《Short Recap》
"Fine, I won't blow you kisses." Vinay huffed in a defeated tone, "But you are coming."
"Ugh. I'll come to you match," I conceded, an idea striking me at that moment, "And you know what, I'll even wear one of your old jerseys to the match."
"Now that's my girl!" he sucker punched the air happily.
Chuckling softly, I flipped my hair and sauntered into class and greeted the professor curtly.
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A strong guest of wind blew my loose hair strands onto my eyes, the leaves of the large old gulmohar rustling eerily in the dark. Half the moon, shining extraordinarily bright in it's large gibbous form, hid behind feathery wisps of white clouds as though it was playing a game of hide and seek with the stars.
I was sitting cross legged on the cool granite floor of the small balcony, attached to the sitting room, trying to cram a rather trying chapter of compilers and operating systems. I was armed with a highlighter, a double tipped one that had both fluorescent orange and pink ink.
Normally, I spent the time after dinner doing topics I found interesting but I'd been putting this chapter for longer than I'd expected to and I'd finally decided to stop procrastinating and be done with it so that I wouldn't have to suffer the week before the next series of tests.
Setting aside my books, I stretched my legs forward and leaned behind on my arms, to look up at the dark sky splattered with shades of purple and blue and black. A humongous yawn escaped me, and I rubbed my eyes slowly.
"Stop rubbing your eyes so hard Akira. You'll get frightful dark circles if you keep up with that." My mother reprimanded, as she came out into the balcony holding a small steel bowl in her hand, "Here eat this curd."
Since when does rubbing eyes causes dark circles?
Shaking my head slightly, I chuckled.
My mother always seemed to come up with really bizarre reasons to get me to stop something she didn't like me doing.
"I don't want curd now, Ma. I'm full." I scrunched up my nose.
"Just a little bit, I've put some sugar in it because you don't like eating it plain," Ma reasoned with me, "And being full is hardly an excuse, Akira. Curd is good for digestion."
With a huff, I accepted the bowl from my mother and stuck a spoonful of the sweetened curd into my mouth.
"Happy?" I pouted, eating another spoonful.
Ignoring my childish display, Ma sat down next to me. For a woman in her early fifties she was pretty fit and agile, something that really stumped me because she never really exercised, unless you called daily errands and household chores exercise.
"I called the Karthik's boy for a cup of coffee at the little cafe down the street yesterday." My mother stated softly, staring ahead as she spoke.
I whipped my head to her side so suddenly that I was lucky I didn't get a catch in my neck.
"You what?" I asked incredulously, a confused- almost angry burst of emotions manifesting as a frown.
"I take it that Vinay didn't tell you anything about it. I made him promise me that he wouldn't," a ghost of smile made it's way to my mother's lips as she spoke, "Don't worry though, Akira. I did not try to drive him away. It was something I thought of doing because he does not deserve a wonderful young woman like you, but I didn't dare to. Your little extempore the other day woke me up. You are truly a woman now, an adult who has the right to make her own decisions."
"I am." I nodded, unfazed.
"Which is why I had a nice, long talk with Vinay. He is far from perfect but I guess he really fancies you, so I think I can be civil as long as he keeps trying to be the best possible version of himself for you." Ma said jubilantly, "I think I can live with that. Men aren't born mature. One can say they are like pickles. Some age well and some just don't. There's no concrete reason for it, just dire circumstances."
"I'm glad you realised that, Ma." I sighed.
"It was hard but I'm glad I did too." Ma nodded slightly, fiddling with the wedding ring on her finger.
I found it all too good to be true though. There was a time when I strongly believed that the world was a complex mixture of trust, faith and a pinch of pixie dust. But that was before. A time when I lived a more sheltered life in my own happy bubble.
I mentally smacked my head.
Akira, she is your mother! Stop blowing situations out of due proportion inside your head.
"So you wouldn't mind if Vinay moved back into this flat?" I asked, pushing my luck.
My mother stifled a cough.
"As long as I don't have a complete menagerie of grandchildren running around my house." Ma asserted in a no nonsense way, "They call this kind of relationship something these days, I think it's living in. Live in?"
I chuckled nervously.
"Live in." I said, taking my mother's hands into mine, "And that's not how our relationship is, Ma. We're just roommates and we like each other. We have separate rooms for heaven's sake. I just want you to trust me a little."
"I do trust you, immensely." Ma smiled tightly, "Besides, I realised that everyone should have the liberty to make their own mistakes and learn from them. Even I had a beau in college and it would be hypocritical of me to go to arduous lengths to prevent you from having the same. I suppose it's the mother inside me overpowering my feminist side."
I grinned elfishly, turning slightly so I was facing her now.
"So tell me about this beau of yours. You've never told me his name." I prodded.
My mother's face reddened instantly and she swatted my arm lightly, hiding her soft giggle with her long, delicate fingers.
"Out of everything I said, that is what you chose to ask?" she asked, raising her brow.
I nodded, a devious glint in my eyes.
"His name was Yashwant Modi. Everyone used to call him Yash. He was tall and easy on the eyes," Ma started dreamily, "Once it was raining and I ran for cover into the local library. We unexpectedly stumbled into each other at the..."
