Happy reading, honey buns!

Ekantha was still sitting in the lawn. She didn't know if she should feel guilty about what just happened or not. She wanted to clear it out, unlike the last time when she just over thought about everything.

On the other hand, Abhi was having his dinner in a restaurant and his phone started ringing. It was from Ekantha. He contemplated answering the call.

Sighing he answered the call.

"Hello?",her voice came from the other side and her voice sounded quite worried.

"Ammu, all okay?",he asked. It genuinely scared him. Her voice was too low and worried.

"Yeah, I just asked you to call if you had your lunch?",she spoke.

"Lunch? Call? Ammu, are you okay?",he asked yet again.

"Sorry, sorry! You must be busy. I'll call you later",she said and before she disconnected the call he spoke.

"Ma'am, I am not busy and I am guessing you called me to clear out the thing which happened. I would be lying if I say I didn't feel bad, I did feel bad but one thing I am happy is, you are here to speak and communicate about it. I am happy about it. Now, now, we'll talk all things but not now, we will talk tomorrow evening if  possible. I am going to sleep the entire day because who is going to do an all night shoot? Me, me, me. I need some energy and I am done eating. Now have to go back to work",he said it all out and she heard everything with a small smile on her face.

"Why don't you rest before going back? Or atleast pack up early?",she asked.

"I'll try my best to! By the way, how was your day?",he asked.

"It was long and tiring. I said yes to take up the social media department",she said.

"That's really nice. All the best ammu",he said and there was an awkward silence followed by.

"Ammu, I'll call you back. I have to drive now",he said.

"Drive safe, and take care. Bye",she said.

"You too, good night",he said and ended the call.

Ekantha laid down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She still felt there was some kind of uncomfortable thing there in between them.

Sleep was far to reach, she felt like she just cleared one thing and there is another thing already in her life.

She was tired of solving one problem after another. She just wanted to stop all these.

She put on some songs on her headphones and let all the emotions in her come out.

On the other hand, Abhi was busy in his shoot. He had to do a lot of work and Kinnera was there to help him but he needed another assistant. Kinnera was trying her best to not make any mistake.

"Kinnera, the background it's not clear. Sir, ma'am you can move to the right a little bit. Yeah",he said trying to adjust the lens and fit the picture perfectly.

He believes pictures are the best possible way to preserve memories and that should come out to be as perfect as possible. So that when people look back at it, the picture will speak the stories behind it.

The whole night they spent on making the best possible pictures. He went back home in the early hours of the next day. He removed his shoes and knocked the door.

Mayuri opened the door and both of them went in.

"Little devil, what are you doing? Why are you up till now?",he asked.

"My mistake, I opened the door for you. I should have not opened only",she said and hit her head.

"Oh god, why are you firing on me? Who made you angry?",he asked side hugging her.

"Leave me, nobody takes my side nor understands me",she said and made a face.

"Oh no, who didn't understand you little devil?",he asked and she glared at him.

"Devils, they glare like this only",he said trying to lighten her mood.

"Go away",she pushed him away.

"Acha ji, Fine. Don't tell me. Other sisters consider their brothers as best friend and what kind of sister did you give me God?",he says.

"Please, other brother's are mature unlike you being a drama queen",she said.

"Did you just call me a drama queen?",he replies.

"If you have any hearing problem, I can try to sponsor your hearing doctors appointment",she said.

"Dei, Dei, Dei, It's 3 in the morning. Are you humans only?",their mother came from their room.

"Amma, he started it",Mayu said.

"Amma, I just came",Abhi defended himself.

"Both of you go back to your rooms and sleep. I will talk to you both tomorrow",she said.

"Tomorrow? You mean tomorrow night amma? Because I'm sleeping the whole day tomorrow",Abhi said.

"What? We're going to Ekantha's home tomorrow. So, you're not coming?",his mother asked.

"We're going to anni's house! Yay! I'll come amma, please please",Mayu said.

"Okay, we'll go once you come back from school. Abhi will stay back",Vishalakshi said.

"Amma, katappa laga vennupotu podavaku(Don't kill me like bahubali killed katappa). I'll come with you",he said.

