Reaching home , Advika happily ran towards her room. But was stopped in the middle by her Father's voice.
"Addhu maa.. nothing is finalized yet. so don't raise hopes on him" he warned.
"Why?" she questioned with a shocking face loudly.
Ramamoorthy was little stunned to hear such a tone from Advika.
" I don't think he is suitable for you. He lives in Italy. Very far away.. And this modeling job does not settle well with me."
"paa.. so what?? But... he is earning well enough... you can come to Italy or we... will come to India.. mod.. modelling that is .. his passion.. what's wrong?"
"but I am not convinced... how come I can live without seeing my daughter? When she is far away, in Italy?"
"apppaaaa... I love him ..paa.."
"What ?? Love at first sight ah?" he asked.
"no.. its love at second sight" she showed the bracelet.
"This bracelet belongs to him. I.. I feel a strong connection between us.. I love him paa.. "
"don't talk rubbish Addhu maa.. its just attraction.. nothing else. You are not marrying him"
"appaaaaa. I will marry him only. I love him.... no matter what you say... I will... not change my decision..." shouted Advika and went to her room. They heard a loud thud of the door closing.
Ramamoorthy, Vanaja and Avantika were really surprised with this behavior of Advika. Advika never ever raised voice at anyone , especially to her Father.
Vanaja and Avantika looked at Ramamoorthy who was seething in anger. He was angry at Raghu. Not at his little princess Advika. He could never ever get angry on Advika. So his anger drifted to Raghu.
Because of him the first fight between Advika and him happened. This is the first time, she has left to sleep without looking at him.
Avantika rushed to find that Advika has locked herself in to the room. Though Avantika has a separate room, she is afraid of sleeping alone. Hence she always shares her room with Advika.
How much ever, she knocked the door, Advika did not open it.
Avantika wondered will love make some one cry like this? She did not understand nor like this feeling of crying for love. Crying to marry a guy. Whatever it was, she wished Advika a best future.
If Advika will be happy by marrying Raghu, she too wishes that. At the end she wanted her to be happy. And Raghu too seemed to be a good guy for her too.
Vanaja advised her husband about Advika's love for Raghu.
"See we want our daughter to live happily and I can see that Raghu is also a good guy and is in fully in love with her. His family too seemed to be good. You have to give up on your jealousy towards him. "
Ramamoorthy looked at her in shock.
"Yes you are jealous of him. You are too possessive of Advika that you are not able to withstand her giving more importance to him than you.
You have to change. At the end we want her to live a happy life. So think wisely and make a decision"
Vanaja left with Avantika to their room. Ramamoorthy sat on the sofa pondering what his wife told.
During school days when Advika was asked to choose commerce group as per her Father wish, she remained silent, though she did not like it.
But her Father then understood that she likes Computer science group and does not want to become a chartered accountant like him. Realizing it ,he agreed to switch the groups.
He felt very proud of Advika at that moment for agreeing to whatever he says though she does not like it. From then on Ramamoorthy never did anything against her wish.
Likewise Advika too never raised her voice against her Father on anything. She knows her Father would do only good things for her.
But today, with the arrival of Raghu, everything changed. He felt Raghu to be stealing all the presence of Advika making her ignore him.
Every time they go out in car, Advika is the one who sits beside him in the car. Vanaja was never allowed to sit in front when she is near. Today, she went in different car with Raghu.
For the dining, she chose to sit opposite to Raghu than beside him. While returning, Advika did not even talk a single word with him.
But was dreaming and smiling about what happened with Raghu.
It has been straight 4 hours since Ramamoorthy and Advika spoke with each other. This entire 4 hours, only Raghu was in her mind. She did not even care to look at her Father which made his hatred against Raghu grow high.
He felt Raghu to be stealing all the attention and affection he gets from Advika.
Ramamoorthy was only partially convinced with Raghu , due to his modeling and job in Italy.
Now with what ever he has done, his possessiveness towards Advika grew higher making him think otherwise.
An hour later, Ramamoorthy came down from his anger and knocked her door again, still Advika remained stubborn, even after knowing it was her Father.
The next day, Ramamoorthy heard the sound of calling bell. He woke up to see the time. It was 5.30 AM. Wondering who it could be at this time, he went near the door and held the hand bar.
Before opening, he saw through the door camera and found that it was Raghu, standing outside.
Ramamoorthy purposefully delayed opening the door. He refreshed himself and came out wearing his jogger suite after 15 minutes.
When he opened the door, he saw Raghu sitting near the small bench outside their house. Seeing him, Raghu came near him with a slight jogging and smiled cheekily.
Ramamoorthy, controlled groaning at him and locked the door. Both the men started with jogging.
Though Raghu could jog faster than Advika's Father, he maintained his pace to match him.
The jog was complete silence. Raghu did not ask anything. After half an hour of jogging, they sat on a bench in the park. Raghu too sat beside him.
