With the house and its members in a frenzy over the upcoming nuptials, I had insisted on coming home on my own from the airport.

It also gave me more time to compose myself before I was assaulted by assorted family & friends who thought they knew me better than I knew myself!

I chuckled as I remembered how my mom had tried so hard to marry either of her sons off to Rhea to cement her own friendship with Hetal aunty; Rhea's mom, into a lifelong relationship.

But alas, apart from both of us being strictly against it, Rhea too, quite loudly and adamantly, had refused this alliance!

She had in fact threatened to not return home to India at all if her mother persisted with this line of thought!!

Rhea had wanted to be in showbiz like her uncle & aunt but her cousin's death had changed all that. She had wanted to run away from her grief & run away she did!

She ran away all the way to New York and joined the New York School of Design and then proceeded to build her brand & her name there itself.

Ali too hadn't been able to stay away from Rhea for too long. Ditching his plans of opening a cafe here in Mumbai, he had instead enrolled himself in the NYC Culinary Institute.

Since his grandmother was his sole family, she too had moved there to be with him soon after.

Thankfully, Rhea and Ali had not broken their friendship with the rest of us. The grief had in fact bonded us together even more strongly. It's just that all of us had seeked different ways to handle it. Ali and Rhea by moving away and me by....well you already know how I feel!

Currently, Rhea is a celebrated wedding designer and Ali a celebrity chef with a host of successful television shows behind him.

Behind the cameras, he is in the process of setting up his own Culinary School that would offer internship programs to promising young talent across the country.

With their careers  on-track, they had both moved in together a while ago and had made it quite clear to their respective families that they wished to live in this unholy state of relationship only!!

It still amuses me to remember the incessant calls and meetings that had happened to convince the pair otherwise, all to no avail.

Only the 2 respective grandmothers had been unfazed by their decision and once they had voiced their approval, the whole chaos had swiftly settled down.

It looks like the older generation is much more in connect with the thoughts and wishes of today's generation than their own parents!

I sometimes wonder how was it that my & Rhea's mom never noticed how it was always Ali that Rhea gravitated to and not towards either me or DD, or was it a case of selective eyesight? They saw only what they wished to & nothing beyond that.

Thankfully all of us were strong enough to counter our parent's emotional manipulation with some strong familial assistance too!

Our dad; Prakash Khanna & bebe too had opposed Rhea as their prospective daughter-in-law not because there was anything wrong with Rhea but because they too knew where her true heart lied.

Back in the present, I am amazed and thankful that even though both Rhea and Ali would not be able to attend the wedding because of prior professional commitments, Rhea had designed the entire wedding wardrobe for the bride and the groom as their wedding gift!

But it would have been even more amazing to have both of them here for this special occasion, I muse a bit sadly.

Her death changed us all. It wasn't just Rhea and Ali's life choices that changed but it altered the course of mine and DD's life too! 

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A/N

Hey Guys,

So another short chapter eh?

Please don't be mad.....see 'm letting Neil do all the recapping for you.😉 He's slowly slowly bringing you up to date about all their lives.

Thank you for all the comments & votes on the last chapter.🤩

Waiting to hear your thoughts on this one now.

Until next time, Happy Reading!😀

P.S. Picture credit to the uploader.