Pro G Max
There were 10s of pictures of that evening on Naina's phone, 100s she had additionally received over text
In many Inder and Naina were staring at each other moony eyed…. There were giggling videos drinking and general good times
“Hmm” Viveka groaned
“Tumhe kuch kaha usne?”
“Nahi ma”
“Abhi who banda apni Mom ko keh raha hai iska yeh matlab hai he wants a life with Naina?”
“I don’t know” Viveka felt a knot in the pit of her stomach
All the conversations she had had with Raanav on the topic came back to her in waves
“Not every middle class girl has her binoculars trained on a wealthy man in the room”
“Wealthy men are not as attractive as you have been made to believe”
“Its OK if you overestimate yourself, but being heterosexual underestimating someone of the opposite gender reduces your marketability”
“I invite you to tour Delhi so you can see for yourself the number of eligible men in officess and businesses, I doubt my sister or I need men to fly down from London and offer themselves”
NOW she was married to one of them and her sister had secretly married another one
She felt waves of anger disgust and pain
“Tum baat karogi Inder se?”
“He does not know my mother in law told me about his childish dipsh—behavior”
“Tell her you are going to talk to him then”
“Why cant Naina do it?”
“she insists she has broken up with him and will not talk to him”
Viveka rolled her eyes as she poured out the hot chocolate
“I am just hoping it never gets to Bua
“I am also hoping IIT reverses its decision and admits me”
“This is so much unnecessary drama”
Viveka nodded setting up a tray
“Raanav se baat ki?”
“Umm.. nahi he is out at a team building event with the interns at Nasik”
“Usko to pata hi hoga?”
“Nahi jaanti Maaa” Viveka was a bit irritated
“Sorryyyy” Anu was upset too
“raanav jo bhi sochega uski mujhe chinta nahi” she said bitterly
“TUMHE kya hua?” Anu whispered pulling her arm urging her to stop right outside Viveka’s door
“Kuch bhi nahi”
“Did he ridicule you?”
“No…. not yet”
“Kya kiya hai is ladki ne” Anu groaned
“Don’t worry for me…. I am sure I can take care of my situation”
“You married him ceremonially, legally, fully conscious… you shouldn’t be sacrificing your marriage “
You sound like Naina was asleep” Viveka found her humor
“Soti rehti to hum… soti rehti to main Inder ko phone karke jhaar sakti thi” Anu whispered
They sipped their hot chocolate quietly
None of them knew what the best next step was
Naina lay down beside Viveka
Viveka checked her phone again
Nope… no texts
She left for Parashars the next day, cringing as she walked through the atrium
There was no one at home
There was no expectation of any house work or chores from her
It felt like she was living in a life long luxury resort
Every time she attempted to grow a sense of belonging to the ultra wealthy surroundings something was disrupting it
There was no sign of her MIL anywhere, Lekha pulled her into a random conversation for a half hour when Viveka went back out to the gate to check if Rathiji was around and was returning to her suite walking over the well manicured front lawn
She wanted to go to her NGO office
She showered and took a nap
The day went by….. and then a few more days
Mathurs’ Rohini apartment looked like nobody lived there
Papa dropped Dadu and Dadi off at Bua’s just to clear the mind
Naina was being very polite very dutiful and very quiet
The twins
Were stunned to hear about Naina
Anu advised them not to make a big deal about it
The help came by to tell her the cleaners had lost one of Raanav’s sea green shirt
She texted him hesitantly
“the cleaners might have misplaced your sea green shirt… I am told”
He didn’t respond for a few hours
“ Sorry your Mum probably told you” she told him immediately
“No she did not Viveka Mathur, I don’t stay in the same room as her, so I did not know”
She lost it when she saw the sarcasm
“When you didn’t respond for 5 hours I assumed you had heard”
“No She does not walk through my closet”
She left it at that
The next couple days she was at Parashars going back to Rohini on Friday night
On Thursday having yet another run in with Raanav over some surround sound wiring he had requested for the now defunct music room
The home audio guy gave her the specs for what he had brought and insisted on installing it despite being told by rakshit that it was not the right “density” or “wattage”
Rakshit had stopped by and told Viveka to check with Raanav
“Tumhari pasand ka wattage nahi hai surround sound waale ke paas he said he will install a booster box”
“I had asked him for………” Raanav sent a paragraph
Viveka sent him the image of the brochure, you can talk to him, I can give him my phone, he left his phone at the office”
Raanav sent back another paragraph
“I am going to go take a shower you can chat with him on my phone”
“You want some sound guy to have your phone”
“Its an iphone 8? Not a Pro G max 20 10 Terabyte” she mocked
“You are fine with him texting your pictures to himself?
“Fine… I am going to take a shower I will have him call you when he returns to his office” she conceded with a guilty flush
She went to her parents Friday night knowing fully well he was going to return
On Saturday morning she sat in her parents balcony grating carrots for the season’s last gajar halwa Ma was making
And he showed up at 10 AM promptly….
Book Talk
Anupamaa
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