Note: I'm so sorry for how long this took to get up, I needed time to work out the details properly. In part 2 of this story, I alluded to a different reason as to why Priya and Pihu are at the Kapoor Mansion. It's not for helping Ram get the minister deal, because I just really didn't like the logic surrounding this track at all. I never found a good point earlier in the story to give additional context for this, but you guys will get it in this part. Other than that, this part picks up right where I left off in the previous part.
After a few minutes, Ram drew his handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his tears. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. "Wow," he said finally, as Adi chuckled and clapped him on the back appreciatively. "This is actually happening." "Yeah," said Brinda. "I mean, just look at us. Did we ever even imagine, when we met in college, that we would come this far in our lives, together?"
"No," said Ram. "We were all so young then, barely even 18. What did we even understand about life and adulthood back then? We were just trying to figure everything out." "And now here we are," said Brinda. "I never even imagined I would be a mother at any point. Until I met Adi, that is." She smiled at Adi, and then continued. "But even then, it took us a while to even think about having children. I mean, I'm having my first child at 41. That's what making me even more nervous." "Hey," replied Adi. "We'll be fine." "You're not scared?" asked Ram. "No," said Adi. "We've got each other. Why would I be?"
"Adi yaar," said Ram, before leaning in to hug him tightly. Brinda joined in, and they were like that, again for a few minutes, holding each other and swaying slightly. Adi was the first to break the hug, and he stood up and said, "Ok let's stop being so senti for a few minutes. Why don't you two keep talking while I go and make us some coffee?" "Uh, I can't have coffee Adi. Pregnant women can't have caffeine, remember?" said Brinda. "Oh, right, sorry," Adi replied. "I'll make us some masala chai then." "And some cookies?" said Ram. "I'm hungry," he added, a bit sheepishly as Adi and Bri laughed.
Adi left for the kitchen, and Ram then turned to Brinda. "I have something I need to give you," he said. He walked over to his work bag, and pulled out the hardcover copy of Anna Karenina. Handing it back to Brinda, he continued, "I finished it two days ago." "Oh, thank you so much," she replied. "What did you think of it?" she asked. "Well," said Ram carefully. "I didn't hate it." "That's great!" said Brinda. "I also didn't love it," said Ram. "Some parts of this book really drag for a long time." "Oh, I agree with that too," replied Brinda. "Tolstoy's writing makes the whole thing bearable, but he really does go on about nothing for a very long time."
"About seven pages per chapter, to be precise," said Ram. Brinda looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, I counted. Sorry," he said. "It's a business man habit. I have to be good with numbers, you know. And in this case, I had to make reading this book for me fun, somehow." "I didn't think you still did that," said Brinda, chuckling. "I remember how, in our economics lectures, you used to count the number of lecture pages as well as the number of words per page so that you would know how much to study each day. Such a nerd you were, yaar."
Ram laughed. "I mean, I didn't just magically become one of the class toppers in our college batch," he said. "That took effort, and efficiency. I've always had a pretty strong memory anyways. When you have a family like mine, where your mom and your siblings periodically forget about you, you have to get good at keeping track of things and deciding if you should remind them or not. That's where my counting and making mental lists habits come from. Weird, right?"
He laughed and turned to look at Brinda. She was gazing at him sadly. "You never told me that," she said. Ram's face fell. He played with his fingers for a few seconds as he said, "I don't really like talking about it. Brings my mood down." "I understand," said Brinda, scooting closer and placing a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Besides," Ram continued. "I've already cried about this stuff many times when I was younger, in my room. I didn't want to spend an entire lifetime being morose about stuff like this. That's no way to live. At some point, you just have to accept things and move forward."
After a minute, he added, "I mean, when you think about it, I probably still had it better than a lot of people do. I had a family in my life, no matter how imperfect they were. I had a really nice dad. I fell in love, twice. Things weren't so terrible for me, right?" he asked Brinda. There was a hint of desperation in his voice that Brinda picked up on immediately. "Jaan," she said, holding his hands in hers. "Answer me," said Ram, his mouth quivering. "Please."
