Perfect Mismatch

Ch 55 - A pleasant change in plans!

She was playing with the spoon, pouring the soup in it and then dropping it back into the mug. The corn vegetable soup wasn't all that bad but her taste buds weren't normal after the fever spells. Thankfully her temperature was normal now, but she had postponed her next ad shoot till the next week to rest at home.

"Sana. Beta thanda kyun kar rahi hai? Fatafat se khatam kar isko. Sid aa gaya hai, neeche hai parking par. Tere reports bhi le aaya hai, driver ne bola ke neeche wali medicine shop pe gaya hai..." Ma told her. She felt her forehead checking for fever.

"Nahi hai" she grinned at Ma.

"Haan, thank God. Pi usko abhi" She patted her head and carried on to the kitchen with Sidharth's lunch boxes with the driver had taken out from the car and brought back along with the car keys. She struggled with the soup with a whine, took another sip and paused. Ma was watching her from the kitchen counter.

"Sana, hare k sip ke baa daana padega kya daantne?"Ma called out loudly from the kitchen.

"Do lagao isko kheench ke kaan ke niche" came the reply from the door.

"Hain!" Shehnaaz almost spat out the soup as he walked up to her and smacked her head.

"Aate hi shuru ho gaya tu? Kya hua? Report aayi? Kya bola doctor ne?" Ma asked, handing him a glass of water.

"Kuch nahi. Fever toh Viral hi tha probably. But Iron kam hai. Kaafi zyada isiliye weakness hai. 5 hai iska, normal for women is 11. Kuch SOS medicines hai, multivitamins hai aur Iron syrup dia hai. Abhi 2 din no work. Aur naatak mat kar pi usko." He sat down with the glass of water glaring at her.

"Arrey, pi toh rahi hun! Peeche hi pad jao sare mere. Ma! Ye nahi bolega mereko please! Isko bolo" She whined.

"Nahi kyun nahi bolega koi tumko kuch? Tum kuch bhi karti raho mannmani, tumko ki kuch nahi bolega? Aur abhi na, medicines me naatak kia na tune, phir tu dekhna bas" he warned her, not in jest.

"Accha bas, Sidharth shut up. Sana, bacha pi le. Jitna pi paa rahi hai pi le. Kal se na, palak ka soup banaungi. Ye wala jitna ho raha hai finish karle bas" Ma told her softly, eyeing Sidharth with anger.

"Abe. Chill kar. But dietician se baat kart u. Usko report bhejna, whatsapp bhej, main tereko bhej raha hun. Abhi karo whatsapp." He commanded and she scowled.

"Mom, kuch hai khane ko? Bohot bhook lag rahi hai." He said, moving her feet away and sitting in the couch where she was resting with a comforter around her. Taking her mug from her, he sipped the soup and gave it back to her. She pleaded him to drink more and help her finish off with quinted eyes wordlessly. He dismissed her request and added to Mom – "Mom, yehi de do mereko bhi, accha hai! Aap bhi aa jao! Aapne kya kia aaj din bhar?"

"Aati hun, ruk, soup le aati hun phir" Ma said and headed to the kitchen but by the time she came back, a whiny Shehnaaz was sitting on the floor and she caught Sidharth gently, but suddenly pushing his toe to her waist, making her yelp. But at the same time, he held her head cupped in his big hand – "gadhi".

"Girega usse Sidharth, kya kar raha hai tu!" Ma scolded him as she walked to the two of them with two cups of chai!

"Oh lovely! Chai laye ho aap!" he took a large and noisy sip from the cup and Shehnaaz looked at them enviously.

"Khud toh chai pi rahe ho. Mereko ye pila rahe ho" Shehnaaz pouted, complaining aloud.

"Toh hum log bimar nahi hain na..." he said, looking at Ma for approval.

"Tu upar kyun nahi baith sakti hai kabhi?" Ma complained, settling next to Sidharth on the sofa, patting her head affectionately, as she shifted closer to Ma and squeezed her head against her lap.