‘We’ll stay here. We’ll wait with Mom,’ Kaavi said. Her mother looked up, surprised.
Kaavi didn’t know why she wanted to stay, but something told her she had to.
Her uncle said, ‘Dad, let’s get going. You’ve had a long day as well. I’ll drop you off at the hotel and come back.’ Then, gently resting his hand on his wife’s arm, he asked, ‘Marls, are you staying?’ Her grandfather stood and her aunt nodded.
After her uncle and grandfather had left, Kaavi leaned towards Neel. ‘Please stay with me,’ she whispered in his ear.
He nodded.
‘Can I get any of you something to drink or eat? There’s the hospital canteen or we could order for delivery,’ he offered.
Her mother and aunt shook their heads.
Kaavi needed to get away for a few minutes.
‘If I remember right, there’s a coffee shop outside the hospital. Maybe we could walk there and have coffee,’ she suggested.
‘Sounds like a plan,’ he replied.
‘We’ll be back,’ Kaavi told her mother.
When they stepped out of the suffocating hospital, Kaavi stumbled and grabbed Neel’s arm. ‘I just need to catch my breath.’
‘I’ve got you,’ he said reassuringly.
Kaavi couldn’t believe everything that had happened. She’d walked out on Neel, yet here he was, standing by her as her husband. She also couldn’t digest that Sen and her grandfather knew she was married.
They began to walk again. When they got to the coffee shop, they ordered coffee and Neel ordered muffins and bottles of water to take away for her mother and aunt. That’s the Neel she knew. Kind. Level-headed.
They sat at a table in a quiet corner and observed theirsurroundings for a few minutes.
‘So, are you going to tell me what’s going on?’
She knew this question was bound to come.
‘My father and I have some bad blood between us,’ she said.
‘That’s all you’re going to give me?’
She ran her hand through her long tresses.
‘It’s complicated,’ she said.
‘Like us,’ he replied.
‘I left you. Divorce papers are sitting on the table in Sen’s hallway. And you’re here with me in my hometown, with both of us wearing our wedding rings. It’s like a low-budget reality show,’ she said.
Neel chuckled.
‘I thought the exact same thing.’
She sipped her coffee and wondered what life would have been like if she hadn’t left.
‘Do you think you can forgive your father?’
His question startled her.
‘Sorry, I was a million miles away … Neel, I cannot forgive my father.’
