Fitoor: The Obsession

7: SURPRISE VISIT

It was only a few days ago everything was in black and white. Now that the colours have appeared, they were vivid. Aditi walked with a nightgown and nothing more, closer to the canvas, brush in her hand. Nothing concrete was in her mind as she listened to the song of the evening. With ideas slowly forming, she mixed the colours. Her hand danced on the canvas, a ballet of the highest rank.

Never once had she paid attention to the way his eyelashes, long and dainty, brush his skin.

Never once had she thought of how those freckles spread so evenly.

Never once had she considered the way his eyes pierced hers.

Yet, if she had not thought of these, how could she have pictured him so clearly?

A knock on the door surprised her. She wasn't expecting company. Zafar wasn't supposed to come by since she was already heading there for lunch today and there was really nobody else she knew so closely who would arrive without notice. She set down her brush and took off her apron before answering the door. Pulling it open, she started to speak, but a whirlwind capped in a big fat Indian family forestalled her. The words on Aditi's lips– Yes, can I help you?– turned to a silent 'O' as commotion talked over.

She didn't have time to register or process anything else before she heard her name called out in a gravelly voice and her body was crushed into a rough hug. "Meri bethi, look at the woman you've grown into," her uncle said before pulling away from the hug. One of her aunties seemed to examine Aditi's face closely for a second before humming. "I never did think you would ever be this beautiful, but your cousin swore up and down," she rambled, not noticing or not caring about the perplexed look on her face.

Aditi's eyes searched for her favourite aunty before spotting her a little behind. "Hi," the lady grinned, the sides of her eyes crinkled. Her mother's younger sister, Mrs. Mahdev. Aditi returned the smile.

"Hello, everyone," she finally greeted after just staring and watching them for a minute. Aditi didn't know exactly what she was expecting, but this was definitely not it. She quickly moved away from the door as a mini stampede happened. "Yes... come in, please," she added, nearly being sarcastic. She almost said 'make yourself at home' but realised it was an unnecessary incentive when addressing a big fat Indian family.

"It's a beautiful house but a little small, no?" her aunty commented in Tamil.

The uncles had led themselves to sit down on the lounge sofa, the little cousins being a busybody about every furniture in the house and the aunties planted themselves in the kitchen. "Um..." she trailed off before hurrying to check her mail. "I did not receive any notice that you were coming." It sounded more like a question.

"Ah, you ought to know your aunt. She wanted to surprise you," one of her uncles replied.

"It's really wonderful to see you all. And what time is your train in the evening?"

"Evening?" Mr. Mahdev laughed. "Child, no. We'll be leaving the day after tomorrow."

"Oh." Aditi had tried her best to conceal the shock she was feeling and mostly, the panic because she had not prepared anything, especially their accommodation. She fiddled with the chain on her neck as she counted the members.

One, two, three... fourteen.

There were fourteen of them.

Her house could not hold all fourteen of them. To be fair, it wasn't even her house in the first place. Zafar was desperately needed. There was no doubt that he would be of great help.

✽

All of them had come home to roost, gathered in the Begums' kitchen. Across the old wooden table from Aditi, who had uncharacteristically spoken very little during this exchange, Mr. and Mrs. Mahdev stoically endured their argument. The conversation between Zafar and Xavier revolved around how Ashraf could land a decent job after graduating. The children were indulged in their own chaos, the giggles and laughter music to her ears. The older cousins about her age were deep in conversation like they often were about some sort of gossip back home. They had included Aditi into the talk, but some drawling conversation between her peers didn't have the ability to fully capture her attention. Although her family's accommodation was now settled, she was now concerned about the activities for the next two days.