Dedicated to caterpillar333

Few days later

"Are you going to focus on me? " Lavanya asked her groom, whose eyes remained fixated on his youngest sister dancing with her cousin Yash Maheshwari.

" Poor Yash , " was all he answered back as he moved in perfect accord with her and yet failed to look at her face for the last five minutes .

"Vihaan, you will look at me now are your feet will the next victim as I will trade place with Anjali," Lavanya answered back , and the magical words made her fiancée look back at her immediately and she couldn't help but smile at the fear Anjali Singh inflicts on everyone who dance to her own beat which often means her partner gets their toes crushed.

" It is Yash fault, he is still single and had to partner up with Anjali," Vihaan spoke up smiling back at her, it was true that Yash was over 7 years older than Anjali but since they were the only two people who had no partners from their own age had to be paired up with each other.

Sanjana Agarwal, the youngest of  them all was missing from the practice because she had her dance class and somehow found her partner for the Sangeet among one of her friend from the class unlike Anjali.

Sangeet is all about fun everyone told her, and yet failed to let her know about the hours of dancing practice it involved, she didn't mind as it meant her whole family gathered in the Maheshwari house for those few hours but her legs were beginning to hurt a little that she led her fiancee away from the dancing floor to the empty couch where her best friend was sitting alone .

" Where is Bhai and Rahul ?" Lavanya asked Gauri who had been for the most part of the day remained in the couch, Lavanya understood it wasn't fair to call them for the practice, when Arnav bhai wouldn't be able to dance,  but he insisted Gauri would like spending time with them and that Lavanya shouldn't exempt her from any invite because of him.

"Went for a walk together,  " Gauri answered back,  and smiled at her as she sat beside her in the couch.

"Bhai, I want to change my partner " the screaming voice belonged solely to Anjali Singh who marched straight up to Vihaan who just taken the seat beside her.

"Go on, Ask your dad to partner up with you. Yash could dance with your mom , " Vihaan answered back,  earning a glare from his little sister who wasn't in the mind to be convinced.

" He is too tall for me,"  Anjali tried to explain but Lavanya can't help but chime in that it was because he was much older than her.

"It all because of daddy, who refuses me to have boyfriend until I am older, " Anjali piped in as she turned to see her friend Meera who happens to be Lavanya's cousin and Yash Sister dancing with Ishaan Singhania , Gauri's little brother.

" Meera is a year older than you , " Vihaan spoke up ,as he tried to calm her sister down, but the truth had been Meera and Ishaan were together for most of their life's starting from the Orphanage till now that no one would point their young age to keep them apart .

" It doesn't matter , how old where you when you began dating bhai and you Gauri di ,how old where you when you first began to date ?" Anjali was on a roll as she asked them waiting for someone to choose her side of arguments.

" You knew how old your bhai was when we start dating Anjali, because you were just five and I am sure you have grown up enough to calculate , with regards to Gauri , she had wait Till she turn 18 before my cousin took her out on a date , and Yuv waited till your sister turned 18 as well , it kind of a tradition now as Ishaan is waiting for Meera to turn 18 as well , " Lavanya spoke up as she looked around the room to find the respective name she mentioned dancing happily together .

" No one is waiting for me because they are all scared of dad ," Anjali spoke up then as her lovely eyes begin to fill with tears which propelled her fiancée to jump up from his seat and console his youngest sister who was settled down once she was in her brother's embrace .

" Have we ever been that young , where our problems are about the lack of boyfriend ?" Lavanya asked Gauri ,the moment the brother and sister duo walked away as Vihaan tried to console his sister.

" No , because I had one from an very early age and Kavya had her choose of the one . And you were never really in an rush to find him , poor Vihaan had to wait for five years before your paths crossed again ," Gauri answered back with a smile , and it was true Lavanya had been only to happy for Gauri when she realized her cousin and her best friend like each other .

And Kavya may have dated list of boys, but she would never flaunt it against her and it was maybe they were talking about her that Lavanya eyes drifted back to Kavya who was dancing with Akash and they both seem to be lost in each other .

