As soon as the clock in his office struck eleven the next day morning, Vishal's mind stopped working. He just couldn't concentrate on his work.

Granz would have gone to meet Darling. Would she tell Darling everything I told her to say? How would Darling react to what Granz says? Will she believe that I really love her now? Will she forgive me? Will she come back to me again as my darling who always loved me?

There was no limit to the stream of questions that overwhelmed him. All he wanted to do was call his Granz to know the outcome of her meeting with Darling. But he had to wait till it was time for his lunch break. Time seemed to drag for hours as he checked the clock every few seconds while trying to focus on his work.

Just as Vishal grabbed his mobile phone to call his Granz, Rhea stormed into his office. "Vish! What in the world has happened to you?"

"Hi, Rhea. Why? What happened? What are you talking about?"

"You were supposed to be checking on our draft today; you didn't. You were supposed to compile the final program today; you haven't and I don't think you have any plans of doing it."

"Oh, right. Sorry, Rhea, I was a little preoccupied. Where is Sid? I asked him to inform me when-"

Interrupting him, Rhea stated, "Well, he saw you earlier through the window and chilled since you were "dreaming", according to him. But shouldn't you have remembered and checked our draft?"

"Yea, I'll ask Sid to send it in and I'll check it in a minute."

"Before that, tell me, how could you go to Goa before me?"

"Goa...?"

"Yea, Goa! You very well know that I wanted to go there last weekend but I couldn't. How could you go there before me?"

"Well, it wasn't planned. Shreya needed to go there so I ha-"

Rhea interposed again, "Shreya? You went to Goa just for her?"

"Umm... yea, kinda."

"Wow, amazing! Someone's finally in love!" sang Rhea.

"I'm not in love with Shreya, I'm in love with Darling," clarified Vishal.

"You went to Goa with Shreya but you're in love with Darling?"

"Yea... I thought it was Shreya who I loved and I even left Darling for her. But I finally realized that there isn't place for anyone in my heart or life other than Darling."

"You left Darling for Shreya. But does your Darling love you?"

"Yes, of course! There's no doubt about that."

"Then Darling would have been hurt, right?"

"Yeah, she doesn't even wanna meet me or talk to me. That's why I finally arranged a meeting for her with Granz today. I hope Darling gives a positive response."

"What if she doesn't? What will you do?"

"I don't know yet. But I don't think Darling will give a negative response."

"Hopefully she doesn't."

"Yea.... Rhea, look, I know you know about Darling because you found out when we used to work together in the same room in this office. But I haven't told any of our other friends about it. So make sure you don't spread the news. Especially make sure you never blabber about it to Sid even accidentally else he'll inform every soul he knows about it. I'll tell everyone when things are kinda confirmed, okay?"

"No worries, I'm not like Mr. News Spreader." Rhea grinned before pretending to zip her mouth shut.

The door swung open and their colleague and friend, Siddharth, strolled into Vishal's room in the office.

"Mr. News Spreader is here just when I mentioned him," muttered Rhea, loud enough for only Vishal to hear. They shared a suppressed grin before glancing at Siddharth.

"Hey, Sid. I was just about to call you," started Vishal.

"Hey, Vish! Are you done dreaming about your darling or did Miss Blurry girl disturb you?" demanded Siddharth.

"Darling?" Vishal stared at his friend, agape before throwing a glare at Rhea. There was only one person in his office who knew about darling. Rhea.

"Yea, you never told me a word that you finally got a girlfriend. It's Rhea who told me about her."

Vishal glared at Rhea again. She seemed puzzled.

"What? I did not tell you about her, Sid!" claimed Rhea, folding her arms and turning to face Siddharth.

"Oh yes, you told me. Last week, I think. You told me how you found out that Vish has a girlfriend but he never told you about her for months so you were very annoyed with him about that, remember?"

Rhea frowned. "Oh, I'm a bit blur right now. I think I might have told you that by accident."

"Aren't you always blur?"

"Are you saying I'm always blur? I'll show you who's blur when we get back to work later!"

"Oh yeah, you don't have to show that. We all know you're always blur."

"Sid, you better stop before I murder you or Vish murders both of us."

"Okay, guys, enough. I need to make a phone call now. Please," interrupted Vishal, tired of hearing Siddharth's and Rhea's daily quarrels.

"Who're you gonna call? Darling?" asked Rhea and Siddharth in unison.

Vishal glanced at both their excited faces before replying, "No, I'm gonna call Granz, my grandmother."

"Sheesh, what a bore you are, man!" sighed Rhea, before turning away.

"Always!" added Siddharth, before he and Rhea left the room with a bored look.

Vishal turned back to his mobile phone with an amused lopsided smile. Rhea and Siddharth were his close friends.

With anticipation filling his heart, Vishal dialled his grandmother's number. After about three rings, the call was answered.

"Hello." Granz's toneless voice greeted him.

