Chapter 345

By the time she stepped out the girl was nowhere in the vicinity. She didn’t want to get obsessed over it and spend the beautiful day she has had so far get wasted. Pryag was waiting and said, “That took a while. Ok. Where do you want to go?” They looked at the map and continued with the rest of their trip in the museum. Diya’s mind was not much into it as she was keeping an eye out for Akshar. She was not really interested in seeing him. She would have been happy to see him but not under the current circumstances. She didn’t want to introduce the two men in her life without taking to each other separately. This could be a shock for both of them and might put her on the spot and make her uncomfortable. She definitely didn’t want Akshar to walk her and surprise her. More than that, she was actually scared that he might actually kiss her with Pryag around. It is not that Pryag won’t be able to handle it but it was just that she never got around mentioning about Akshar to Pryag. With Akshar, her being here with Pryag might raise questions that she was not ready to answer. To some extent she was actually looking forward to get out of there and into the car and off to the airport to pick up her brother. The thought of his arrival excited her as it has been a while and the last time he was there she had spent most of the time trying to adjust and digest the news that he was engaged. She and Pryag continued to visit the other sections and the one that she paid attention was the section about the African tribes. He was interested in their culture and she was interested in their arts and crafts. She was quiet surprised how they made their ornaments with interesting stones carved with just hand. Their outfits and the various color combinations they used were very fascinating and that seemed to give her some new ideas and pairing of outfits. For Pryag it was more about the meaning behind everything. Starting from the clay pots that were used to the ornaments that were used and what it symbolized. Somehow both of them were interested in their own way and spent quiet some time wandering around the section before they decided to head out.
Before they stepped out they thought of grabbing something to eat but in the end decided against it and for two reasons. The food they ate in the afternoon was not too impressive and they preferred to get something that was worth the money and better tasting and secondly they also had some time to kill. Getting out of the parking lot took a while with the narrow parking lanes in the city if New York. As it was a Sunday the traffic was not that bad so they were able to get on to the highway easily. They decided stop some where closer to the airport instead of stopping in between. Diya wanted to tell Pryag about Akshar as she wanted to honest with him. But she didn’t know how to start the topic as opening it up all of a sudden would make both of them uncomfortable as they were not discussing anything of that sort. Pryag opened up the conversation by asking, “You don’t seem to be very excited to receive your brother? Or are you concerned about his relationship? What is her name again? I keep forgetting.” She said, “Nothing like that. Her name is Kathy. She kind of puts me on the edge sometimes by reminding me how much I know about my culture and origin, but nothing that I can’t handle.” Pryag laughed. He said, “Sorry. But I can’t help myself. She values tradition and culture and wants to know about ours and is very much interested and be a part of it as she is you brother’s fiancee. I can how that can be intimidating. But you are very different. You never paid any attention or showed any interest in our culture. You always found a loop hole not to follow them and thought that they had no meaning behind them and were just some rules and rituals created for people to get together.” Diya snapped, “I am not intimidated, it is just that I don’t like it when she asks all these questions.” Before she could finish Pryag interrupted sensing the tone of her voice. “I am not accusing you of anything. Let me make that clear. All I am saying that you both come from different worlds. That’s all.” Diya didn’t say anything but she seemed a little irritated still. He said, “I love you” and took her hand kissed her.