Sweetener : Drabbles

# 3 Father's day

"This is it for today's lecture, for Monday's lecture I want you all to read from page 55 too page 109 and I want that essay on my desk on Wednesday next week". Priya said before she dismissed her class, she heard some of her students talk about what their plans with their father's was as they packed their things.

Priya looked at her watch, usually on Father's Day she would burry herself in her work, so she could avoid feeling the heartache she felt whenever she would see other families celebrating what she clearly never would get.

A father who loves her, a father who stays and a father who is good to his family.

For Priya Father's Day was associated to pain, an ache in her heart that would never go away, she has no one to bake a cake for and make a card that says, "World's best papa". So, she buries herself in grading papers after lectures, to distract herself from the emotions she is certain the day will bring.

But at the end of the day, when it's time to go to bed she feels nothing but loneliness and pain. Every year since she can remember, on Father's Day Priya Sood cries herself to sleep.

She cries for the father she never got, the father she so desperately longed for and the father she got who will never waste an opportunity to tell her how disappointed he was on her, how he hated her guts.

This year so many things were differently, she was no longer Priya Sood who could burry herself in her work. As Priya Kapoor she was married to someone who adored his dad and knew how it felt to be the sun in your father's eyes, but unfortunately her husband lost his father to soon. Priya bit her lips; this day was not only painful for her but for Ram as well.

Priya had no idea what would await her when she arrives home after work, will he want space or her company. Priya shook her head; the only company Mr. Kapoor would want on this day is the only company he won't get. Priya felt a stab of pain in her chest, a part of her wants to scream at the universe for dealing her with such cards.

How will you comfort him, Priya? What do you know about father's love, nothing? This day might be painful for you as well, but that don't mean you can relate to his pain because this day being painful for both of you is for two very different reasons Priya.

Priya snapped out of her thoughts as her phone vibrated, Priya grabbed her phone and saw that she had received a text message from her husband. Seeing as all her students had left, she opened the message.

"Got a lot of meetings today, so I will be late. Well, more late than usual. You should spend some time with your sisters today. Can't imagine today is an easy day for the four of you"

"Okey" she replied to his text, not having the energy to fight with him, but she is certain she won't get any wink of sleep until she knows how he is actually doing.

Priya got her bag before she called the cab to go home, a fresh bath before she starts grading the papers sound like a good idea.

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Ram quickly sent Priya a text, so she won't stay up waiting for him, after sending the text he placed his phone on the desk and looked at the photo of his dad. He sighed, it had been years, but the pain does not get easier. Ram still misses his dad just as much as the day he passed away, he just had to learn how to deal with the pain because he had younger siblings and a stepmom who depended on him.

Grief was something Ram was familiar with, when he had lost his mother, it was his dad who became pillar of support and strength for him, so when his father passed away Ram felt it was his duty to be his family's biggest strenght and supportsystem.