Right Here [Regular Updates]

Chapter 4

Right after Lata left, Lakshya said to Shreya, "We'll go out in about fifteen minutes. Do you want to hear a joke?"

"Sure." Shreya said. It seemed that was all they could do to pass the time now.

The next few minutes, he told her a few jokes.

Shreya identified more than half of them and sourced them to certain stand-up comedies or internet memes.

Every time he ended one, he waited for her to laugh.

Some were not that funny. She simply nodded. But she had to add a 'hahaha' to her response.

"My friends laugh until they fall to the floor," he said, dissatisfied and disappointed with her reaction.

"You tell me a joke," he said to her.

Shreya took her time.

She wanted to find a perfect joke to tell him. In the end she could not remember even one. "I don't remember any."

He tilted his head to her. "You are no fun at all."

After a couple more minutes of silence, he said, "Let's go see what they are talking about us."

Shreya suddenly laughed and laughed hard at that. She clamped her palm to her mouth so that the whole house would not hear her. Tears started forming. She was not sure if they were purely because she was trying to control her laughter or because of pure happiness.

"Are you okay?" Lakshya asked with some confusion. He was concerned. Her mood changed too suddenly.

She nodded.

"I see. None of my jokes got this much reaction but I did." His hand motioned from his head to down.

She removed her hand and she smiled ear to ear. Her face had not stretched like that in years. It was slightly painful. She could feel her face turn red too.

"Maybe all your jokes were accumulating somewhere to make me laugh like this." She continued to laugh, balling her fists and controlling her volume.

Lakshya slowed down. He had to.

She looked beautiful with that wide smile, like a fully bloomed flower.

The more he looked, the more he wanted to look.

As his gaze locked her eyes, Shreya also slowed down. She had to.

It was hard not to look into his eyes. She felt lost and found at the same time.

They slowly became mindful, both at the same time. Awkward and embarrassed, they shuffled to leave the room looking everywhere else.

∼•∽

That night, after dinner, Shekhar asked Shreya what her opinions were.

"Today's was better," she answered. She did not think much. She was in an exceptionally good mood that day and she spoke the first thought in her mind.

"He is not. He is too young."

She nodded.

"And what do you think?" He sneered at Lalitha.

"Lakshya is good," she said. She knew how her children were raised. If she achieved anything in her life, it was failing them as their mother. As long as she did not find anything concerning, she would also try to give them what they wanted.

"Huh!" Shekhar laughed full of sarcasm.

"That one has just started his career. He does not even earn half as Prakash's son!"