The Bargain (SS) - Final Ch. 5 On Page 7

The Bargain

Chapter 1

"If simply by me leaving would mean thatyouwill forgive myBulbulthen I promise I will go away. I will handle my family and yours. Please tell mom that you hold no hard feelings for Bulbul and that mom should forgive her." Abhi did what he was told and mom finally forgave Bulbul. Both mom and Bulbul were hugging and Abhi was looking at me, he held up his end of the bargain and now it's my turn.

Breaking mom and Bulbul apart I got in the middle and hugged them both."I am so glad everything is fine now and I can nowgo out of town and won't have to worry about mom." Right away I had mom, daadi, Poorvi and Bulbul look at me with questioning eyes. I looked at Abhi and he couldn't believewhat he heardand I could see he was trying to suppress his smile. I looked at everyone, "I am so sorry I think I forgot to tell you all. Mom remember I got that letter from College?" Mom remembered but I could tell from her look that she knew what I was about to say and she regretted having that letter sent to me. "Well every year we have our professional development workshops during the summer holidays and I couldn't attend this yearbecause ofmy wedding then ...I can't attend them at my college so I will have to go to Poona." Mom was about to argue but I continued "these workshops are necessary and I have to go out for a few weeks, you know how much I love to teach. I haven't gone back for the longest time so after thethe workshops I am also going to take a refresher class. Abhi's daadi understands and gave her approval so mom please agree?" Mom hesitatingly said ok if daadi says it's ok then she won't argue but she asked what about Abhi, is he going with me?

Abhi was casually eating some grapes at our dining table when I was talking to mom but as soon as he heard what mom said he started to choke. Mom went to Abhi and he cleared his throat and said he's fine. He looked at me "Abhi isn't going but he'll be coming to Poona whenever he can and I will be calling you all." Before mom could say anything Poorvi started teasing saying it's good that at least we'll get privacy there and can spend some quality time. Mom and daadi started smiling but Bulbul knew I was lying and Abhi was rolling his eyes.

We were driving back when Abhi was so happy that he started talking to me. "I am so happy Chashmish! That was excellent and if I hadn't known you were lying then I would have totally believed you. At least you know how to keep your end of the bargain, your mom done and my daadi to go. Yeah finally I am getting my Independence Day. I knew you weren't so innocent as you look, you're too smart and a great actress who loves to fool people." I looked out the window so he couldn't see the tear that was escaping my eye. How can someone be so dumb? I am happy that my transfer came through and finally I will get a break from all this. I will miss my family and this is not what I had ever imagined but I know I can't hide this much longer. I will need to end this but I can't think clearly here. I need to start my life again and move onbut I can't do it here.