Brinda simply looked at him, not knowing what to say. He swallowed the growing lump in his throat, and said, "I know it doesn't make sense. It's not healthy either. But I never imagined that things would get so much worse. And now, when I think about it, I realize...I'm a 43 year old man with memories I can barely look back on with any fondness. I think the happiest I've ever been was when I was 12." "12?" asked Brinda.
"Yeah," said Ram, and to Brinda's relief, he was starting to smile again. "That's when I met Adi, on my first day of 7th standard. Dad was dating Nandini mom, and I never really told him how confused I was about that. I didn't want him to stop smiling, you see. But, I always looked sad at school, and sometimes the older kids would make fun of me for it. Then Adi joined me at lunchtime once. He said he liked my triceratops sweater and starting telling me a bunch of random triceratops facts. It made me laugh," said Ram, his smile growing wider. "We were inseparable after that. We called ourselves dinosaur bros."
He started laughing, and Brinda was smiling too. "I gave him my triceratops figurine too." Brinda gave a small gasp. "Oh! So that's why he keeps polishing that blue triceratops on the shelf, " she said, pointing to the shelf across the room. "He polishes it every year." "That's not all," said Ram. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pterodactyl figurine. "He gave me this too. I always keep it on me. It's my good luck charm." He brought the figurine up to his lips to give it a soft kiss before replacing it in his pocket.
"It's ok," said Ram, wiping his eyes and taking a few more quick breaths. "It's all ok, really. I go to therapy now, and I'm making things better for myself, slowly. I always do." He leaned over to place an arm around Brinda, and as he did so, realized that she was shaking. She was on the verge of tears again. "Hey, hey," said Ram, wiping her tears away. "We just told Adi that we wouldn't be senti. Stop crying, please. It's ok, I'm fine." Brinda took a few slow, deep breaths. "There we go," said Ram. "We don't want to give the baby depression, do we?" Brinda laughed. "Yaar, look at me. I'm such a good mamu already." "Idiot," said Brinda playfully.
Brinda leaned forward to pick up the copy of Anna Karenina again. "I'm glad you liked this book," she said. "Do you...did you understand why I asked you to read this?" "Yes," said Ram. "The first sentence of the book kind of gave it away." He cleared his throat, and then recited, "Happy families are all alike. Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." He gave a sad smile. "I don't necessarily agree with everything Tolstoy said in this book, but there are a lot of things he got right. The thing about unhappy families, it's definitely one of them."
"Yes," said Brinda. "I'm glad you noticed that. But there is another thing I was hoping you would pick up on." "Let me guess. Is it the fact that Anna started abusing Victorian grade morphia?" asked Ram, his voice laced with mild sarcasm. "Well," responded Brinda, shifting a bit uncomfortably in her seat. "Yes. Anna was a woman who was so consumed by her guilt and mistakes that she spirals out of control mentally." "She did throw herself under a train," said Ram. "I did understand how she felt. Not completely, but parts of it. I did have a drinking problem. I assume that's what you've been alluding to this whole time."
Brinda nodded. "Why?" asked Ram. "I'm just...I'm glad you recovered from it," said Brinda. "Adi, Kunal, and I were really scared. We know that you were really hurting, but seeing you like that was killing us. Really killing us." Ram looked down again, feeling ashamed. He placed a hand on Brinda's appreciatively. "It was killing me too. I'm glad you guys were there for me. I'm glad you helped me find a therapist too. It really meant a lot to me. I'm so, so sorry for how much I hurt you."
"It's ok, Jaan. It's all ok. I'm glad to see you're doing much better." Brinda paused, and then asked, "I know there's probably no point in asking, but how are things at home? With Nandini aunty, Shubham. Is everything ok?" Ram was silent for a few moments. "Things are normal, I guess. The past 5 years haven't been easy on any of us, but we were ok. And yet, I feel like I made things worse for mom especially." "Why?" asked Brinda. "She wasn't too pleased when I brought Priya back to the house. You remember why I brought her back right?"
