• Second Chances •

35. Climber

"How was your trip?" nudged Sandy. 

"Good..." offered Priya as she concentrated on making a special wild mushroom pulav recipe she had seen online.  

"Yaar Di!" Sandy whined. "Give us more meat than that."

"Yes, please!" Sara nodded. "You cannot be that cryptic. 

Priya rolled her eyes. She had invited them to the Kapoor Mansion to hand over all the gifts she had got for them from New Zealand with her own money. She had neatly sorted the gifts into two different piles. She obviously was no match for Ram. He had genuinely gone wild and brought so many things for each member of her family that if Priya stacked them, she was sure that the gift pile would be as tall as a three-storey building for sure. 

"Whatever Di!" Sandy waved her hand, basking in the happiness of the gifts that her jiju had bought for her. "I am just so happy. Someone has brought shit for us from foreign for the first time. I am so excited."

Shaking her head, Sara turned to Priya and softly asked, "How was Ram?"

Priya couldn't dare to look up. Because if she did, she knew that she wouldn't be able to hide the fact that Ram was like a dream. Everything about him was special. He had treated her with so much respect and softness that Priya almost felt like it was fake. But then again, how could one fake it for that long?  

So she shrugged as nonchalantly as she could. "He was nice. He is funny. I have never laughed this much in such a short time." 

Sara smiled. "I can imagine. But I am so happy for you. So much."  

"Thank you!" Priya smiled back. 

Sara then popped a piece of tomato in her mouth. "Priya, I know you are tired from the trip but it's karwachauth tomorrow. Will you keep the fast?" 

How could Priya not think of fasting for that wonderful, weird, empathetic man? If her fasting for a day meant good health for him and a longer life, she would happily remain hungry for a day. It was a no brainer, really. 

Priya dreaded Sara's teasing. But she had to say what was the truth. Nodding a little, she mumbled, "Yes. I am fasting."

**************************************************************** 

"Ah!" Ram yelled at the top of his voice as soon as he felt a presence in the kitchen. His heart beat like a zillion gazillion horses galloping together as he kept a hand over his chest and turned around. 

With big, saucer-like eyes, he stared at the person. It was Priya who was looking at him like she too had seen a ghost. 

"You scared me!!!" Ram gritted his teeth and gently patted his chest. 

"No!" Priya shook her head and pointed a finger at him. "You scared me! What are you even doing here? It's 4 AM! Don't tell me that you got hungry out of nowhere." 

Ram swallowed hard. It was the day of karwachauth. He had gotten up early in order to make Priya's sargi. He had a word with Nandini about it the last night and it didn't seem like she was going to do it. It was futile to push her to do something that she didn't feel like doing. So he had taken the onus of making it. After all, Priya was his responsibility. 

Also, it was a ploy of eating something before the dreaded sunrise. There was no way he was eating in front of Priya that day.

"I was helping Mom. She just went back to her room..." Ram lied through his teeth. "She was making your sargi so, I was assisting her. It is your first karwachauth. I just thought of seeing how it all happens. Tarun, poor thing is asleep."