Please read the author's note! This chapter is dedicted to Yamini, who is my best friend in the whole wide world. I know I have already dedicated a chapter to you, but there is no rule that I cant dedicated more, right? Love you Yamz. <3

CHAPTER 16: Magic

“Ajji!!! Shruthi’s coming home in 10 minutes” Bhavna screamed while Adi stuffed her face with healthy multigrain oats.

“That’s great! Perfect time to make baby corn Manchurian!” Ajji exclaimed bolting to the kitchen to start cooking.

“NO! Ajji, please don’t make it! It’s so tempting. This stupid Adi won’t let me eat anything other than this god awful oats!” Bhavu grumbled at Adi who looked scandalized.

“I’m trying to keep you and the babies healthy and this is what I get,” He said playfully tickling Bhavu.

“Oh please, you make me out to be a child, Adu. I can take care of them and eat junk food at the same time!”

Bhavna was almost 6 months pregnant. The entire atmosphere at our house had changed into excitement. Everyone was looking forward for the twins’ arrival. Amrita and Amay had already initiated a bet. Amrita bet that they would be identical boys/girls whereas Amay thought they would be fraternal. This bet had created quite a stir in our house. Everybody was taking sides and now, what had been a playful bet had turned into a serious transaction. Bhavna seemed least bothered as she had warned everybody that all the money had to come to her on the simple grounds that she was giving life to them.

Meanwhile, it had been close to a week since I spoke to Vihaan. He had completely taken me by surprise by showing up at Agni. I was obviously happy to see him, but I was scared of what might happen when we tell my parents that we still are together. He had promised that he’d come and explain everything to my parents, but over the week, he had made no effort whatsoever.

What the hell was he waiting for?

My train of thoughts were cut by my older sister Shruthi’s arrival. The entire family huddled around her and nearly caused a stampede in our garden. Ishaan and Aanya were given a total of 200 kisses each by all of us. After we cleared the garden, Bhavna, much to Adi’s horror, dropped her oats and ran towards Shruthi and hugged her hard. Adi looked like he had a stroke.

“Relax Adi! Bhavna is fine!” Shruthi said once she was done laughing at his expression.

“My poor heart! Your sister is crazy!” Adi said clutching his heart.

“He has completely lost it Shru. He has been reading all sorts of stuff about pregnancy on the internet and that has scared him like crazy!” Bhavna added.

“It could be true you know!” Adi retaliated.

“Tell you what, if I catch you reading that shit again no, I will take that computer and smack you on your head!” Bhavna threatened as everyone burst out laughing.

Once the galaata had reduced, the scent of Manchurian floated around the house, making everybody’s mouth water.

“Ajji, I want 5 extra pieces, okay?” Bhavna called out.

“No way in hell Bhavu!” Adi shouted back.

“Adi, I swear to God, I will hit you! Shru, tell him na?”

“I don’t need anybody to tell me anything! Please Bhavu, don’t eat. For me.” Adi requested.

“Eh, don’t emotionally blackmail me haan?” She said and she got up to get herself some Manchurian.

“NO Bhavu!” Adi shouted desperately after her.

On Shruthi’s signal, the seven of us took hold of Adi’s arms and legs and prevented him from going to Bhavna. I couldn’t control myself from laughing.

“I am going to kill you guys.” Adi said, accepting defeat.

Bhavu triumphantly fed herself a handful of Babycorn Manchurian and said, “Wow Ajji, I don’t know if it’s my pregnancy speaking, but that was the best Manchurian ever!”

“I hate you.” Adi grumbled.

“You love me!” Bhavu replied as she fed him a few Manchurian.

*******

“Avni! We need to leave!” Ma bellowed from the ground floor. I was still struggling to put on my saree (worn because of strict instructions given by Ma). Exactly two minutes later, I managed to walk down to the front garden, trying to make sure I don’t trip and land flat on my face.
“Where are we going?” I asked Ma. She hadn’t bothered telling me why I was dressed the way I was.
“We are going to meet my friend Nisha, Avnu. She has so sweetly invited us for a small lunch!”
My mother was like some evil mastermind.
“So why did I have to accompany you, Ma? Why didn’t you take the twins?” I asked frusterated.
“I can’t make the twins meet Samarth, can I?” She said nonchalantly.
“I am not interested in meeting this Samarth.” I said stubbornly.