Brinda nodded, and as she did, Ram thought back to what had happened over the past 3 weeks.
Ram was making his way to the florist's. He needed to get a few more flowers as finishing touches for the jagrata decorations. Just the thought of it made Ram groan inwardly. The whole idea was stupid, and as usual, it came from Shubham. To be fair, he had only been trying to help. Sort of. He was at that 7:30 am meeting with Ram and the minister (because Ram had forced him to show up), and the minister spent a solid 20 minutes doing what he did best: insulting Ram.
The previous time the minister had done this, the insults were centered around a picture of Ram with a woman that had appeared in some newspaper or magazine. The woman in question was Shweta, Ram's secretary, and he was leaving the Kapoor Urban building with her, as he had offered to drive her home. Needless to say, the minister was less than pleased with the situation and no amount of explanations seemed to convince him enough. Much like that meeting, today's meeting was repeated questions from the minister about why Ram liked talking to Shweta so much.
He brought her (and the other employees) coffee that morning, and he was making pleasant conversation with her for a few minutes, followed up by reminders about paperwork and meetings. As the minister kept berating him about this for some strange reason, Ram couldn't help but wonder why this man seemed to care so much about his casual friendship with Shweta. He had no tolerance for any of this patriarchal nonsense, and if he could have his way, he would have backed out of the deal as soon as he could. But no, he held his tongue, because they needed this deal. And 800 crores was an incredibly sizable investment.
Shubham was also making an attempt, a rather half hearted one at least, to defend Ram, which is when the jagrata nonsense came up and Ram remembered why he never liked asking Shubham for help. His thoughts were so illogical sometimes that even a man like the minister appeared intelligent in comparison. Still, Ram reluctantly grumbled in agreement, and after updating Nandini and Tarun about the situation in a rather heated call, he went about making the arrangements.
It was when he reached the florist's that he saw her. Priya. It was the second time he'd run into her, the first time being the mall, and now, as he glanced at her for a few moments, he was surprised to find that he felt...nothing. No anger, no sadness, no longing. As debilitating as the pain and emotional fatigue of the past five years had been for him, it all seemed to have spent itself. He didn't have the energy to keep reliving that pain over and over again. Priya was simply another part of his painful past now, and he would learn to live with that. Eventually. Which is why he didn't acknowledge her as she glanced at him, her eyes widening slightly in recognition.
But as much as Ram tried to convince himself, he wasn't nearly as apathetic as he claimed to be. After all, he saw Priya stumbling on the sidewalk as she walked away from the place. He was also immediately at her side, catching her in his arms as she fainted. As he did so, he cursed himself inwardly. He had reacted to this situation far too quickly for his liking. So much for the claims he had made to his therapist about trying to move on. And afterwards, for reasons even Ram couldn't fully articulate, he decided to bring Priya to a nearby doctor's clinic, and then his house. Priya mentioned feebly that she wanted to go home, and then she had completely collapsed.
Ram had called Meera rather frantically to inform her of all of this, and it was Meera who requested that Ram help Priya for the time being. Sara wasn't home yet, and Maitri was unable to come by to help. So, Ram had decided to take Priya to his house after getting the medicines she needed from the nearby medical store.
Brinda was now leaning against a pillow propped against the headboard of her bed. "I wasn't happy about your decision then," she said in response to the mildly dazed look on Ram's face. "I'm still not happy about it." "I know," said Ram. "In my defense, I was only trying to help her, but in hindsight it probably wasn't the healthiest decision." "It definitely wasn't," said Brinda. "You almost certainly undid some of that work in therapy by allowing her back in your life, even in a situation like this. Frankly speaking, the whole thing is ridiculous."
