Okay…so here I come back. Happy Friendship's Day to each and every one of you!

Happy Reading! :D :D

Chapter-33

After hours of travel, Nysa finally arrived to the island country of Italy- Venice. With a number of romantic couples into the hub of the country, it had a general friendly bustle, both inside and outside the terminal as Nysa boarded on a taxi, finding her way to one of the inns in the place. Booking a single deluxe room in the Eastern Heirloom Hotel, she quickly walked into the reception and brought her keys, her feet wobbling tiredly to her room. Grabbing the baggage inside her room, she placed in her armoire fuzzily and arranged all the souvenirs she was going to give for tomorrow's meeting with Ranveer's mother. If everything turns out to be well, the wedding preparations would kick-start with a chivalrous excitement. Setting things right for the next twenty five minutes, Nysa packed the bags tightly and sealed it tightly afore drifting off for a short slumber before the big day, for her.

The Sun showed up pretty quicker than she had expected as she began with her day. Checking on the souvenirs for one last time, she went for a quick bath to come out with a simple Bengali Taant saree made from the loom. With a red plain cotton blouse and borders of the same colour, she managed to carry the saree with an ease. Picking up the bags and the address slip, she slid out of the room quickly for her breakfast inside the café. Gulping in a thick frothed hot coffee and a fette biscottate, she slid out from the inn to catch a taxi before paying a visit to the Catholic Church, praying that everything should go well for the day. Picking up a local taxi, she went towards Mestre, the mainland town connected to Venice via Corsel de Popolo and SS 11. Within the next twenty minutes, she saw herself in an entirely different place. Having said that Mestre is for entertainment and nightlife, there was the typical crowd inside the mainland of the town, just connected by rail tracks and road bridges over the lagoon. The care moved further amidst the traffic clog as she noticed the most appealing feature of the town—Piazza Ferretto, the town's main square. She saw the large, long main square with cafes attached to every tenth inch of the road, the general crowd of the town bustling around the cafes in the late morning. Surrounded by the pedestrian lines and historic buildings including the Chiesa di San Lorenzo, the Church of the town, Nysa also noticed the Torre Civica, the clock tower. As the car moved further, she noticed the principal monument of the Piazza and the public park, Parco San Giuliano.

Reaching the residential area by another five minutes, she searched for the house with a surname Gajjar as Abel had mentioned her maternal last name. After a hiatus, she spotted the house made with opulent architects and engineers, the mere outlook saying it all. Paying the taxi driver for the service, she took her bags and rung the bell twice to hear footsteps coming closer to the door. As the door opened, Nysa noticed an aging lady, presumably in her early fifties smiling wearily at her as the former's lips curved happily identifying the face.

"Mrs. Vaghela?" Nysa kept the souvenirs on the floor and gave her a warm, affectionate hug as she felt the opposite arms curl up around slowly. Breaking from the hug after minutes, Amba spoke softly.

"Abel had told me. Nysa, right? He was telling me that you had something important to share," she saw the place around and realized before asking, "I-I am sorry. Please, get in," she invited her inside as Nysa went in with the goodies, sitting inside the wide, rich hall. She sat in silence for a while, looking at the rich armoires, tiling, ceilings and infrastructure they had put up in each and every square foot as she noticed Amba coming up with tea and snacks. Offering her with some, she took a seat opposite to Nysa, sitting upright though her figure was weak.

"So yeah, please. Tell me. I'll make sure that you are not left disheartened." Amba's voice came from a shallow throat as Nysa breathed in before starting the conversation.

"I am Nysa, a single mother of an adopted child, Ishani. She works at your son's resort, The Oakley's and knows about your son in person for about two and a half months now. Both of them are in love and want to get married. So…I just came here to seek your permission and blessings for the marriage and…take you along with me to the valley." She looked at her appalled for a second but remained calm.

Amba gave the latter an apologetic mien before she said, "Ranveer, right? How is he doing? It's been months since I spoke with him. And…he is getting married?"

"Yes, he is. And my daughter wants you to attend the wedding, too," she continued her line of thoughts by putting them into words as Amba got up in a sudden, "No, no. I cannot. He may kill me for real this time." Amba turned away in tension as the latter too, got up, trying to console her.

"Please sit, please. Let me explain. But before that, tell me why did you have to leave the place and him?"

"He pushed me out from the house because he felt that I was the reason for his love's death. And I felt that uncanny when he really did not have any relationship with any girl. I questioned him so many times but never got an answer. He always used to say, Maa, if you had not stopped me from meeting her, I wouldn't have to lose her in an accident. Now that I am born again, why isn't she here? I used to look at him startled because he always murmured this during his sleep and accused me of killing her. And the worst part is that, I don't even know who the girl he was talking about. One fine day, I really had to question him in that regard because he started to panic and got really bad dreams each and every time he told the line to me. But to my shock, he literally pushed me out from the house and shouted, The reason why she is not here near me is you! YOU! If you had not stopped me from going and meeting her at the park, she wouldn't have died. That is why I died, too. Even after you dying, you did not spare me and came into my imaginings and stopped me from going. But what happened now? I came back and she is still not here! It's only because of you! I don't want to see your face again, just get away. Those were the words he used and he fainted the very next moment. I made him sleep again and waited for him to get up. He did and pushed me back asking me to get out and swore to die the very next moment if I wasn't. So I had to really go."

