"Ved, drop us at the temple." Daya asked, all ready to have an argument with her nephew to force him to drop her at the temple.

"Sure, aunt. Give me a minute. Let me change and come," he said walking towards his bedroom leaving a gaping Daya behind.

"What happened to him? I didn't even have to say it a second time.." Daya said to no one in particular. She was still in shock.

Ved quickly changed into a pair of casuals. He looked in the mirror twice before stepping out of his bedroom. It has been a week since the day he met his sunshine girl and every evening since then, he had driven back home passing through the same street where he had dropped her, taking an extra twenty minutes to reach home, in the hope that he could get a glimpse of her again.

No luck so far.

He, the eternal atheist, had passed by the Lord Shiva temple more times than he could count, hoping against hope that she would once again run into him. That didn't happen either.

It was some Teej day and the ladies in his family were fasting and his aunt had asked him to take them to the temple.

Now why in the heavens would he miss the chance to go looking for his girl again. Since it is a special day, there is a high chance that she would even be there at the temple.

"Ready??" He asked as soon as he came down all ready to go.

"You hit your head somewhere? Or are you having a fever?" Mayur asked, touching his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Shut up, Mayur." He said angrily, trying to hide his embarrassment. In the excitement of going and meeting his girl, he had forgotten that his family would definitely notice the change in his behaviour.

"Come ,let's go," Ambika said with a soft smile.

There's something different in her son's behaviour and she hopes it's for good.

*****

The ladies had gone into the temple and Ved had wandered around the temple for the better part of an hour and finally accepted defeat.

He is not going to find her, he thought and sat on the steps leading to the temple pond.

As he sat lost in thoughts, he felt a pair of soft hands covering his eyes.

"Guess who?" The angelic voice spoke and Ved felt his heart beat faster. He would recognise that voice anywhere, anytime.

"You didn't tell me your name that day," he said, smiling like a fool.

"Neither did you tell me your name.?" She said, taking her hands off his eyes and sitting next to him.

"You didn't ask..!" He said with a wide smile.

"Uh oh! I didn't, did I? I was so caught up with the tension that I wouldn't reach home by the time the series started that I forgot everything else.." She said, slapping her own head a couple of times.

"Haa. Your series. You watched it that day. You didn't miss it, right?" Ved asked curiously.

"No! I was right on time. Only because of you. You are so sweet," She said, shooting a heart smile his way and Ved wondered what his employees would think if they ever heard this girl call him sweet.

"But I will miss it today," she said with a sad pout.

"Why will you miss it?? There's enough time for you to reach home before five." Ved said, looking at his wrist watch, although he doesn't want her to go home yet. He wanted to keep listening to her musical voice.

"No! Today is Teej. I am fasting. I have to stay here at the temple till the moon comes. And by the time the moon comes, the showtime will be over. I will miss this one episode. Tomorrow onwards the power shedding timings change. Thank god." She said with a sigh of relief.

"You are also fasting?" Ved asked.

"Yes yes. My mama is a Shiva worshipper. So, she wanted me to keep fast today." She said with a pout.

"Mama said .. 'Geet, no matter how much you pout, you will have to keep fast. I am not going to let you eat anything until the moon comes out' " She said, imitating her mother.

Geet... his heart whispered with a smile.

"Teej is celebrated in dedication to Maa Parvati's love for Shiva. It's said that Maa Parvati fasted and fasted for years and finally in her 108th birth Lord Shiva accepted her as his wife." Geet added the story her mama tells her every year during this day.

"Oh! That's some love," Ved said not knowing how to respond to that.

"I know right! Maa said if I also keep fast ,I will also get a husband like Lord Shiva." She said, happily informing him that she is waiting for her own Prince Charming.

"Maybe your fasting worked. I am Ved. My dadi always says I have all the qualities of Lord Shiva." Ved said cheekily and Geet giggled at his comment.

A few seconds later, Ved saw her staring into the pond, lost in her own thoughts. He snapped his fingers in front of her, startling her.

"Uh?"

