Chapter 66

Carrots…

She had no idea life could be so pleasant!

Aatreya was AT school 30 minutes before bell, and the kid got picked up, he was getting fed healthy made from scratch snacks almost everyday, even fried ones

He was severely underweight, so it was shocking to her Jaidrith actually ate the rice/besam pakoras and veggie dips and salads and fresh cut fruits

She wondered how and when Aatreya had been researching this whole allergy diet thing

She secretly read up about sesame allergies and found it was far more dangerous than peanuts, and even though some grew out of peanut allergies they didn’t usually outgrow sesame

She went to his Instagram link which was public anyway, and looked at pictures as far back as she could

She could have not done that

She got in trouble with Debashish Sen soon after for sending some sensitive billing notes hand written by Accounting, along with the guest claims file to the Litigation department

Sen issued a warni ng saying she will be demoted to resolving “Chai mein cheeni kum” type stupid issues

She wondered if she would care

She wouldn’t

She didn’t care for the job anyway

She wanted to sit at home and watch TV and do nothing

She wanted to decorate her flat, go to the market in the evening, cook nice meals and enjoy the Mumbai monsoons without stepping out… ever

She contemplated screwing up BIG…. Soon

Oh I wish I could

She didn’t want to get fired

But that could happen, there were many semi lawyer 20 something that itched to get her job she was told, all for the perks of 10 day stay anywhere the hotel owned resorts, obviously during the height of summer in cities like Jaipur, and monsoon season in Kerala, and two feet of snow in Himachal

She didn’t go anywhere much

She was too afraid of Jaidrith having an allergy episode in a small town and having to explain to a local ill equipped Doc or hospital

He wanted to be left alone staring down from the 10th floor of the Bandra apartment too

He wanted a puppy, but she hated dogs (well she wanted one when she was little, she was told by her mother “There is one already in the house” for Sagar!) Now Falguni, Vipul and Annika had TWO she learned

Thinking of her mother, made her want to check her insta  with eyes half closed to see if Falguni was pregnant again at 53? Anything was possible

At least she was getting it…. Mrunal thought, becoming sick to her stomach

Mrunalini was told by everyone how gorgeous she looked while pregnant

Falguni made sure she was never out in the large penthouse living room when they had company

If she met acquaintances in high end malls, she pointedly reminded them how she herself used to look before she was pregnant with Mrunalini, and how pregnancy “ruined” her mind body and soul.

She would make it a point to narrate such encounters at dinner

One of the many reasons why Mrunalini moved out in desperation when she had Jaidrith

“He can be quite the handful” Aatreya texted her a picture one afternoon  around 5 ish while she was at work

Jaidrith had arranged his dosa in the shape of a spider and had not eaten even one bite

“You let him do that so… yeah” she texted

“He is just having fun”

“Yeah soon he will tip it over and walk away”

“That is his second Mrunalini”

“He ate one already?” she asked in shock

He would give her the royal run around if she made him eat dosa for after school snack

As it is she would only pick him up around 7 most days so dinner was after 9 PM

“What is he drinking over there?” she asked nosily

“Mango kesar soy shake”

She felt a pang of hunger though she wanted to vomit after she tasted soy milk

“He drank almost all of it?” she asked grudgingly

“Looks like it”

“OK”

“What does ur “OK” mean?” he teased

“I don’t know… don’t you Americans say, “Sure thing!” she reparteed

He laughed

She noticed women’s feet in the photo

“You have company, I can come soon”

“It’s just shy!”

“Hope she didn’t take the picture”

“She did… actually”

Mrunal left work, and was at his door step in an hour

Shy was not to be seen

Jaidrith opened the door with a glass of what seemed like watermelon juice and an anime book

She knew she looked beat in her stupid work saree, that had seen better days, the flat smelled like coriander toasted coconut and cumin

Aatreya mouthed something she couldn’t hear over the whirring of blender blades in the kitchen

He caught her disapproving stare and winked, giving her a thumbs up

“Oh great! He feeds him 5 things and juices watermelon and makes a from scratch dinner, JUST take the goddamn kid already” she muttered in Marathi

“You know u are a con artist” THAT part the blender went silent

Thank fully in Marathi

“What did he do?”

Atreya approached her taking off his  sickeningly cute apron

“What did she just say?” he asked his son

“I am a fraud” he said carelessly

He had heard his mother mouth those words plenty of times in the last two months

“What did you do?”

“About YOU” he said looking at Aatreya and went back into his book

DHRUUUU” she scowled

“Oh I see” he approached her, chewing noisily on a thick long slice of carrot he had just dipped into something

She attempted to walk to the dining table to grab his neatly packed, home work bag, school back pack, lunch water bottle

She on the other hand was flying in and out of her Chembur flat 12 times each morning

She stepped over some miniature skateboard laying on the rug and swerved

She gasped when her hips were suddenly clamped by a pair of toasty hands, she stiffened and arched, he effortlessly lifted her away from the toy and planted her by the wall running along the dining room, the tip of the cold edge of the carrot brushing against her waist

“Hurry to leave?” he looked revoltingly fit, his arms and legs a darker shade than the neck, he wore tan knee length shorts a white U neck vest like he always did and a powder blue check cotton full sleeve shirt unbuttoned three down

“You can show off ur cooking skills some other time” she responded trying not to lose her cool

“I”

“No don’t tell me, something rare and authentic” she flashed a humorless smile

No just carrot” he said openly laughing at her, as he bit into it with a giant crrrunch

She assumed his mouth was probably warm firm and satiny as it licked off the remnant of the dip off his lips