Originally posted by: LooneyLuna
Time for thread two??
N dan filling dis thread wif PJs dun 👏
I am so sorry for being unable to respond to your comments on the last update.I loved all of them and believe me I did want to reply... but Asli Duniya was doing a Daiyya Ho on me. I promise I will reply to them this time 😊 Thank you all so much for being with this story. 🤗
Banner Credit:Vee
Chapter 12
"My boss is a dinosaur. No, a fossil. Yes, that's what he is. A fossil. And why are you working? You're supposed to be resting! Weren't you supposed to start work tomorrow? This is the worst weekend ever. My boss is a fossil who refuses to give up his stethoscope, Maa is angry because I skipped dinner and decided to work, I didn't get any sleep last night and now my boyfriend is hell bent on being sick. What is wrong with the world!" she blasted as soon as she entered the room and plonked down on the bed once she ended her diatribe. She didn't quite appreciate the goofy look on her boyfriend's face, and bit out "What? What is so funny about all this? I am having a perfectly miserable weekend and you're happy?"
Aakash was unperturbed and a hint of a smile adorned his lips. He closed to the door behind him and walked the bed; sitting down next to Payal, "Turn around" he said softly. She looked at him questioningly for a second, but the calm look on his face made her swallow whatever she had to say and just follow whatever he asked of her. Shse turned around and made herself comfortable on the bed, her legs tucked under her. She felt his hands on her shoulders, his grip firm as he slowly kneaded her sore muscles. His fingers moved from her neck all the way to the base of her spine, making her feel light and relaxed in moments. She wanted to thank him, she wanted to say something, anything...but found herself unable to phrase a sentence even, as she became a putty in his hands. Only when she heard him chuckling did she realise she had been moaning softly all the while, and refused to turn around lest he see her flushed face. She felt him stop, but the next moment he had his hands wrapped around her waist. Pulling her closer, "Feel better now?" he whispered in her ear, his chin resting on her shoulder. There was no teasing glint in his voice. "Hmmm.." was all she could say as she placed her arms atop his.
"I am perfectly fine now, by the way. And.. you said I was your boyfriend" he spoke softly and kissed the side of her neck.
"Huh?" she tilted her head to look at his face, her brows furrowed.
"You said I was your boyfriend. Sometime back, when you were ranting. It's the first time you've said it" he added the last bit as an afterthought.
She was tempted to be flippant, to deny its significance. But for some reason unfathomable to her, she chose not to. "Yes, I did. I also told you I loved you." she stated simply. He noticed the creases on her forehead had eased away now.
"Err.. No you didn't. An text message is all I got. And that was last night." he said unwrapping his arms from her waist. She turned around and the slight pout on his face almost made her laugh. She resisted the urge to pinch his cheeks.
"So what? I typed it. I sent it. I meant it." she said folding her arms across her chest.
"You enjoy playing hard to get, don't you?"
"What do you mean 'playing hard to get'? I AM hard to get. You have no idea how lucky you are to have me in your life." jutting her chin out.
"You're right. I have Rani of Jhansi and Kali Maa come together in my girlfriend, I am lucky indeed."
Her eyes now wide as saucers, this was an image he wanted to keep in his memory forever. It wasn't often that he thought of his beloved as cute. This was quite the spectacle.
"How can you - why are you looking at me like that ?" she asked, now positively miffed.
"Nothing" he shook his head. He didn't want to invoke Maa Kaali's spirit in her by letting her know he thought she looked cute.
"Uuurgh, I feel so tired, I don't even have the will to push you to tell me what you were thinking." she said with a sigh and laid down flat on her back on the bed.
He laid down next to her on his side, facing her he said, "Go on, I'm listening."
"My real boss is on leave to be with his grandkids. And my temporary boss is a royal pain in the ass. And did I mention he is a fossil?"
"As a matter of fact, you did."
"So yeah. He is like a man from the sixteenth century who was put on a time machine and sent here to annoy us. You know old school and out dated are two very different things. What makes is worse is that he is a kind man, I can't even get myself to hate the dinosaur." she hissed.
"You're making total sense. Go on."
"So yeah, I came home after a long day, but sleep eluded me. More like sleep gave me the middle finger. And then in the morning mom starts complaining about how I chose to work on a weekend when I know she likes spending weekends with us. I thought I'd go for a jog with Khushi, but that girl vanished early in the morning.. It seems she has gone to meet some long lost friend.. I don't know." she finished and turned around to face him, resting her head on her palm.
"Oh, you should have told me, Payal. Is Aunty mad at you for coming here.. You were away last evening too?"
"No, no... we don't stretch our little arguments. This is not your TV soap, you know." she teased. "Anyway, the Raizada boys are Maa's babies. In fact she wanted to come here herself to see you, I convinced her not to. I saw the look she gave me when I left. She and Khushi will have a field day once I get home."
