"Tanay..." Aadya called out to him, her gaze fixed on her nails as she painted them.
"Yes?"
"I was thinking," she started, "we should buy a bike for you, you know? It's more efficient with all the traffic."
"Hmm," Tanay walked to the bed and sat next to her. "Not yet."
"Yet?" She looked at him.
"Do you wanna know a secret?" He asked, peeking at her nails. They looked so pretty. She was painting them a shiny nude pink.
"Yes." She whispered and nodded.
He smiled. "There's a slight chance... That I might get a promotion and transfer to Mumbai."
Her eyes widened. "That's really amazing."
"Mm-hmm." When she was done with her nails, Tanay took her hand in his and smiled. "I want to buy my own house." He looked at her. "Our home."
"And we'll decorate it together." She grinned.
"Yes." He kissed her hand. "If we get a promotion and move to Mumbai, we'll get a bike there. If not, we will still get a bike."
"Okay."
For a while, they just laid together in silence. Aadya's head was on his shoulder, almost on his chest, and he had his arm wrapped around her shoulders, caressing her hair.
"Am I a bad son... For not wanting to live with my parents?" Tanay softly muttered.
"You're not taking them to Mumbai when you get promoted?" She asked.
"...yeah."
"Is it...is it because of what I said? That day?" She looked into his eyes. "I don't want to be the reason to separate you from your parents. You have a different kind of bond with them."
"No, it's not because of that. I had been thinking about it from quite some time." His hand paused and rested on her arm. He took a deep breath.
"Well," Aadya placed her hand on his chest, "if you have kids someday and they wish to live by themselves after their marriage, would you mind?"
Tanay looked down at her and shook his head, "no."
"Choose yourself for once." She patted his chest and smiled. "I'll be right here no matter what you decide."
He turned over to her and kissed her forehead, letting his lips linger for a while.
"Let's sleep."
"Mhm."
"Tanay, can we go out today?" Tanay stopped brushing his teeth and looked at Aadya from the washbasin mirror and raised an eyebrow as if to ask "where?"
"Somewhere." She answered him, moisturizing her legs and arms.
He gave her a thumbs up and continued brushing his teeth.
After he showered, he pulled on blue jeans and a white shirt, rolling the sleeves halfway to his elbow.
Aadya stepped in wearing a white kurti with a pink dupatta and leggings. She had her hair in the middle partition and small braids clipped behind her ear, leaving the rest loose down her back. She wore a pink stone bindi between her brows and her mangalsutra.
"Ready?" She asked, looking at Tanay.
"You're so beautiful." He whispered in awe.
"Really?" She smiled, looking down at herself.
He walked towards her and stood behind her, facing the mirror. He looked at their reflection of standing together and kissed her hair.
"Really."
He then grabbed his wallet and watch while she put on jhumkis and checked one last time in the mirror. Then, they left the house.
Taking a cab from there, they went to a bus stop and caught a bus to a Lakeview Park that was about 1.5 hours away.
In the bus, Aadya sat in the window seat, and him beside her. She then pulled earphones out of her purse and put one in his ear and the other in hers.
"What do you listen to?" She asked, scrolling through songs.
He picked "Aao Milo Chalein" from "Jab We Met," perfect for their scenario.
She smiled and held his arm close to her, leaning her head on his shoulder.
He kissed her head and tilted his head on top of hers.
1.5 hours of a music session later, they reached their stop. From there, they hailed an auto and made it to the Lakeview Park.
Before going to the park, they stopped by at a breakfast place since they hadn't eaten anything when they left home.
"Is it good?" Tanay asked her. She was eating poha while he had ordered a chai for himself.
She scooped up some on the spoon and offered for him to taste it. He ate and furrowed his eyebrows.
"It's okay-ish." She agreed.
His chai wasn't that good either.
"Let's have an amazing lunch, yeah?" Aadya said, drinking water.
"Yup. Let's go to the park now."
The park was a walking distance from there.
They reached, and oh my, was it beautiful.
Soft grass under them, the lake sparkling in the sunlight. Around the lake was sand and a couple of boats. A few ducks in one corner, and you could see some orange, white, and black fishes.
It was a man-made lake, after all.
There were huge trees at equal distances, and under them, in their shadows was a bench. Also, a couple of bushes here and there.
It was a nice surrounding.
There were couples everywhere, a few friend groups, and even fewer families with kids.
"It's beautiful." Tanay said to her, breathing in the fresh air. "Let's sit over there."
They sat under the tree, watching the ducks and the lake.
"Are you having fun?" Aadya asked him.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him, nodding his head. "I am. Are you?"
"Yes!" She grinned and shifted closer to him.
He caressed her cheek with a soft smile. As if he remembered something, he pulled back, stood up, and took his phone out.
"What happened?" She asked, confused.
"Nothing. Be seated; I'll click your pictures."
The man got on his knees, changed camera angles, asking her to look here, there, smile, pose.
A while later, Aadya giggled and asked him to stop. "Okay, stop! Now I'm getting shy." She patted her cheeks to cool down.
"But you look so pretty." He clicked one last picture.
Snickering, he got back to her, looking through the pictures he clicked.
"You like being photographed." He said.
"Yeah." She nodded. "I once participated in the beauty pageant of my college."
"Oh?" He raised a surprised eyebrow and looked at her with a smile. She pouted.
"But I was out in the first round."
"Did somebody appoint blind judges?" She laughed and bumped her shoulder into his.
"No. But I kind of...uh, slipped or something and fell off the stage. It was funny." She chuckled.
"Were you hurt?" He asked as if she fell today and not four years ago.
She smiled nonetheless and shook her head. "No, I wasn't hurt."
"Good."
"I'll click your pictures, pose." She said, taking her phone out, but he stopped her laughing.
"No, no. I don't really like being clicked." She looked at him for a second and said, "then take a selfie of us."
"Okay-"
Tanay felt a small tap on his shoulder. He looked at some wooden stick, and his eyes followed the stick and fell on a khaki uniform.
"Police?"