Ram was silent. She was right, of course. Brinda was straightforward and rational. Not to mention, very perceptive and emotionally intelligent. It was something Ram had always admired and respected about her. Her calm sensibility was an important factor in him being able to move on from Vedika properly, and it was that same sensibility that he found comfort in after Shivina's death. "I'm not trying to blame you in any way, obviously," said Brinda. "Of course you would help someone in this way. That's who you are as a person, and I would never expect anything less. But you have to admit, doing this does kind of make you appear like..."
Her voice trailed off. She didn't want to say it, as it felt a bit rude. But, Ram understood. "An emotional fool?" he finished for her. "Y-yes. Yes," said Brinda. "I'm sorry, it's harsh, I know." "Why are you apologizing?" asked Ram. "You're correct. Funnily enough, Mom said the same thing about me." "Nandini aunty?" asked Brinda, her hand balling into a fist slowly. "You said she wasn't happy with you, but you never said much about her response." "Yeah," said Ram.
"Ram, what is the meaning of this?" Nandini asked sharply. She was in her room along with Ram, who had come to tell her everything after getting Priya settled in his room. Needless to say, she wasn't pleased in the slightest about the news. "Why did you bring her here?" "I was only trying to help her, Mom," replied Ram. "I never expected to run into her like this after such a long time. She looked weak, and then she actually fainted. I..I couldn't just leave her there."
"Why didn't you call her family then? Or Krish?" asked Nandini. "She's been staying with her family, and I did call them," said Ram. "It was Meera who requested my help for the time being, and I agreed." "Of course you did," said Nandini. "You didn't even think twice. You still care for her a little, even after everything that's happened." Her voice still sounded calm, but Ram could still sense the anger bubbling underneath the surface. "I don't feel anything for her," he said, even though that wasn't entirely true. "Even if I did, what's that got to do with anything?"
"Well, why have you brought her here then? You didn't have to agree with what Meera said," said Nandini "You still could have taken Priya back to her own house. But you didn't. You brought her here." "I didn't bring her here because I still care about her," said Ram, who was beginning to sound a bit frustrated now. "I haven't forgotten everything that's happened either. In any case, me helping Priya is not about either of these things." "Then what is it about?" asked Nandini. "It's about insaniyat," said Ram. "I helped her for the sake of insaniyat. That's it."
"Really," replied Nandini. "You still don't believe me," said Ram. "It's very weird," she replied. "Then again, you've always been so emotional. You never manage to hate anyone properly." Ram's gaze fell, and he didn't answer her. Emotional, she had called him. Five years ago, he would have considered it a sort of compliment. Now, it suddenly felt shameful, like a weakness.
Ram let out a long, drawn out sigh. "It was a stupid idea," he said after a while. "And foolish. I don't even know what I was thinking." "I don't think you were completely foolish," replied Brinda. "Like you said, it was just insaniyat." "Still," said Ram. "I made things worse for Mom, inadvertently. Shivina's death took a toll on all of us, but especially her. I don't think any mother expects to lose their child like that." "I remember how devastated she was at the funeral," said Brinda. "I never fully understood it then, but I do now."
She moved her hand to her belly again, and continued. "Now that I'm having a baby of my own, I can understand Nandini aunty's anger. If anything were to happen to my child because of someone else, I would never forgive the person who hurt them. Ever." "Exactly," said Ram. "That's exactly why she never wanted to see Priya ever again. But, I brought her back to the house. Even if it is just for a short amount of time, I opened up an old wound for Mom again."
"Just for Nandini aunty?" asked Brinda. "Or for you too?" Ram sighed. "I don't know, honestly," he said. "I've lived with my misery for five years. Now I'm just numb to all the pain. Even when I saw Priya again, I wasn't angry. I just felt..nothing." "You're not angry at Priya anymore?" asked Brinda. "I am," said Ram. "I still am. I think a part of me always will be. I'm just not going to let it consume me anymore. I can't change what's happened, but..." His voice trailed off and he rubbed his temples for a few seconds. "I'll learn to live with it. Slowly." He felt a lump in his throat, but he quickly swallowed it.