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Ma left for Delhi two days after our late night heart to heart. We stayed up till almost quarter to three, swapping college memories and the disastrous blunders we'd committed. It was just like the old times.
I didn't realise just how much I missed pouring my heart out to my mother until I was reminded of it again. It's honestly funny how some distance makes everything seem small.
Wednesday evening rolled in after what seemed like forever. The professors I was working under for extra credits had been a lot more demanding than usual. They wanted most part of the research work and paper writing completed before the Diwali break.
To top it all, Harsh, Neel and I had been putting together our app bit by bit. It was almost complete, at least the technical and coding aspect of it. We were now working on making it user friendly and attractive. Our brainstorming sessions had been scarce with the basket ball finals on Friday and the research that we'd been doing in college, besides the six hours of working college hours.
Whoever said college was a breeze was clearly brain dead or extremely stoned or simply a foolish optimist.
Right now I was faced with a completely different predicament. I couldn't find a single old basketball jersey in Vinay's cupboard. The two I found were sleeveless and I definitely was not going to flash my bra from the sides.
With a drawn out sigh I threw the last of Vinay's t-shirts back into his closet and shut the door with more force than I intended to.
I released my hair from my grey hair tie and combed my fingers through it before piling it up on the top of my head and tying it into a bun.
Muttering under my breath, I marched out of Vinay's room and made my way to the sitting room where I'd plugged in my mobile phone for charging.
Unplugging it, I called Vinay.
I waited impatiently as it connected. One ring, then two. He picked up on the third ring.
"Hi..." he greeted in cheery tone.
"Didn't you leave a single jersey with sleeves here?" I cut him off instantly.
"I guess I didn't." I imagined him shrugging as he said that.
"What do you expect me to wear on Friday then?" I asked pointedly.
"Chill, Akira. I'll drop one off at your place tomorrow." Vinay replied after a small pause.
"Not tomorrow." I stated, "Roshni and Lara want to stay over tomorrow for some sort of girl's night."
Walking into my bedroom, I put the call on speaker and placed it on the study table before bending forward to open the window. A fresh burst of air hit my face.
"I'm tired right now, Akira." Vinay mumbled, "I don't feel like coming over with my extra jersey right now."
I sighed.
"Okay." I said, pulling my lips into a thin line as I stared at my reflection in the window, "Just give it to me in college tomorrow."
"Yep." He answered in a weary tone, "I'll see you tomorrow."
I cut the call with a silent huff and carried it to the sitting room to plug it back onto the charger. I'd been extraordinarily pissed the entire day, so much that it surprised even me.
I was probably PMSing.
My periods were due after four days and I prayed it wouldn't decide to drop in during the weekend in Goa. What's the point of going to a beach when you can't stop into the water?
Shaking my head, I dragged myself to the kitchen and fired up the stove before setting a saucepan on it.
Cooking solely for myself was a drudge but it had to be done. Too bad that I mostly resorted to making plain old boiled rice for dinner most of the days with sprouts or boiled lentils. On the days that I was feeling extra overly zealous, I'd go the extra mile and make myself a curry but those were rare.
Cooking used to be fun when Vinay lived here but now it was boring. A routine task that needed to be done if I didn't want my pockets to empty out fast.
A knock resounded on the door just as I poured warm water into the rice and pulses mixture and placed a lid on the saucepan to cook over a medium flame.
"Coming." I called out, frowning to myself as I tried to recall of I was expecting someone.
Standing on my toes I looked through the peephole and was surprised to see Vinay waiting patiently for me to open the door.
Biting back a grin, I flung the door open.
"You came?" I stated, moving aside so he could come in before shutting the door.
"I did." He answered simply, nodding solemnly, "I decided to use this opportunity as an excuse to come and say good night. If I'm lucky I might get to sleep here."
He thrust a small bag into my hands.
I raised my brow, placing my hands on my hips as I watched him.
"Don't you think you are pushing your luck?" I questioned, "I'm not even your girlfriend and you're already beginning to get clingy."
I regretted saying that the moment the words leapt off my tongue. But it was too late, the words were out there and there was no taking them back now.
I'd meant it as a joke at first, but I guess your deepest insecurities have a way of surfacing at the most inopportune times.
Vinay's eyes widened for a split second, before his features settled into a blank expression as he studied me silently.
"Uh..." I bit my lower lip, trying to explain, "That's not what I..."
"No, I understand." He said softly, running a hand through his hair, "I should go then. Good night Akira."
He walked out of the door, carefully closing it behind his back before I could say anything.
I mentally punched myself for letting my tongue run loose, staring at the door until I heard a hissing sound from the kitchen.
I quickly ran inside just in time to reduce the flame before more boiling water trickled out of pan and onto the stove.
Strike one.
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Akira needs to stop being a bozonic overthinker sometimes...
It's been very long since I updated on a weekday and I feel mightily proud about it.
Vote, comment, share and don't forget to spread the love!
And a small book recommendation, if you love suspense and thrillers. Try out 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn. I absolutely loved it and I'm literally reeling from the after effects right now.