Love Arranged

“Where am I?” I don’t understand, why is it so dark over here? Rachel di…. Are you there? Pops… are you there? Is anyone there? I am trying to call out everyone’s name but no one seems to hear me. Can anyone hear me? Please respond please…Help me please… I don’t know where am I? why am I here? Why me? I am shouting for help, I am trying to scream Helpppppp…. Helppppp…. Helpppp. Hoping someone would hear me screaming. There are so many questions running in my head. Oh God! What is happening why am I stuck here. The last thing I remember was me studying and now I wake here in this dark place. And why am I here all alone? Is this some kind of a joke? Oh no no please… I want to go home please. Please…. Rachel di please find me please…. Tears rolling down my cheeks. Aahh… I hate it when my tears betray me and don’t stay in. I am so scared now. Okay Pihu you know what to do in times like this. Breathe in … breathe out… breathe in … breathe out… lets try it one more time… breathe in… breathe out… okay so now I need to look for a way out and not stand here and cry. Every direction I turn I cannot see anything. Its so very dark. I just don’t know what to do anymore. I need to move but I am unable to move. What is going on? Why can’t I move? It feels as if my legs are glued to the ground. I am now scared to bend and touch the ground as I am unable to see anything or feel anything. I am trying very hard to concentrate if I can hear anything or see something. But its not helping I just cannot see anything. There is no light coming in from anywhere…. Oh God! Where am I? now I am losing my mind as I am not able to find a way to exit this place. “Why am I all alone over here?” “What is happening with me?” “Where is mom and Pops?” “Where is Rachel di?” “Where is everyone?” “Why isn’t anyone responding to me?” “Why is it so dark over here?” With all these things running in my head and I am trying to control my breathing by calming myself…It feels so creepy and scary at the same time. I am generally not scared of the dark, but right now I am really scared as to what is happening and why am I all alone over her? While all this was going on, I suddenly heard a faint sound coming from some direction when I tried listening to it carefully, and I was trying to run into the direction of the sound but I was unable to move still, why am I unable to move still? Now I am trying to concentrate in the direction from where I was able to hear a faint sound, when I tried listening to the sound more carefully, I realized someone was playing loud music. That’s when I suddenly woke up and tried to figure out from where the loud music was being played. That’s when I realized someone in the basement was playing the music on it top volume in the car stereo system. Some Jerk only this person must be. Disturbing everyone and the peace around. The place where I was staying was a very peaceful colony. No traffic noise… no noisy neighbors… but this guy was some next level jerk who was playing music so loudly. I so wanted to shout on him. Agrh… so irritating. It suddenly strikes me… the darkness was all a Dream!!! Uff…what was that about? Why did I get such a creepy dream and what was I thinking? I actually thought I was lost and was somewhere of nowhere. That’s when it dawned on me that I dosed off while studying on my table. Aahh…. This subject is getting onto my nerves now. Why do I have to study economics if I want to get into designing eventually. Education ministry is so dumb. They just don’t understand or don’t know how to form a combination of the subjects. We have such wonderful subjects… but, all stupid subjects are made into a combination. Agrh…. Ouch! My neck, it hurts. “frown” my neck is stiff. It’s definitely going to hurt for some time, as I slept in this awkward position for a very long time. Now that I have woken up let me close the book for now and check out what everyone’s upto, I looked at the time to see what time it was… f**k! How did I end up sleeping for so long. I directly woke up for dinner. I am so dead now. I got up from my chair and first thing I did was by rushing into the bathroom to wash my face with some cold water to feel fresh, and to get out of that stupid, creepy nightmare that I had. My minds still stuck on that weird nightmare. I still wonder what was that whole nightmare all about? Why did I look for mom in my dream? This is so frustrating… While I was lost in my thoughts that’s when there was a knock on the bathroom door. “How long have you decided to stay in there?” asked my sister And to which I said “Forever”. “Don’t you ever respond in a proper fashion?” asked my sister, “I don’t respond properly because you don’t ask me anything which is proper or straight “? By saying that I opened the door and gave her a naughty smirk and moved out of the way for her. She is my elder sister Rachel, did I tell you how annoying she can be at times. I mean she is like 9 years older to me. But still behaves like she is this kid at times. Ironically, treats me like a kid always. I know she is older to me but, so what if she is older to me? Even I am grown up now I am 17 years old but she treats me like I am still a toddler who is learning to walk and talk… I tell you my sister sometimes just gets onto my nerves. But no matter what I love her a lot and she just the best sister in the whole wide world. She saves me from unnecessary drama and anger of my pops. My sister is a huge inspiration of a strong woman living for me… she is 26 right now and has already changed two jobs. She once told me if you want to grow you just need to keep shifting and changing jobs which will help with your growth, exposure and progress. I have always been in awe of her beauty and her brains. She just loves to plan everything and go about as per her planning. She goes crazy mad like a wild dog if