Anvesha was sitting in the Shatabdi Express, lost in her thoughts as the train moved towards Dehradun. Her team was accompanying her but she was craving for Adhyayan, the love of her life.

Since past week, Adhyayan had sent her plenty of messages apologizing her for his deplorable behavior but she had not replied to him. He wanted space and she was giving him the much-needed space and a break. She sighed as she tried to think about something else.

Anvesha was indeed waiting anxiously to meet the retired brigadier Hariprakash Joshi who had endangered his life several times on the Indo-China border. The defense expert had an authoritative aura, that’s all Anvesha had read about him.

Initially Anvesha was annoyed when the officer had denied to come on the show though he had not refused for the interview. The indication had been clear, she and her team, were required to visit Dehradun.

She was indeed excited to visit the hometown of her so-called boyfriend. She sighed at the thought of Adhyayan and wondered how could a nasty relationship with a girl impact his life so terribly but little did she know that there was more to it.

Sitting in the train, as it halted at a junction, Anvesha remembered how Adhyayan had denied to join her. She knew Adhyayan belonged to Dehradun and was excited to meet his family, especially his sister whom he talked about a lot. But the clear cut denial of Adhyayan had left her disappointed. She was annoyed at their first quarrel in six months of their relationship. She realized time had flown too fast. She smiled remembering their dates, trip to Alwar, her confession at his place and plentiful of outings at the weekends. She had admired at his choices when he had told her to visit several reputed restaurants for the episodes of her vlog.

Soon her smile turned into a frown as she remembered their altercation. She was surely missing him but at the same time, her ego was not letting her call him or reply him back. In fact, Adhyayan had been unnecessary rude to her, she had concluded which was indeed a truth.

Adhyayan, on the other hand, was aghast and disappointed at Anvesha as she was going to the place he never wanted her to go. However, he was helpless as he could not stop her especially when it was related to her work. He knew he was wrong but he could not help it. He knew he had reacted very awfully with her but he had no option. With anger boiling in him, the celebrity chef was shouting terribly on his employees who were dreading his illogical anger.

Anvesha slept all the while in the journey and was nudged by one of her teammates when they reached the station. She sighed stretching her arms as she suppressed her yawn at midnight when her teammate Ashita said, “Ma’am, we have reached”.

Anvesha nodded as she picked her luggage and looked at Manish, the cameraman who was looking groggily at both of them and his funny expressions brought a smile on the faces of both of the girls.

As soon as they came out of the railway station, they felt a chilly sensation due to the cool breeze blowing in midnight. The weather seemed to be pleasant. The trio headed towards the cab arranged by the hotel and led towards their accommodation.

Next morning, Anvesha was looking forward to visit the retired brigadier of the Indian Army at his residence at one of the posh societies of the city followed by a trip to the Queen of Hills, Mussoorie.

Being from Darjeeling, Anvesha was not really excited to see the beauty of the mountains especially when she was dealing with a nasty altercation with Adhyayan but her teammates, both Manish and Ashita, hailing from Delhi were much excited to enjoy their escapade in the lap of nature.

Ashita and Anvesha were sharing a room. After their beauty sleep, both the girls freshened themselves and dressed into their professional attire as they were meeting the defence expert in the morning after the breakfast. Clad in a black cotton shirt and off-white trousers, Anvesha was looking stunning. She just smiled when Ashita complimented her mumbling a ‘thank you’.

After relishing upon the delicious breakfast, the trio headed towards the residence of the defence expert, Mr. Hariprakash Joshi, at Rajpur Road in the cab arranged by the hotel they were staying in.

After a short journey of thirty minutes despite the morning traffic, they reached the destination, an exquisite bungalow amidst the tall mango and litchi trees. Anvesha had instantly fallen in love with the archaic styled house of the defence expert.

The house had a vast lawn with pink lotuses growing in a small pond in the center. The colorful roses, attractive calendulas, vibrant lilies and myriads of exotic flowers attracted the attention of the trio who were indeed, mesmerized by the spectacular design of the garden.