Brinda was toying with the edge of her pillow, lost in thought for a few minutes. Slowly, it dawned on her. "So, that's why you brought her back." Ram was confused. "What do you mean?" he asked. "You still want closure," said Brinda. "You're not thinking about what happened to an unhealthy extent anymore, but you still want to know why it happened." "Maybe," said Ram. "But, Dr Safa told me that you don't always get closure for the things that happen to you. You just have to accept that they happened and then move on. When I met Priya again, I realized that Dr Safa was right. Again. I do want to know why things ended the way they did, but...I don't think I'll ever really know."
He paused once again. "It's fine," he said. "I can learn to make my peace with it." "Make your peace with what?" Adi had returned, carrying a tray with a teapot, 3 teacups, and a plate of cookies. "They're chocolate chip," he said, setting the tray down on the coffee table. "Brinda's favorite." Smiling, he poured out the tea and handed a cup to Brinda and Ram before taking his own. He took a sip and then asked, "Seriously though, make your peace with what? What have you two been talking about?"
"Nothing," said Ram quickly. "Really," said Adi. "Then why do you still look sad? I told you guys to stop being senti, didn't I?" "We're not being senti," said Brinda. "I was just asking Ram how things were at home. That's it." "Oh," replied Adi. "Everything's ok, right?" "Yes," said Ram. "Everything's fine. Mom and Shubham are ok. Priya's been getting better slowly too. She'll most likely leave in the next two or three days."
The room was silent for a few more minutes. Adi was gazing at Ram curiously. He exchanged a rather furtive look with Brinda before asking, "You don't sound very happy about that. You don't still...?" Before he could ask the question, Brinda silenced him with a shushing motion. "No," said Ram bluntly. "It's not what you think." "Look into my eyes and say it," said Adi. Ram slowly, reluctantly, met Adi's eyes. "It's not what you think. I mean it. I never expected anything like this to happen either." "But you're still sad about her leaving," said Brinda. "That's not what's making me sad," said Ram. "Then what?" asked Brinda and Adi at the same time.
Ram was silent again for a few moments. "Pihu," he managed to say finally. "Pihu?" asked Brinda. "Yeah," said Ram. "Once she leaves, I won't be able to see her again." He allowed himself to remember the little argument she'd had with him for that cupcake in the mall. The way she hugged him when he gave her that red dress. When they had cookies together in his room. Ram couldn't help but chuckle as he grabbed a cookie off the tray and took a bite. Adi and Brinda were smiling too, as they watched him.
"You really like her, don't you?" asked Adi. "Yes," said Ram, smiling. His eyes seemed a bit brighter now. "She's the cutest, sweetest little girl I've ever seen. She's been making me smile and laugh ever since I met her." "We can tell," said Brinda. "You talk about her at least once whenever you come to see us." "Exactly," said Adi, laughing a little. "Every morning before meetings start, Ram is always telling me, Kunal, and Vikrant about what he did for Pihu or what she said to him or how he likes the hairstyle she's done. We'd never seen him be so happy before that."
"Aww," said Brinda. "That's so sweet Ram, the way you talk about her. It's so fatherly." She'd uttered the last word without thinking, and she quickly clapped a hand over her mouth when she realized. "Oh my, I- I didn't mean, I'm so," she spluttered. "Yeah," said Ram, a bit sadly. "I guess it is sort of fatherly, the way I talk about her." "I'm sorry," said Adi. "It's ok," said Ram. "Really, it's fine. I only ever get to experience things like this, in glimpses and bursts. Whatever I have with Pihu, I'm grateful for it. Even if it did all happen sort of unintentionally."
The jagrata was over, and Sara had come by to see Priya, who was sleeping again. A little girl had come with her, and when Ram looked at her, he realized. It was the little girl from the mall. She looked scared. "Sara maasi, I want mama," she was saying over and over. "Your mama's in my room, over there," Ram responded, pointing the direction. The girl merely glanced at him for a few seconds before running into the room behind Sara. Ram told Tarun to let Adi and Brinda know to wait for him for a few seconds, and then he slowly made his way back to his room.
