Serendipitous Saturation ✔ [Completed]

Chapter 7 - Preparations

Vansh fetched fresh boxers from the oak chest of drawers in his bedroom and dropped them into a brown leather holdall that sat on top of his bed. A tap came to his door.

"Come in, mom," he called out, heading into his ensuite bathroom to fetch his shaving set and aftershave.

He re-entered his bedroom to find her peeking into his bag and at the beige shirt he'd placed on the bed.

"All set?" she said brightly, looking up at him.

"Almost," he said with a distracted frown as he peered inside his bag, packing away the toiletries he'd just collected.

She held up the shirt he'd chosen to change into for dinner and shook her head. "No. Bring the blue one instead."

He smirked, "Since when are you a fashionista? Besides, Riddhima doesn't care about all that stuff, anyway."

She went to his wardrobe and switched shirts, passing him the blue one. "You think you know everything about everything sometimes. But sometimes you don't, young man. You want to impress her? Wear the blue one."

He rolled his eyes but took it without a word, not in the frame of mind to begin a battle he was sure to always lose when his mother got something into her head. His stubbornness in that same regard had clearly been inherited from her. As he finished packing he troubled his bottom lip, mentally checking he hadn't forgotten anything. His memory palace was failing him as he thought about what lay ahead with Riddhima as excitement rushed through his veins, in direct contradiction to the stillness around him, and causing him to switch his thoughts to the cause of the relative calmness that had descended over his house for the past hour.

"It's so quiet without Aadhya here, isn't it?" Maya mumbled with a sigh, voicing his thoughts.

He nodded as a breath escaped. "She'll be okay, right?" he said, turning around to her.

She smiled. "Of course she will. How was she when you dropped her off?"

He muttered, "Your granddaughter barely glanced back at me as she ran off to see her friends and there I was valiantly trying to hold back the tears." He shook his head. "I didn't want her to cry but...jeez, it was a little too easy for her to give me a quick hug and then escape happily to go enjoy herself."

She laughed. "So because you're raising a clearly independent and well adjusted daughter you're put out she didn't grasp onto you like a limpet, are you?"

"Absolutely," he said with seriousness. He smiled then dropped it a second later. "And I didn't raise her alone. I-I don't say it often enough but...but you know how much I appreciate everything you do around here, don't you?"

Maya's eyes misted over and she swallowed thickly as a tear escaped. As she let go of a ragged breath he laughed softly, "And that is the very reason I don't tell you that very often, mom."

He was embraced anyhow. "You and that little girl changed my life too, you know that, Vansh."

He pulled back and took a deep breath. "Okay, enough of these soppy histrionics. Aadhya has no idea what she turned both of us into today. We never speak of this again," he told her with a smile.

"Okay, whatever you say," his mother replied, wiping a tear away. She cleared her throat. "So, where are you and Riddhima staying?"

He shook his head as he zipped up his holdall. "I have no idea. Riddhima insisted on booking the hotel. Someplace with a sea view, she said."

"Sounds nice."

"Yeah, hopefully it will be."

A beat passed as put on his watch. "Vansh, have you thought about introducing them? Riddhima and Aadhya, I mean. It's getting more serious now, don't you think it's time?"