You Complete Me! [COMPLETED]

5. So long since.

Yashaswini exited the plane by walking down the narrow aisle. Her legs shook, and she could feel sweat trickling down her spine, starting to cause her top to stick to her back. She was both cold and warm at the same moment. She contemplated heading back to New York while waiting for her belongings. She untangled her messy high pony and let her hair fall around her face, trying to mask her pain as much as she could.

It was very early in the morning in India, but Yashaswini was already feeling sleepy, thanks to the jet lag. Once she got her bags and heaved them on to a trolley, she decided to get a coffee. She convinced herself that she was not trying to delay meeting her parents, and that she really did need caffeine in her system in order to function. But no matter how long she wandered around the airport, she could not put off leaving it indefinitely. She felt like she had nowhere else to go. After years, she had wanted to come home—the apartments she had rented over the years in a foreign country had never felt like home to her.

She supposed she could go back, but she did not know what she would do there any more. It felt like she had nothing left there to go back to. She felt empty. It was hard for her to believe that there was no future, nowhere to go even when she worked so hard for a company who did not care about her.

She had practically destroyed her future at Allen Clifford, so her career, the one thing she had cared about, was lying on the floor in pieces. She knew she did not belong there anymore. After all this time she had to think about the positive side as well. There is more to life, she thought.

Besides, who in their right mind would go to an office to work for someone else and help them grow and make money when their days were numbered?

Get it together. She finally pushed her luggage cart out through the gate, slowly but determinedly, and looked around. It was not hard to spot them. Her mother was smiling widely and waving at her in glee.

Yashaswini could not believe the sight. Not that she hated her mother but she loved her so much that she was pissed at herself for not calling her enough times when she was away. It wasn't like she was away for a year or two, she went for nine years and couldn't even call her mom more than thrice?

When Yashaswini waved back hesitantly, her mother covered her mouth with her hand, the crinkles around her eyes turning slightly downwards, just like her lips, Yashaswini imagined, under the hand hiding them. Her mother was so excited to see Yashaswini. She teared up as Yashaswini moved closer to her.

Yashaswini did not look at her father's face, but she could see that he was standing right next to her mother, his arm resting lightly around her shoulder. She noticed the arm. She did not expect him to be the one to calm her mother while she was sad and excited at the same time.

She pushed her cart around the barriers and reached them. Her mother had almost broken down by then. She shrieked, 'Yashu!' and rushed towards Yashaswini, pulling her into a tight hug. Yashaswini hugged her back, and could feel the sobs shake her mother's body, so she just held her tighter. She had no words, and she herself was fretting about meeting her father.

'Mom,' Yashaswini whispered.

'It has been so long since I saw you. You have no idea how much I have missed you, and your presence around. It feels so incomplete without you' her mother sobbed. 'My Yashu.'

'How have you been, Mai? I missed you too.'

Her mother did not respond to the question. Instead, she peppered Yashaswini's cheeks and forehead with kisses, holding her as if scared that she would run away again. Her mom had a hard time believing that her daughter was standing right infront of her. She almost thought she would never meet Yashaswini anytime soon.

It's okay, Mom, I'm here now and I'm surely not leaving you anytime soon, I promise. The words were at the tip of Yashaswini's tongue, but she could not bring herself to say them.

Yashaswini stayed in the embrace for some time, because she was busy thinking of ways in which she could ignore greeting her father. She knew her mother needed that warmth. No one was here to be there for her for nine long years. And all these thoughts made Yashaswini go through a guilt trip which she did see coming.

When her mother let her go at last, Yashaswini took one step, just one step, towards her father. She tried to maintain a good distance which wouldn't give him an impression that she was going to hug him and nor that she was keeping a distance. Sounds tricky? But Yashaswini pulled it off. She had been doing it for years now, keeping herself as far as she can from her father.

She forwarded her hand for a handshake and greeted him. If you think that was easy, you surely missed to see her reaction. Yashaswini felt really proud of keeping her calm.

'It's good to see you,' he murmured. Yashaswini nodded. She had not heard the deep baritone of his voice since she had left Mumbai. She had called mom occasionally to check on her health and wellbeing but never in nine years she spoke to her dad. She never even heard his voice in the background. It felt really weird listening to his voice after so many years.

They walked towards the car and it was one awkward ride till home. Yashaswini sat in the back seat so she would not be close anywhere near her father who was driving. To divert her mind off the awkward silence, she looked out of the window, at the city, her home, Mumbai.

This city had a special place in her heart. Mumbai was the only place that she had ever called home, because it was the only place that really ever felt like home. For some reason, even the chaos felt nice. She realized she missed this place, she missed her home more than she thought she would. Because last time she was here, she had no plan of returning back from New York, ever. 

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