" Don't worry about them , Kavya is grown up now unlike Anjali who still is little to be restricted by her father , Arjun uncle can't keep her from following her heart ," Gauri answered back as if reading her thoughts ,yes when Gauri and her cousin Arnav liked each other she was delighted for them .

Cheered for them ,supported them but when they broke up , she was lost for a little while, she purposely never meant to choose side but maybe she did subconsciously which must have been the reason Gauri withdrew from her and failed to tell her about her new boyfriend.

And it was why she was scared this time,  Akash had no one has family to fall back on except Vihaan and her, that if things between Kavya and Akash turned sour then she will inadvertently hurt her friend or cousin by her actions . Because Lavanya refuse to lose any one  of them.

Fortunately a little bundle of joy ran towards her best friend that caught her attention from Lavanya gloomy thoughts as Gauri lifted her son on to her lap as her cousin was walking towards them at a slow pace.

The walk must have exhausted him, at times she fail to remember there had been a time when no one in her family believed he was capable of walking ever again, but back then they were too grateful he survived to think anything else.

But few months later, it settled in about how much her cousin used  to love to  run, sometime he could run for hours without break and now he can't even run to catch up with his son.

But he was still walking something that means a lot to everyone of them, the first time he took few steps after the surgery, Lekha aunty came home and cried for hours in relief with her mother who had been so happy as well .

And just like that her eyes drifted towards her parents, as they were dancing farther from everyone in the corner of the room, while the young ones who are thrilled to be seen took the center stage, their parents were scattered around the house as if having a time out of their own.

" Do you remember, how hard it is used to be for your dad to dance ?" her cousin Arnav voice spoke up as he took the seat beside her, a place Vihaan vacated to be with his sister . While Gauri was still occupied with her son chatter.  

" Yeah, I do but he would still insist on dancing with my mother, at least once on any get together because he refuses to let his wife not dance  and I remember how my mom used to scold  him every night when the pain kicks in and then spend the next hour or so massaging his leg to soothe the pain  , and yet dad would never stop asking her to dance even now , and most likely my mom would scold him today as well but I knew she loves dancing with him " Lavanya spoke up, lost in her past memory and she knew why her  Arnav bhai asked the question to her but in the end it had to be his decision .

And so she waited until few minutes later as he seemed to make up his mind as he address her best friend and his wife  next who was startled by him calling her name , as she had been too occupied in talking with her son .

Lavanya face broke into a smile to see her cousin outstretched hand asking his wife to join him for a dance , Gauri looked too confused first and then shook her head, which made Lavanya face fall, she knew it took her cousin courage to ask given the circumstances then Lavanya relaxed as Gauri spoke up and mentioned Rahul can't be left alone as a reason because that she could fix easily .

" I will stay with Rahul , you both can dance, come on Gauri, you can trust me to look after him,  " Lavanya spoke up , she shouldn't have the need to reassure Gauti and should have been part of her life from Rahul's birth but morning for the time lost won't do any good either, so she will try to be a better aunt from now.

And yet she doubted if Gauri would let Rahul alone with her and was relieved when she turned to speak yo Rahul and asking him to stay with her for awhile.  Then her best friend took the hand of her husband and walked to the dance floor leaving Lavanya so delighted to see them together .

And her happiness grew more when her fiancée returned back to her and sat beside her, and took over entertaining the little one in her lap .

" What happened to Anjali?" Lavanya can't help but ask as she was surprised to see his sister was dancing with Yash again .

" Well Yash saved the day by asking her to dance with him and promise to follow her lead this time , the guy is really too good to continue to endure dancing with my sister. " Vihaan answered back with a chuckle and it was true Yash was a gem indeed.

" Yash ,future wife will be lucky then, just like me who found you  " she answered back,  as she leaned against her fiancée shoulder. And it was true everyone in that big Maheshwari hall were lucky to find each other.

Maybe it was Lavanya's love towards her family, but she truly felt fortunate to have all of them as her family. And so happy to see how deeply in love they are even after years of marriage together. And she wanted that with the man next to her , all their years  of marriage to be  filled with love.

P.S : " That it for now . Let me know your thoughts and feedback. Hit the votes if you liked it "

Juanita Reid