"I'm sure they are quite polite. You have no idea the kick Arnav gets out of pulling my leg. He can be pure evil, you know." he said seriously.
Arnav's mention took her back to the conversation she had with Khushi the previous night. She contemplated once more, whether or not it would be a good idea to have Aakash help Arnav deal with his insecurities, but decided against it. She was no one to come in between the equation between the two siblings, and Arnav wouldn't appreciate her involvement in his personal matters. She hoped he would find his peace soon.
"Did you just zone out?" exclaimed Aakash. "I thought that was a Khushi-thing."
"It is a Khushi-thing. I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"About how come the Raizada house is empty on a Sunday?" she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.
"Nani has gone to visit Di. And Arnav said he has some work to get done. He has been working like a maniac the last few days... I have never seen him like this before."
She felt an immediate impulse to defend him. "He has always worked hard, Aakash. Only he doesn't talk about it or wear it on his sleeve." she said sharply.
He appeared shocked for a moment, but recovered quickly. "Err.. that is true, Payal. I'm just trying to say that he seems unusually tensed."
"I'm sure he'll handle it." she said confidently.
"What is with you today? No snide remarks, no sarcastic comments? You are actually admitting you have faith in someone besides Khushi. I think I'm jealous!." he said scrunching his nose.
Did he know she found him adorable when he did that, she wondered. "Oh I think I can help with that" she said saucily and turned around; she was lying on top of him now, her hands around his neck, her chin resting on his chest. Giving him a dazzling smile, she leaned in to kiss him. One hand weaving through her hair, he deepened the kiss, relishing how right it felt when she was in his arms.
"Please defend more people in future, Payal. Make me jealous, will you? The perks that come with it are mind blowing, I must say." he smirked as he held her close to him after they reluctantly broke the kiss.
In response, she placed a kiss right on top of his heart over his shirt and hugged him tightly.
"I love you, Aakash." she said, looking right into his eyes. "You make me happy."
She had wanted to wait for a special moment to tell him what she felt for him. She had worn a displeased frown on her face when she had entered his room sometime back, and now she couldn't feel a trace of that unpleasantness. All she wanted to do was smile and kiss him senseless. She felt happy. Every moment with him was a special.
Aakash had imagined a number of ways in which he would tell her what her words meant to him, whenever she spoke them. He realised now that nothing could have prepared him for this moment; he could never express in words or in actions the sense of joy and peace that he felt at that point. He just looked at her, too overwhelmed to even smile at her confession. Not that he needed to, for she saw in his eyes the simple truth of her life. Or their life. They were in love.
-----
She checked her appearance one more time in the rather dusty mirror of the elevator. Schooled her expressions again, lest they gave her excitement away. The restlessness, the nervousness. And a little bit of guilt. She wished she could call Arnav, sharing this with someone would make it easier for her to stay calm. Her mother was perceptive woman, nothing could miss her eye. But he was busy with something a lot more important, and she didn't want to disturb him. Stepping out of the elevator she rang the doorbell to her house, crossing and uncrossing her fingers urgently. "Hello Maa" she smiled as soon as Garima opened the door.
After she freshened up, she joined her mother in the balcony as she waited for her with two steaming cups of tea. It was a fine day, she thought.
"Looks like you had a good time with your friend. You look so happy." remarked Garima.
Damn. Was it that obvious? What had she done that gave it away ?
"I'm your mother, Khushi. Give me some credit, will you?" said Garima casually, then chuckled at the shocked expression on Khushi's face. "You have very expressive eyes, my dear." she added. "Won't you tell me whats made you so happy? I can't remember the last time you looked this radiant. Who was this friend you met this morning? "
She didn't want to look at her mother now, she knew the kindness and love she would find in her eyes would be her undoing. And then the guilt would take over her excitement. She had never kept anything from her mother, this was going to be very difficult. So she tried to focus on the tea cup in her hand, gently blowing on it to cool the tea a tad bit. She had to answer her mother, but that meant she would have to lie. She hated that.
"Khushi!" her mother asked excitedly.
"Nothing much Amma. Just one of my friends from school." This was a million times worse than she had imagined. She hated herself, she hated the world. How had it come to this?
"Which friend? Do I know her? She must have been a very good friend to have made you so happy." she smiled.
"Errmm, you remember Meghna ?" A lie to cover a lie. This was awful.
"Meghna? The one who used to play basketball?"
She nodded in response, she really didn't want to talk.
"I thought she was studying in the United States? Or was that somebody else?"
"No Maa, you're right. She has a break so she is visiting home." Another lie. How many more of these would she have to make up? This was pathetic; she felt like a school girl who was trying to hide the stolen candies.
