Markers
“I am sure Rakshit is not completely out yet… yeah? Yeah? What beta?” Smrita tried to coax a response out of the guy as best as she could
But he let his wife’s answer hold
Lekha had plans for everything
Raanav and Viveka had plans for nothing. They did not know if they were going to be married a year from this day
From the outside Satyen could not tell a thing. For the third game Satyen pretended to go walk around to wake up his sleeping foot and Raanav was asked to sit by Viveka
She smiled and scooted making room for him
Dinner was served right there, as Rumi and Smrita talked about the list of places they wanted to visit next year
“I don’t like Japanese food… maine yeh zyaada kabhi khayi nahi” she told Mahesh politely
“You don’t know what you are missing out” lekha promised shoving a sushi into Rakshit’s open mouth
“Then I am good, if I don’t know then I am fine” Viveka laughed
“I cant make sense of most of your jokes” Lekha rolled her eyes
“She is so well educated she probably speaks at a frequency none of us can get” Rakshit smiled cheerfully
“Oh no… not at all” Viveka laughed
“Her husband must get her jokes” Mr Tandon interjected
“Only when she is laughing at me” Raanav admitted slyly
“I would never laugh at you haan baby? My shonooo” Lekha kissed Rakshit playfully
Raanav and Viveka exchanged a look and turned to their plates
“You can be excused” Satryen laughed pointed to the hallway, asking them to leave
“Good to know we have your permission” raanav raised his glass in toast
“I surprised you two lasted this long”
“Kyon?” Viveka was shocked
“Who IS liye, Rakshit to gaye nahi lunch par, aap dono saara din ek doosre se baat nahi kar paaye”
“I agree their apartment was full of people” Smrita remembered to inject her sarcasm
“Smri “I” meant these two have talked less than 10 minutes al day” “jao bhai so jao”
“I am tired” Viveka smiled and nodded
Raanav stayed on to play and returned an hour later, she had eaten in the room and showered and fast asleep
She looked relieved he noticed, not stiff, a change from how she had slept the last 3 nights
He sat in bed and gazed at how stinkin cute she was, still wearing her glasses, an open purple highlighter in one hand and a spiral bound article in half tucked under his pillow and sheets of pages open unevenly
He gently pulled everything out, and left her glasses on until he came to bed
When he shut out the lights, he reached and offered softly
“Umm.. time for these to go” he whispered
She stirred opened her eyes curiously and lay back down, and let him remove them
“can you put it on my side?” she enquired huskily
I have to finish reading that article” she explained
He leaned over and placed it on her nightstand
“Kitna jeete tum?” she asked forgetting their standoff as she was half asleep
“Too much” he muttered softly
And settled down by her pulling the covers over them
He felt her anklet rub against his ankle. It reminded him how soft and feminine she was.
They had such a complicated relationship… he lay away staring out at the bejeweled lawn wondering how would it have been if they were like Rakshit and Lekha
Agreeing on everything and displaying so much PDA all the time
She woke early and tidied up the mess of papers and books in her corner
She was gone before he was up, he checked with Rathiji to make sure she hadn’t taken public transport
“Jee sir… main lekar ja raha hoon” Rathi responded as Viveka sat in the back reading
“Kahan ja rahin hain”
“Baat karwaoon sir… ek second”
Rathi handed Viveka the phone
“Sir ka hai Ma’am
“Umm.. hello?”
“JNU?” he asked simply
“Haan… tumhe gaadi chahiye thi?”
“NO” he said bluntly
“Umm”
She wanted to say “I don’t suspect you have low EQ, I watch you take care of your Dad”
But she didn’t
He is probably going to think I am kissing up
“Are you going to Singapore tonight?”
“I wont know until later” he said
“Oh”
“Baat kar lo Ma’am” Main gaane sun raha hoon” Rathiji pulled out a ear bud
“Nahi ho gaya” she smiled shaking her head
“Umm bye” she told Raanav
He hung up
She handed Mr Rathi’s phone back to him and stared out the window
She thought about Rakshit and Lekha… “How easy and smooth it seems between them”
“they married for love… so of course” she muttered
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