♠️

My best friend- that idiot welcomed me with a flower vase in her hand. Who thinks that someone will come to rob someone in the morning? What an idiot!

"Shraddha puttar?" My mom called out.

"Aunty Ji?" Shraddha mumbled as she kept that flower vase down on the floor. I am resisting the urge to face palm so bad, meri dost paagal hai.

"Aunty Ji hi dikhti hai is paagal ko" I said with most fake smile to exist.

"Kiara" Shraddha squealed and hugged me. Inna pyaar!

"Shraddhaaaaa" I repeated her name and hugged her back.

"Tu theek hai na? Itna pyaar!" I whispered like some sneaky secret agent in her ear

"Haaa! Sirf Aunty Ji ke saamne! You know emotional reunion and that stuff" She whispered back. Understandable!

"I have missed youuu" she whined as she parted the hug. Yeh drama nahi tha, genuine tha. Ahh! My mysterious best friend! I simply smiled back as I and Mummy settled on the couch.

♠️

"What is this?" I asked Shraddha as I showed her, her stupid reply to my unnecessarily sent invite.

"Uh... I have meetings"

"Stop lyinggggg" I groaned. Kitna jhooth bolegi yehhh!

"Yaar! You know me, I just can't! I am sorry!"

"Goddd! Please! Come yaar!" I really can't imagine my wedding without my best friend!

"But- "

"Dekh, I can't force you, but I would really love if you would be there." I mean, it would be kind of sad without my best friend.

"Kia yaaar!" she whined.

"Kya? "

♠

"We'll go to this nice place down the street for dinner" Shraddha said with a smile.

"My head feels heavy. Probably the jet-lag." Mom said.

"Then we'll order in!" Shraddha said, she seems a bit excited for this dinner from her over all body language.

"No, no. You two go and have dinner. I'll make something for me."

"But don't you have a headache? You should rest instead of making food, Ma" I told her. God knows what is cooking in her mind, but I am sure something is up.

"Then you order food for me, you two goooo!" She said and we both looked at her in confusion.

"But Aunty-

"Koi but-shut nahi! Aunty ko bhi apni privacy chahiye" She declared, cutting Shraddha. Fair enough.

"Chal Shraddha, we will go" I said and she nodded.

♠

"Aunty Ji ko kya pasand hai?" Shraddha asked me, as I was busy browsing through the menu. She insisted that she'll order for her 'Aunty Ji'.

"Waise sab pasand hai, but order a mix-veg sabzi with butter rotis and dal-khichdi" I said. My mom's a foodie, but she always prefers simple Indian cuisine.

"Okay" she mumbled.

"The ambience of this restaurant is nice. I like it." I said with a smile.

"I knew you would like it! You know, you should probably order the ravioli, you will like it" She said, her eyes twinkling. Shraddha is always happy when others like her choices.

"Okay"

Shraddha was ordering our food, when my phone rung. Shit! It's Siddharth; I forgot to tell him that we landed in Mumbai.

"Um hey Siddharth" I mumbled.

"You reached?"

"Uh yeahh"

"Kay."

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you"

"Ahh, I knew you would forget! I mean, we can tend to forget things after meeting our best friend after a long time. And Mummy Ji informed me already!" He said. God, he and his sasu-ma.

"I just wanted to talk to you. Good time?"

"What do you think?" I asked him, chuckling.

"Oops- my bad. Tell Shraddha that I look forward on meeting her" He said.

"Sure."

"By the way, Varun asked me to tell you to talk to him." Varun?

"Achaa okay. Chal bye, we are in a restaurant."

"Okay, bye! Love you!"

"Love you toooo!"

I hung up and Shraddha was looking at me, grinning like a monkey.

"What?" I asked her.

She just wiggled her brows and pointed towards my phone by her eyes. Oh! She's asking me why had Siddharth called.

"He just called because I forgot to inform him that I reached."

"Kia. You know, he really cares for you"

"I know" I replied with a smile.

"Uncle Ji would've approved of him surely." She said.

"Thanks" I mumbled softly, not knowing what to reply.

♠

Dinner was great. Mom had slept by the time we reached back home. I laid beside mom in the guest bedroom. Shraddha was really interactive today, which is a good thing. She talked about her work, how much she enjoys it, all her colleagues, etc. I actually enjoyed this night. Maybe, mixing up with others in the wedding will help Shraddha to communicate freely and express her feelings without any hesitation. I saw Siddharth's 'Good Night' text and replied the same to him, smiling.

I am really looking forward to my wedding.

The second chapter~

Hope you all like it! Thank You!