"Oh okay. I didn't think you two were close friends, you were always with Arnav or with that other girl... what was her name? Harini. Yes. But its good to catch up with old friends, isn't it ?"
"Yes its... its lovely." she said in a low voice.
"What is this, Khushi? Friend makes you happy and Maa makes you sad, is it? Look at you, one minute you are dazzling and now you look like you are at a funeral. Is my tea that bad?" teased Garima.
She couldn't handle this much longer. She needed to get away.
"Nothing of that sort Maa, I'm just sleepy I guess. I slept late last night and woke up early, right?" It wasn't entirely untrue.
"Oh, of course. How could I forget what a sleep hog my daughter is?" she teased. "Go get some sleep, I'll make some lunch for you. That reminds me, did you two have breakfast? I saved some poha for you, just in case..."
"No Amma, I'm fine." she said with some effort. All she wanted to do now was cry, she had never hated herself more than she did at this moment. She had every reason to be happy, yet she wasn't. How could she be ? Or was she being foolish? Everybody lies to their parents at some point; it wasn't a sin, was it? And she planned to tell them when the time was right. She was overreacting. Yes, that was it. But this was frustrating. If her mother could read her face so easily, couldn't she tell she was lying? Oh God ! She must know her daughter is lying to her. She looked up and saw her mother then, the understanding smile on her mother's face did not hide the disappointment in her eyes. Why wasn't she asking for an explanation? Why wasn't she demanding answers? Was she so hurt? She tried to say something, but the words refused to come out. A soft "Amma" was all she could manage.
"Its okay, Khushi." she sighed. "There must be a reason you are not telling me whatever it is that's in your mind. I'm sure you'll tell me when you're ready. Take your time beta, I'll wait. I trust you."
I trust you? Why did she have to say that? The tears she didn't realise had formed at the back of her eyes flowed freely now. She didn't know was being idealistic or foolish or right or wrong. It wasn't supposed to be this hard. Then what was this all consuming pain she was feeling? She couldn't do this. Who was she kidding ?
She took a deep breath. She'd rather deal with the repercussions of revealing that truth than the burden of having lied about something so important to her own mother. "I.. I met with a publisher this morning." she said clearly.
If Garima was surprised, she didn't show it. She gave her daughter a look a silent acknowledgement, encouraging her to continue. She wouldn't say anything till she knew everything. She saw her daughter pulling out a chair from the dining table and sitting down, clearly using that time to gather her thoughts.
"My colleague, Vighnesh ?" she said, looking down at her palms. "His cousin owns a small publishing firm based out of Pune. He said he would introduce me to him whenever he was in town. He was here this morning, but only for a few hours since he had to catch a flight. Vighnesh called me and asked if I would be willing to meet him. I.. I didn't really think through at the time, Maa. I just jumped at it." she tried to explain.
Garima sat down on the chair next to Khushi's. "So, how did it go?" she asked.
"It went really well, Amma. He said I should send my manuscript across. I told him I'd send it soon. And he said he'd get back to me once he is back in town."
"Soon? You didn't take a copy with you? You completed your story almost six months back, isn't it ?"
"It is... and I did take it with me. But, I'm still not fully confident about it, Maa. I have wanted to rework parts of it but I haven't had the time to. I.. don't want to send him something I myself am uncertain about." she still wouldn't look at Garima.
"I don't know what you're talking about Khushi. I have read it and I thought it was perfect. And no, I am not saying this because I am your mother. And I thought you were also very happy with it. What is this Khushi? Are you... are you doubting yourself?" her timbre soft and tender.
This time she did look up, allowing her mother to look into her eyes and understand what she was unable to admit in words. She was scared, she was nervous, she was unsure. Garima raised her arm to hold Khushi's hands tightly in her own and said firmly, "I don't mind that you are doing something your father in all probability may disapprove. You know why? Because I know my daughter is a fighter and I want you to fight for what you believe is right. And what is this I see, Khushi? This isn't you! What is it that has gotten into you? You know your father has never questioned your talent... His reasons were very different." she tried her best to stay calm. But to see the tigress that was her daughter in this state frightened her more than she cared to admit.
"Its.. Its not that." She didn't want to disclose what she didn't even want to admit to herself. She wanted Arnav's approval. She wanted to see him wear a full blown proud smile on his face after reading it. She needed to push herself, just a little bit more.
"I'm just buying some time, Maa" she gave her mother a reassuring glance. "I haven't been through it in months... just want to give it a last few finishing touches before sending it out. This guy is a real publisher, you know. It was so exciting to finally meet one." she smiled, genuinely excited about the prospects.
She wasn't sure if her mother bought her explanation, nevertheless she allowed herself to be embraced in a light hug.
"Maa?" she questioned after a minute. "Do you think I should tell Papa about this?"
"You tell him when you yourself are convinced about this." replied Garima after a few long moments.
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