The flight from Vancouver to New York is around 6 hours which isn't that bad. Kat had earphones in and started jamming to music. I looked out the window upon the realization that I am actually going back to New York. I started to drift away deep into my thoughts.

"Karan!" I screamed at him through my phone. "So is this how our relationship is going to be like?" I questioned angrily. "FaceTiming and all?" I added on.

"Shraddha. It's not that bad." Karan laughed. "At least, we can still see each other." He added on.

"Yeah, through a damn screen! We've only been together for 4 months. And two of those months, we were physically together! And the rest was literally with a screen. It's like my boyfriend is a robot" I defended to make him realize that we cannot go on like this.

"I know babe. But what can I do? My work in New York was finished and I had to go back to India." He put in trying to reason with me.

"Shraddha puttar (dear)" my mom called out. "Hanji maa! (Yes mom)" I yelled back as I immediately put my phone in my back pocket and took out my left EarPod as she stepped into my room.

"Shraddha. Look I have so many rishtas (marriage proposals) for you. They're nothing like Abhi and they're from New York too." Mom said as she sat down next to me on my queen sized bed and tried to show me the pics from her phone. "Look at how handsome they are."

"Shraddha! You better not accept any of those bloody rishtas!" Karan roared through the EarPod kinda making my right ear a bit deaf.

"Mama, can you scroll back to the previous pic?" I asked as if I was actually interested.

"Okay." Mom said bringing back the previous pic.

"This one is really handsome, mom," I revealed. "What does he do?" I asked trying to make Karan jealous.

"Shraddha! I know you're just trying to make me mad." Karan seethed on the other end.

"His name is Karan. Underneath his description, he's a doctor like you. If you accept his rishta, you two would make a perfect pair." Mom bubbled excitedly.

How funny is that his name is also Karan! Time to make my Karan boil with jealousy.  "Yeah, mom. Karan also has blue eyes! Hopefully, our children will have blue eyes as well!" I said.

"My mom has green eyes! Our children have a higher chance of inheriting green eyes Shraddha! And my name is Karan too if you haven't realized" I heard Karan growl angrily.

Now, this is getting fun! It's so hard not to laugh.

"Shut up. Idiot" Mom said. "Already thinking about making children with him?" She added. "So should I take that as a yes to this rishta?"

"Shraddha! I'll marry you! I'll take the next flight and come to you!" Karan blurted out anxiously.

My eyes widened listening to what he just said and I quickly took out my phone from my back pocket. "What?! You'll marry me?!" I asked acknowledging what he just said. "You're not joking, right?!" I questioned while putting my mouth over my face as I stood up from my bed. 

Oh my God! I can't believe that he asked me that. Honestly, hearing those words it felt like as if I was on cloud nine.

"Yes! I want to marry you!" Karan admitted as he smiled big on my phone.

"Who wants to marry you?" My mom questioned. My eyes went big as my mouth formed an "O" shape and saw Karan's tensed look as well.

"Uhh.uh..um..Maa.." I stammered as I slowly put my phone down to my side. I was dumbstruck and couldn't formulate the words together. It felt as if my tongue lost its control and I began to perspire a bit.

"Speak up!" Mom shouted as she stood up from my bed. "Now you can't say anything anymore?" she questioned.

"I..I..I'm sorry mama," I said as I started to bawl my eyes out. "I know you're going to be disappointed in me."

"Get to the point" Mom snapped giving off her angry mom looks.

I took a huge breath in and exhaled out. I don't know how she's going to react to this. She's against me having boyfriends and if I tell her that I have a boyfriend, only God can save me.

"I'm waiting, Shraddha! Tell me the truth or else!" Mom commanded while putting her hands on her hips.

"Shraddha, tell aunty the truth," Karan advised. "It's okay. Calmly explain to her about us." My eyes were dripping with tears.

"Okay, mom. Please sit down." I stated as I took out my EarPod that was still clinging onto my right ear while pulling out the cord from my phone.

"Fine." Mom said with nervousness.

I calmed myself down and sat down next to her.

"Remember, when I was left at the mandap(alter) 4 months ago and I immediately came back to New York without informing anyone? " I asked.

Mom nodded. "So while I was here alone, I met a guy named Karan and he also happened to be at the wedding too when I was left . And we've been dating for 4 months now." I divulged as I tried to keep myself from breaking down. 

