The love of my life

36. At your doorstep

She wiped her tears, and called Ekansh.

"Hey, where you at?"

"I'm at my house. I'll be in my university cabin before lunchtime is up. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yes... I... Look, I'm sorry about earlier."

"No worries, I get where that was coming from. My whole life isn't enough if I spend apologizing to you."

"Can I talk to you? I mean at your house..." Daman says, as Ekansh was sitting at the dining table for lunch with her niece and nephew.

"Sure, I'll wait for you." He said, as she added.

"I have Tejas with me."

"No worries. Ravleen's kids are here. They'll take care of him." He says, as she agrees, putting the car in drive.

++++++++

"Big house." Tejas said, when Daman drove inside the iron gate that had automatically opened before she could call Ekansh.

"Yes, so please be very careful. I know you're a good boy, but things inside that house are old and precious. If you break them, it'll be bad for mumma. That house is not baby proofed like our apartment, so it'll have a lot of breakable things." She says, as he nods in understanding.

He was a smart and also kind of a responsible child for his age, and never at Samayra or anybody else's house had he broken anything or embarrassed her. She still wanted to be prepared. She parked in the driveway as Ekansh opened the wooden door that led into the foyer and opened the car door for her. She nodded at him with a curt tensed smile, before he went to the back seat and fetched Tejas.

He picked him up as Daman shook her head.

"Let him walk." She said as Ekansh smiled.

"Do you want to walk?" He asked as Tejas shook his head and put his little arms around Ekansh's neck for grip.

"He's not walking." Ekansh said as if shifting the blame, even though it was him who loved holding Tejas.

His presence filled him with warmth and love.

"Did you have lunch?" Ekansh asked as they walked into the foyer, and turned away from the door to the giant ballroom they had discovered that day.

"No." Tejas said, with a curt shake of his head. "I'm hungry." He even added.

Daman wanted the Earth to open up and swallow her. She jinxed it. Now she had been embarrassed by Tejas at someone's house, but she knew better than to argue. If Ekansh knew they were here and didn't have lunch, he was going to feed them.

She remembered when she was getting treated, and the meds made her nauseous, he would make sure she had her fruits cut and ready to eat.

They walked up the stairs as Ekansh turned down a corridor from the living room into what seemed like a small table for six, in a grand white and gold beautiful kitchen.

"This is Samridhi and Sumit." Ekansh said as two kids, sat enjoying there lunch. Sumit was a little child when they were dating, now he seemed like ten years old with his head full of thick curly black hair and soft brown eyes. He was almost 5 feet in height, growing fast like everyone in Ekansh's family.

Samridhi was a baby cooing, trying to say words on the video call, at that time. Now, she was a young girl of around 5-6 years old. She had two pleats done of her brown hair, and her dark grey eyes, which Daman thought must be from her father.

"Hello kids." Daman said as Ekansh talked to the house help for a minute.

"This is Dr. Daman, a very good friend and colleague. She's here for lunch." Ekansh said, as Samrudhi shook her head.

Daman felt wierd at having interrupted them at the time of a meal.

"You are rude. We shouldn't have started eating without them if you were expecting someone." Samrudhi said, as Ekansh pulled a chair for Daman.

"He wasn't expecting us. I'm sorry for interrupting. But there was something urgent that came up." Daman said as the little girl smiled.

"Then it's fine." She said as the help came in and served Daman. Ekansh who had a plate sitting at the head of the table, instead sat across Daman with Tejas in his lap.

"Lasannaaa..." Tejas said in a squeal, as a woman served from a dish of lasagna.

Yup, she was being embarrassed today, and there was no taking back. Her kid would behave like he had never seen lasagna in his whole life, and his mother kept him on salad and corn flakes.

"You like Lasagna?" Ekansh asked, as Tejas nodded. The server put food in the plate as Ekansh asked her to get a smaller spoon and Ekansh's already served plate from the head chair. Soon, a smaller spoon arrived, so Tejas could eat on his own. While Ekansh ate from his plate at a distance, not bothered by the kid in his lap, eating from another plate.

After 20 minutes, Daman and Ekansh were done as Tejas slowly nibbled on his favorite dish. He was trying his best to not eat fast and dirty his mouth, clothes or the napkin kept in his lap, fearing the scolding from his mom.

"Tejas, How about you sit here with Samrudhi didi and Sumit Veerji. I have to talk to your mom." Ekansh said, sensing the urgency in Daman's body language.

Tejas had no problem as they left to go to the adjacent room, which seemed like a drawing room from old times. A parlor, she guessed was what they called it.

"Coffee, Tea?" Ekansh asked as Daman disagreed, sitting on the sofa as he sat opposite her.

"I'm sorry." She said as Ekansh shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. Tell me, what's wrong."

"I'm sorry for that day... When you told me about Sangram's family inheritance and I told you to..." she was saying as he nodded, remembering the conversation.
"I need your help, Ekansh. Please, let Tejas have what he deserves. I can give it in writing on a piece of stamp paper that the property or it's earning will never be used for me. He has lost his father, I'm not letting him loose touch to his roots. Sangram didn't want that. I'll fight for his share, but if there is something else that you can do, or something else useful that you can find out I'd be..."

"I can transfer the property to your name." He says as she frowns.

"It's a democracy." She rolls her eyes as if reminding him.

"The properties given to your in-laws family are not by state law. They were given as a gift. A royal gift. Yes, the family has possession of it, but it's royal property. Whatever your father-in-law has will be divided into two for his two sons. All I'll do is, make sure that what had to go to Sangram will directly go to you, before she can interfere and take it away."

"It's shady." Daman intervened.

"It's not illegal and I have the jursidiction, but it'll stop her from making the land inaacessible to you later. If she somehow gets through this change that she wants, now and sell it. The case will go to the courts and on for 10 years maybe 20 and then there's no surity if you'll get it. But, if this goes through and it's in your name there's not much she can do." He said as Daman leans back on the sofa with her hands over her face.

"Think it through. No worries." He was saying as she looked at him and shook her head.

"Do it. Do whatever you can. