Chapter 102

Christmas Chatter

“If you keep worrying about what she says, you can never relax” Mendy begged her

“Its not your wife I am sorry if I implied that”

He squeezed her elbow

“I know please aa paise behave nai karo” he warned

Mrunal sighed

“She is not mad at you, she is only upset she couldn’t buy this flat” he growled

“Did she ask Mrs Gomes?” Mrunalini asked naively

“Mrs Gomes usko free mein kaise dega?” “This was too costly for us”

Mrunalini was embarrassed she asked

“I am sorry”

“No Its not ur fault, u are able to afford so u bought, she even likes the Khar flat, that is 200 gaj ka flat”

“Hmm”

“How is Atty and Dhru?”

“Good” she nodded smiling a little

“Atty is like over the moon”

Mrunalini poured out the chai

“Her Mum hates me Mrunalini” Mendy raised a toast to that

“Oh?”

“She wanted her daughter to marry someone like Atty, u know, rich educated, and such”

Mrunalini squirmed

“They are very orthodox, Atty gets into hot water with his father frequently for not living a certain way.”

“Yeah he told me”

“Lynn doesn’t want to go to church on most Sundays we just lay in bed….”

Mendy corrected himself quickly as he spotted the look of loneliness in her eyes

“Matlab we only go to church once every two months, Atty ka Dad usko weekly temple bhejte hai”

Hmm!”

“Not only Atty any other man,  u know”

Mrunalini’s heart broke for Mendy

She knew she would give an arm and a leg for a husband like him, She had spotted him holding up traffic to hand Lynn her cell phone in the cab once, she saw him dry laundry in the terrace, she saw him buying fish, she saw him pick up and drop off Ira and Iris, she had even spotted him washing the stair case some weekends and hose down the windows etc

Caring unselfish and protective

“Main rich to nahi ho sakta I can take good care of her, if she was so desperate she can leave” Mendy said it out loud

Much to Mrunalini’s shock

“Oh why wud u say that?”

“Because I am being stacked up against every guy I went to college with or we go to church with, there are many u know jo Sion Ghatkopar rehta hai that live in one room, hall bhi woi kitchen bhi woi bed bhi woi” Mendy was irritated

“I am sure she loves u”

“Hope mann!”

He was here this evening to invite her to lunch on Sunday at his place, his sister and husband were visiting from Goa and he wanted her to join them

“Does ur sister have kids?”

“Two boys… 14 and 16” “Christmas hai parson, I PROMISE we have not invited ANY one else, bas you, Atty, my sister and one other friend, you will like them”

“Oh?” 

“My nephews They can be Dhru’s friends” Mendy was super naïve too she realized

Dhru didn’t speak with kids his age there was no way he was going to talk to kids 6 years older

“Can I come for a little bit?”

“Nope” he smiled

“I don’t go out much”

“I know that,”

She showed up  around 2 on Christmas, it was late lunch/dinner

Mrunalini bought a bunch of barbie dolls and books and “my little pony” characters (under the condition that it can be exchanged if unopened) and some cakes and cookies from the hotel bakery using one of her coupons

Dhru wanted to stay home alone

They had a big show down 

He thought Ira and Iris were “lame”

She had to give him a nice scolding

He cried and she cried and then both were late

Lynn greeted her politely and intro-ed her to that other friend Reggie and his wife  Emily and then Mendy’s sister, Sharon and her husband Habib

“U work with mendy?” was the first Q

She explained she was just a neighbor that had bought the flat from Ira and Iris’s creche aunty

Lynn made it a point to tell both couples “Wohi flat jo mere ko lena tha”

Awkwardd!!!

There was some Dhru gifts under the tree

Aatreya arrived closer to 3

Mendy hadn’t lied, but there were two other families who were invited in the last minute

Mrunalini was in the girls “bedroom” it was a little bigger than Mrs Gomes’ bathroom she realized

There was 8 kids packed in it like sardines, Ira Iris and 3 other girls lay under a bunk bed playing with pony toys

The teen boys on the bed on their phones

Dhru reading his anime book

Mrunalini on her phone, irritated she didn’t reme,ber to charge it all morning and only had 40% battery left

Lynn went in and out of the kitchen, trying to set up a buffet table in the terrace the men helped with bringing everything up

Mrunalini offered to help which was of course rejected, Sharon Mendy’s sister invited her to help set up the table

She helped out

But Dhru got into a fight with Iris because of her nagging and there was a big chaos in the bedroom so she rushed back down

Mendy checked on her every 5 minutes

Sharon came down to scold her boys and ordered them to protect Dhru

Teens didn’t care… they usually only protected their video games or chicks

One of the new additions to the party or both adds? Were Lynn’s best friends she realized, Lynn walked in the center as her groupies jostled, even after introduction they didn’t linger to chat with Mrunalini

When Mrunalini walked to the kitchen to drop off some fruit drink bottles strewn around the girls’ bedroom afraid it was going to spill and ruin the firefly patterned tile floor

She overheard Lynn saying to her friends

“Do u think he is going to be rude? No way!! He makes SO much money, he could have anyone… he even lived in the US……., he doesn’t have ONE rude bone in his body, he is his Mamma’s boy… his parents are amazing, they will never accept her…. Once he gets the kid he will probably not even look at her”

No names had to be said… nothing more had to be said

Mrunalini walked back to the kids room and hid in a corner by her son