At the shopping mall
The Café
Latha told her inner turmoil to Sonia who listened to her getting worried.
"Hey, hope I not late," Rekha came jogging towards them followed by Amritha who hugged her aunties missing their hugs.
After hearing the situation, Amritha spoke
"I think we should wait for him to digest the fact that I was never in love with him. We should not suddenly get him married just like that. Why should we spoil the life of the girl, knowingly?"
Sonia agreed on her views but Latha was not satisfied. She spoke frustrated.
"Then! What do I do? See my son die every day in this stupid heartbreak! I can't do that. I need to find a way to pacify his breaking heart. I need to..." Sonia caught hold of her hand and tried to calm her.
Amritha thought for a while. Then suddenly something clicked her.
"What if we make him fall in love with the girl of our choice? How is that?" Sonia looked at the splitting image of her cracked head bestie who was nodding her head at her daughter's idea.
"Ami! It doesn't happen in real life, but only in tv serials. So, my advice...stop watching those dumb serials with your mom!!" Amritha sat back on her seat after getting scolded by Sonia. She went to sipping her strawberry flurry with a pout.
"Actually..." Latha was staring at the women in front of her to continue her sentence.
"Yes, aunty. We can," Sonia glared at Amritha but remembered a certain someone who was fit for the role.
"I might have someone. But I am not sure if it might work..." Amritha encouraged Sonia, to continue her part of the plan.
Sonia showed the pic of Prisha to the trio who gawked at her pretty face.
"Wow! Aunty, who is she?" Amritha was awestruck by her simplicity and knew that her friend would definitely fall head over heels for her.
Sonia explained her reference to them who were getting their hopes high.
Amritha suggested that Sanal and Prisha should meet up at random places almost accidently for their plan to work.
Sonia gave a thumbs up to her idea waiting for the other two.
"But, what if the other family members come to know about it? Especially Vinay and Sameer? Then what are we going to explain them?" Latha spoke her thoughts to which Amritha assured her that none of them would come to know if they are alert and secretive of their plan.
Just like that the four women of the Sanal-Prisha matchup committee shaked their hands in agreement.
Their first stage was to make them meet at places of their common interest.
Sonia told them that Prisha had a knack for music which was similar to Sanal who had an interest for art – if that counts as per the calculations done by Amritha.
Amritha managed to snuck out two tickets to the art and music gallery of the 10th Gala opening of a well-known artist and his wife who was a singer. Both the couple had their individual gallery set up in the same building which would give them the opportunity to move to their next step of the plan.
The Gala was after two months during the weekend for two days starting Saturday, ending on Sunday.
So, they had couple of days to make their plan into action.
Sonia would hand over the tickets to Sharanya who would pass them to her daughter.
Amritha would hand over the tickets to Dino who would in time pass to Sanal.
Just like that both of them would meet up in the same gallery.
"And their first baby's name would be Prenal..." Sonia gave a disgusting look to Amritha who was zoning out babbling inaudibly – preferably picturing Prisha and Sanal's children's wedding!!
Latha pursed her lips laughing inaudibly at Rekha who was equally disgusted by her overly thinking kid.
Rekha bid them bye, taking her kid with her to resume their shopping.
Sonia assured Latha that if not fully, they can expect a part of their plan to work.
Latha was feeling satisfied at the support given to her at her most saddened situation.
He saw the beautiful sky with the dark clouds hovering over the mountain peaks.
The villagers have a myth that the mountains feel the first drop of rain before it hits the low-lying regions.
June – the month of the first rain drop.
Sanal wanted to picture the first shower of the rains in his canvas.
He called Baburao to book his hut for the days he would stay to capture his first snap.
Dino was clicking the image in front of his camera lens. He moved from one hilltop to another to get the perfect angle.
The farmers were preparing to save the crop from the havoc caused by the rage of the rigorous rains that had washed away more than half of their crops with it.
Tring! Tring!
Both the bestie looked at each other with a known smile and ran to get the first taste of the cold dessert.
"Arrey, bhai! Wait! What is the hurry?!!" The ice cream guy pushed the youngest member among the enraged children who snickered at the 27-year-olds antics.
They sat on the log of the wood supporting the fencing around the hut and ate their strawberry flavoured ice lollies.
"Dude, ever since you took me to that trip to that remote jungle near the western region. My life has changed drastically. Thanks man," Dino caught hold of his bestie's shoulders who side hugged him equally.
One month later
At the university
Prisha waited for her friends to come out of the examination hall to have some light snacks before they could head home.
"I am telling you it was not the answer! Just check! I wrote the correct answer, dumbo!" Benny was scolding a tensed Gaurav who was searching for the answer in the texts.
The trio went to the canteen to have their final exam special brunch.
