Togetherness- A Series (Part 3)

You can read Part 1 and Part 2 to catch up to what has happened in the parts before.

The lone figure waited calmly at the bottom of the tall building, his face void of any expression or emotion. But in his mind raged a war, a conflict of emotions, thoughts and ideas. He knew his love was a bit scared now, and that he had to take some action to change her low mood. As she looked down from the window and waved to him, he waved back and walked into the shadows of the busy lane.

The moon shone brightly and Karan stared at it from the window. Admiring the serene beauty in his mind and at the same time sculpting a new blog post, Karan gazed intently. Dejected and in despair, he walked to the bed, and lay on the soft mattress, but sleep evaded him. He loved Niki too much, and could and would not live without her. But, courage ran away from him, as like the times when he had wished to introduce her to his parents as his girlfriend; like the time when he had proposed to her to be his girlfriend. He had delayed that for almost 6 months. Now that was too much!

These thoughts raced around and occupied his brain, and soon he got lost in them, and darkness consumed him.

The early calls of the birds woke him up, and the sun shone brightly in his eyes. He sat up in bed, earlier than his usual time, and clenched his fist and said, "You are doing this today. You have six more days to manage all the stuff and you are going to do it."

With this pledge of determination, Karan picked up his phone and pinged the office that he would not be in for some days as he was not well. As he was composing a sweet sorry message to explain his absence to Niki, the phone rang. It was her.

"Hey love, good morning," she said her voice a mixture of early cheer but a minute hint of pain.

"I was just about to call you love."

"Why? Couldn't wait till office as well?"

"The thing is that I've taken a week’s absence at office, as I've got some domestic work to complete, and it’s a bit urgent as well."

"Ohh. Well, dad's sending me to our village, for 4 days, I'll be back on the 5th day. Just a trip to enjoy myself alone in the peaceful climate."

"Wow, now that's fun. I'm never going to send you alone like that. I can’t bear being without you."

"Of course. Now I got to go honey, need to pack as well. Whatsapp me ASAP, I'll talk there."

"Lemme get a bath, and then I'll ping you. You take care sweety, love you."

"You're bathing so early? Your work must be really urgent," she teased with a slight laugh. "Message fast sweetheart, missing you a lot."

"Give me 5 sweety, miss you too."

Connecting the phone to the hanging charger, Karan raced to the bathroom, and at the same time, he placed a note on the dining table for the maid to not prepare his office. As he came out of his room, dressed and fresh, and with a new objective in life, his mom came to him.

"Why aren’t you going to office? Are you fine? Any problems?"

"No mom, everything’s fine. Could I talk with you and dad for some time? It’s really important."

"Of course, but first wipe your hair and we'll talk over breakfast."

"My hair's fine. Damn, I can’t do anything about them now!"

Taking her advice, Karan raced through his daily early morning chores, and plunked himself before the rest at the dining table. As he switched on the tab and started going through his mail, dad came walking jovially to the table. Back from his morning jog, and workout, the older version of Karan was more fit, and agile, even with the age gap between them.

"Morning Karan, had a good night’s sleep?"

"Completely. Dad I want to talk with you and mom for a bit."

"Wait, I'll just call your mom in here. Then you hit the play button."

As the couple took their places, Karan began.

"Well, I want to get married."

"Ahh, finally you get a change of heart. We were telling you to start thinking about this from a long time. So who is the girl? Do you have anyone in sight,” enquired the better half of the older couple.

"Uhm yeah mom. I want to marry Niki."

"See, I'd told you but you didn't believe me," exclaimed Karan's mother to her husband.

"Let him complete speaking at least," he said, shying away into the background. "Is she fine with that? Does she want to marry you as well?"

"Yes dad. She has been forcing me to talk to you about this from quite a long time, but I was a bit scared to say it."

"The jitters got to you as well, didn’t they," he chuckled.

"Don’t make fun of me dad. What do you think about this?"

"If your mom is fine, then I'm as well. You know, I can’t really win an argument against her, not even after so many years."

Clapping him on the shoulder, Karan's dad laughed out loud with a stealthy look at his wife, who glared at him; but the happiness of the moment gleamed in her eyes.

"Of course I'm fine with Niki; I don’t have a single problem."

The celebration started and the three of them cherished a group hug as a warm torrent started down Karan's mother's cheeks.

"Now what’s there to cry in this?"

"Let Niki come, and then you ask her the same question son. Mind you, you'll have to sleep on the floor for a week."

Karan smiled and thought, "This was pretty easy. Now let’s hope the other part goes well as well. I'll surprise Niki at the beach on 13th itself. She will be overjoyed. Oh gosh, I love her so much!"