she is unable to move forward as per her plans. Very meticulous about the work she does and takes up, doesn’t like anyone meddling in her plans and her work. When someone does poke their nose in her plans and schedules, they have signed their death warrant. That’s how mad she goes. She is very sweet and loving. I love her…. One big drama queen she is. I must say we never run out of entertainment at home. She took care of me like my mom would have and never did she make me feel she is any less than mom. Along with her came another person Akshay Kapoor, her high school sweetheart. Oh my god! they are a power house when together. They never stop to amaze me how wonderful they are together. With Akshay Pa being in picture. Oh right, I call him pa as he treats me like his daughter. And he loves it when I call him Akshay Pa, he is just head over heels with that name which I have given to him. I still remember the day I gave him that he literally asked Pops if he could officially adopt me? I mean my jaw dropped to the floor that day when he asked pops about that. Next minute my pops were like Sure, why not? Only if you can tolerate her tantrums. Since then, they have treated me like a delicate kid. They are a lovely couple and I was worried Rachel di, will leave the house once she gets married but Akshay pa is against the idea of Rachel di leaving the house and I was so glad to hear this news. I mean that day I just celebrated… While I was lost in the thoughts of my sister and Akshay pa... Suddenly I hear her voice, literally shouting my name on top of her lungs. Why does she have to scream my name always? Call me sweetly I will hear her out. But, No. she just has to scream my name on top of her lungs. “Pihu come down right now or you know what will happen if I come there right now”. She is always known for her treats. She so loves bullying me like this. But she loves me the most and I know that very well about her. With all these thought I went into the dining room where my dad and sister were waiting for me for dinner. I saw my dad was sitting at the head of the family place and was telling something to my sister and to his right my sister who was sitting and listening to him and was typing something on her phone. Offcourse, she must be taking to Akshay pa as he is not in town. Looking at this wonderful sight infront of me I started smiling, and then I went and sat next to my dad. As soon as I sat down both of them looked at me and gave me a big smile. I understood what that smile meant. Now I was going to be bombarded with lot of questions. “Princess…. Thank god you came before breakfast” my dad made a statement and I stuck out my tongue to him, with my reaction both sis and dad started laughing. Then I started serving food on my plate and I made a face looking at the vegetable that was prepared for dinner. My sister saw my face and gave a stern look which meant shut up and eat. I looked at her and made a puppy face. Eventually, she smiled and asked me to eat it for this once and tomorrow she would make my favorite. I nodded and started eating my food quietly. During dinner, I was lost in my own thoughts of school, exams and my friends. There was so much going on right now that I was not paying attention to what my dad was saying. Then suddenly, I was pulled out of my chain of thoughts and my dad asked me” what happened where am I lost? “I generally, have a habit of zooming out into my own zone during having my meals. I prefer my own zone than to go on answering to the never-ending questions of my Pops. But I can never avoid his questions. Likewise, I had to come back to the reality “Is everything alright? “asked pops “Yes, Pops everything is alright.”, I said “Are you having any tough time in school?” asked pops “No, pops I am enjoying the final year of my school”, I added cheerfully, this was the truth. “Do you have any boy trouble?” asked pops I chocked on the food hearing this question of his. I dint understand which direction the conversation was heading towards. I know my sister and Akshay pa, actually started dating or going out since they were in Class 8th. So dad always kept asking me this question since I came into my Class 8th and he kept asking me everytime. I mean just because di found someone doesn’t mean I will also find someone right in my Class 8th, give me a break. He knows I have some dreams and ambitions which I am very serious about. Agrh… I seriously hate this question of his. Not that i am in class 8th now. I looked at him and said “No, pops I have no boy trouble. I am not interested in any guys in my school or even around our locality.” Now if you are done asking me such embarrassing questions can I go back to eating please? I asked and he just nodded smiling sheepishly. I mean seriously what keeps running in my pops head for heaven’s sake. I again looked at him and could see he was worried about him. So, I just stopped eating and looked at him and held his hand. Then I asked him to calm down and assured to him by smiling that “everything is fine Pops, you don’t have to worry or panic about anything. There is nothing that I cannot handle. I was just lost in my thoughts about school and exams that’s it. It’s nothing major so take a chill pill pops. “ I gave him a wink and started eating. He kept laughing at me for some time and then finished eating. After we were all done, we helped Rachel di to clear out the table and then as usual we sat down to watch tv for a while. It’s like a small family ritual we started after mom passed away. After watching tv for a while I went to sleep. Next day was Sunday so I could just wake up a little later than my usual wake up time… best part of the week. While I was thinking about my Sunday plans and wondering what all I could do. Slowly I started drifting into my sleep and don’t know when I slipped into deep sleep…