Arya's POV:

As soon as I returned home from Riya's hostel, mom called me to talk about something important.

" Mr and Mrs Krishnan are coming tomorrow. Riya doesn't know. Don't tell her," mom said.

" Okay mom. I definitely won't."

"Where were you all this while?"

" Riya's hostel. She wasn't feeling well so I went there to check on her."

I thought mom would scold me for going there without telling her. But surprisingly she didn't.

" Ohhh poor child. Is she feeling better now?"

It was astonishing that just a horoscope compatibility could change the way a person acts towards another.

" Yeah she is."

" Hope she gets well soon."

............................................

Riya's Pov:

After a whole day's rest, I felt so much more better and rejuvenated . Meera had made soup for me for dinner the previous night and I had it with bread.

Now, it was 10 am and I was getting ready to go meet Arya's parents.

" Be careful okay Ri? You're still recovering. Don't eat anything outside."

" Yes mom," I told Meera.

I walked down the stairs and waited near the gate. Arya said he would come pick me up.

He arrived on his bike five minutes later. I got on and he drove at high speed till we reached his house.

When I entered through the door, I got the biggest shock of my life. Luckily it was a good one. My mom and dad were sitting on their living room sofa grinning at me.

Arya's parents were seated beside them and their eyes were directed at me, waiting to gauge my reaction to my parents' unexpected presence.

I was left speechless, so I did the only think that I was capable of at that moment. I ran over to my parents and tried to hug them simultaneously, which led to me being in an awkward position- half on mom's lap and half on dad's- before I gave them a warm smile.

" I am not in a dream right now, am I?" I questioned, looking between mom and dad, my gaze wandering from one to the other.

" How are you guys here?" My voice had turned excited and the happiness which was bubbling inside me was ready to burst out at any minute. A full blown grin had taken over my features, and I was literally skipping from tile to tile.
They chuckled when I pulled away from the embrace.

" Your mom was beaming with joy when she heard the good news of the compatibility. So she told me, that we definitely ought to go and meet the family of the boy our girl was in love with," my dad said grinning cheekily.

That single sentence, caused a rosy red blush to cover my cheeks and I averted my gaze to look at anything else in the room except my dad. And it so ended up landing on Arya and that made my cheeks turn pinker, the moment he winked at me. I felt my heart beat skyrocketing when our gazes completely locked. I felt my insides going fuzzy. If this was how I was going to feel every time we looked at each other, I was very sure I would die of a heart attack soon.

My gaze shifted to Arya's parents who were watching everything going around with an amused expression on their faces. I looked at them and gave them a sweet smile.

There was an awkward silence that had settled among us for a moment and I was wondering how to break it when-
Aradhana ran into the room and enveloped me in a tight hug.

" Riyaaaaaaa," she squealed, her bubbly mood so infectious that it made me grin.
Arya's sister was slightly shorter than me and so her head reached just up to my cheeks. She was extremely fun to be around with and she reminded me of a younger Tanisha.

" Hi Aru," I said, looking her in the eye once she pulled away. " How are you?"

" Perfectly fine. Even happier since you're here," she said, sending a warm smile my way.

" What were you guys talking about before I came?" I asked my mom curiously.

" Nothing much actually. We just got to know each other's names. We wanted to wait for you before we started our conversation," mom said.

" Would you like something to eat? Or perhaps drink?" I heard Arya's mom offering.

I looked over to see her smiling brightly at my parents. Wow, okay. What I saw of her the previous day was totally opposite to this.

" Sure, a glass of water is more than enough," Dad said.

She told the cook in their house to bring glasses of water for all of us and some snacks in a tray. " Help yourselves."

" Your sari is beautiful," mom said to Arya's mom. " Is it from Madurai?"

" Thank you! Yes, yes it is. That's my native. Do you have any relatives there?"

" No, not really," mom replied. " Most of them are in Chennai but I have visited that place quite a few times. And I must say it's a lovely place. The only problem is the sweltering heat."

" I agree," Arya's mom said, and I inwardly smiled since they were getting along. " The climate is even worse than what we face in Chennai. So you were saying that most of your relatives are here right? Where do they reside?"

" My parents are settled in Adyar, " dad piped in before mom could reply. " whereas Arundhathi is originally from Salem."

" Oh Adyar is it?" Arya's dad spoke. " We have a very close family friend living there. Sanjay Murthy. They also have a daughter Sadhana, who must be your age Riya, " he said, now looking at me.

I vaguely remembered hearing that name somewhere. It seemed so familiar. And then, it struck me like a brainwave.

" Sadhana?" I questioned, now getting super excited. " I remember grandma telling me about her. She keeps insisting that I should talk to her whenever I am around. She is always praising that girl too." I said, beaming.