"How did this happen? Why won't mama wake up?" asked the little girl again. "She's feeling sick," said Ram. The girl turned around. "Mr. Khadoos?" said the girl. "Kapoor," corrected Ram. "It's Mr. Kapoor to you." Turning to Sara, he said, "I took her to a doctor earlier. Priya has pneumonia. It's not severe, but it's fairly moderate. She's barely been conscious, and she can't really move either." "Oh god," said Sara. "She was fine just two days ago, I don't know how this happened so suddenly." "The infection probably needed a bit of time to develop," said Ram.
"Mama's sick?" said the little girl. "Why did you bring her here? Why not to our house?" "She could barely walk," said Ram. "And my house was closer." The girl was silent again, but she gave Ram a little frown. She didn't seem to trust him, but as she looked at him he felt a smile creeping up on his lips. "How long did the doctor say she would need to recover?" asked Sara. "Two, maybe three weeks," said Ram. "I really want to take her home," said Sara. "She seems too weak to move right now though." "She is," said Ram. "She's barely able to walk or move."
There was a bit of an awkward pause before Ram said, "You could leave her here for the night, if you're fine with it. She's already asleep anyways. Tomorrow, you can come by again and we can decide what to do next." "Yeah, that sounds fine with me," said Sara. "I don't want to wake her right now anyways. Let her rest. Come, Pihu let's go." "Pihu," said Ram. "So, that's your name," he said to the little girl. "Yeah. So?" she asked. "It's nice," said Ram, giving her a small smile. "Thank you," said Pihu. "I want to stay here." "What?" said both Ram and Sara at the same time.
"I want to stay here, with mama," said Pihu. She climbed up to stand on the bed. "I'm being serious," she said, placing her hands on her hips. "Pihu beta please," Sara started, but Ram cut her off. "She can stay the night too, if she wants," he said. "No problem." After a few more minutes of Sara trying to convince Pihu otherwise, she finally agreed to let her stay. After seeing her off, Ram returned to the room to see Pihu sitting there, a bit awkwardly. She was looking at her mother. "She'll be ok," said Ram. "Don't worry."
"Thank you," she said, a bit reluctantly. "Don't mention it," said Ram, smiling at her softly. He walked over to the side of the bed where Priya was sleeping, and adjusted the blankets. "Careful, Mr. Khadoos," said Pihu. "Kapoor," corrected Ram again. "Sorry," said Pihu. "It's ok," said Ram. "I know you're not trying to be mean. Still, if you're not sure what someone's name is, the polite thing to do is ask them." "Right," said Pihu. "So, your name is Mr. Kapoor?" "Yes," said Ram. "Ram Kapoor. Nice to meet you," he said, tentatively holding out a hand to her. She grabbed his larger hand with her smaller one and said, "I'm Pihu. Pihu Sood."
Ram shook her hand gently. "Well then, Ms. Sood," he started, but Pihu cut him off. "It's Pihu. Call me Pihu please," she said, smiling a little. "Ok. Pihu," said Ram, returning her smile. "You can have that side of the bed. I can have Tarun bring you an extra blanket if you want." "Ok," said Pihu. They stared at each other for a few more seconds, before Pihu awkwardly said, "Good night." She then placed her head on the pillow, turning towards her mother. "Good night," said Ram, glancing at her one more time before he left.
Ram smiled as he reminisced all of this. "I really do like her," he said. "And I got to spend a lot of time with her. I'm grateful for it. Still, I probably should have been more careful about letting things get this far." "What do you mean?" asked Brinda. "Well, I..I mentioned my drinking problem to her," said Ram. "Oh," said Brinda. "Well, that's...I mean it's a lot for a kid to handle." "Yeah," Adi agreed. "But it's not entirely a bad thing. I mean, I'm sure Ram was careful about how he told her. Right Ram?" "About that," said Ram.
