You Complete Me! [COMPLETED]

7. A Wave of Nostalgia

As Yashaswini's father drove through the front gates of her childhood home, she felt a shock of recognition. Though she had remembered the house being grand and majestic, it now appeared smaller and more modest than she remembered. As she walked through the halls, she could only relate to the basic structure, the shape and the general area. The tall pillars and chandelier were familiar, but everything else was new and unfamiliar to her; the colour and texture of the walls, the tiny lights on the ceiling, the curtains, the vases, the centre table.

As she made her way through the rooms, she felt a growing sense of unease. The threadbare brown sofa with elephants embroidered on it that she remembered was nowhere to be found, replaced by a plush leather couch. The carpet, however, was the same that she had seen the last time she was home. As she explored further, the kitchen, hallway, and bedrooms seemed to have shrunk in size, as if the years had slowly and inexorably whittled them away.

Yet, despite the changes, the house seemed more beautiful than ever. Yashaswini was captivated by the way the light filtered through the windows, illuminating the corners of the rooms she had once known so well. She couldn't shake the feeling that the house had undergone a transformation, that it had somehow become younger and more vibrant than she remembered.

She wandered through the halls, marvelling at the way the memories of her childhood seemed to be woven into the very fabric of the house. She realised that, though the house had changed, it was still the home where she had grown up and that it would always hold a special place in her heart.

As Yashaswini entered her beloved childhood bedroom, a wave of nostalgia and warmth enveloped her. To her surprise, she found herself smiling, an emotion that had been foreign to her amidst the chaos of her life in New York.

"Yashu! Are you famished? What would you like for dinner?" her mother called from the kitchen, interrupting her musings. It was only then that she realised that her stomach was growling with hunger, it was dinner time in New York. "What's on the menu tonight?" Yashaswini inquired, her mouth salivating at the thought of a home-cooked meal.

Her mother, noticing a flicker of genuine interest in her daughter's eyes, felt a sense of relief and excitement. "Let's see, I've prepared some delicious vadas, and I can warm up some fluffy pavs," she said. "That's all I need to hear, Mai!" Yashaswini exclaimed, her taste buds already tantalised by the thought of her favourite dish.

"But I've also made some scrumptious chhole and mouth-watering samosas for you!" her mother added, attempting to please her daughter with a variety of dishes.

"I told you it was going to be a waste of time. You didn't need to prepare anything else. Yashu loves vada-pavs," her father interjected amiably.

"I know, you were right. You know your daughter very well," her mother conceded, her eyes misting with emotion.

"I'll also have a samosa," Yashaswini said quickly, cutting her mother off once again, unable to resist the temptation of her mother's delectable samosas.

A momentary silence descended upon the room as Yashaswini's mother went to heat up the samosas.

"I wanted to prepare all of your favourite dishes. God knows what you've been eating over there. You've come back after so many years," her mother said, her voice tinged with sadness and concern.

"I've been eating healthily, Mai. You don't have to worry," Yashaswini reassured her mother, not wanting to burden her with her own issues.

"Healthily! Look at you! You're all bones, you've lost so much weight," her mother exclaimed, her eyes scanning her daughter's thin frame.

"I've always been thin," Yashaswini muttered, rolling her eyes at her mother's familiar refrain. What were mothers without their "you've-become-so-thin" dialogues?

"She has. She's always been thin," her father interjected, trying to ease the tension.

"But she was a teenager then, now she's a grown woman!" her mother exclaimed, her voice filled with emotion. "God, it's been too many years."

As they sat down to dine, Yashaswini couldn't help but feel a sense of gratitude and love towards her parents, who had always been there for her, no matter how much time had passed. And as she bit into the warm, flaky samosa, she knew that she had truly come home.

Yashaswini made a decision to fully immerse herself in the delectable feast before her, pushing aside any lingering guilt for her prolonged absence. As her mother served the first steaming piece of pav and she took the first bite of the savoury, vada, all thoughts of her reasons for leaving home vanished. Her mother, truly a culinary master, had an innate ability to infuse each dish with a boundless amount of love and care, elevating even the most simple recipe to new heights of gastronomic perfection.

Yashaswini indulged in her meal ravenously, as if she had not eaten in weeks. "This is so good, Mom!" she exclaimed between bites, her taste buds tantalized by the explosion of flavours. Her mother's face lit up with a radiant glow, as if her love for her family was emanating from within. Cooking was her mother's way of expressing her love, and she rarely indulged in physical displays of affection. "Would you like some more? Here, have another samosa," her mother said, placing an additional one on her plate before she could even respond.

As she savoured each bite, Yashaswini couldn't help but feel a sense of warmth and gratitude towards her mother, for always being there for her and for consistently providing her with the comfort and love of a home-cooked meal.

"I'm stuffed to the brim, Mai!" Yashaswini protested, indicating the fullness of her stomach.

"You've become too slender, Yashu. I don't like this," her mother replied with a hint of concern.

So, Yashaswini continued to eat until her mother was satisfied, all the while her father sat in silence, not saying a word. "Mai, you're barely eating yourself. And you've lost weight too! You need food more than I do," Yashaswini exclaimed, only then realising how much weight her mother had lost. Her face was no longer plump and her cheekbones were more pronounced. "Oh, I needed to. I didn't want to be an overweight woman forever," her mother retorted. "You weren't overweight," Yashaswini and her father spoke in unison.

They exchanged a quick glance, but Yashaswini quickly looked away. As she stared down at her plate, she didn't see the food in front of her, instead her gaze was drawn to the streaks of grey in her father's sideburns, the once black-and-white stubble that was now almost completely white, the thin line of his lips that pressed together in a tight line, the expression on his face as he looked at her.

"Oh, I was. We all know that," her mother said, not noticing the tension in the room. "No, you weren't," Yashaswini said, pausing for a moment before speaking. Exhausted from the emotions of the day, she trudged upstairs to her bedroom, where her mother showed her where everything was, but Yashaswini felt like a stranger in her own home, too drained to care. As she slipped under her comforter and her mother closed the

"Good night," Yashaswini murmured as she nestled her head into her pillow, "or morning, whatever."

"Sweet dreams, Yashu. We've missed you," her mother whispered, before stepping out of the room and closing the door behind her with a soft click.

Yashaswini cracked open her heavy eyelids for a moment, allowing her gaze to roam around the room. She breathed in the familiar scent and ran her fingers over the bed sheets. Though things had changed, they still felt comforting and familiar. She could hear her mother's soft footsteps as she cleared the dishes off the table downstairs, and her father's low murmur, though she couldn't make out his words.

So far, her feelings about returning home were a mixture of emotions. But one thing was for certain, it felt incredibly good to be back.

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