Preksha led her to a room at the other end of the house and said with a smile, “Please feel comfortable. You both have a talk with each other,” and closed the door but left it a lil ajar.

Shruti entered the room and there he was. She was able to see him properly for the first time and was dumbstruck. Her palms were sweaty and she fumbled. He was tall and definitely handsome, very fair. Shruti was just gaping at him and suddenly became conscious.

To be continued…

Atharva with a lil smile, “Hi.”
Shruti faltered and replied, “Hhhh.. hi” and then was lost as to what to do.
Atharva realised that she was feeling awkward and said, “Please have a seat; if you prefer the swing please go ahead.”
Shruti then noticed that there was a single seater swing behind the bed area. Also, that this room looked unused and newly renovated. The furniture was in pleasant shades of yellow, which complemented the white walls beautifully. The swing was right near the full stretch of windows, letting in the evening sunlight. Overall, it was a pleasant room. He switched on the AC for comfort since it was April and already quite balmy. Atharva sat on the bed facing her, with the bed head in between them.

Shruti just blurted out. “I'm sorry, but will be frank with you. I'm feeling awkward about this whole thing as it's the first time ever that I am meeting a guy. So am not aware as to how to go about it.”
Atharva pacified her. “Hey! That’s okay. I have met 2 girls before and I can perfectly understand your dilemma.”

Shruti somehow lost all her confidence and had a sinking feeling, 'This guy won't be interested in a gal like me. He is so good looking and his personality is too charming. He'll pack me off in 5 mins. He is just doing a formality right now.'

Just then, Isha pushed the door open, being curious on seeing the new face in the house. Seeing her, Shruti’s face lit up and she had a broad smile on her face. Atharva turned around to see who had come and asked Isha to come to him. The next moment, Preksha came in and apologised, “Am so sorry, I didn’t realise when she  came in. Will take her away. You please continue.”
Atharva stood up and said, “It’s ok bhabhi.”

Preksha immediately took Isha away, carefully closing the door again and left the 2 alone to have conversation. Thanks to Isha, Shruti was in a much more relaxed mood.
She said in a loving tone, “Isha is really very cute… just like a doll.”
Atharva smiled. “Ya, she is a sweetheart. And we all are absolutely crazy about her. She is the only kid in the house na, so we are extremely fond of her.”

He queried, “So what have you studied?”
She replied, “I have done Bachelors in Business Administration and then a 2 year course in Fashion Designing.”
He exclaimed, “Oh! That’s good!”
She nodded. “Ya… it was hectic, sleepless nights coz of the endless submissions but I simply loved it.”
Atharva mentioned, “I didn't get any chance to further my studies once my B.Com was done. Had to join dad in business as Shankar had to go to Delhi and settle there for business expansion. So he left after his marriage, and stayed over there for 4 years setting up the office there. Meanwhile, I got into handling the factory and office over here.”
Shruti reverted, “Oh okay! So do they stay in Delhi now?”
He denied, “No no.. now they are back in Mumbai. Once bhabhi conceived, her health was not keeping well. She had a tough time. So eventually, the decision was taken that Shankar will start delegating the tasks and allocate responsibilities to the staff so that it would  be easier to handle the office once they come back. Now he has to go only once a fortnight for the efficient running of the firm.”

Shruti, a frown between her brows said without thinking of the implication, “Hope you have no plans of settling abroad. Am not the type to be able to live alone, away from the family.”
Atharva assured her immediately, “No… absolutely not. Even I can't dream of settling away from the family. In fact, had tried doing so after college on dad's insistence. He had wished to start a certain business in London and I had gone as I couldn't say no to him. But got so upset in just 3 months, that I gave up and had to tell him that I won't b able to continue. That one experience taught me that I am not cut out for living on my own.  It's beyond me.”
She was relieved to hear this. She shared her view about it saying, “I really don't understand how can anyone live away from family for a long period of time. You know, I had an opportunity to do fashion designing in Mumbai. There are many relatives, so accommodation would also not have been a problem. But I couldn’t bring myself to stay away from home. Hence, opted for a good institute in Nashik itself.”

He commented, “You must have been a good student I feel.”
She replied confidently, “Yup, I always was amongst the toppers in the class. But to be truthful, I was never a very sincere studious types. I generally had a good grasping, and consider it luck working in my favour or whatever, but I always had an easy way out of difficult situations. You know, while others had taken the 10th boards extremely seriously, I used to study, but not as if my life depended on it. I got serious about it only the last 2 months as I finally realised that the boards were really looming over the head . Got 93% overall and topped in Hindi and English in school. It was fun watching people react and my parents were also relieved that I got away with minimal efforts once again.”

Atharva was listening to her talking animatedly all the time. Shruti had by now relaxed completely and was quiet her talkative self, as if they were old friends.
She asked about his academic performance, to which he replied, “I was never good at academics. It was like I had to put in efforts to get decent marks. I was always in the back benchers association.”
Shruti retorted, “Hey! Even I was a back bencher once I came in 7th std. How else is it possible to crack jokes and have fun with friends? Sab teachers ki copy karte thhe.. specially there was this science teacher who was a South Indian. Goodness! She was beyond anyone’s tolerance capacity. So all that we would do during her lectures was count the number of times she would say 'and' in her typical South Indian accent. Once, she crossed the count of 150. Those were the days I still miss. However, that doesn't mean you don't have brains and can't score well. All back benchers don't have to be mediocre students.”
Atharva was amused to hear her rattling away.

Then, with a tact that only guys have, he said, “You are quite beautiful.” Shruti was quite taken aback at his outright comment and didn't know how to react at the statement. She sensed there was something more to it and looked at him....