The moment Aryan reached his home, he noticed the name plate hanging outside - The Ahluwalia's. This brought him an onslaught of memories, making him smile. Soon the gaurd at the gate noticed a person standing at the gate. Moving closer, he realised him to be the young master of the house - Aryan Ahluwalia.
"Good Morning, Sir.",he came out hurriedly to open the small gate meant for people to move in and out of the mansion. He tried to take the bags from him but Aryan refused, indicating he will carry it on his own. The security gaurd didn't feel bad because everyone in the mansion knew that Aryan prefers doing as much as possible on his own, so it was not a new thing. Giving him a last salute, he moved back into the control room.
The mansion was surrounded by garden on all sides, having a beautiful pool with jacuzzi in emerald hue at the back. The garden was filled with flowers, seeing which Aryan could not help but smile. He knew how the ladies of his family loved flowers and a beautiful garden was at the top of their list.
Moving in, Aryan observed nothing had changed there, everything was the same as he left, the same high ceiling being held up by tall pillars, doors and windows made of glass covered the entire wall on one side of the room opening to the backyard where the pool and garden with blue sky formed a beautiful view. The entired receiving room had a theme - mix of white and gold giving it a regal appearance. The staircase at one end of the room twirled to the next floor.
The first thing Aryan noticed was an old couple sitting and chatting with their morning tea. A beautiful old lady with grey hai twisted into a bun and crafty mischeivious eyes was telling something animatedly to the old man infront of her. Anyone could see that though he was sitting without showing any change in his expression, his eyes were full of amusement an was nodding in agreement once in a while.
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As far as he could remember, his grandparents have always been an adorable couple and their love story is admired till date. Everyone knew how strict and rigid his grandfather, Ajit Ahlwalia was. He was an ideal son and a very successful businessman but he had one problem, he had problem understanding his own heart and this problem came into light with the entry of his Grandma in his life. His Grandma, Manisha Ahluwalia, being the only daughter, was adored and pampered since childhood. With her cheerful and kind nature, she was the apple of everone's eye.
When his Grandpa met Grandma, it was an arranged meeting, kind of a blind date. After that, they met on several other occasions and their relation turned from stranger to friends and then to something more. Grandma understood this but wanted Grandpa to realise this on his own - "I can live with an emotionless blockhead but he should be able to understand the fact that the feelings which he has for me is somehtin special. For me understanding and respect are the most important in a marriage, even more important than love. Here I have respect, I have love but understanding is missing. Let him realise that he loves me on his own. The moment he reaches his Eureka moment, I will immediately marry him.", winked my Grandma when both the parents met to discuss their marriage.
After lots of hits and misses, finally my Grandpa realised that the uneasiness he was feeling whenever he saw her with someone else was jealousy, the happiness he felt when he was with her was love. He loved her. Soon after, he confessed to her in a party organised for the successful collaboration of both the families with a ring, on his knees and the rest was history.
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"Grandpa, Grandma I am back.", Aryan announced making the couple turn towards him. He noticed the shock in their eyes which soon turned into happiness. He dropped his bags and ran, taking his Grandma in his arms. She reached his chin, a perfect fit to his six two. He felt his shirt becoming wet. He pushed his Grandma a little only to see her face full of tears.
"Grandma....", Aryan wiped her tears. Cupping her face in his hands, Aryan said,"Grandma, I am here now. I am not leaving. I will stay here, with my family."
Hearing this, Grandma gave him a huge smile. After making her drink water, he made her sit and turned to his Grandpa. He hugged him and for the first time he realised how frail his grandparents have become, taking care of everything in his absence, to give him time to bind the loose strings in the Army.
"Grandpa. I am back. You both don't need to worry yourselves much now.", after a small pause, Aryan continued, "You know Grandpa I am so happy that you made me graduate in Business Management. I need you to hold these responsibilities a while longer so that I can train under you to take over. Then you can take rest Grandpa, then both you and grandpa can go on the tours you missed."
Aryan noticed the guilt in his Grandpa's eyes. He made him sit and kneeled infront of him, taking both his hands in his. With determination and calmness in his voice, he said-
"Grandpa, joining army was my dream. You gave me a condition that if I complete my business management by top grades, you will convince my dad to let me go join army, to live my dreams. You were the only person who believed me, had faith in me that I will succeed. I remember how proud you all were when I achieved the first milestone towards my dream. You took over all the hail and storm, giving me time to grieve over the death of my parents, your son and daughter in law. I forgot that you lost your son and daughter as well but still allowed me to go back to army, to give me time to get hold of myself, my emotions. Now that I have fulfilled my duties towards my Nation, I need to do the same for my family as well. Grandpa, I have finished doing what I needed to do for myself now I want to do something for you. Dont feel guilty Grandpa Army was once my goal because I thought I can do something to make my family proud of myself but now I know me being happy with my family will be their greatest happiness and thats what I intend to do now - to live happily with you all, with my family.",Aryan felt tears drop on his hand. Raising his head, he realised his Grandpa was crying. The man who didn't cry even when his son died, holding all the responsibilities on his head, standing strong, broke down in front of him now. His Grandpa stood up and helped him to stand as well. He took his Grandma's hand in his and said-
"We are so proud of the man you have become today Aryan. Your parents must be so happy to see you this way.",saying this he hugged both of them.