Vishalakshi and Mayuri laughed at him.

"But why are we going there tomorrow?",he asked her.

"Kanyaka said that they wanted to tell Ekantha's opinion tomorrow. If everything goes well, we'll be deciding engagement date tomorrow",Vishalakshi said.

"What? But we thought of taking some more time, right?",he said.

"That's right, but Kanyaka invited us and I didn't get a chance to talk about it. Didn't Ekantha talk to you about this?",she asked and he nodded a no.

"Then you better talk to her about this before we go there. I hope it's not any forceful decision",she said and he nodded.

He went back to his room and sat on the bed thinking about it. Why wouldn't Ekantha tell him about it? Was it really forceful? Did she even know about it? Who was doing all this?

All his sleep vanished. He wanted answers to all his questions. He caught his phone in his hand and was contemplating whether to text her about it or not.

Pushing all those thoughts aside, he texted her hi and placed his phone on the table beside him. It didn't buzz again and he dozed off into deep sleep having being tired already.

The next morning, Ekantha woke up at four am and checked her phone. She found a text from Abhi and opened it. It said hi around an hour ago.

She replied back to him and went to complete her morning chores. She got ready in her formal wear and went to the pooja room.

Thats when Kanyaka saw her and cleared her throat.

"Good morning maa",she said and gave her a slight smile.

"Good morning Ekantha. Today Abhi and his family is coming home. Come home early if possible. Today we are going to make a decision if you both are going to get married or not. What is your decision about it?",she asked.

Ekantha's world stopped, she wasn't expecting this. Not atleast this early in the morning.

"What? Why? Maa, I already told them I need some more time",Ekantha said.

"Your father want to do it today dear, he says you should not keep the groom side people on hold. They'll find better options and he also said that you should.. you should say yes because he is good person",she said.

Ekantha felt her body being numb. It was getting difficult for her to breathe. Her heart was pounding while her hands were sweating. Her eyes closed swiftly and she knew what was happening. She had to control it, she ran back to her room, closed her eyes and tried taking deep breathes. Nothing seemed like it was helpful to her then.

Marriage was a big thing for her. She needed assurance and she needed the person to win her trust, make her feel comfortable and be her friend and not just her husband.

She tried re collecting a few things which made her happy in her brain and tried finding her headphones to listen to music. Music has always been her therapy and it was the last option she had in her hand.

The beats of the music, relaxed the rapid heart beats. She felt calm after some time. She took her time and calmed herself before going and talking to her parents.

She quickly mailed the school that she is having an emergency in family due to which she would be on a leave and went to the living room to find her father and mother sitting together and then they saw her coming towards them.

"Amma, nanna, can I please get some more time?",she asked.

"Ekantha, you've taken more time than it was required and now I can't lose such a good proposal just because you are being lenient with the freedom I've given you",Ketan said.

With every word he spoke, Ekantha's past came in front of her eyes. Tears were threatening to flow down her eyes. The last thing she expected from them was something like this.

Having no courage to tell them or explain them she went back to her room and found that there was no reply from Abhi.

Anika didn't come to Ekantha's home that day, neither did Vennela. She didn't know who to talk to, and who to take suggestion from, who to explain her situation...

To be continued..

Hello dear readers!

First update of this year, hehe

First of all belated happy new year, may this new year bring you loads of happiness, health and joy and prosperity.

And finally guys, I found it. I found a way for this story and I am happy about it. I can't tell you all how happy I am. Previously, I used to be kind of unclear about it but now we are good to go I guess.

Your author now is in college so assignment, tests, mid terms, semester exams, class tests have started consuming a lot of time.

Update schedule, I didn't think of any yet but maybe I will soon. Now that I know the flow of the story. Hopefully I won't keep you waiting for months and months and pop out of nowhere like this.

Anyways, do let me know how was the update.

Please do vote and comment your views, that would mean the world to me 🤍.  Even if you have any suggestions please let me know.

Anything that you want to tell me?

I would always be indebted to you all for always supporting me! Loads of love to you all 💗✨💫

Thank you for reading till here!

I will see you all soon in an update.

Till then, take care and stay happy!

Your author
Sakshi Devi