The Life She Wants

Fifteen

Tanay then packed the tiffin and Aadya stood up to leave.

"I'll walk you down," Tanay said with a soft smile and led her out and to the elevator, his hand resting on the small of her back.

"I'm going to the market before going home." She told him as they waited for the Uber.

"Babydoll," he sighed, "I felt my wallet up. You could have said so sooner."

"No, I got it." She smiled assuringly.

He pulled her into him by the shoulders and pecked her temple.

When the car arrived, he opened the door for her and waved her bye.

After some time, Aadya received a notification on her phone.

Tanay Mehra transferred Rs. 5000/-

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"Um, is there something in floral maybe? Like... subtle kind of." Aadya asked the man in front of her who was showing her the fabrics.

"Certainly, miss. Let me go check in the back." The man flashed a fake smile and walked away.

Sighing, Aadya looked at the other fabrics around her.

She wanted to make something that Tanay could wear more than one times. She didn't want it to be so extravagant or too simple that he couldn't wear them to functions like someone's wedding.

But it should also be so that he can wear it to casual outings.

She had never designed or made something for men before, but as time passed, her overthinking soared through the roof.

Her eye then caught on a cream-coloured fabric with a pink floral print.

Her hand reached out at the same time someone else's did.

"Oh, sorry." She apologized immediately when her hand touched the others.

"No, it's okay- Aadya!" Aadya looked ahead and recognized the person. It was Trisha from their town. The one they had saved that night.

"Trisha! Hey. How are you doing?" Aadya smiled.

Trisha hugged her. "I'm good. How are you? What are you doing here?"

She told her about the transfer and their shifting. Trisha told her about her divorce and how she was living with her brother and his wife now in Mumbai.

"I'm glad." Aadya squeezed her hand.

"Yeah, me too." She smiled and handed her the fabric. "You wanted this, right?"

"Yeah." Aadya handed the fabric to the man, telling him to pack it. "Come, let's have tea at my place."

Aadya got some more fabric and other things.

"You should get that mini sewing machine. It's a lot of help and affordable too." Trisha suggested and Aadya agreed to that.

They hailed a cab and reached Aadya's place.

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"...and he was pretty pissed." Trisha sipped on the tea.

"You have an amazing brother." Aadya smiled, drawing the designs and getting her feedback on them.

The doorknob rattled, and Tanay was home.

When he stepped in, he saw to his left where Aadya was sitting as she usually did sewing pockets into her dresses.

He did not care to look around and approached her.

Aadya knew what he was going to do. Before she could say something, tell him to stop, he leaned down and crushed his lips to hers.

"Mm-!"

When she stayed still, Tanay frowned and caressed her cheek. "What's wrong?"

She just covered her face with her hands, dying of embarrassment.

"What-"

A squeaky giggle grabbed his attention. It was not from his wife. He turned around and saw a woman sitting on the chair, peeking through her fingers.

"I didn't see anything! Promise!" And she giggled.

Tanay coughed out a nervous and embarrassed laugh.

"Y-You've got a friend here. I'll....i-i'll just...go." and he scurried off into their bedroom.

"You guys are so cute." Trisha grinned.

Recovering from her embarrassment, Aadya shyly looked at her.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" She asked her.

"No, love. I'll go home. My brother is already on his way here."

"Okay."

When Trisha's brother came, Tanay and Aadya walked her down. Tanay met the brother and introduced himself.

After they left, Tanay wrapped his arm around her shoulders and narrowed his eyes playfully at her.

"You could have said something."

"You could have given me the chance to say that something." She narrowed her eyes back at him.

He rested his forehead against hers and chuckled.

"Let's go. I wanna continue what I started."