Vishal felt disappointment creeping into him. Her toneless voice did not seem to be a good sign. "Hi, Granz! Did you meet Darling earlier?"

"Mmm." This definitely wasn't a good sign at all.

"What did she say?" His apprehensive voice gave away a little of his dismay.

"Leave that, are you done with your work for today?"

"No. I mean, of course not! It's just my lunch break and you know I can't leave early today. I'll most probably be late, maybe just in time for dinner. But what did Darling say to you?"

"You can know when you come home in the evening. I'm busy now."

"But-" Vishal tried to insist but his Granz interrupted him. "I'll talk to you later, dear."

The call was disconnected.

Distraught, Vishal glanced at his phone. Granz obviously did not sound happy. Perhaps Darling gave a negative response? Is that why Granz didn't want to talk about it? Vishal sighed as he would have to wait till late in the evening to know Darling's verdict.

After having a quick light lunch, Vishal focused on his work. He had to finish everything as soon as he could. He couldn't wait to get home.

***

That evening, Vishal returned home, feeling really anxious to know the outcome of his grandmother's meeting with Darling. He walked into his apartment and found his grandmother busy cooking in the kitchen. He left his bag in the living room, loosened his tie and headed to the kitchen.

"Hey, Granz! I'm home," announced Vishal as he entered the kitchen.

His grandmother continued bustling around in the kitchen, doing her work, without bothering to look at him.

"Granz?"

"Have you seen my wooden ladle? I was using it just now." She muttered, without even glancing at him, while sautéing the food she was making in a pan on the stove.

Vishal looked around and spotted it in the sink. He washed it and gave it to her, before asking, "So, what did Darling say when you met her this morning?"

"Pass me the salt, dear."

Vishal passed the salt and waited for a moment before he asked, "Did you tell Darling everything I asked you to say or did she not wanna listen at all?"

"I think this needs more water." She was totally ignoring his questions and seemed in oblivion of the fact that he was just waiting to hear the outcome of her meeting with Darling.

Vishal remained silent, allowing his grandmother to finish cooking the food before he asked her any more questions.

***

Ten minutes later, Vishal and his grandmother were seated at their dining table to have dinner.

"Here you go." His grandmother served some of the food into his plate first before serving some into her own plate. As she was about to start eating, she noticed that Vishal was staring at his plate without eating.

With his eyes still fixed on the table, Vishal, who had not touched his food, asked, "Granz, what did Darling say?"

After a moment of silence, his grandmother answered him. "What she spoke is of no importance to you. But what she wanted you to know is in this."

She slid a piece of rolled paper tied around the centre with a turquoise coloured ribbon across the table to Vishal.

Vishal took the paper nervously and pulled off the ribbon gently. He opened it, wondering what it might contain. A letter from Darling?

I'm sure you would have been worrying for the past 24 hours what I would say in reply to your Granz. The wait would have felt like forever, right? I know - because even I have waited like this. Not for 24 hours, but for more than 24 days, I waited to know whether you had absolutely cut me off from your life or you would call me at least once again - the day you realized I was not your Granz's 'choice' (Keerthi?).

After those more than 24 days, I realized there was no point waiting anymore. I was hurt. And when I realized that you had no feeling about it, I wanted to hurt you at least a little. I created problems in your life, made you get mad at me, made you hate this Darling of yours so much. But each time you were hurt because of me, it hurt me even more. Creating problems for you did not make me happy. I hated myself for what I was doing. Because the truth is I love you. And I can never hate you.

I'm sorry. Sorry for every second I have hurt you. Even yesterday when you called me to tell me how much you love me, when you came all the way to my apartment to tell me that, my happiness knew no bounds. But I couldn't let myself let you know that.

Even if you may have forgotten your dream, never could I. An arranged marriage without knowing the appearance of your bride till the day of your wedding - have you forgotten that's what you had always wanted? I will appear before you on your wedding day as your bride.

~darling

Vishal had tears in his eyes as he placed the piece of paper down on the table. Even I had given up on my dream of an arranged marriage and forgotten about it, but Darling had never forgotten it.

Vishal noticed his grandmother watching him. He looked up at her, speechless.

"I didn't meet her alone. She had come with her parents as well to discuss the arrangements for the marriage. We discussed and checked everything as well as fixed a tentative date, the 14th of July this year. Is that okay with you?"

Vishal stared at his grandmother, shocked. "14th of July?"

"Yes."

Vishal was literally speechless. All he could do was nod in agreement. He couldn't believe it. There were just four weeks left for his wedding. His dream wedding with his darling.

To be continued...

A/N: Hey peeps! PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT.. How was this chapter? Did you like it?

What do you think of Vishal and Shreya now? Do you like them?

This is the LAST chapter of this book.. So do you want to join Vi and his darling on their wedding day? Then stay tuned for the epilogue of this story when Vi will finally meet his darling..

Take care! Smile and keep smiling! :)