"Where are you lost, Geet?" Ved asked, seeing her dazed look.

"Oh, I was thinking about my series. Yesterday, the hero made the heroine cry. He is such an arrogant man.." Geet said, huffing in annoyance.

Ved cringed realising that is one word people always uses when describing him.

"Why did he make her cry?" Ved asked curiously, just because he wanted to listen to her talks.

"Oh! You want to know the whole story so far? I will tell you.." Geet said excitedly. She just loves talking about her favourite series.

"Uh yeah!!"

"My hero.. He is very arrogant and rude. He doesn't believe in love and marriages. He is so cold hearted. He is very rich and the girl is...."

"Very poor?" Ved asked, before Geet could complete her sentence.

"How do you know? Do you also watch my series?" Geet asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Of course not." Ved said, offended that anybody could think that he watches stupid ITV shows.

"The hero, he had a very difficult..."

"Past? Childhood?" Ved asked once again, breaking Geet's words.

"You watch my series. I am sure." Geet accused angrily.

"No, I don't." Ved said in a helpless tone.

"Then how are you telling the story of my series?" Geet asked suspiciously.

"What is there to know? This is what has been happening in ITV shows since forever." Ved mumbled, remembering all the daily soap operas he had to watch sitting with his Aunt Daya during his childhood days.

"I won't talk to you. You watch my series and yet you couldn't even tell me what happened in the yesterday's episode" Geet pouted

"Geet, I don't watch series. And if you want you can watch it on your phone. Do you have a phone Geet?" Ved asked and Geet grinned happily.

"Yes, yes, I do. Papa said, in cities everyone has a phone, so I should also have one. He bought me a new one when we came to the city." Geet said excitedly and took her phone and showed it to him, which was a base model phone.

"Oh! You can't watch in this" Ved said in disappointment.

"We can only watch on those big phones that my hero and heroine uses??" Geet asked curiously and a tad bit sadly.

"Yes, you need smart phones for that. Wait a minute," Ved took out his spare phone which he usually uses for personal purposes and removed his sim card.

He then asked her in which channel she watches the series, before installing the corresponding application on the phone.

"Keep it," he said and gave it to her.

"For me?" Geet asked happily and checked the phone, turning it up and down.

"Yes," he said and a few seconds later her smile dimmed.

"Momma will scold me. And I don't even know how to use it." Geet said sadly, extending the phone back to him.

"I will teach you. And you don't have to tell your mom. Hide it," Ved said and his conscience chided him for spoiling the innocent girl.

"Hide from momma? Oh it would be interesting," Geet said chirpily.

Ved took out the wireless wifi router from his pocket and handed it to her and explained to her how to switch it on and how to connect the wi fi to her phone.

Then he opened the channel application and asked her the name of the show she watches

Once she told him the name of the show, he searched for it and opened it, and showed it to her. And the smile on her face was worth all the effort.

"Hayee... I can watch all these?? From the very first episode??" Geet asked happily and in disbelief.

"Yes. You can," he said and then he deleted his WhatsApp account from the phone and created an account with her phone number.

"This is WhatsApp. And this is my number. I have saved it here. So you can message me anytime you want. And see this. You can press here to call me. And if you want to see me you can press this video icon and we can talk on a video call, seeing each other." Ved explained to her the things he so badly wanted to do.

"Wow. This is so awesome. We don't have the internet and stuff in our village. Even the TV signals sometimes go off." Geet informed him about the remote part of her village.

"Oh it's time for the puja. I should go," Geet said as she heard the bell ring at the temple.

"Oh! Will you call me at night Geet??" He asked, feeling stupid like a teen-ager asking his crush out for the first time.

"You want me to?" Geet asked with her wide innocent eyes.

"Yes," there was no need for a second thought.

"Then I will call you. I will also tell you what happened in my series" she said and skipped back to the temple leaving a smiling Ved behind.

"Hayee!! My heart!" Ved said, clutching his heart, with a dazed look on his face.

A/n

Here goes the next shot!!

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Love,
SF ❤️