His To Keep

Chapter 3

"I don't think so..." she said. She hadn't completely forgotten him yet. Could you really blame her? He was that epic love of her life turned into the one that got away in the blink of an eye. She felt way too selfish to even share her thoughts with people. It made her feel like diluting her memories of him and one day being left with none.

"What's on your mind then?" her sister asked looking at her. She was ready to do anything and everything in her hands to help her.

"Let's get ready for what we're here for." she said putting on a brave face. "Getting relaxed and preparing ourselves for the big wedding responsibilities. Who knows maybe shopping is exactly what I need at the moment."

"Are you sure you're its going to be okay?" asked Arni.

"I survived his departure. What's in a few more dreams?" she said giving her a nod.

"You're such a strong woman, Akriti. A true inspiration." she said looking at her sister in awe.

"Thank you." she smiled. "I still can't believe it's my little sister's wedding."

"Believe it or not it's happening." she grinned.

Akriti was thrown back to the days she used to discuss about her wedding with her sister. She thought of how drastically her life had changed in merely five years. Both of them soon went to have breakfast and she realized that the wedding talks weren't going to get away soon. Arnika said something about going house hunting with Neil once they get back to Mumbai. Even though she was really thrilled about her sister's wedding, the thought of her own wasn't ready to leave her head.

"Ta-da" he said opening the doors of the fifth apartment they were visiting today and hopefully the last one. They were looking for a place they'd stay in after getting married and he was affirmative about this being the one. "So what do you think?"

"Oh my God. Please tell me it's a joke." She said looking at the dusty old apartment. It seemed like no one had lived there for ages and had shattered all her hopes into pieces.

"It's not honey." He assured her that he wasn't pulling a cheap joke on her and this was his personal favorite, the one that stood apart from all the places that they had seen. The best part being, it perfectly fit their budget.

"So we're supposed to live in this dump after our wedding?" she asked Rahul one last time to make sure what she was hearing was right.

"Once you see it through my eyes, I promise you will never want to live in any other apartment anywhere in the world." he smiled.

"I think you're mistaken this time." she said. Her eyes grew so big that they could pop out any minute as she looked around the spider webs in the corners, the doors and the windows. She tried to look at the brighter side of living there but couldn't find any.

"I think the one we saw before this one was much better. Sure it was a bit smaller in comparison but it had such a beautiful view! And considering that fact that it was recently renovated, it looked pretty too. Lets just go back there?" she pleaded. She didn't even feel like standing there.

"Okay we will go there but first imagine this." he said wrapping his arms around her waist. "Five years down the line, it is a normal Sunday morning an our kids are asleep. I am sitting on the couch with my legs on the table, watching TV. You come from the kitchen with two cups of coffee in your hand and glare at me because you really hate it when I put my feet up on the tables. I put it down and you finally smile giving me my cup of coffee. You come sit next to me and lay your head on my chest. I am flipping through the news channels which have nothing new to show. You take a sip of coffee and say how you love the peaceful ambience around and the very next second we hear running footsteps getting louder and louder. That's how we know our kids are awake. Soon they are in front of us, our little girl running behind her elder brother because he hit her and both of them complaining. You almost get up to break them up but I stop you, just looking at just looking at them in awe thinking about how our perfect our life is."