"Wow this is interesting. Looks like we have a mutual acquaintance after all," Arya said, grinning.

The dads decided to stop giving their input after a while. They stuck to sitting quietly and observing the women folk, while relishing the snacks which had been left untouched on the glass table.

A few moments had passed after which Mr Mahadevan asked," Would you like a tour of the house?" And mom, who had studied interior decoration, nodded her head eagerly.

As we walked from room to room, the conversation shifted from family to likes and dislikes to customs to food habits and finally to the grandeur of the majestic mansion.

My mom stopped at the Puja room suddenly, where they worshipped their God. The doors were wooden and had small bells hanging from them.

" The workmanship is beautiful, and the carvings too. " my mom said.

" Yeah we got it specially designed for this room in particular. Our family is pretty religious and we go to the temple atleast once a week. What about you?" Arya's mom enquired.

" Our family is reasonably religious too. But we don't go so often," Mom said. " We occassionally visit and sometimes during festivals."

" Oh I see," Arya's mom said, looking a little disappointed.

................

By the time we had taken a tour of their house and got back to our seats, two hours had flown past and we definitely knew much more about each other.

" Soooo," Arya's mom said. " When do you want to have the wedding?"

I looked at Arya with a bewildered expression on my face, unable to believe that she had brought this issue up so soon.

" Leave it to rest Radhika. They still have to study," his dad said.

" Yeah mom. I need to do my masters and Riya has to finish her dentistry. Only then can we even think of an engagement."

"True," my dad piped in. " That was one of my conditions when I agreed to the relationship."

Just then the doorbell rang and Aradhana went to open the door.

There was a postman standing with a courier, which was addressed to Arya Mahadevan.

So he went over and took it from Aradhana and signed in the place alloted. I could see his eyes suddenly light up brightly when he recognised the sender.

A full blown grin spread across his face and we were all waiting anxiously to know what the news was.

" Arya, who is it from?" His mom questioned.

" It is from the University of Edinburgh. They accepted my admission letter and they are offering me a scholarship too for MDS in Orthodontics. Oh my god, this is soo amazing!"

The only thing that ran through my mind was that Arya was leaving. Again. We had just managed to get together and he was already leaving.

Unknowingly a frown descended upon my facial features. Arya noticed it immediately when he turned to look at me.

He came over to me and whispered," I am not leaving now Riya, I still have 4-5 months with you," he said with a warm smile that melted my heart.

My mood immediately brightened when I heard that. Okay. That wasn't sooo bad.

" And also," he continued. " This is the modern gen Riiii, we can facetime, Skype, chat, do whatever we want. Distance does not matter, you will always be in my heart," he said, making me blush tomato red.

My parents dawned wide smiles and so did Arya's.

" So the future is clear now Radhika," Arya's dad told her. " These kids are not getting married anytime soon. Arya has to study and so does Riya."

" Yeah, yeah okay." She said with a sigh. " I agree that we shouldn't force our wishes on our children. After all, our times were different from their times."

" I am really sorry for the interruption but we have a 5pm flight to catch," Dad said to everyone. " I think we should make a move now. It was really nice meeting all of you."

Dad shook Arya's father's hand and mom and Arya's mom smiled at each other and exchanged few words. I hugged mom and dad once again and walked them over to the taxi dad had booked.. They waved at everyone and I waved vigorously till the car disappeared around a bend.

Looking back at the members in Arya's house, a smile overtook my face. Everything had turned out alright after all. I had a sister I could call my own ( Aradhana) and a boyfriend who meant the world to me. But somehow the small disappointment still remained in a corner of my heart that I would only have the next 5 months with him. Barring that, I was extremely proud of him for securing a seat abroad and gaining a scholarship. It definitely wasn't an easy task and I knew he must have put his heart and soul to achieve it.

I turned around to tell him how proud I was of him when he wrapped his arms around me and kissed my cheek. I was going to tell him that his parents were around, but I realized that they had disappeared upstairs. The only person witness to this was Arya's sister who let out a giggle and cooed at us. " You guys are just adorable."

Aunty insisted that I stay till dinner so I had the satisfaction of eating home cooked food after a long time. It was sooo good that I even asked for extra helpings without any inhibitions. Arya's mom smiled when I complimented her cooking and I realized she wasn't such a mean person after all. Everyone wasn't pure white or pure black. They were all shades of grey.

This was the last thought I had before I closed my eyes and went to sleep in my hostel after being dropped there by Arya half an hour back.

I didn't allow room for questions since I was very tired and promised to satisfy my friends' curiosity the next day morning.

Soon after, I was carried into the land of dreams.
________________ x_________________

Heyaaa,

Sad to say that this is the second last chapter and that we are coming to the end of this story very soon.

Hope you liked the chapter.

Do vote and comment. :)

Adios amigos,
:) harshini :)