Circle of Trust

Chapter 35

Naina shrugged. "Definitely worth more than that!" she parried, gesturing to the lone note on the wooden table.

"There's more," he said softly, opening his wallet to show a bunch of crisp one-rupee notes nestling inside the brown leather.

Naina's eyes moistened and rose to meet Shiv's curious ones. She slid the note towards him and shook her head.

"Ma will be back from the restroom anytime now," she said looking around her; her brows knit together in obvious distress.

"She means well," assured Shiv, leaning back against his chair away from the table.

Naina had her finger on the note as she whipped her head to look at Shiv. "Does she?" she asked softly.

Pinning her with his sharp gaze, Shiv simply nodded. Naina had always suspected he was intuitive – dangerously so. How many of those one-rupee notes were merely used to amuse her into opening up to him? The first time he had offered her a rupee for her thoughts; she had smiled broadly and demanded a crisp note. And a new tradition began between them. Whenever he found her deep in thought, he would take out a crisp note, and she would look at him amused. After a wave or two, she would break out into a smile and share whatever troubled her – atleast those that she could share with him.

"She wanted Yashvi as her daughter-in-law," she whispered, her eyes following the patterns her fingers drew on the note. "Didn't she?"

"Yes," Shiv's blunt agreement halted her thoughts mid-run.

"She couldn't...wouldn't accept me in her place when Varun married me." Her eyes rose to pose a question of the statement that had taken a long time for her to understand.

Shiv acknowledged it with a grim nod.

"Now that Yashvi is back, she wants her son to spend as much time with his ex-fiancé...so that...." Even the possibility put a halt to her words and she struggled to continue, "...How can she mean well, Shiv? I don't want to believe that she wants me out of Varun's life but..."

Shiv chuckled. "Do you hear yourself, Naina? This isn't like one of those soap operas on tv. She isn't planning anything evil."

Naina flushed, feeling chastised. "But..." she frowned.

"But...nothing! Varun, Yashvi, and I have been friends our entire lives. Both Yashvi and I have grown up without knowing our mothers and your mother-in-law is the closest to a mother we both have known. It is natural for her to want to strengthen the bond between her children by any means possible. This is just one of them."

Her heart lifted at Shiv's assurance, but could she truly believe...her forehead creased once again with worry.

"Hey!" Shiv clicked his fingers in front of her face. "Snap out of it, Naina. Do you really think she can't see how madly in love her son is with you? Or how crazy you are about him? She considers you the best thing to ever happen to Varun. So, just relax and have these samosas before they go cold or...." He took a bite from one of the samosas mumbling how incredibly good they were and did not register the shock on Naina's face.

"Wha...what did you say?" she stammered.

"Hmm...this samosa..."

"Not that greasy thingy...before that!" she snapped and fumed even more when Shiv's mouth curved into a goofy grin, stuffed samosa et al.

He took his own sweet time dusting off the crumbs from his hands. Anything to see Naina riled up to attack. Any moment now....

"Shiv! What did she...." She sprung up off her chair to get him to repeat what she suspected she heard.

"Ah, a crisp one-rupee note! It's so hard to come by one now-a-days. Whose note is it?" Her mother-in-law asked, picking it up.

Shiv folded his arms across his massive chest and lifted his brow at Naina, silently asking the same question.

He had done it again. A rupee for her thoughts. Quietly, self-assuredly, he had drawn out her deepest worry at the moment and eased her mind about it. Her mother-in-law's acceptance was something she had craved right from the moment she became her daughter-in-law. She looked at the older woman – the mother of her beloved husband, her words from the other day echoing in her head – "You were his best decision." She turned her head towards Shiv and dared to believe what he had said earlier. Her heart leapt with joy even though a part of her still craved something more concrete from her mother-in-law in the way of acceptance.

Without taking her eyes off Shiv, she reached out her hand for the note. "It's mine, ma."

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Hello everyone,

Yes, I am alive, even though not writing as much as I wish to. I'm about to leave for my month long summer vacation starting in a couple of days. I truly cannot say when I'll be able to update again. My sincerest apologies for the delay.

I have a question to ask - do you want me to update as I write (whenever that is) or I finish the rest of the story and then post systematically so as not to keep you waiting indefinitely for the subsequent chapters? I'll go with what the majority of you want. Thank you wholeheartedly to all those who patiently wait for the updates. It means a lot to me. You inspire me to keep going even when the odds are against me.

Much love <3

Neeru