“You say that now. But just wait till you see him, Avni. He is fiiiiiine!” Ma said blushing.
I having no interested in my mother’s antics, chose to keep my head down and mind my own business throughout the lunch. We were welcomed rather warmly by Nisha aunty, who, by the looks of it, liked me the very instant she saw me.

“You are drop dead gorgeous.” She said pointing at my purple saree.

“Avni, I’d like to introduce you to Samarth, who is Nisha’s son,” Ma said pointing at the person standing behind Nisha Aunty.

BAM. This guy looked like he just stepped out of a fashion catalogue. He was six feet tall, extremely well built, with jet black hair and a very good sense of style, I must add.

“Hello Avni,” He said in the most deep-but-amazing voice I had ever heard.

“H-h-hi,” I faltered.

“Told you.” My mother added in a low tone. “Food smells great, Nisha!” Ma said to Aunty and dragged her away to the kitchen.

“I’m Samarth,” He held his hand to me.

“Very nice to meet you.” I said in the most pleasant way that I could.

“I know we have only met, but you look very beautiful today.” He said with a warm smile. He had a little bit of an accent to his English.

“Where do you work?”

“I am actually a journalist. I work as a critic for this website in London.”
“Wow, really? That sounds fun! What do you criticize?” I asked.
“I am a food critic and sometimes I do movies too.” He said laughing at my choice of words.

“London, huh? It’s my dream to go there!” I said like a dewy eyed school girl.
“Are you in a relationship with anyone, Avni?” This question was definitely out of syllabus.
“Yeah I am.” I said. There was no reason for me to lie.
“And is this a very serious one?” He asked. Where was he going with this, exactly?
“As serious as they can be.” I said simply. “Why?”
“Nah, I’m just curious.” He shrugged.

We then spoke up about the most random things. Honestly, he seemed to be a really nice guy. I had to actively stop myself from shamelessly staring at him.
Man, was he hot or what?

“So, eight siblings, huh? What’s the story, if there is really one?”

Chuckling, I replied, “It’s pretty straightforward, actually. When my Dad’s grandfather was alive, his wish was that the Kashyap household should ‘flourish’, in every sense of that word. So since then, everybody has adhered.” I explained.

“Wow. But eight kids? Didn’t your parents have a hard time?”

“My mom has always been pro large family. Plus we older siblings came in handy when the younger ones were born. And moreover, my Dad is a pilot, so financial part was also stable.

“That sounds insane! Are you all for you great grandfather’s wish?” He asked with a playful grin on his face. 

“I think eight kids is way too farfetched. But I would love to have maybe three, maximum. Wait, why am I telling you this?” I said, awkwardly realizing the fact that I was talking about kids with a complete stranger.
At the end of a delicious meal, Nisha Aunty, uncle and Samarth accompanied Ma and I to our car.
“It was very nice meeting you Avni. I hope to see you soon.” Samarth said.
“Avni, you are always welcome to drop by anytime you want!” Nisha aunty said giving me a warm hug.

After the goodbyes and the see-you-soons were over, Ma and I hopped into our car and made our way back home.

“Is he cute or what?” Ma exclaimed jumping up and down. Man, the bug that bit Ajji when she saw Vihaan has now bitten my mother.

“He is very nice, Ma.” I replied in a monotone.

“So what is it going to be?”

“Huh?”

“Is that a yes?”
“Ma, please tell me you aren’t joking. You are being so ridiculous!” I shouted.

“Vihaan came and Vihaan left! It’s time for you to move on!”

“Vihaan didn’t leave! You forced him out without even giving him a chance to explain himself!”

“Don’t start this topic now, Avni! It has been more than a month!”

“You cannot force me to look at guys you like and expect me to feel what I feel for Vihaan, Ma. It doesn’t work that way!”
“Oh please, stop the drama, Avni. You are acting foolish. What is there in Vihaan that’s not there in Samarth?” Ma snapped.

