"Sab rakh liya beta?" Ma asked him and he scratched his head again.
"Shirts aur formals is bag me hain. Shoes aapne eakh diye. Casuals Shehnaz rakh rahi hai. Baby ho gaya ?" He looked at her who was busy selecting his shorts from a pile of folded ones.
"Baccha grey wale shorts toh nahi rakhe?" Ma joked and Sana laughed out loud.
"Haye Aunty, woh rakh ke baaki iske saare informal aur formal kapde nikal lo, ye kaam chala lega" she giggled only to get a smack on the head.
"Kutte tu dafa ho yahan se" she muttered.
"Zyada badbad mat kar tu. Chamat khayegi. Pack kar jaldi isko" he ordered.
"Accha bas, jaate jaate ladai nahi. Finish karo isko fatafat. Raat bhar mat baithe rehna. Main sone jaa rahi hun" Ma went out calling it a night.
Sidharth was standing right next to her in his yellow shorts and T-shirt while she was calculating the number of days and the clothes she was keeping in.
"Dekh, ye rakh dia hai maine. Tune formals rakh liye hain. Ek suitcase Ken wahin bhijwayega tune kaha tha na. Toh ho gaya hai" she told him but he did not look up from his phone.
"Tu sun raha hai na?" She asked him, looking up this time.
"Hmm..." He mumbled, still checking his email for a final email from the producers and scratching his head with his left hand.
"Sidhaaaaaarth!?" She pinched his shin, making him yelp.
"Haan baby. Sun raha hun main! " He responded rubbing the pinch.
"Tu rehne de yaar. Tu ja yaar. Mujhe dafa kar. Main hi gadhi hun" she muttered, shutting his bag fiercely and walking out stomping her feet.
"Abbey yaar Shehnaaz yaar. Maine already stressed hun yaar...please abhi ye sab mat kar..." He said, rubbing his forehead and groaning, but still stuck to his phone.
His phone pinged with the email he was waiting for and he quickly read through it and responded back and hurried back to the former guest room, which was now Sana's bedroom for daytime, since they would sneak out to his room or the balcony at night.
"Baby!" He entered her room in order to placate his bhadki-hui-girlfriend, who was nowhere to be seen.
She came out of the bathroom in yellow pjs with tweeties printed on them and a plain grey tshirt. Her face looked red and the cute button nose a little redder. He sighed, this had been happening too frequently all these days.
She looked at him and avoided his gaze, but his eyes bored deeper into hers. She turned her back towards him and sat down on the bed reaching out for her phone but he blocked her by standing in front of her.
"Mat kar Sidharth, mera bilkul mood nahi hai...idhar se..." She pushed him against his stomach but she was too feeble against hom and got pulled closer by him, her face hidden into his stomach.
"Bas, bas bas...kyun mood sada rahi hai tu? Main kuch bol nahi raha hun iska matlab ye nahi hai ki main andha hun" he bent down just hugging her tighter.
"Chal uth, ice cream khaake aayenge" he said, pulling her up and snaking his arm around her neck. Her face was still dull, but he pulled it up holding her chin.
"Aye. Smile kar baby. Aise dukhi hoke jaunga toh mujhe bhi nahi accha lagega na?" He said and she pouted. He quickly pecked her and took her hand into his and opened the side drawer to pull out the car keys and two masks for themselves.
They sat huddled close to each other at Nariman Point at a spot which Sidharth had discovered some time back. She was unusually silent today and he knew what was going on in her head. He had felt the same way during MSK but this was worse since even the weekends weren't off.
