There will be others!
He just sat quietly as she worked, 20 minutes into it, shelooked up to realize he was there, she crinkled her eyes to make sense of it
“Uff” she mumbled realizing she was supposed to ask Bua
“Are you here to see Bua? She is sick”
“No actually” he leaned back and crossed one leg overanother
“Oh Harsha Piyush?”
“Umm No”
“OK Let me check on Bua” she went back out
And returned 15 minutes later with a mug of chai forherself and him
“I made chai” she said politely
He didn’t drink much chai, she set it in front of him
“It’s the day off for the help”
“OK”
“Bua said Harsha is at the GK store, Piyush is at the Pitampura store, Fa is inBelgium”
“I know” he said
“Oh so you knew they were not at home?”
“Yeah Piyush is on his way”
“OK fine… sorry” she shrugged and rubbed her foreheaddistractedly
As if she had better things to do than banter with him
She went back to working… her laptop played someundetectable instrumental music
She frequently looked out the window he noticed
“how is your sister?” he goaded
“She is great” “she is at work” she nodded
“Is she?” he mocked
“Unless you know better and she is with Inder” she smiledaccepting Naina’s stupidity
“Umm.. I don’t know… she was.. there I am going to say theday before”
“OK” she nodded
She just kept working, unaffected by him
“Did she say Inder is serious?”
“I haven’t asked”
“You don’t have any curiosity?”
“Not as much as you” she smiled and then pulled out her TI 80 calculator and punched in something
“Inder is leaving BTW”
“Great… safe travels” she nodded
“U should tell your sister”
“I am sure she knows” she smiled
“Good” he nodded “there will be others I am sure” he couldn’tstop himself from taking the dig, that middle class vultures manage to findsome prey sooner or later
Bua texted since the room was far far away
She got up and left
Bua told her Piyush was on his way and he had texted shetold him “the man already knew”
“Piyush ko kehna…”
Bua gave her a bunch of instructions as she tied a dupattaon her forehead
“U should go to the Doc Bua”
“Jeejee aa rahin hain chali jaaoongi”
“Main khichri bana doon?”
“Naa beta… tu padh le” she grabbed her chin fondly andsmiled
“Usne to chun liya apne liye, tub hi chun leti”
Viveka realized Bua was talking about Naina
She cringed
This is exactly what her mother feared
“Friend hai Bua”
“haan haan jo bhi hai”
“Mujhe apni applications prep karni hai Bua”
“Kyon ja rahi hai Kharagpur Bhayya ka dil tootega… baaqisab se pyaar hai par tujhse to” Savita beamed
“Highly selective hai bua, program”
“Jo bhi hoo… mere palle kuch nahi pada”
She heard voices outside
Piyush had returned
“Kaisi hain Ma?” he asked
“She is going to take a nap”
Piyush playfully pulled the pencil out of her hair
“DON’T DO THAT” Viveka ordered
“Banaya kar baal”
“OK aunty”
They had a slapping match as he pulled the pencil out each time shetucked it in her joora… they annoyed each other 5 times and he went in
She tied her hair and her phone rang,
It was Abhishek
“OK sorry sorry sorry… I had to wait for my cousin to comehome” she giggled
She wandered the room and chatted by the glass slidingdoors
Piyush and Raanav were deep in conversation with some open manilafolders
“Arey yeh forms 10 baar bhej chuke hain Dad”
Viveka chuckled
Her mother hated the “Dad” word
She mocked it saying it was from a “special wealth category”
“Bua’s kids belonged in that” her mind voice confirmed
“See you in 2 hours”she promised Abhishek, go home change and drive back
She packed up noisily
“Ja kidhar rahi hai”
“My friend’s house”
“Kiske ghar?” “Mansi ya Rhea?” he asked proprietorially
“Oh wow!” she laughed at his prying
“Bhai hoon poochhoonga nahi?” Piyush flexed
“It’s a friend… he is leaving for the states for his commencement…Bye bolne ja rahi hoon”
“IN kapdon mein?” he demanded
“Shut up” Viveka shook her head dismissively
“Tayar hokar ja BF se milne ja rahi hai” he mocked
“I am GOING TO” she promised
Raanav watched her leave with all her things
She didn’t say goodbye
99