Sparkle in a Speck - Page 96

One thing is very clear. He will always stand up for her and look out for her.

Joined in a Family

Suhasini has never hated Punky. She doesn't really hate Indy either but not about to tell him that.

Finally we see signs of happiness in him. He is smiling more and doing more with the family.

Fair Trade agreement

Dude is irritated that the stars have to be consulted first before anything can happen.

Punky is missing her family already. Hard to leave them all behind after a lifetime with them.

Kunal will come to terms with this in time. Will Suhasini start to like Indy? Thats a tall order right now.

Whew. Finally all caught up. I missed out on so many chapters. A month's worth.

86,400 seconds

“Did YOU really take the month off?” she mumbled as she helped the maid clean the kitchen

Everyone was gone, they were left alone as Suhasini had promised

“I could take as much time off as I want…. I don’t own the bank.. but Ive not taken a day off for a while”

He quickly dodged eye contact

She realized, it must be from the time his wedding was called off

“So… umm… does everyone… I mean are all your friends happy?”

She truly wanted to ask “Does Mithila know you are now married?”

“IS SHE MARRIED NOW?”

“Umm.. I don’t know, I didn’t ask”

He played with the clean spoons,

“Indraneel” she whispered grabbing them

The maid paused turned off the faucet and giggled

“Agobai…. Your husband likes to be in the kitchen” she laughed in disbelief

“I don’t know” she muttered

“Bhai too loves it, when Baba is not home” Indraneel explained to her “Did u forget”

“But you hate the kitchen and your vahini na”

“Well nothing has changed there is something here I want so I am here”

The maid turned bright red, about to implode

“You go give your husband what he wants” she instructed Punky

She had spent some time crying in the balcony

Ajji had sounded sad

She loved Punky

The Pra siblings were not chatty or much close to Ajji, though it might seem like they would be, since they lost both parents much younger than Punky did

“Do you want to go home?” Indraneel leaned on the rail arms across the chest staring at her intently

“I will, Ajji said there are some rituals

“Ah”

“You can be here” she told him quietly

“Is that how it will be” he mocked her gently

“I don’t know if you would want to be at my place”

“I agree… we are only married right?” he laughed again

“We both know how it is”

“How IS IT?” he asked seriously

“We still have to figure each other out, and trust each other, at this time we are Tinder dates on a longish relationship called marriage”

“Ah”

“You agreed to marry me after swearing you will never… since you are too heart broken”

“I never said heart broken” he growled

“Then whatever it was”

“I didn’t care to be dumped at the altar”

“Well… OK you agreed to marry me after “not caring for how the earlier alliance ended”

“So I cannot be trusted to have a mature relationship?”

She didn’t answer as she spotted the maid turning on the fan in his bedroom to start mopping

“You should walk away before Baba starts believing everything is for real”

“Oh like its REAL for you?” she questioned choking up

“I showed up didn’t I?” he glared at her “I showed up and got married… don’t know about you Pankaja Vyas You seem to have commitment issues”

The maid stepped into the balcony to mop

“Bhabhi always moves all the chairs, should I?” she asked

Pankaja did

Now back in the kitchen….

“Pick a place and hand me your passport so we can get the visas”

“I am fine with Ibiza”

“Oh the sacrificing woman” he muttered

“Ive never been to Europe unlike you, so its fine”

He poured out the tea as it began to rain

“How long can you be gone before you have to go back and see your Ajji?”

He was being considerate

“I don’t know, two weeks? Ive never been married before” she smiled

He looked intently

“Are you thinking its funny?” he growled

“You don’t think so?”

“Not after what you said in the balcony”

The maid left them alone around 11 AM

She began to unpack

He was taking a work call in the living room

In between two calls she walked over to him and bent her head down and mumbled

“Can I say I am sorry?”

“Are you asking me?” he questioned

“I fought with you… so… yeah” “Unless you want a public apology”

“No… just this will do” he stretched out on the sofa and put his feet up on the coffee table since Suhasini was not home

His lips twitched

“Yeah… NOW” he muttered

“I said sorry already” she dodged

He grabbed her wrist and yanked her on to his form

She was wearing a henna color outfit with no dupatta, the dupatta was in pink that was shed soon after the family had left

She squirmed trying to fall off the couch… he gently pulled her back into his arms

“NOW “ he whispered

Her head was placed on the armrest and her body pinned underneath his

“Now” he whispered again

“Indraneel…”

“I could listen to you call out my name all day” he groaned

“Why don’t I record it, and sent it over just play it in a loop” 1.5 second audo played 24 hours…86,500 SECONDS

He was being goaded “Oh yay Math teacher” he scoffed

He closed his mouth with hers

Their first kiss in this apartment as married couple

Go give your husband what he wants. Oh how many ways we can twist the meaning of these words.

He always had commitment issues but he showed up. Now she is the one who is not sure of where this is going.