“How about the fact that SAMARTH WILL NEVER HAVE MY LOVE WHILE VIHAAN DOES?!” I bellowed.

“What nonsense are you going on about? What the hell do you know about love, Avni?”

“I know enough to know that what I feel for Vihaan is equivalent to what you feel for Appa. Maybe even more than that. But you always do this, don’t you? You already have your mind made up and it’s not going to change now. So go ahead, Ma. Do what you want. Ruin my life. I will just stand here and watch.”

“You make me out to be such a villain, Avni. I feel so sorry for that. You will never understand why me and Appa are doing what we are doing. Its because we don’t want to see you suffer later. What if all this love shuv doesn’t work? What if it isn’t enough?”

“Say what you want, Ma. When I was with Vihaan, nothing seemed to matter. No amount of sadness in this world could bring me down. When I was with him, the way he used to look at me, it used to be the way Dad looks at you all the time. You want me to just forget all of it and walk away?” I said and tears automatically rolled down my cheeks. We had reached home and as Ma rightfully said earlier, like the drama queen that I am, I shut the car door with full force and marched into my house.

“Appa doesn’t lie about things, Chinna.” She said. Her reasoning tone was on, I could tell.

“Appa didn’t necessarily lie, Ma. He may have mis-comprehended what he saw.”

“I will talk to your father again and see what his take is. But that’s all I can do, Avni. Let’s see if he has calmed down over the month.”

“You would do that?” I asked, my irritation suddenly changing to pure love.

“Of course, baby. If Vihaan is really all that you say he is, I think your Father and I are in the middle of committing a very big mistake.”

With that, I ran to my mother and hugged her with full force. “Thanks Ma,” I whispered.

*******

At around 12:30am, I finished briefing Shru, Bhavu and Vihaan (on speaker) about the latest goings-on.

“Avni, this seems too good to be true,” Bhavna said.

“I just hope everything works out.” I whispered thinking of what my mother would have told my dad by now.

“Baby, are you in your room?” Vihaan asked, out of the blue.
“Yeah, why?” I asked, blinking at Shruthi and Bhavna.
“Do you mind coming to the window overlooking the back garden?”

I quickly ran to my window, with Shruthi and Bhavna at my heel. I peered into the night to see what Vihaan wanted me to see. I looked down at the grass and, to my hearts delight, saw Vihaan himself standing and grinning widely at me.

“Hey, love.” He said.

“Hi Vihaan!” Shruthi whispered loud enough for him to hear. Behind me, both of them had engaged in a low volume high pitch cheer.

“Oh hey Shruthi and Bhavna,” He added.

I still couldn’t believe he had landed at our back garden, not giving a damn about the world.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered.

“I came to see you, obviously.”

“If my parents see you, you will get killed!” I said, now becoming terrified of that possibility.

“If your parents see me, it’s a perfect opportunity to talk to them.”

“Are you crazy, Vihaan?” I whispered while Shruthi was trying to stop Bhavna from jumping all around the room.

“I miss you,” He whispered looking straight into my eyes. Even though he was meters away, my heart did that small flutter it always does when I see him.

“I miss you too,”

“I am coming home tomorrow to win you over.” He said very confidently.

“You better! Or else we’ll arranged marriage-fy Avni before you even blink!” Shruthi said playfully as Vihaan climbed over the garden wall and disappeared after blowing me a kiss goodnight.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey you guys! New character! What do you'll think of mysterious Samarth? Good news? Bad news? Let me know in your comments!

Sorry for the late update. I have been so damn busy with college work! I really dont know when the next update will be since I am trying to enjoy my last summer ever. I'll try writing though!

I have loved each and every one of the names you guys have given me! So creative! Please continue the suggestions! I have decided that Bhavna will have twin boys! Woooot! Now the name giving will be easier! I think I shall release it next chapter! Hang in there you guys!

Please vote and comment if you did like the chapter!

As always, you guys are awesome! Much love, A <3