Manmarziyan: a passion project
Chapter 2
Hey!! I know I said I’ll post on Saturday but I finished early so here’s the next chapter.
Sometimes in life, u just cant say your heart out loud, all u can do is just hope that the other person knows.
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After they were comfortably settled on the rocks near the bank of the river and had their feet in water with a take away coffee in their hands. Saral asked radhika again, “ so?”
Radhika looked distracted, “hmm, yeah?”
Saral, “ u wanted to talk about something….remember? u called me and said I need your help.”
Radhika couldn’t say anything and she ended up saying the first thing that came to her mind.
Radhika shook her head, “ umm.. yeah I did, say, are u free this Saturday?”
Saral, “ umm, yeah…what’s the matter?”
Radhika, “ okay….so I was thinking of arranging a party for di and jiju’s wedding…remember, we never had a post wedding party…..u up for it? It’ll so be a sort of get together.”
Radhika deliberately avoided the letter and made up the idea of the party just then.
Saral, “ well, sounds good to me, u know lets make it a surprise one. Moreover we can have it in our farm house in dehradun. It’ll be a sort of a weekend trip. U know what we’ll go over on Friday evening itself and we’ll let ankush on our secret and he’ll bring our families the next evening while we complete all the preparations.”
Radhika’s pov, “ how do I tell u about the letter saral, it’ll drain all the happiness out of u. I don’t want. Never mind, I’ll save the letter for after the party that I just made up.”
Radhika decided to forget about the letter presently. She nudged saral and spoke teasingly, “ that almost sounds like a plan…i m surprised,…seems like staying with me is bearing fruit now. My smartness has rubbed on u.”
Saral in response tickled radhika and she pushed him into the water and showed him her tongue. Saral secretly smiled but kept on an angry face. He got out of the water and walked towards her. He quickly hugged her making her wet as well. Radhika shouted at him and ran after him.
Well, everything went more or less according to the plan. Radhika and saral brought ankush into radhika’s room and informed him about the plan and he was elated.
Ankush, “not to praise myself on my own, but as a matter of fact, I have come to the right person. And saral, I must congratulate u on the plan. That was some smart thinking on your part. Though, to be honest I m surprised even, after all, its radhika’s department.”
Saral was embarassed and radhika enjoyed looking at his embarassed smile , “ actually ankush, it was radhika’s plan…I just elaborated and gave it some more ground.”
Ankush and radhika smiled and hified each other, making saral even more embarrased.
The next two days saral and radhika went shopping for the party and saral even bought radhika a dress of her choice. Radhika dragged saral inside a mens’s tuxedo shop.
Saral, “what now radhu? What could u possible want in a mens suiting shop? Stop now….i m tried….we have been on a go since the morning.”
Radhika, “zzz…shut up saral….see, I have such a beautiful dress and so I want u to have a nice suit as well. Do u wanna look so bad in comparison to me?”
Saral, “ that’s just a understanding on your part radhu, I’ll look better than u in my pajamas even. U look like a zombie.”
Radhika started hitting him.
Saral, “okay, okay….cute zombie? Does that help?”
Radhika made a face, “no it doesn’t.”
Saral, “accha okay….leave it….come help me choose a suit.”
Saral dragged radhika inside and radhika quickly begin choosing suits for him and he quickly changed and came. After changing like 4-5 times, radhika looked at saral from top to bottom. Saral cocked his eyebrows, “u checking me out…huh?” he teased her.
Radhika, “no u idiot….this one looks great on u. buy this one.”
Saral nodded and changed back into his own clothes and came, “come lets go.”
Radhika nodded, “ actually, I thought, since I came her, I’ll buy a suit for jiju as well….u know as a gift of sorts.”
Saral, “yeah okay…u choose….its your gift.”
Radhika quickly decided on a really amazing black suit, “saral…I have finalised this…hows it?”
Saral gave her a thumbs up and Before saral could say anything, the salesman spoke, “sir, I must say that your wife has a really elegant taste.”
Radhika giggled. Saral was embarrased, “she isnt my wife. We are just friends.” The shopkeeper mumbbled a sorry and took both there tuxedos for billing.
Once out the shop, radhika wanted to have a ice cream and saral took her out to an ice cream parlour.
Radhika between munches of her delicious chocolate ice cream, “saral, why are u so boring, I mean who expect for the oldies, eats vanilla? U had such amazing options and here u are eating the plain jane of ice creams.”
Saral replied, “radhu, I like simple things. I like finding beauty in most ordinary of the things. I don’t want ran around looiking for stuff…I mean, life is like right in front of u….” he paused and looked at radhika. Radhika cocked up her eyebrow.
Saral quickly continued, “ so run around looking for it. And that’s why I like vanilla.” Saral covered up.
Radhika seemed unfazed, “so next thing, what do we say to our parents, about where are we going on Friday?”
Sarla, “ umm, u say u are going for a sleepover at some of your friend’s place and I’ll say I m going for my office work. We’ll inform ankush and we’ll ask him to coordinate.”
Radhika thought for a while, “ saral yes that’s good and it might even work, but I cant lie to my parents. I just cant.”
Saral, “ so here’s thing, just imagine how happy your parents and your sis and your jiju will be when they see all the arrangements made especially for them. Just imagine that big smile on their face and also u are informing ankush and are going for a legitimate reason. Radhu, techincally you arent lieing, you are just hiding the truth and if brings happiness to your parents whats the harm in that?”
Radhika seemed convinced and agreed. That night she told ankush and he promised to convince their family and bring them to the farm Saturday evening.
Ankush, “radhika take care of yourself, and call if anything happens…okay?”
Radhika smiled at ankush’s brotherly care and affection, she nodded.
The next day, saral and radhika told their respective stories to their parents and came out. Radhika meet saral and got in his car. They drived to dehradun and reached the farm house all exhausted. They asked the caretaker to get the house cleaned and the chef to make some food for them. They themselves went to their respective rooms to rest. They came out after a couple of hours and started decorating and arranging for the party. The night dawned and they were almost done. Some minor stuff was left which was decided to be done the next morning. They went to their rooms to retire. Saral couldn’t sleep since he slept in the afternoon and came to radhika’s room hoping that she wouldn’t be asleep.
Saral knocked on her door….once….twice….thrice…four times. She didn’t open.
Saral, “ maybe she is asleep, afterall she was exhausted with all the work she did today. I’ll just peep in to see if she needs anything.”
Saral looked inside but an entirely different story awaited him. Radhika wasn’t in her room. Saral looked around.
Precap: a terrace confession
Guys, I know its been only radhika and saral and that too without any major storyline twists and stuff…..but I m just trying to create a base here, sam neil and arjun will be introduced later, maybe chapter 6. There is gonna be a twist in the next chapter. I hope I don’t get u guys bored. Do let me know how this chapter was.