"Oh no," said Brinda. "What is it?" "I may or may not have told her about Shivina," said Ram. "You did WHAT?" asked Adi and Brinda in unison. Ram flinched. "Jaan," said Brinda. "Please tell me that you didn't tell a five year old girl about Shivina's death and how it happened." "Well," said Ram. "I sort of...did." "Ram!" said Adi. "What were you thinking? She's too small to understand this stuff, even if she asked you about it herself. Not to mention, she's got nothing to do with this anyways. Why..just why, Ram?"
"I had to!" said Ram, his voice mingled with frustration and shame. "I only meant to tell her that I had a sister and then I showed her a picture. And then, she recognized Akshay in that picture?" "Akshay?" Adi exclaimed. "He knows about her too?" "No," said Ram. "Pihu's only seen him in pictures. She's never met him. She wants to though." "Ok," said Brinda. "Ok. It's still a heavy thing for a child to process, but your reasons for telling her about this are fair enough. I was afraid you told her everything, even the things about Priya."
"Oh no, of course not," said Ram. "I didn't say anything about Priya or my relationship with her. Just as Adi said, this situation has nothing to do with Pihu. I had to talk about Shivina, because Pihu asked about her and Akshay, but I got carried away with it. I apologized to her for the same." "Good," said Adi. "But..." Ram's voice trailed off. "But what?" asked Brinda. "But, Pihu does really want to meet Akshay, and I sort of promised her that I can take her to see him." Small beads of sweat were forming on Ram's forehead now, and he withdrew his handkerchief to wipe them.
"What? Why would you promise her that?" asked Brinda. "Priya would never approve of that," said Adi. "Because," Ram started. "I want to do something nice for her. Just one last thing. I mean, even though her staying her was a coincidence of sorts, she...she's really made me happy." Ram gave a small smile. "She makes me smile and laugh all the time. I never did that in these past five years. I was just completely broken. But Pihu, she brought back those parts of me I tried to crush and hide. The pain I've lived with all this time just seems to melt away in front of her. She...she made me feel good about caring for someone again."
As he said this, Ram blinked back tears. "I know what we have is temporary, trust me, I do. But she trusted me with something personal for the first time, and I want to do one last thing for her before..." He couldn't say it. Tears filled his eyes again, and this time he let them fall. "Ram yaar," said Adi, also teary-eyed. He looped his arms around Ram, and Ram leaned into the hug, breaking into sobs. "Why does this happen to me, Adi? Why do the people I care about always have to leave me?" "I'm sorry, Ram, I'm so, so sorry," said Adi, his voice cracking. "I wish I could make it better, I want to make it better, I want it to be ok, but I..."
"You have made it better," said Ram, clearing his throat and taking a deep breath. "You and Brinda both have. You've always been there for me whenever I needed it. I really do appreciate, I really do." He gave Adi's hand a warm squeeze. "We'll always be there for you, Ram," said Brinda. "And as for the people who love you always leaving..." Brinda lifted the copy of Anna Karenina once again, smacking Ram on the forehead lightly. "Ow!" said Ram. "Careful, woman, that's a hardcover!" "How dare you say the people who love you always leave you when Adi and I are right here? For shame, Ram, shame," she said shaking her head.
Adi stifled a chuckle. "Oye," said Ram. "Don't laugh so much. Don't forget that you're going to be the one with pregnant Bri 98% of the time. Mujhe gusse mein book se maar diya. Tujhe toh danda hi lagega." "Hey!" said Adi, slapping Ram's knee. Brinda smacked him again. "Ok, sorry, sorry, sorry!" said Ram, laughing. "Seriously, I'm sorry. You guys are still here, and I value that very much." "Good," said Brinda. Ram chuckled.
