CHAPTER-4

(MISTI POV)

As soon as I entered our home I left my shoes at the shoe rack and directly went to my room I saw Sristi laid down on my bed and she did not change her school uniform yet.

 I gave her an annoying look and said "Go and change your dress."

 Sristi looked at me and went to the bathroom and within five minutes she shouted from the bathroom "Di, give me my t-shirt and pajamas".

" Sristi!!! Why don't you go to your room? and instead of changing the dress in my room, you should go to your room right! " I asked and informed her at the same time but as usual it was no use she constantly pleaded with me to give her dress to her. 

I sighed defeatedly and walked towards my closet and as soon as I opened my closet I saw one-fourth of my closet was filled with Sristi's dress, I sighed again and picked her dress and walked towards the bathroom and after I reached the door of the bathroom I knocked it, Sristi slightly opens the door and her one hand came out quickly to grab the dress and I just handed it to her.

After ten minutes Sristi came out from the bathroom, I again said to her "Sristi go to your room and take some rest, and after that do your homework." 

Sristi looked at me and said " Okay Di" after that she paused for a few moments and said " But Di... Umm I will come at night and sleep with you, ok....." and she waited for me to answer her back though it was not a question.

I laughed internally, I knew she was still a little afraid of me for her morning stunt and I also knew that my little devil sister was actually afraid of ghosts and cockroaches and this was the main reason she did not sleep in her room alone but nowadays she practically captured everything in my room, though I did not mind that I just love my little sister so much I just enjoyed her company, in fact in India most of the siblings are compelled to share the room due to lack of the room in the household it was both good and bad, good in the sense siblings bonds became stronger of the sharing habit and bad in the sense you had no privacy sometimes.

 I knew we were lucky we had four bedrooms in our house, one for our parents, one guest room and one room for me and one for Sristi which she did not use most of the time and I loved her so much that I happily shared my room with her. 

I looked at Sristi she was still looking at me I assured her with my smile and told her that she could sleep in my room and she left my room quickly. 

I changed my dress and sat on the edge of the bed and relaxed a bit. 

After a few minutes, Ma came into my room and asked me what I would eat for an evening snack? I just replied "Anything spicy and some sweet."

 Ma was just about to leave my room I said to her "Ma; I invite Archana to my birthday party. Please talk to Dad that he does not get angry." I paused for a little and again said " Ma; It was not the fault of Archana."

 Ma looked at me and said " I know that it was no one's fault. Your father was just angry. 'Doll' he loves you a lot, when you are in ICU we were in mess and that's why he reacted that way."

 Ma then gave me a small smile and again she said" You can invite your friends whenever you want. 'Doll' you can invite Namrata also, she also loved you a lot."

 I gave her a quick hug and said "Thank you Ma. You and Baba are the best parents and thanks once again for reminding me to invite Namrata Di for my birthday. I just forgot it." 

Ma left my room and told me that she would send my snack quickly. Ma knew that how much I loved spicy food and dessert especially those which were made of chocolate.

 But I loved ice cream the most and I could eat ice cream of any flavor and at any time but sadly I Had a cold allergy. So, I could not eat ice- cream on a daily basis because I just catch a cold and cough whenever I ate it. 

But I ate it once a week and that also two or three at a time and had to take cough syrup and other medicine too but I did not mind I loved ice-cream and as they said if you loved someone or something truly you could take any pain for that!!!! 

After thirty minutes Sristi came into my room with a tray in her hand with two plates of mouthwatering chicken samosa made by my mother and two small bowls of chocolate pudding which of course made by her.

 I just squealed in excitement and took one plate of chicken samosa and started eating it instantly. Sristi placed the tray on the side table and took her plate and went to one corner of the room where a single-seater sofa was placed, she sat down there and started eating her food.

I gave her an annoying look and said "You can go to your room and eat your food there. Do not disturb me."

 " Di; Please I never disturb you and when you talk to Arnab Da at night I do not disturb you that time also neither I interrupt your conversation nor I tell it to Ma and Baba" Sristi finished her sentence with a mischievous grin on her face. 

I just wanted to smack her head badly after all she and Archana only knew about my feelings towards Arnab. I only confessed my feelings to them.

 I finished the samosa and pudding quickly and Sristi also finished her food and left the room after some girly chitchat with me. 

 I walked towards my study table and pulled the chair and sat on it and I open my notebook to finish my homework. But I just could not concentrate on my homework I just could think about Arnab and my growing feelings towards him. Sristi and Archana knew all my secrets as I knew all the secrets of them. Ronita and Tulika guessed something in our last girls' night out at Archana's home but I did not tell anything clearly to them and I knew besides them my mother also guessed my feelings towards Arnab but she did not ask me any question on it. I knew that my Ma trust me and she knew that whenever the right time would appear I would tell both my parents about my dream man but I and Arnab did not start dating yet. Heck... I did not even get the courage to propose to him directly nor has he proposed to me yet. We were not official boyfriend-girlfriend. We were just friends ... maybe not just friends more than friends but less than a couple!!!! 

I knew one thing from a very young age I wanted a love story of my own like my parents. My parents' story was quite fascinating for me. My father fall in love with my mother in Delhi when he was going to the "Supreme Court" for some work.  

