Serials & sweet nothings
“Get up betaaaa” Nidhi Bhushan gently shook Taaruni’s body
“Kya hua, I told you I will go in later Ma” she scowled rolling over, 4th morning after Pradyut’s emergency arrival in town to sort out the legal matter of work stoppage
“Its almost Noon”
Taaruni opened her eyes a crack and peered at her bedside clock
“Its 11:12 AM MA”
“Utho to”
Nidhi sat down exhausted
She sat up
“Harold kidhar hai?”
“Bache le gaye Nanook e ghar”
“I need to get them a puppy” she grumbled
“Tarooo get ready”
“Achhaa… achhha” she tried to get out of the tangled sheets
“Ghar jao beta” Nidhi whispered
“KYON?”
“Umm… pehle brush karo chai peyo batata hoon”
“I am not going today if u woke me by accident I forgive u”
“Pradyut gaya hai yaha se kal raat aaj subah pata nahi kab, apni motorcycle mein, he had a collision” Nidhi paused near the window and tried not to cry
Taaruni’s heart sank
“Kab?” she stood up, trying to be unaffected at the same time
“He didn’t even come here, 2 din pehle gaya, kal aaya? Parson”
“He came 3 days ago” she muttered grumpily.
“haan to, he never visited, bas Tushar ke ghar gaya apni bike li raat ko aur nikal pada”
“Oh” “where is he now?” she asked trying not to care too much
“Sumedhaji ka phone aaya, hospital mein hai”
Taaruni couldn’t help tear up, she rushed to the bathroom and splashed water on her face
She cried a bit, brushed her teeth rinsed her face and stepped out burying face in a towel
“Did she ask me to come? Was she angry at me?” Taaruni was guilty
“WHY will she be mad at you?” Nidhi was sooo naïve
“Bete ne mujhse shaadi ki abhi accident ho gaya” Taaruni spoke haltingly
“U watch too many Ekta Kapoor serial” Nidhi laughed
Taaruni laughed out loud… “I know I deserved that” she nodded her head
“He broke his elbow some more” Nidhi explained
“Haan to theek hai na”
“We don’t know… JUST GO”
“I don’t want to” she mumbled
“Kya matlab?”
She had just told her mother work had stopped she hadn’t told her she ordered it
“I don’t want to go, he will be fine”
“BIKE se gira hai who”
“Haan to mere se poochhkar lee kya bike?” Taaruni was irritated
“Tumne data nahi 6 din pehle jab who Tushar ke saath bike le aaya?”
“Umm… no…” Taaruni blushed hard
“My Mom, tumhari Nani kehti thi, when you bolt the door on the inside at night, first talk about business, baaqi kaam baad mein” Nidhi scolded her
“We don’t have to lock the door to talk business” Taaruni was evasive
“Jab tumhari na suney, usko jo chahiye who mat do” Nidhi broke it down for her
Taaruni turned more red
“Maa… stop”
“Kya kaha maine?”
“I don’t want seduction lessons”
“I am giving u the exact opposite”
“Haa mujhe nahi chahiye… u think he listens to me?” Taaruni demanded
“keh do sar mein dard hai” the famous excuse
“Phir wohi baat… I meant not buying a bike” Taaruni didn’t want to discuss her intimate life with her Mum
“Mujhe laga jab tum late uthi to you must be tired” Nidhi was heart broken, she had been delighted that daughter had consummated the marriage at some point “I want things to be real between u two. I see something, you your self don’t see I guess. Maybe he is not the right guy? Is mushkil se bahar niklo lets hope there is someone out there Tarooo”
Taaruni sighed audibly, groaned and scowled and leaned on the fridge, her mother was making chai
“OK ………….. Okay….. stop…. Will u please stop fine if that’s what u want to know… yes yes… bas, don’t keep asking” “OK Fine I WAS tired…. He kept me up most of the night” she lowered her voice almost inaudible, very shy and embarrassed to admit to her own mother
Nidhi beamed like a flood light
“Nahi poochhongi” she smiled to herself “I knew I was right”
“Itni saari dialog baazi kyon ki aapne phir?”
“why only you can watch Ekta Kapoor shows?”
Taaruni laughed
“Don’t start asking about babies Ma… there will be none. Zero Zilch…. None, your daughter is just using the man”
“TAROOOOO”
“U wanted the dirty details na?”
Nidhi smacked her with her strainer
“There is a flight at 3, go check on him”
“He broke his arm”
Sumedha called immediately
When Nidhi hung up she looked sad
“They have sedated him… JAO taroooo”
Her mother had tried to cheer her up she realized, her anger rose up again, she didn’t want any of this, she was manipulated into marrying him, she wanted her store back, she was planning to go see what Towers Partners were upto today,
Deepak her customer clerk had told her they were trying to build a sky walk from the property next door, he saw a measuring crew next door. “Humne yaha ka work stop order karwa diya waha pe shuru ho gaye ye log”
there was a bunch of shops and hair salons, next door, digging near those doing that was definitely going to weaken The Quill’s foundation more also. Chandigarh business district was densely populated, large scale reconstruction like this was utterly dire for any store owner
she walked through airport security, Sumedha had sent details for a private flight, but she flew commercial
When she arrived in Golf Links around 5 PM, Sumedha took her to the nearest temple, had her wear the choora again and did a special pooja for her, couldn’t stop talking about how the motorcycle had rolled over how he had missed a bus, two blocks from Golf Links on the way home from Chandigarh
“Who asked him to ride a bike home?”
“Nobody beta, please put a stop to his recklessness”
“I am the by product of his recklessness” she muttered sadly looking out the window
“Taara beta, Dad and I love you more than we love him, you are not a mistake”
And brought her to the hospital
Her anger knew no bounds when she saw Pradyut lounging on the bed, weak and beat up, arm in a cast, and some bruises and scratches, but texting on his phone, WIDE AWAKE
“Congrats!?” he taunted when he saw her choora and teeka look
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