit but Santhosh was taken aback with that gesture of his.