Five minutes passed. 10 minutes passed. Raghu did not say anything . Ramamoorthy knew very well that Raghu has come to talk about his marriage with Advika. But he remained tight lipped. What is he even thinking?
really it is very difficult to get words from his mouth. I can understand now why his Father said he is very tight lipped person
Raghu looked at him. His face carried a question of ask whatever you wanted to ask. Heaving a sigh, Ramamoorthy initiated the talk.
"I don't want you to marry Advika"
"Why?"
"you are not suitable for her"
"In what sense?"
"you work in Italy.. so I am not ok with sending my daughter to a longer distance"
" say the real reason, please"
What Ramamoorthy expected the scene to be as, him being a very strict and protective Father interrogating Raghu on why he needs to marry his daughter.
But the scene was completely reversed. Raghu was dominating the situation.
"You are a Carnatic Singer..."
"So?"
"Advika has stamm.."
"Stop calling her a stammerer" Raghu interjected him with little anger. Ramamoorthy was surprised at his act. Still he concealed it and spoke.
"She is more pampered child in our house"
"I can add extra pampering to her life"
"She does not cook nor do any household work"
"that we both will manage. I can teach and help her as well"
"She cannot leave her dancing"
"I can find a solution for it. Say something else to convince me."
A minute passed by.
"You don't earn well enough to look after my daughter. You are not professionally qualified person." Ramamoorthy said.
Raghu stood from the bench. His words directly hit him in his heart. He closed his eyes for few seconds and opened it. Controlling his anger and composing himself, he stood opposite to him.
With folded his hands across his chest he looked at Ramamoorthy straight, who was still seated on the bench.
"Trust me. Without my Father's assets or earnings, I earn more than enough to take a good care of your daughter- my future wife, and run a family.
If you don't believe me, I can show you the proofs. Modeling and photography are my passion, which I can never compromise for anything. Same goes with my Avi.. I will not loose her for anything.
I know you are more possessive of Advika. But I can give you 100% surity, that I will never steal your love and affection towards her.
In Fact, I can never surpass you in showing love and affection to my Advika. But I can give a very strong and tough competition for her in choosing one among us. "
Ramamoorthy felt happy at the same time wondered how he understood what was going on in his mind.
He also felt very elated for him addressing Advika as 'my advika, my wife' always. He sensed a strong connection when he was using the word 'my'.
Raghu continued. " And I know , this was your only concern to stop with the proposal. I knew very well that , you have already enquired about me and my Family through your connections.
You know what I am capable of and what I am not, how much I earn, everything. If you had a thought that I am not the suitable one for her, you would not have even agreed for us to meet.
An over protective Father like you, would not ask some random guy for marrying his daughter without proper enquiry."
"I love her. Its Love at second sight for us.. I could feel the connection between us. " Raghu spoke calm and clearly, with no hint of anger nor pleading tone.
Ramamoorthy was astonished to hear the same word from him.
"Still if you think, I am not the right one for your daughter, I will wait for you to change your decision. Until, then Advika too won't agree to marry anyone, I am very sure about it. We need only your blessings."
Silence prevailed for few seconds. Raghu bid bye and tried to leave the place.
"wait..." came Rama Moorthy's voice.
Raghu turned around to look at him.
"I am going to sue your studio , you have got to compensate me"
Raghu did not utter any word. Ramamoorthy continued.
" she is my daughter. I am the one who saw her first when she was born. Do you think I could not find out??"
Raghu had a wide smile on his face. " I can sue your daughter too" he said.
"I can return the bracelet, will you.."
Raghu interrupted him "Never ever I will change the logo. Consider me marrying Advika as a best compensation " he stood stubborn.
Ramamoorthy looked at him without saying anything.
Few seconds later, Ramamoorthy smilingly jogged back after patting Raghu. Seeing him go, Raghu too joined him with the same smile.
Advika's Father had searched about Raghu's studio and went in to his website. He has done the research and enquiry earlier before the meet as Raghu said.
But yesterday after the fight with Advika, he searched more about Raghu and his photo studio. That is when he clearly noticed the logo of his Studio.
The logo had a camera symbol with ocean blue human eyes inside it. Seeing it , Ramamoorthy was able to identify quickly, that the eye belongs to Advika.
In the Mylapore temple, when Raghu snapped the picture of Gopuram, Advika came in the middle.
The photo came out like, Advika standing in front of him facing the Gopuram, but face turned towards the camera. When her Father called, she rushed out.
Raghu looked at the photo. He has captured her as well in the photo, not knowing that she is the one who will capture his heart sooner.
He did not have any thought about Advika nor love or attraction. When he was thinking of designing the logo, he randomly scrolled through his phone and her picture caught the attention.
Captivated by her eyes, he snapped the eyes part alone and designed the logo. The other person who knew or had a slight doubt about it was Abheri.
(In the Story - Abheri - chapter - Cousins Time, when she scrolls through the gallery in Raghu's personal mobile, she gives him a look to which he shrugs his shoulders.
In the chapter Disturbance - he gets promise from her to not reveal this to anyone, especially his Father.)
During Abheri's marriage, Raghu did not have any feelings or attraction towards Advika.
He just did not want Abheri to think something else and say to everyone. Hence the promise.