'I am here.' Shrishti chirped as she almost ran to her neighbour's lawn where Raghav and Arpit were waiting for her with Megha who was standing beside the cycle. Shrishti was dressed in joggers' pants and a t-shirt with her hair done in two low pony tails on each side of her head. She felt she was dressed appropriately for a cycling session.
'You are so lucky, Pari Di. Raghav Bhaiyya is going to teach you.' Megha sounded as excited as Shrishti felt. Arpit was sitting on the chair resting his feet in front of him while Raghav looked at her solemnly. Will it kill the man to smile politely when meeting people? Shrishti mused as she came to stand beside the cycle and smiled at the little family in front of her.
'I know. Arpit already told me that Raghav was the one who taught him to cycle.', Shrishti replied.
'And me too. He taught me too.' Megha chirped.
Shrishti grinned at the girl before turning to Raghav and looked at him eagerly. 'So lets start.'
'Not without protection.' Raghav informed her before turning to Megha who grabbed the bag lying beside Arpit's chair and handing it over.
Out came from the bag, a helmet, knee pads and elbow pads. Shrishti looked at those things with wide eyes. She did not know she had to be this prepared just to ride a cycle.
Arpit saw her reaction and chuckled. 'You don't need those to ride a cycle. They are there till you learn. Just in case, you fell down.'
'Will it hurt that much?' Shrishti was worried now.
Arpit shrugged.
Megha spoke up just then, 'Bhaiyya said you are very delicate. So Bhaiyya bought all these just for you.'
Shrishti's eyes widened and she looked at Arpit who shook his head and pointed to Raghav. Raghav bought them for her? She turned her wide eyes to Raghav who ducked his head down while acting as if he was checking the helmet.
Shrishti shook her head before looking at Megha playfully. 'Your brother is such a softie.'
Arpit laughed at that while Raghav cleared his throat. When Shrishti looked at him, he avoided her eyes while handing the accessories to her.
Few minutes later, Shrishti was ready and seated to learn the cycle. Raghav held the handle for her and ordered her to peddle. It took her a bit of strength to start peddling. Once she adjusted she started to peddle properly only for the handle to wobble. Raghav had to grab the back of the seat with one hand and the handle with the other to keep her stable enough.
'This is weird. I cannot do this.', she murmured feeling scared. She knew logically that if she fell it would not be that painful. Yet, the fear from her childhood was still there.
'Don't worry. I am holding you.'
Raghav's words made Shrishti glance at him. Her fear must have been written on her face because the man repeated himself, 'Don't worry. I am holding you. I will not let you fall.'
He was looking at her with determination and that gave her the assurance. She nodded and turned back to the road. They were slowly moving but now she put a bit of force and increased the speed. It was still at the pace of walking and Raghav continued to walk beside her, holding the handle and the back of the seat.
A grin came to her face as she slowly started to enjoy it.
'Shall I leave the handle? Do you want to try controlling it?, Raghav asked her. She nodded eagerly.
He let go of the handle and even though it took her a while she managed to control it.
An hour passed and Shrishti managed to get a hang of riding the cycle. Raghav taught her how to stop the cycle without falling and also how to sit and start peddling without someone holding the cycle for her. He even taught her how to turn, though he had to hold the handle for her during the turns.
It was fun, Shrishti had to admit. Raghav still held the cycle in some way, either the back of the seat or the rear rack but she was cycling and that was enough for her. Her speed was still slow though and she could hear Megha and Arpit egging her to go fast but she did not have the confidence.
'Take your own time. You cannot learn everything I taught you in one day. You have to practice daily till it becomes instinctive. After that, try speeding up and turning without help and all.', Raghav explained to her. She nodded before glancing at Raghav with an impish grin. 'That means you have to come and teach me daily till I can cycle even in my sleep.'
Shrishti did not know whether she imagined it but it felt like Raghav's eyes had softened as he replied, 'Sure.'
She looked away and focused on her cycling. The man was too intense for her sometimes.
As she cycled she could not help but comment, 'So in noon you will feed me and in evening you will teach me how to ride cycle. The morning slots seems empty.'
'In morning you sleep. You don't like to wake up early.', he informed her and she blinked.
'How do you know?'
Raghav nodded. 'I remember how you used to throw tantrums about waking up early and how on weekends you slept in till 9 when we used to live at your house.'
Shrishti looked down mortified before replying, 'I don't sleep till 9 now. Now I am up at 8.'
'I should praise you for that. Impressive.'
Why did Shrishti feel as if Raghav was mocking her? She glanced at him and felt as if there was amusement on his face though there is no distinct laughter there. But she was learning his small tells these days and she was sure he was mocking her.
'I am not like you. Up like a rooster early in the morning! What is fun in that?', she said with annoyance.
He shrugged. 'The house is quiet and calm in the mornings.'
'I will tell your siblings you said that!', she declared.
He gave her a glance and looked back on the road. 'They already know. I love them but they are chaotic and they know it. They know that if they did not give me my silence they will have to go hungry and wearing wrinkled clothes for the whole day.'