All of them were looking at the beautiful lawn with admiration mentally acknowledging the efforts to maintain it when the guard ushered them indoors. The retired brigadier, Mr. Hariprakash Joshi welcomed them wholeheartedly along with his wife, Lakshmi Joshi, a simple lady with an attractive smile.

Before everyone could take their seats, the loud bark of a pet dog startled Anvesha. Being cynophobic, Anvesha panicked and fear was visible on her face as sweat beads started to form. She saw a big black bulldog coming towards her and she closed her icy blue eyes in fear. Her heart was indeed, thumping loudly. Mentally chanting not to scream, Anvesha stood panicking.

“Samar, take Charlie inside”, Mr. Hariprakash Joshi ordered his servant who rushed from the kitchen. Taking a deep breath and analyzing the young lady was afraid of dogs, the defence expert said, “Charlie! My boy! Stay quiet”, glaring at his agitated pet. The pet dog was immediately taken inside.

“Ms. Chatterjee, I am extremely sorry for the inconvenience”, the old man said with authority in his voice as he profusely apologized on behalf of his pet. Anvesha smiled meekly as revealed about her cynophobia.

After a brief chit-chatting and a cup of tea along with mouthwatering snacks, Anvesha, being the host of the show, began interviewing the defence officer who narrated about his courageous stories, his experience at the borders and his life as a military officer.

Anvesha was shocked when Mr. Hariprakash Joshi said, “By God’s grace, I have a daughter Parisa who aspires to become a pilot in Air Force.”

As her teammates were recording everything in the camera, Anvesha chose to remain quiet though her face lost color. It was easy for her to connect the dots, the celebrity chef, Mr. Adhyayan Joshi had a sister Parisa Joshi and he belonged to Dehradun.

She wondered why the sensible man sitting in front of her just said he just had a daughter. She wanted to question but chose not to just because she did not want to ruin her relationship with Adhyayan. She was aware how media worked and she knew all her activities were recorded. Moreover, she also knew one wrong step from her side could ruin the reputation of both the defence expert and the celebrity chef on national media. She speculated something worst in the Joshi family, after all, she was not aware of the reality.

Keeping the topic of Adhyayan aside, Anvesha continued the interview mentally planning to question Mr. Hariprakash Joshi later on. Her heart was thumping loudly as she remembered the loss of color on Adhyayan’s face after hearing the name of the retired brigadier. Being true to her name, Anvesha was getting damn curious!

As if the Almighty was listening to her prayers to get some time alone with Adhyayan’s family, the old man offered the trio to have lunch with him once the interview ended. Anvesha was taken aback by the hospitality of the Joshi family and a smile crept on her lips when she remembered the yummy food cooked by Adhyayan.

To her disappointment, her colleague Manish chimed in, “We are grateful for the lunch, sir but we had planned to visit Mussoorie”, to which Mr. Joshi chuckled and told them to enjoy.

Anvesha, on the other hand, was dying to have some time alone with the Joshi family as she wanted to clarify her doubts. She could have easily asked Adhyayan but she was not willing to talk to him after his deplorable behavior the previous week. She was obviously not looking for any confrontations, after all, it was not her place but she wanted to make sure if Adhyayan was related to the Joshi family anyhow.

Anvesha chimed in as she lied, “Guys, I cannot join you. I am meeting a friend in the evening.” She realized that she had made a fool of herself as both of her coworkers looked at her with suspicion in their eyes.

The awkward moment was disrupted by Mr. Hariprakash Joshi who said, “That’s good, Ms. Chatterjee. I will be honored if you could have lunch with us. My wife cooks delicious biryani and my daughter is an avid fan of your show. She will be delighted to meet you”.

Anvesha mentally thanked god as she sighed and delightfully accepted the offer. After all, she was looking forward to meet the daughter of Mr. Joshi to clear her doubts.

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Hi everyone

Hopefully you are doing well! 😊

So how's the new update? 🤔

Well! I kept the drama low because it wasn't a rocket science to guess the relationship of father and son having same surname! 😅

I will be updating soon, till then enjoy the bliss of your health and share your views on the chapter, shower your love on the story with your valuable votes and lovely comments. 💙💙💙💙

Love you all
💜