Back then my mother was a school teacher at a school in Delhi. They met in a restaurant in Delhi, the place was crowded at that time my mother was waiting for Malhotra uncle and my father was waiting for his colleague. Apparently, only one table was available at that time and there was raining outside so, they had to share a table and Baba started the conversation with Ma, Ma was nervous at first but she did not want to be rude so she talked to Baba. 

Baba asked her a lot of questions even he asked her where she was living? At that time Ma was living in a working women hostel, she had no family members left at that time she was all alone only Malhotra's uncle was there for her. Ma lost her mother at a very young age and her father was a caretaker of Malhotra uncle's ancestral house in Punjab but he also died when my mother was in college and Malhotra uncle was like an elder brother to my mother, he loved my mother a lot like her own sister though my mother was just a daughter of a caretaker of the house. My mother finished her high school at a reputed school in Delhi and she was studying in a college of Delhi and was staying in a student hostel and she went twice a year to visit her father when her father was alive as because his father was living at a small house adjacent to the Malhotra uncle's ancestral house. But when my maternal grandfather died she had none left in her family, my grandfather left Kolkata at a very young age to join some job outside West Bengal.

 Malhotra uncle was about 10 years older than my Ma and she treated her always like a little sister of his own and he helped my mother and even bore some of her expenses after my grandfather's death. 

At first, when my father met Malhotra uncle in the restaurant he did not feel happy because he thought Malhotra uncle was my mother's boyfriend and he even dared to ask my mother who was practically a stranger to him at that point in time, and that too in front of Malhotra uncle in the same restaurant. Ma was very angry at that time but Malhotra uncle felt it was very funny and he saved my father from my mother's wrath and introduced himself to my father. 

Malhotra uncle once revealed the story to me and my sister, we just laughed a lot and my parents became embarrassed. I did not blame my father thought my mother looked like a typical Bengali woman with tant

saree ( mainly the attire of Bengali women) and she already introduced herself to my father as Manju Dutta and Malhotra uncle did not look like Bengali from any angle, he was very tall and had well-built body structure and he looked older than my mother due to the age gap, so my father did not think that they were like brother and sister. 

My father convinced my mother after that he even went to Delhi several times to meet my mother. It was so difficult at that time no mobile phone was available, they communicate through the letter. They even faced family pressure and problem from my father's side because no relative was alive at that time from my mother's side, my father's family was very conservative and a big joint family. 

But my father stood against everyone he left his ancestral house at Howrah which is just nearby Kolkata and built our house in Kolkata, eventually, everyone accepted it they got married and started living together but my father did not return to his ancestral house permanently though we went there at occasion. I always wanted a lovely love story like my parents, a sweetly romantic, and normal love story.  

Malhotra uncle was the only one who is practically my mother's family. I learned that he was from a very rich business family, but unfortunately, he was not in contact with any of his family members. He did not talk much about his family. I guessed that he was not on good terms with his family members. He only talked about some "Ayaan " though I did not know who he was he seems very important to him as because his companies name also after that person "Ayaan Travelers Club PVT LTD" a tourism company and he also own group of hospitals in the name and style of " Ayaan Super Specialty Hospitals" it had three branches one in Delhi, one in Chennai and One in Kolkata and 25% beds of these hospitals were reserved for the poor. 

Malhotra uncle now resides in Chennai he had a big house there. His travel agency had several branches all over India and in all main cities of India and for his business, he had to travel a lot all over India. We actually went twice to his Chennai home on vacation. Malhotra uncle became a self-made businessman without any help from his relatives. I felt sad though he had no contact left with his relatives but I knew he missed that ' Ayaan'. He called me the angel and called my little sister as devil. I once asked him why he called Sristi as devil? He said that Sristi's mischievous act reminded him about someone and he also added that Sristi was just girly that was the difference. 

I somehow figured it out that this someone is no other than Ayaan. I asked him a lot about his family members when I was eight or nine years old but Ma sternly instructed me that I should not ask him about his personal life.  

 I was always a curious person and I knew that someday my curiosity will kill me !!  

Now I understand that why Ma stopped me to ask him about his personal life it only gave him pain. So, I did not ask anything after that.

I came back from my thoughts and tried to concentrate on my homework. I finished my homework within one hour I looked at the wall clock and saw it was just 8 .30 P.M. I took my mobile phone from the table and dialed the number of Ronita and I quickly invited her and Tulika to my birthday party next week.

 Then I just dialed the number of Malhotra uncle but his phone was busy as usual, he just called me back after five minutes and said sorry to me for not receiving my call because he was busy.

 I said to him "It's ok uncle. I know that you are busy. I just call you to invite you to my birthday party." 

He told me that he would come. I asked him about his health and when he assured me that he was fine, I wished him goodnight and said bye to him, and cut the call. I already knew that he would come, he generally did not miss birthday party of mine or Sristi he only missed a few because he was extremely busy then but he send our birthday present on our birthday.

 But for us, his presence was more important than any birthday present. He loved us like his own daughter and we just loved him like our own uncle.

I just open my W******p and started to chat with Archana and I send a few messages to Arnab though I knew that Arnab would not reply to me now because he was busy with his study after all he was in his final year of graduation.

 But I knew that he would reply to me later and called me at 11 P.M and we would get our precious 15 minutes of the day. After some time I looked at the clock and saw it was already 9. 30 P.M and I knew that it was dinner time and I left my room and move towards the dining room.