Hunger, she could understand. Raghav was the cook for every meal in his house. But wrinkled clothes? She asked him and got the most amusing reply. 'Who do you think irons the clothes? Those two will burn every cloth they try to iron!'
She giggled at that, enjoying the conversation. 'So you do all the chores in the house?'
'Of course not. Its divide and conquer at my home. Every chore has its assigned person. It helps that we all like different chores and just pick our favourites.'
She was surprised by this information. 'At my house, we have maids and servants and Butler Uncle for everything. I never had to work!'
'I know. That is why some people call you Princess!'
She smiled at the nickname. Yes, she was her Pappa's Princess and she was proud of it.
'We will have to hire a maid for cleaning work once I and Arpit are both working. Because by then, Megha will have gotten into higher studies and would need to focus on that. And we both would be too tired from work to be able to do chores regularly.', Raghav explained.
'You have planned quite ahead.', she commented.
Raghav chuckled and she blinked, as usual surprised whenever he showed emotions so blatantly.
'According to Arpit, I enjoy planning and organising.'
They continued to chat as she cycled. There were moments when she felt wobbly but Raghav's hold on her cycle was firm and true to his promise, he never let her fall.
Just then, Shrishti saw her Pappa's car drive in through the main gate towards their house. Just as he came near, she started to wave excitedly, wanted her Pappa to see her cycling. He parked the car and got out of it, a smile on his lips at seeing her. His brows were raised in surprise but he looked delighted. She tried to slow down but he waved her off. 'Continue. Enjoy!', he shouted and she grinned and waved bye at him.
'Be prepared.', she told Raghav. 'Pappa will call you in soon to meet you and then give you a lecture on keeping me safe.' She giggled as she remembered him doing the same to every family member who ever took her somewhere. Even Chachi who just wanted to take her shopping was not spared from the lecture.
She felt slightly embarrassed now that she mentioned it. 'He is kinda over protective.' She defended her Pappa.
'Of course he is overprotective. You are his everything. He did not name you Shrishti for nothing.' Raghav replied.
She felt warmed that Raghav understood her father so well. She remembered being jealous in her last life when her Pappa relied more on Raghav than her. But today, the jealousy was not there. Infact, now that she knew how caring and responsible Raghav was, she understood her Pappa's fondness for him and also why he relied on him so much. Shrishti swore though, despite Raghav being reliable, she would make sure that her Pappa would rely on her first. If she was his world, then he was her world too. She would take care of her Pappa better this time, so that he would think of Raghav as a second option and not the first.
Shrishti glanced at Raghav only to see him look pensive.
'What is wrong?'
'Your Pappa's care towards you always reminds me of my Dad. He adored us the same way.'
'You must miss him so much!'
'That I do. But not as much as I miss mom. I was what people would call Momma's boy.'
She saw his calm demeanour and could not help but confess, 'I miss my mom too.'
He nodded. After few seconds he said, 'Parents will be missed even if we lose them to old age in our 50s.'
She fell silent at his words and wondered if she could ask him something that poked her like a thorn since she was a child.
'Is it weird?' She decided to take the chance. 'Is it weird that I miss that one person I have never met in my life?' Shrishti knew she met her Mumma after her death. But Raghav did not know that. And despite meeting her Mumma once, the fact remained that her whole life she had missed a mother who she had never met. It always made her curious. How could she miss the person she has never even met?
Raghav remained pensive for a while and Shrishti assumed that she would not get any answer. She focused on cycling and was making the turn with the help of Raghav when he spoke up, 'You may not have seen or met your mom but you know how she would be.'
Shrishti was so surprised by the sudden explanation that it took her a while to realise what Raghav was talking about. Oh! He was answering her earlier question.
'I don't understand.'
Raghav stopped the cycle and helped her get down. He parked it sideways and looked at her. 'Growing up, you must have seen other moms. You must have been told what mom does. You must have seen other moms show love to their children. Every child has two parents and you got the love of only one while others got two. It must have filled you with yearning for having the other parent especially when the moms around must be so sweet and kind and loving to their children. So no, I don't think you are weird for missing your mom, especially when so many people have told you time and time again how amazing your mom was and how much she must have loved you.'
Shrishti stared at Raghav as her mind reminded her of the sacrifice her mother did just so that she would have a second chance. Yes, her mother loved her a lot. Suddenly, Raghav started to pull out something from his pocket. It was kerchief.
'You are crying.', he told her as he offered the kerchief to her. Oh. She did not even notice it.
She grabbed the kerchief and dabbed under her eyes. 'Of course I am crying. You said such sweet things and so eloquently. When did you become this talkative?' She teased him trying to change the topic.
'I was like this for years. You are the one who never spent time with me enough to know this about me.' He shrugged and once again there was an uptick of the corners of his lips. He was smiling! She narrowed her eyes, wondering whether he was teasing her.
He waved to the cycle and she took her seat and start peddling again, the kerchief still held in her hands.
Raghav grabbed the seat and once again their session began.
Just then a car arrived into their society. Shrishti did not deem it important as she assumed it was some uncle or aunty from the other houses in the society coming back from somewhere.
But then she heard it.
'PARI!'
She looked up to see her Dadi standing next to the family car, glaring at her. Oh dear.