First Love

Chapter 13

She pulled away from Aditya, but he stopped her from going to open the door. He smiled at her and turned her towards the mirror. She was shocked to see her swollen lips and her hair in a tangled mess, her sari was wrinkled where he had held her tightly. She turned towards the door. "Mani, tell Maa I will be right down." Her voiced sounded shaky even to her own ears. She quickly fixed her hair, applied lip gloss to her lips and smoothed out the wrinkles in her sari as best as she could.

She glanced at Aditya to see him already dressed and was waiting for his turn at the mirror. She moved towards the door, not giving him a chance to say anything, and prayed that he doesn't say anything to her, he had managed to throw her feelings back in to state of disarray even more than before.

Aditya let her escape without saying anything, he figured it was enough that he was able to ease her doubts about his physical attraction to her. Now if only she would trust him with her heart one more time. He promised himself that if she ever decided to give him a second chance he will never give her a cause to doubt him or his feelings for her.

He finished getting dressed and followed her down the stairs. They went straight to the temple in the house for the puja. He heard Kajal and Vishal tease Anjali. "Bhabhi where did you disappear to, we've been waiting for you for long time."

Aditya stood beside her, she glanced at him and away quickly which didn't go unnoticed by Vishal or Kajal. She went closed to Kajal and pretended to whisper to her but spoke loud enough for everyone to hear her. 

"I was hiding your gift, didn't want you to find it before we were ready to give it to you." 

Everyone laughed at Kajal's wide-eyed look.

Half-hour later everyone gathered in the hall for the rakhi tying. Aditya saw Anjali glance towards the door and frown. He assumed she was waiting for her brother, but didn't want to show too much enthusiasm either, just in case he didn't show up like he promised. Then they heard the doorbell ring and he saw the relief on her face.

Raj walked in the Mehta House a bit apprehensively, he was liked by Aditya, but he didn't know how the rest of the family greet him, since he didn't come to Anjali's wedding, this his first meeting with them.

Aditya introduced Raj to the family and he needn't have worried, everyone greeted him with enthusiasm, except for one person, Anjali. She nodded towards him and went to the temple to bring the thali and aarti for the rakhi. After placing everything on the table she went up the stairs to bring back Kajal's gifts.

When Anjali returned everyone was ready to begin the ceremony. Kajal glanced towards Anjali and decided to start a new tradition. She put the puja thali down. While everyone looked at her in confusion, she went to her bhabhi and dragged her back with her to make her sit next to Aditya. Everyone understood and smiled at her sweet gesture. She performed the aarti on both, she tied a fancy rakhi on Aditya's wrist and a simple red dhaga(thread) on Anjali. After she was finished she hugged them both. 

"Now you are both responsible for my protection." She then held out her hand. "Now where is my gift?" 

Anjali brought out the wrapped gifts, one was the necklace they had chosen for her and the other was the portrait of Kajal. Next she tied the rakhi to Vishal's wrist and Anjali handed him the present to give to Kajal. She was delighted with all her gifts and went around to hug everyone. Kajal came back to Anjali to thank her for the portrait and to tell her that it was the best gift. Everyone smiled at the love between the two girls.

Raj was looking and admiring the Mehta family for showering so much love on his sister, and for the first time felt that his sister has found her niche and nothing can hurt her now, if only she would also accept her husband with open arms. He had been observing his brother-in-law for a while now, Raj realized that Aditya truly cared for his sister, but she refuses to acknowledge his love. He realize part of Anjali's reluctance to trust on Aditya's love had to do largely with him turning his back on her, and wondered if he will ever be able to make it up to his sister. He hoped that today was a beginning of getting their relationship back on track.