The Life She Wants

Three

"I'm ordering pizza." He announced.

It was a movie marathon. They played movie after movie, and munched on pizza and anything they could find in the kitchen.

In the middle of their third movie, Tanay's phone rang. Aadya paused the movie.

"Hello?... Yeah. Oh? Congratulations! It's tomorrow? Yeah, yeah, okay. We will be there."

After he hung up on the person, he turned to Aadya, who was already looking at him.

"One of my colleagues got engaged. He's throwing everyone a party tomorrow evening. We can make it, right?" Tanay asked.

"Yeah, sure." Aadya nodded with a smile. "I've never met your colleagues before."

"They are good people. My boss will also be there, probably. She's a humble person." He said, smiling a little. Aadya smiled too.

She used to think Tanay was just like his parents, conservative. But Tanay has been proving her wrong every day.

She looked at the clock and stretched her legs and arms.

"What do you want for dinner?"

"I'm full. I don't wanna eat." Tanay groaned. "You?"

Aadya bit her lips. "Ice cream."

"For dinner?"

"Yes."

"We have very different definitions of dinner and they are miles apart." Tanay narrowed his eyes on her, playfully. She giggled and placed her hand on his knee.

"Please?"

Tanay was lying on the couch while she sat on the floor, saying she was comfortable this way.

Tanay breathed out and chuckled. "What flavor?"

"Chocolate."

"Okay. I'll be back in a few minutes." Tanay stood up.

"I'll come along?" She asked.

Tanay smiled. "Okay. Come on."

They locked the house and left. The store was just around the corner. The sun had just set, leaving the sky purple-ish.

While they were walking, Tanay casually held her hand. A moment later, he felt her intertwining their fingers. He smiled, squeezing her hand.

"Okay, by the way," Tanay turned to her, acting completely casual, "if you want to go shopping tomorrow, let me know."

"Oh, yeah. I have no makeup products but..." She looked at him unsurely. "Are we okay on budget? Month-end is going on."

"Don't worry about it." He smiled, caressing the back of her hand with his thumb.

"Okay."

She still wasn't sure.

But her worries temporarily melted away when she saw ice cream.

She also got a couple more snacks and Maggie.

"Anything forgotten?" Tanay asked as he pulled his wallet out to pay.

"Umm, no. I got everything." She nodded.

They paid and left the store, walking back home.

Until almost 2 in the morning, both of them were binge-watching and eating.

When Tanay saw her yawn, he said, "Let's go to sleep."

"Five more minutes."

Not even two minutes into that five minutes, Tanay felt her head drop on his leg.

She was out cold.

"Aadya," he softly called and she jerked awake. "Let's go to sleep; I'm feeling drowsy."

"Okay." She yawned again. "I'll clean this up."

"Mm. I'll help you."

They cleaned up and went upstairs to their room. She passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow. She wasn't used to staying up late, after all.

Tanay pulled the comforter on her and lied down beside her, facing her. He didn't know why, but he couldn't sleep.

A while later, Aadya pulled the comforter close to her and shifted towards him, still in her sleep. Her hand was out of the comforter and between them.

Tanay softly grabbed her hand and smiled at how small it was compared to his. And oh so delicate.

Aadya was beautiful.

Suddenly, his mind flashed him a picture of her crying that night when they lost their baby.

He inhaled sharply and kissed her knuckles.

That will be the last time she would be crying. He promised himself.