"But he misses you! Why don't you come over and talk with him once? You will feel better!" Nysa tried to explain but Amba cut her short, "Abel tells me that Ranveer misses me. I was calling him until last year. Sometimes, he used to call me back and the next time, he would scowl and yell at me as though I had killed him and his life. He occasionally, cried too. Those days are still in fresh inside my mind. But yeah, I am happy that he is getting married now." Amba controlled her tears and sniffed twice before looking at Nysa.

"Yeah? So why don't you please grace the occasion? Our kids would love to see you back, again. Trust me, things will happen smoothly until Ishani and I are there."

"No, it's not that…I really want to come and be a part of the entire wedding preparations. But the fact that Ranveer would push me back and shove me aside frightens me. Send my best wishes for both of them. His ire is something I can never dare to fall prey for."

"No, please. You should definitely come and bless them. Ishani had been waiting for this day since long. You have the option of coming back to Mestre, again. But only after the wedding, yes."

"But…"

"Did you try going to your house, again?"

"No."

"So do it this time!" Nysa gave an affectionate smile as Amba nodded affirmatively. Nysa called Ishani to tell about the good news before providing the latter with the goodies she had bought it from various places during her travel and discussed about the wedding cards, for the invitation. Deciding on the date and card, Nysa finally called the parson of the church, taking up the first step for the wedding.

Ishani sat down elated on the wooden benches outside the farmhouse, the purple orchids spread over the entire place in a clean line. The flowers made slight sounds due to the wind and the birds chirped sweetly around the entire place, spreading its wings all around the farmhouse. The sound of the stream rapidly shifting its waves was heard glossily amidst the purple beauty and the chirps as she hugged herself after hearing about the elated news. Another few days and they'll get married. A happily ever after. It's been three days since they came to the farmhouse for a change in their routine. And with the autumn coming up in the valley, the fresh smell of the ripe crops was creating an ever beautiful atmosphere, the romantic blooms of the flowers seen everywhere. She had tried her best to change him and he did respond to her words, being happy like he never was. And she couldn't help but only feel happier. Finishing a three fourth of the book, she sat tiredly, waiting for him to return. It was tough for anyone to finish a three fourth of a book within a month but for Ishani, since everything felt nothing but a déjà vu, she was lucky enough to finish it so soon. It was almost close to dusk and she knew, he would come anytime back home from his work. Quickly getting up and opening up her luggage, she took the key of her cupboard and rushed to open it. Picking her wedding gown and his wedding blazer out from the shelf and keeping them on the bed she opened her locker and took the wedding rings with the boxes, placing them above their dresses. She sat down calmly and replayed the events of them buying their wedding accessories in the past few days and she couldn't help but only smile goofily. Getting up silently from the room and entering the kitchen, she started preparing a simple dish for dinner as she knew he was coming home anytime.

Opening the pasta from the packet and putting them to boil with the oil and water, she prepared the cream and sauce required for the pasta and cut the vegetables slowly, making sure that her fingers are not cut this time. Meanwhile, she heard the sound of Ranveer's car honking from a long distance. Blushing furiously in spite of controlling herself, she breathed in heavily as she put the flame to a simmer, hearing the ring of the bell.

"Hey," Ishani opened the door as he pounced upon her squeaking, "Candy! Missed you so much there in the resort, today."

"Really?" she asked with a muffled voice, unable to control her smile as he broke from the hug asking, "What's in for the dinner today? Common, let me help my fiancée," he held her hand and rushed inside the kitchen looking at the pasta cooking in a simmer.

"Pasta?"

"Yeah, that's simple, you see." Ishani shrugged her shoulders and continued cutting the vegetable as soon as her hugged her from behind, his hands close to her collarbone and his chin resting near her face.

"Need help?"

"No," she smiled nonchalantly as he pulled her tightly for a kiss on her cheek, making sure that the knife was kept down on the slab.

"What?" Ishani's eyebrows rose as she saw his eyes glistening with pride and happiness and she did not know why.

"I love you," his hands curled up around her waist and pulled her towards him, trying to cease her breathe away with his.

"I love you more," she pushed him silently and prepared for the pasta, mixing the ingredients and straining the pasta from the stove. She couldn't stop smiling at his tactics as she noticed him leaving to the room for changing. Seconds later, she heard what she was expecting to.

A squeal of her name.

She came jogging to their room as he saw her confused, elated and in love- all at the same time.

"What?"

"What's all this? Why did you take them out?"

"We'll be taking them out, anyway, right?" she smirked looking at the confused soul who was trying to correlate everything.

"And when?"

"The 19th of this month, sweetie. Send the invites already!" she came running to him and pounced upon him for the tightest hug she had ever embraced him, or anyone for that matter as he kissed her tresses, feeling blessed.

"Are you serious?" he asked after an infinitesimal amount of time.

"I am…really serious this time. Nysa just called me up and she'd be coming over back to the valley by this weekend. And then the preparations would start." Though she knew his mother would be joining over for the wedding, she decided not to let it out to Ranveer for obvious reasons.

"Ranveer?"

"Hmm."

"There's a surprise coming up for you."

"What?"

"I am sure you'd be happy knowing it but that can actually wait. Let's have our dinner and then talk about the invites. That is important now," she smiled and broke from his embrace, walking her way to the kitchen as he blinked his eyes in confusion.

Done! Constructive Criticism will be more than welcome and sorry for typos :D :D