“I don’t want you to go to lunch with Chhavi. I don’t like her.”
He sounds serious, and I wonder what makes him say this.
“Why though? I mean, I don’t like her either. But I promised in front of everyone, and you knowMaawill cause a ruckus if I cancel.”
He sighs, resting his forehead against his.
“Aisha,” he says, and I hum. “Have you forgiven me?”
My heart races in my chest, and I wonder if I should tell him the truth like this.
“What do you think?”
“No. I want to hear from you.”
I smile. I want to let him know everything, but I also want it to be done in a special way.
“I will tell you some other day.”
He smiles, knowing what I mean.
“Okay,” he says, kissing my forehead and lingering there for a few seconds. “I will wait.”
I pull away from him after he is done, and he still looks as if he doesn’t want me to go.
“I love you, you know that, right?”
“I know.”
He follows behind me as we go out, and Chhavilooks agitated. Honestly, when does she not look agitated?
She looked agitated when we came last night, and she has the same expression—if not worse—right now.
“Ready to leave?” I ask, happy from within. At this point even Chhavi’sgrumpiness cannot ruin my mood.
“I have been ready to leave for the past one hour, Aisha,” she says, crossing her arms. “Are you done? I have to do packing also.”
“Sure,” I say while internally showing her the middle finger. “Let’s go.”
“Be nice,” Reyansh says, and I look at him confused.
He shakes his head and points at Chhavi, and I grow more confused. Something seems wrong, and I can’t put my finger on what.
“Be nice and stay in your limits, Chhavi,” he says. “Don’t trouble my wife.”
“I won’t trouble your wife.”
“Bye,Maa,” I say. “Don’t get too bored without Mom.”
Mom decided to go meet Dad today for some work purposes, so it is just going to be her and Reyansh here for a while before he decides to go to the office.
“I won’t,” she says, waving her hand to dismiss the idea. “She annoys me anyways.”
I chuckle, because we all know that is not true. They have the cutest bond. I think they could have been siblings in another universe.
“Sure,” I say. “Bye, Reyansh.”
He follows us to the car, and now I really want to know what’s wrong.
