On the Brink of falling in Love (On Hold)

"So....how was the meeting?"

A window seat and her favourite novel was all what Srishti needed to forget the outer world as the train sped to cover the distance between Delhi and Mumbai. A typical "Indian Railways" cup of tea and traditional samosa chaat snack she ate, brought her memories of the past, her childhood. Mumbai. The city of dreams. It had been quite a while since Srishti visited the city. She remembered travelling to her aunt's place very often as a kid, during her vacations. However, since the time Srishti started going to college, she had never got the opportunity to make it to Mumbai. Instead, her aunt and uncle would visit Delhi. But this time, her aunt was stubborn to have her niece at her place for Diwali.

Her aunt Sushma and her uncle, Harshavardhan Gupta were childhood friends-turned lovers. They often spoke more like best friends than the typical husbands and wives. They had a son, Vivek who was six years elder to Srishti. He was the brother that Srishti had always craved for. Despite being in two different cities, they had a strong sibling bond that they cherished. She looked up to Vivek as not only an elder brother, but also a mentor and guide. Srishti had developed interest in business administration because of Vivek. Since Sushma and Harsh only had a son, they always considered Srishti as their daughter. She was completely pampered and over-fed when she was at her aunt's. Sushma would make all her favourite delicacies throughout her stay and Harsh would overparent and support her in all discussions and arguements, leaving a green-eyed Vivek to immediately resort to Srishti's parents, Shanti and Vinod.

Despite the age difference, Srishti and Vivek had their own share of childish arguments and fights back as kids. The cross-connection of being pampered and loved by each others parents had always been the reason for most of their cat fights. Even though they had grown up to be mature adults with time, they still argued and fought over silly things. They teased, taunted and pranked each other.

Running behind each other's necks till the end...now, doesn't that define siblings??

Srishti was brought out of her thoughts as the train pulled into the Bombay Central Railway station. As she got down the compartment after her parents, she saw her uncle waiting with his driver. As the initial greetings and pleasantries were exchanged, Vinod asked,

"How's bhabhiji and Vivek? Didn't Vivek come along?" Vinod and Harsh had a very friendly relationship and Vinod considered Harsh as his elder brother. The two men would often team up to tease their wives for being "dominant" over their own "submissive" nature.

"Sushma stayed back at home to make dinner and prepare everything for your arrival. Vivek.., well I really don't know what this boy is up to. He left early in the morning saying he had an important meeting to attend."

Srishti very well knew about her brother's "important meeting". Vivek had fallen for Ishika, one of his office colleagues. Srishti was sure that her aunt and uncle would be supportive, since they had been the reason for her own parents' marriage. They themselves had had a love marriage and hence supported Vinod and Shanti too. Though Vivek was aware of the supportive family he had, he never opened up to anybody about Ishika till Srishti once caught him staring at a girl's profile on social media when he had been to Delhi. When she suggested about informing Sushma and Harsh, Vivek had strongly objected saying that he was unsure of Ishika's feelings for him. He wanted to propose Ishika and find out her feelings first before he could take things forward to his parents.

Last night, he had told Srishti that he was going to propose Ishika the next day as the latter was leaving to her native place for the Diwali vacations and the poor lover boy couldn't wait any longer. Srishti mentally prayed for her brother's happiness. After all, Vivek had been her strong elder brother and she couldn't imagine seeing him go through a heartbreak.

"Offo.. I am sure Di is making loads of food for Srishti. We are family, why does she have to stress herself so much for us? Uggh..she never listens to anybody. I guess we should leave now so that I can be of some help to her", Shanti complained, mentally scolding her sister.