"Right, so Pihu and Akshay," said Adi. "Do you think it's a good idea for me to take her to meet him?" said Ram. "My honest opinion? I don't feel completely great about it," said Brinda. "Neither do I," said Ram. "Hiding this from Priya is risky, and honestly it's not a nice thing. Pihu told me herself that Priya didn't want her to know about Akshay. But.." "Pihu does want to know him," said Adi. "Her feelings matter too." "I don't think it's a horrible idea," said Brinda. "Technically, Akshay is Priya's family, but he's also yours because of Shivina. I think it's fair enough for you to take her there."
"Just be careful," said Adi. "Don't go into any of the darker details related to Shivina's death when you meet Akki. It honestly might be best to keep the Shivina situation to a minimum. "You're right," said Ram. "This meeting should be about Akki and Pihu getting to know each other. It'll be fun and sweet. Akki and I will take care of that." "Does Akshay know already?" asked Brinda. "Not yet, I still need to talk to him," said Ram. "It's going to be difficult to bring this up to him, but I hope he'll understand." "I'm sure he will," said Brinda. "Fingers crossed," said Adi.
"Well," said Ram, standing up. "I should get going now. I still need to discuss some deal related things with Shubham. Thank you for the tea and cookies. And the book of course," he said, nodding at Brinda. His eyes lingered on the book for a few more seconds, and he gave a small laugh. "What's so funny?" asked Brinda. "I told Pihu about that book too," said Ram. "She liked hearing the way I described it." "What did you say?" asked Adi. "I focused on the violent parts of the book," said Ram, failing to hold in his laughter. "You know, the parts where Anna abuses morphine and then throws herself under a moving train."
"Ram!" exclaimed Brinda. "You don't just tell these things to a five year old girl!" "Hey, she liked it!" said Ram. "She likes violent, scary stories apparently." He paused for a moment and then asked," Uh, do you have any books like that Brinda?" "Yes, I do. Why?" asked Brinda. "You want to give her one don't you?" "Yes," said Ram. "But I only read poetry books. You're the resident book expert here, which is why I'm asking you." "Good boy," said Brinda. "Did she tell you about any specific authors she liked, or any type of stories?" "Not really," said Ram. "I was leaving for work, so I didn't get time to ask her that." "That's ok," said Brinda. "I have something I think she'll like."
Brinda went over to her bookshelf quickly. She ran her fingers carefully over the spines of a few books before they landed on a small, slightly thick red book with black lettering on the cover. "Here it is," she said, handing the book to Ram. "An Edgar Allan Poe short story collection." "Edgar Allan Poe? Isn't that the House of Usher author?" asked Ram. "Yes," said Brinda. "Why is that the only story you remember from our college English class?" "Because..." said Ram, rubbing his neck slightly. "The stories are creepy. Sometimes they're about dead women. Sometimes ghosts. Sometimes both."
"Haha, darpok," said Adi. "Jaan, are you seriously that scared of him?" asked Brinda, laughing loudly." "Stop being mean to me," Ram complained. "You guys know I'm not the best with horror." "You read Anna Karenina," said Brinda. "That's not horror," said Ram. "It was family trauma, and self destructive behavior and paranoia. Horror is different. I couldn't even finish the Conjuring with Adi in our hostel one night." "Yeah, you starting whimpering and screaming so much, you ruined the horror movie marathon for me, Kunal, and Vik," said Adi. "We never got to Conjuring 2."
"There's more?!" Ram yelped. Adi and Brinda started cackling. "Ram, you're so cute!" said Brinda. "And wimpy," said Adi. "Shut up Adi," said Brinda, smiling. "Just give this to Pihu and ask her about it. Maybe read it to her once. I'm sure you'll both love it." "Thanks, jaan," said Ram. "Anytime," said Brinda. "I'm definitely telling the baby about your wimpiness." "Jaan, yaar!" said Ram, groaning playfully. He gave Brinda a hug again. "Congratulations again, to both of you."
"Congratulations to you too, Ram mamu," said Adi, hugging Ram. "And don't worry. Everything's going to turn out ok."