“What do you mean?”
“It means that I called in at work for you and me and that we won’t be coming,” I say, looking straight in her eyes. Her eyes are enough to make any person feel welcomed and warm. “Both of our moms are here. We should spend time with them, shouldn’t we?”
She clenches her teeth. “Are you implying I don’t care about spending time with them? I wouldn’t be going to work if it weren’t important. Surely you would know, right? I am not the one who bails on family, after all.”
I know what she is saying. I totally understand what she is hinting at, and my heart constricts with guilt.
“I am not implying anything, Aisha. I know you value family time. I know you wouldn’t ever bail on us. I just want us to spend some time at home, all of us together. We have been neglecting each other and ourselves, and I don’t want that to happen anymore.”
My words are genuine and real, and the way her face relaxes shows that maybe I have made her understand that.
“Don’t be mad at him, Aisha,”Maainterrupted. “If you want to leave, you can go. We won’t mind, right Margot?”
“Absolutely,” Mom agreed. “Work comes first.”
“No, Mom,” Aisha replied, looking at me with eyes that were able to express everything her heart was feeling. If that was any indication, I had hurt her deeply. “Family comes first.”
* * *
“What do I do,Maa?” I asked Aisha’s mom when she was out ofearshot, “I just don’t know how to get her to talk to me. If she won’t talk, how will I fix everything?”
She smiled at me. “Learn to read her silence, Reyansh. Sometimes silence speaks louder than words.”
I nodded. “There was a time when I could do that. I could read the look she would give me. Now it seems like no matter how much we talk, we aren’t able to understand each other. The distance between us just feels too much.”
“When you were courting Aisha, how did you manage to break through her walls? I know it must not have been easy. I mean, she was anti-men, and I had made sure she wouldn’t look at any guy.”
I chuckled, remembering the days when we were in college. It sure as hell wasn’t easy. But I knew I wanted her in my life, so I never gave up.
“It wasn’t easy for sure,” I tell her with a small smile. “She made me work for it, yes. But I knew she was what I needed, so I never gave up.”
“So why are you now? You love her, right?”
“I do.” A lone tear slips past my eyes. I have never cried for anyone in my entire life. I couldn’t give a fuck about who stayed in my life and who didn’t. But Aisha is different. If I lost her, I might as well lose myself.
“She is the only one I love,Maa.”
“Then bring back that old Reyansh she fell in love with. The one who was head over heels for her and wasn’t afraid to show it. The one who chased after her despite her attempts to push him away.”
Her words struck a chord.
She is right. If I wanted her back, I would have to bring my old self back. No matter how hard.
No matter what it took.
Aisha Kapoor
“How is everything going between you and Reyansh?”Maaasks me as I shove the grocery cart forward.
When I needed some air to breathe and think clearly, I made the excuse of grocery shopping to come out of my house that currently feels like a jail. Like they are all holding me hostage.
While I love that both of our mothers are here, I still find their sudden visit a bit fishy. Maybe I am just overthinking, but I think Reyansh made them come here.
But my mom wouldn’t let me leave alone. Insisting that she wanted to see how grocery shopping worked here. So now we are actually shopping at our local grocery shop.
“Everything’s fine,” I tell her, the answer I have fixed in my mind. No matter how much I want to tell her the truth, tell her that we are getting divorced soon, I know I can’t do it this way. If anything, we both need to tell them the truth. Together.
Considering how Reyansh has been acting ever since I told him that I want a divorce, I don’t see it happening anytime soon.
