The love of my life

16. Drunk dialed

February '2023

The next morning, Daman woke up with a hot water bag pressed to her lower tummy, a throbbing headache and Ishleen next to her. She stirred in the bed and looked around for Samayra hearing the cluttering of utensils.

Today was her marriage anniversary and she wasn't ready to face the real world. Not with such a hangover and a killing headache.

She got up and looked at Ishleen's phone going haywire.

"Ish... You're husband is calling..." She said waking up Ishleen as she reached for her phone without opening her eyes.

Daman got out of bed to check on her son, and looked at Samayra in the kitchen.

"Pancakes?" She asks as Daman blows her a flying kiss.

"I wish I was not into dîcks. I'd marry you."

Daman says groggily approaching her son's bedroom and opens the door to find him sound asleep. She closes the door and walks out.

"You are not going to wake him up." Samayra asks looking at the time.

"I can get him ready, and you should take a shower." She says as Daman collapses on the couch dialing her phone.

"Hey, I wanted to inform you that I'm really sick. Will you please take my 2:30pm UG class." Daman says as the colleague was more than happy to help the workaholic professor who was usually punctual, and brilliant in her work. Not from the past few days though.

Then Daman typed a leave application and mailed to the dean as Samayra set the table.

"So, you didn't get a leave for zoo trip but now you can just send in an application?" Samayra asks suspiciously.

"Are you trying to say that I willingly went on that trip?" Daman asks as Samayra just shrugs.
"You need advance permission, if you have a field trip, seminar, or some important meeting. On other days, you get your classes covered, keep your work up to date, and have all the deadlines met, then a mail works for them." She said getting up and popping a pill for the headache and hangover, brewing a cup of coffee.

"So, no school for Tejas?" Samayra asks as Daman shakes her head.

"I barely get time with him and his grandmother is coming in 3 weeks. I'll be seeing him just before bed and for a few minutes in the morning."

"With another marriage proposal, i think ? She's such a nice mother-in-law..." Samayra says as Daman nods.

"Yes, she wants me to move on, but I also think it's because she wants custody of Tejas." Daman says, voicing it out loud for the first time and regretting it immediately.

She still had alcohol in her system. She hated how wine had her like this in her late 20's. She'd be 30 by the end of the year and had hangovers after wine. Her 22 year old vodka lover would be so embarrassed.

"I mean..." She says trying to cover up.

"You really think so?" Samayra asks.

"I feel so." She says settling down on the couch with a cup of coffee as Samayra pours maple syrup on a plate of pancakes and joins her.

"And why is that?"Samayra asks and Daman realizes there was no escape.

"You remember when I decided to sell one car after... Sangram's demise..."

"Uhmm."

"I was ready to sell my Honda since it was relatively new and this Mercedes held so much emotional value for Sangram. But she came to me and was like... You don't need a luxury car. It's expensive to maintain. Sell it and put all the money in a trust for Tejas and you can use it for his studies since medical school is so expensive and blah blah."