The dinner continued.
The laughter returned.
The conversations resumed.
But for Alankrita...
Nothing was the same anymore.
She sat at the same table, surrounded by people who were celebrating a future she hadn't even begun to understand.
Everywhere she looked, there were smiling faces.
Lavanya was already discussing wedding arrangements with Sumitra.
Vittorio appeared pleased with his eldest son's decision.
Aravind and Rohan were teasing Damiano, congratulating him as though the wedding were already tomorrow.
And Damiano...
He sat quietly, accepting their congratulations with a faint smile.
Occasionally, his eyes wandered toward her.
Every time their gazes met, he seemed to be searching for something.
An answer.
A sign.
Perhaps even a little reassurance.
But Alankrita had none to give him.
She was too overwhelmed to understand what was happening inside her own heart.
Marriage?
How could he decide something so enormous so suddenly?
She looked down at her hands.
Her fingers were trembling.
She had spent years learning to live without expecting anything from anyone.
She had built her little world around Raghuveer.
Her studies.
Her responsibilities.
Her dreams of giving her son a beautiful life.
She had never included herself in those dreams.
And now\...
Someone was asking her to become a wife.
To become a daughter-in-law.
To enter a family.
To trust a man with the future of the two people she loved most.
It wasn't a small decision.
It was her entire life.
When dinner finally ended, Alankrita excused herself.
She carried Raghuveer upstairs, away from the celebrations and the endless discussions about the future.
The little boy was sleepy.
He rested his cheek against her shoulder, occasionally playing with the edge of her saree.
She entered her room and gently placed him on the bed.
Then she sat beside him.
For a long time...
She simply watched him sleep.
His tiny eyelashes rested against his cheeks.
His little lips were slightly parted.
One hand remained curled near his face.
She gently brushed his hair away from his forehead.
"Raghu..."
she whispered.
"What am I supposed to do, kanna?"
The little boy didn't answer.
He only shifted in his sleep and reached for her hand.
She held his tiny fingers.
And suddenly, her eyes filled with tears.
"Your life is going to change..."
Her voice trembled.
"Everything might change."
She bent down and kissed his forehead.
"But I won't let anyone hurt you."
It was a promise she had made to herself long before Damiano entered their lives.
A promise she would never break.
The following days were difficult.
The family was happy.
The preparations for Raghuveer's first birthday continued.
The villa was filled with excitement.
But Alankrita had withdrawn into herself.
She smiled when people spoke to her.
She answered their questions.
She attended the cookbook shoots.
She continued caring for Raghuveer.
Yet her thoughts were elsewhere.
Whenever Damiano approached, she became conscious of his presence.
Whenever he spoke affectionately to Raghuveer, her heart softened.
And whenever she remembered his proposal...
Fear returned.
She couldn't understand how someone could make her feel so protected and so frightened at the same time.
One afternoon, Sara and Lara found her sitting quietly in the garden.
Raghuveer was playing nearby with a collection of colourful wooden blocks.
Alankrita was watching him, but her mind was clearly somewhere far away.
Sara sat beside her.
"Alankrita..."
No response.
Lara exchanged a glance with Sara before sitting on her other side.
"Are you going to keep pretending everything is fine?"
Alankrita lowered her eyes.
"I'm fine."
Sara sighed.
"Don't lie to us."
For a few moments, Alankrita remained silent.
Then, finally...
"He wants to marry me."
Her voice was barely audible.
Sara gently nodded.
"We know."
"He said it in front of everyone."
"I know."
"He didn't even ask me first."
Her voice cracked.
"He simply announced it."
Lara reached for her hand.
"That's because he's certain about what he wants. But you still have the right to decide what you want."
Alankrita looked at her.
Her eyes were already wet.
"I'm scared, Lara."
And then the words came pouring out.
"I'm genuinely scared."
"What if everything changes after marriage?"
"What if he changes?"
"What if the affection he has for Raghuveer disappears?"
"What if he eventually begins seeing him as a responsibility instead of his own?"
She stopped.
Her lips trembled.
"What if my little boy gets attached to him even more, and one day..."
She couldn't finish the sentence.
Sara immediately held her hand.
"Listen to me."
Alankrita looked at her through her tears.
"Look at Raghuveer."
The little boy was trying to stack two blocks together.
He succeeded.
Then he clapped excitedly at his own achievement.
Sara smiled.
"Have you seen how he looks for Arjun?"
Alankrita nodded faintly.
"Have you seen how he runs to him? How he laughs with him? How peacefully he sleeps in his arms?"
"I know\..."
"Then don't dismiss what you've witnessed."
Sara's voice softened.
"That bond wasn't created in a day. He has been choosing Raghuveer every single day."
Alankrita looked away.
"But what about me?"
The question escaped before she could stop it.
For the first time...
She wasn't speaking only as Raghuveer's mother.
She was speaking as a young woman who had spent years longing for affection.
"What if he loves my son but never loves me?"
The question silenced both her friends.
Lara gently squeezed her fingers.
"Alankrita..."
She paused before answering.
"You deserve to be loved too."
Alankrita's eyes filled again.
"You don't have to spend your entire life being strong. You don't always have to be the person who gives everything and expects nothing."
Sara nodded.
"And perhaps this is an opportunity to have someone beside you. Someone who will share your responsibilities instead of leaving you to carry everything alone."
Alankrita looked toward Raghuveer.
Her son was now crawling toward a fallen block.
He picked it up and proudly held it above his head.
She smiled through her tears.
"He needs a father."
Sara nodded.
"And you deserve a partner."
That evening, Alankrita sat alone near the bedroom window.
The Tuscan sky was slowly turning dark.
She could hear distant laughter from the garden.
Somewhere downstairs, Raghuveer was playing with Damiano.
His delighted giggles travelled through the open windows.
She closed her eyes.
She remembered the first time she had seen Damiano.
The celebrated chef.
The confident man.
The man whose words had once wounded her more deeply than he could imagine.
Then she remembered the conference.
His regret.
His changed expression.
The way he had held Raghuveer.
The way he had kissed his little cheeks.
And finally...
His declaration at dinner.
I love Raghuveer. He is my world.
She placed a hand over her heart.
What frightened her most wasn't the possibility of becoming his wife.
It was the possibility of believing him.
Of allowing herself to hope.
Of letting her son love him without fear.
And then losing everything.
She looked toward the little boy sleeping peacefully on the bed.
For years, she had made every decision with one question in mind:
What is best for Raghuveer?
And now\...
That same question stood before her once again.
She didn't know whether she was ready to become a wife.
She didn't know whether she could trust Damiano with her heart.
But she knew one thing.
She could never knowingly deny her son the love he had already found.
Her heart was caught between hope and fear.
And somewhere beneath both...
A quiet, painful longing waited.
End of Chapter 146 
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