Ineffable

45 | GIVE THE MA A HUG

"Oh, don't worry. I told her that you are at my place." Adi waves it off.

I tilt my head and smile. "Best friends are a rare breed and you are the best of best friends—okay, I will go and change."

After a long pause from his side, Adi calls out as I go towards the locker room, "Whoa, whoa. You can't just say that and whoosh away!"

Looking at him, I say, "I can and I will."

***

I always have loved the warmth of Adi's place. To be honest, the whole place feels like a warm hug from your mother after a long day and Adi's mum's hugs are always one of the best.

"There's my second son!" She greets me with a big smile when she opens the door.

I give her a small smile. "Hello, Chitti."

Adi snickers, behind me.

Of course, I can call her by her name but she asked me to call her 'Chitti', meaning 'mother's younger sister' in Tamil. But when Adi heard this, he couldn't stop laughing—something about a robot.

"You know, I was just on call wit—" Chitti looks at my face and then, my hands. "What happened?"

The left side of my face is still red by the impact of the bag. The knuckles of my hands are bandaged with dinosaur bandages because the supermarket didn't have any normal ones—well, that's what Adi said to me. But I have cleaned myself up, nevertheless; fresh grey tank top and black track pants with my white Jordans.

Adi pushes me to the side with two bags of groceries and replies to Chitti, "Anger happened."

The idiot gets out his shoes by throwing them towards the shoe cabinet. Chitti rolls her eyes at him and gives me a pointed look.

I hold up my hands. "I am good—it just some wounds that's it."

"That's what you always say." Chitti gives me a look. "What are you waiting for? Give the Ma a hug."

And I do.

She pulls away and makes a face. "You look so thin—why?" I just shrug in reply and she groans, impatiently. "Of course, it is one of your moods. It is only a wonder how Iris handles you both."

I freeze when she says her name while Adi peeks into the hallway, looking at me, concerned. I haven't really told Adi about the conversation that went down in Bella's room but he certainly knows something happened. Knowing me, he hasn't pushed the topic and I am grateful for that.

I know what Bella meant that day—I know but I do not know shit about being happy. Sure, I have started to smile and do shit I haven't done for a long time but being happy isn't something I can achieve so easily. Especially when I know I was most happy with her.

But I know where I stand with her, right now—that is fucking miles apart.

Chitti, of course, notices the mood change in both of us. "Okay, you know what? You are gonna eat like eat eat today."

"Chitti, I just—"

"Yeah, yeah. Just came from the gym and everything. I don't care. You are eating whatever I put on your plate." She, then, turns to Adi. "Also, Chiku, get some medicines. The kid sure can't eat with those bruised hands."

I look up at the ceiling. "Chitti—"

"Aye, aye, captain!" Adi salutes, ignoring my protests.

Chitti hums. "Captain Saraswathi. Hmm. I like it."