You Belong With Me | Completed

Chapter- 81 Safe Haven

~5 days later~

Payal's house looked like it was straight out of an Ekta Kapoor daily soap. Garlands of marigold flowers and off-white curtains adorned the whole house. Guests crowded near the puja place, some with plates of prashads and some with their endless gossips. It almost seemed as though the whole town was there for the occasion.

As Mitali trailed behind her dadi, her eyes searched for Rishi. She had been wanting to talk to him since a while but something or the other always came up. She was planning on talking to Rishi after the ceremony, but it seemed as though he had vanished into thin air.

Soon after, the priest called everyone for the puja. Mitali went with the rest of the crowd and stood in front of the deity, still looking for a sight of Rishi. Her dadi nudged her as the priest started chanting mantras to close her eyes. Mitali followed.

Praying? That was something Mitali never did. She was a proud atheist . After the incident with her parents, she had stopped believing in the miracles of the almighty. To her, he didn't exist cause if he did, then her parents would be here instead.

She closed her eyes to obey her dadi as she didn't want to upset her.

Once the pandit was done chanting his mantras, the Mishra family came forward to do the aarti. Mrs. Mishra started singing and everyone followed. Mitali just clasped her hands together and went back to looking for Rishi.

She suddenly felt a nudge on her shoulder and turned to the right. A grinning Rishi stood beside her, with his hands clasped together. She smiled weakly and looked in front of her.

In the middle of the aarti, Mitali sensed movement beside her and looked over to see that Rishi had leaned closer to her.

Rishi: You were looking for me, weren't you?

Mitali: Yeah , I wanted to talk to you about...

Rishi: I know.

Mitali looked back at him and asked,

Mitali: You do?

Rishi just nodded looked ahead.

After a moment he responded,

Rishi: We'll talk after puja. I know just the right place.

Mitali didn't probe further and just nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mitali: You've got to be kidding me!

Rishi grinned in response. He knew her reaction would be ecstatic. After the formalities at the Mishra's, the duo had managed to sneak out somehow. Currently they stood in front of the 18 year old tree house that had once been their safe haven.

Mitali: When did you....? How did you....?

Rishi: You can clear your queries later , but now, let's go in.

Rishi smiled and went ahead as Mitali trailed behind him happily. The door to the tree house creaked open as the duo entered. Mitali gazed at her safe haven, a strong feeling of nostalgia rushed back and engulfed her.

Her, Payal and Rishi used to spend their entire time playing and dancing in this small tree house that her father had built for them. Hundreds of pictures of them decorated the walls of the house. Two beds were kept adjacent to each other where they had once spent hours sitting and playing dolls and having pillow fights. The memory brought a huge smile on her face.

Rishi: I and Payal cleaned it up yesterday. Part of the reason why I wasn't much around yesterday.

Mitali; Wow, Rishi. This is just....I love it. It's so good to be back here. It brings back so many memories.