A Promise (Completed)

Chap 17

Payal’s POV

As we entered the house, I saw an elderly man may be in his 50s.

“Namaste Anil chachu(uncle), How are you ?” – siddharth said walking towards him.

“I’m good my boy, you got to tell me, What’s this grown beard and all, haan?” – the man spoke

“Its nothing chachu..” saying so Siddharth was smiling just then we  heard another voice coming from a room on the right side of the hall “chachu, you got to see this.”

“coming Manav” – the man said and as he was about to move towards the room that he noticed me, “Oh she is the one,right?” he asked looking at siddharth

“Yes, chachu. She is Payal” – he replied and signalled me to move forward and I obeyed.

“Payal, this is Anil chachu”, I bent down to touch his feet, but then we held me by my shoulders and said “No great formalities are needed, beta, I just wish you both live happily ever after this way.” to which I responded with a smile.

Happily, who is happy? And which way he meant? And this ‘ever after’ is in my dreams – I thought.

We all moved towards the room, I saw Sandhya cleaning the mess there, and this room though it was not as large as the one on upstairs but it had its own charm, the walls were painted in light colours and it seemed colourful too. Then a young man may be he is not much younger than Siddharth moved towards the Uncle and said “Look at this Picture chachu, dad looks so young in this.”

“Yes Manav, this picture was taken on my wedding day at morning time, we all brothers decided to wear white kurta and posed for this one” – the uncle said holding the picture frame in his hand and looking at it emotionally. I had a brief look at the picture, Four men in their white Kurta, the uncle was clearly identifiable, I looked at the other three and my tongue suddenly slipped “Hey, even you are in the picture?” I looked at siddharth pointing my finger at one of the men in the frame.”

They all burst into laughter. Irony is I didn't get the joke,though I cracked it.
I lowered my head and Siddharth was the first one to stop his laugh and he held my hand and said that it was his dad.

“Ok!! We’ll wait in the hall till Sandhya cleans up this room.” – siddharth said looking at them.

“How are you Manav?” – Siddharth asked

“I’m cool” – he answered looking here and there and settled himself on the sofa.

He didn’t look at siddharth and I don’t know why but I didn’t like it.
I thought to break the silence,“Hi!! I’m Payal” – I extended my hand towards Manav. He looked at me and gave a small smile and gently took my hand and said “Hi!! I’m Manav”. It was then that I noticed he had a different accent not completely British but almost close.

I excused and went upstairs to change my dress and covered myself in a plain blue colour dress. I could hear the voices of Anil Uncle and Siddharth, so I went down and joined them on the sofa. Both of them were discussing business matters and I felt like odd one out. I saw Manav moving towards kitchen so I went behind him, to check if he needs something. He opened fridge and was looking for something.

“You need something?” – I erupted.

He got startled on hearing my voice, “nothing I was just looking for some water” he said taking a bottle out from the fridge and moved out of the kitchen. After some time we all ate our dinner , amidst the discussion of some construction project between my hubby and his Uncle. I completed my food and moved towards the kitchen and saw that Manav was already standing there, his back facing towards me.

I called his name “ Manav” to which he turned , I walked towards him and asked if he needs anything, he turned at the instance and raised the bottle of wine and said “ I’m drinking, you wanna join?”.

I felt bad, I could smell alcohol swaying from his mouth. I nodded my head in no and moved aside. He went rushingly towards the room and closed the door. Even I went upstairs and laid my head on the bed. Siddharth voice alerted me to sit properly.

He asked if I was Ok. I answered ‘Yes’.
He sat facing towards me and asked if Manav has said anything to me, I wanted to tell everything but then I stopped and nodded in a ‘NO’ and asked who is Manav?

To which he opened his gallery in the mobile and showed me the same picture as I have seen in the frame down.

He pointed at a man and said “He is Manav’s father, Ranjit chachu. My father, his father, Anil chachu, Deepesh chachu, all one big joint family, they are all brothers.” I nodded

“Then where are they?” I asked

“Deepesh Uncle who is youngest of all, stays at a town along with family, it is almost at the the outskirts of this city, he serves people of that town with all his capacity. Anil Chahu’s family stays in Australia, but he keeps travelling to visit the branches of his business that are located at the northern states of our country and also at some other states. Manav’s parents died in a crash, they were returning from India to Canada but their flight couldn’t fight with the weather. They came to visit Mom and dad on their anniversary, Ranjit Uncle and Shreya Aunt loved me a lot. Everything happened was just .. just unpredicted but it was tougher for Manav to handle all this and he never spoke to me after that. And you know about my Mom and Dad.” – He said. He zoomed the photo for a better look at his dad. I placed my hand on his and gave it a little sweeze. He said about his parents before our wedding to my mom and I was there So even I heard his point, they are not in favour of our marriage, so they shifted to Mumbai, where they got another  business unit to handle.

“You ok” – I asked holding his hand. He kept his phone aside, stood and walked out of the room. I thought it is better to leave him alone for some time.

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Manav, IN the story
A new character to unfold .....
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