"But we only dated in person for two months while the rest is through a screen," I revealed as I faced my phone towards her and showed her Karan's face.

Mom's face is expressionless. I can't make out if she's mad or not. Does this mean that I'm not going to get kicked out of the house?

"Namastey (hello) puttar, how are you?" Mom chirped happily. 

"Namastey aunty. I'm fine, thank you. How are you?" Karan responded.

"I'm fine. I think I remember you? You helped me set things up for the wedding rituals. Am I right?" Mom questioned.

"Yes aunty, I did." He spoke as he smiled at my mom. "You did?" I questioned. "How come you never told me?"

"What was I supposed to say?" He asked back.

"Shraddha, forget that," Mom spoke. "Anyways. From what I remember, you've told me that you're a top hotelier. Am I right?" Mom asked Karan.

"Mom?" I questioned furrowing my eyebrows together. "It's fine Shraddha. Aunty has the right to ask." Karan put in. "Yes aunty, I am a hotelier."

"How many hotels do you own?" Mom asked. God, why does she want to know this? It's making me look bad. She can just ask me about it instead of him. Why can't she see that he's a genuine person?

"I own as a total of 20 hotels right now. 15 in India while the rest are in Nepal, England, and Germany. I'm actually planning on buying a hotel in New York." He said while I noticed my mom's facial expressions. She was astonished by this.

"How old are you?" Mom asked. "He's 30, mom," I said before he was able to respond. "Can we talk about something else?" I put in trying to reflect how awkward my mom is making this situation.

My mom literally passed daggers at me with her eyes. She grabbed the phone from me and placed it in front of her. "I am really thankful to God that my daughter has someone like you. You are every mother's dream." Mom revealed. "But look beta(dear), I want Shraddha to get married soon as she is 27 years old. She was left at the mandap and it only makes the girl look bad. People will only point fingers at Shraddha saying she has some flaws." Mom addressed trying to reflect the importance of me getting married.

"Yes aunty, I understand. I do want to marry your daughter." Karan responded. My heart lit up at his comment. "She's stupid but at the same time, she can be a bit cute and sweet. Also, She really respects you, aunty." Karan spoke. My mom smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile at his comments.

"How about your mom? Does she know about you two?" Mom asked.

"Yeah of course. Shraddha and my mom talk every day." He revealed.

"Idiot," I muttered at him for saying that. "Why are you calling him an idiot? You're the idiot for not telling me about him." Mom admitted. "I could have talked to him every day as well."

"Armaan told me that you have a boyfriend but I didn't believe him. It would have been nice if you had told me." Mom stated.

I felt a bit guilty when she said that. Now, I understand why she wasn't surprised when I broke the news to her. But that idiot brother of mine, I'm not going to spare him. 

"Okay, lesson learned. Never trust your own brother." I said as I put my hands through my hair that barely reached my breasts.

"Well, Shraddha, give me Karan's mom number later and we shall make wedding plans. I should go now and let you two get back to where you were. It was nice talking to you beta." Mom said as she passed me my phone back.

"Yes aunty and it was nice talking to you too," Karan spoke.

I leaned against my bed's headboard and placed my phone in front of me. "So Shraddha Rao, ready to become Mrs. Jaitly?" Karan spoke as his face reflected a bit mischief.

I let out a smile. "When.. do you wanna ..get married?" I asked shyly.

"I wanna get married to you as soon as possible. So hopefully next month since it'll take time with the preparations" He said. "Besides, I really want to make some sweet, sweet, love to you." Karan teased.

"Shut up! You're so cheap!" I exclaimed. 

I felt someone nudging me causing me to return from my thoughts. I turned to my side and saw that it was Kat. "Yeah?" I questioned. 

"You're always lost in your thoughts." Kat laughed. "The flight attendant wants to know if you want any snacks," Kat said. 

 "No, thank you," I said to the flight attendant as I smiled at Kat.

"I'll take her snack if you don't mind?" Kat said to the flight attendant. 

"Yeah, that's fine." The flight attendant said passing the snack and then started to proceed with her cart.  

"Go to sleep, Shraddha," Kat said. "You look tired." 

I nodded at her and closed my eyes. There's nothing to do except read or listen to music. Sleeping helps when going on journeys. 

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