Shape of the Sun

New gift

One week after.   Shimla, India.

"Wow, Vaishali. Your Manmeet's hair is so rich and long, just look at all that brown! She must spend so much time conditioning it."

At this point, Manmeet couldn't help interjecting. Her mother could still be attempting cordiality here, but she had given up. This Mrs. Shah was a mere guest at the wedding and there was no need to stress just to give her some face since she didn't appear to want it. The woman had been trying to infer that Manmeet was spoiled since she came in, all because Manmeet had not helped out in decorating for the event and had been relaxing on the verandah. She was too tired to do so, which her family understood, so why was it a mere guest's turn to call her out?

Manmeet thought she'd be sorry for herself if she let this woman run her down here, and she spoke up despite Vaishali's glances full of pleading.

"Look here, Mrs. Shahana."

"It's Mrs. Shah..."

"And I don't care. Look here." she pointed at her hair which was tightly packed in a bun, "Number one, my hair is not brown. It's russet, and I think you should know that. And Number two," she made the number sign with her fingers, "can you stop picking on me for no reason? I really don't have the patience to entertain this nonsense."

"Chitti..."

"Mama, it's enough already." she pointed at Mrs. Shah, "She has been picking on me. I'm sure everyone here has noticed it already. You know what, mama?" she turned to Vaishali, "I am too tired and I need to go in and rest. Please tell aunty that I'm inside."

In the surprised eyes of all the women there, including Mrs. Shah's filled with embarrassment, Manmeet calmly stood up and went inside the house, not caring much about what they thought. If she cared too much about all these, wouldn't that downplay her relevance too much?

Someone had once told her something similar along those lines.

As soon as she stepped into her room, Manmeet headed straight for the bed and plonked on it. She was just feeling out of sorts today. Her body hurt from any minor exertion, and she had been using the toilet more frequently, not to mention that her period was late. Today was the first day and it had not appeared. Manmeet figured out that it had to be stress, something about those scares that Rajkumar had told her about...

"Manmeet Chatterjee, what was that out there?!"

Her mother burst through the closed doors, disturbing her peace and quiet. Manmeet was very unhappy at this.

"Mama, can you stop shouting? My head is starting to hurt."

Vaishali lowered her voice upon seeing her daughter's uncomfortable appearance and strode over to the bed before sitting down beside her.

"What's the matter with you, Chitti?"

Manmeet took a look at her mother's frown and reached for her hand, a tired smile on her face.

"I think I'm just experiencing some aftereffects. It's just temporary, nothing to worry about mama."

"Hmm? Aftereffects? Of what, Chitti?"

"You know, the stress of work. I am just a bit tired." There was no way she was going to divulge any details of what actually went down that day. Manmeet didn't want her parents to worry too much about her.

But in the end, she couldn't control a parent's mind. Vaishali was still worried seeing her in such a state. She smoothed her hair.

"You sure, Chitti? How about I call the doctor?"

Manmeet stopped her from standing up.

"No, no mama. I will call the doctor myself. Don't worry and focus on helping aunty with Roshan's wedding."