Sonia's cabin
Sonia was talking to Sharanya on continuing her tenure for the next academic year to which she explained
"I would love to Sonia. But I don't know. I have to check with my office schedule. As it is my clients were complaining on not completing their full session,"
Sonia understood the difficulty of running a business. She had her dance academy underway for the past one year which she was not able to concentrate fully.
So, she told her to give it a thought even though.
The university had a discotheque organised by the seniors for the students in the weekend. So, the organising committee was taking notes on the dos and don'ts of the program.
The seminar hall
"Gaurav, more to the right...yeah...a little bit more.... Perfect! nail it down." Prisha was arranging the seminar hall for the discotheque and helping the juniors in decorating the hall.
Benisha was part of the food committee. So, she was rest assured that there would be no problem in that area.
By evening the trio were tired to the core. Prisha suggested to retire to her home and stay for the night.
In the evening
Varma residence.
Pradeep was on the phone as he strode to the living room with his iPad.
He opened it and followed the instructions from the other line. He watched his wife helping her daughter-in-law. Both of them were moving from one room to the other in a rush.
After his business talks, he removed his bluetooth and asked his wife for the hullabaloo to which she replied.
"The triplets are staying the night,"
"Great! No sleep tonight, I guess. Well, I will hit the bed early if I want to catch a few winks. Good night dear," Pradeep hugged Uvika who wished him in return.
Sharanya told him that she would be busy for some time as she had to arrange for the trio's midnight snacks.
The first time, her friends spend the night, Gaurav was a frequent visitor to the kitchen. He would leave trails of food all over the kitchen to the room making it difficult for the maids to clean.
Since then, Sharanya would ask her daughter to inform her beforehand about their night stay.
"Ok, Aunty. I will leave. I have an early flight tomorrow. See you in two days," Uvika bid her mom-in-law bye to get a tight hug from her.
Previn went to drop Uvika to her apartment. Hoping to spend the night in her flat.
The apartment gate
Uvika saw the pouty face of her fiancé who was speechless the whole ride.
She caressed his cheeks who looked at her saying
"Can I come?" Uvika huffed at his childish acts and shaked her head as a 'no'.
"Why! We are getting married in six months! I am not going to see you for whole two days!! Can you imagine my trauma, huh?" Uvika smiled at his sad face and spoke
"Trauma, hm? The guy who ordered to slash the prisoner's arm, is talking about mental health. Classic, don't you think so?" Previn clutched the steering wheel making weird faces at her remark.
"That's profession! This is personal. So, shall we go upstairs, hm?" Previn tried his luck again wiggling his eyebrows to which Uvika closed in him, taking him by surprise.
She whispered near his ears "Not tonight, loverboy!"
She then made a run for it, giggling at his shocked face.
Previn bit his lower lips thinking "slay!!"
Prisha's room
"Boom!!" Gaurav clutched the duvet to his face getting scared by the minute.
Prisha was snickering at their acts munching her sandwich.
Both Benny and Prisha were sitting on the bed with Gaurav beside the bed on the mattress with the soft sheets.
"And?!!!" Gaurav asked the dramatic Benny who looked at him with a raised eyebrow. She went near his face and shaked her head.
Gaurav raised his index finger indicating one number. Benny still shaked her head pouting her lips downwards.
"Really, Benny! How come the boat crashed on the rock and no one survived! You are fibbing, clearly!" Prisha got up to get the milk from the study table.
Gaurav signalled Prisha to negate Benny's storyline. Benny widened her eyes to retract back his accusations. Seeing her flary eyes he kept quiet.
"So, miss Isha! You tell me that if at all they survived. They had to swim ashore, hm?"
"Of course," Prisha answered confidently wiping her lips with the napkins resting on the table top.
"What if nobody knew how to swim?" Now, Prisha was crystal clear her storyteller friend was giving out a pure white lie. She scoffed and went to turn off the AC. She opened the windows and moved the curtain covers aside a bit to let fresh breeze inside her room. For few days it was chilly coz of the continuous rains.
Gaurav then came out of his thoughts and spoke
"But why would they travel in a boat if they can't swim. I mean that's foolish, *laughs*"
Benisha then laid on her side of the bed, relaxing her hand below her head saying
"Fine. Guess you don't deserve to know the reason why they couldn't swim. Good night tubbies!!"
She then pretended to sleep for their reaction.
Prisha and Gaurav looked at each other curiously and rushed to her to say the rest of the story.
Pradeep's room
"Remind me to clean the guest house tomorrow itself! I need a decent sleep after a tormenting day!" Sharanya listened to her husband who was closing the pillow near his ears to lessen the noise coming from his daughters room.
Sharanya was also hoping for a good night sleep too but in vain.
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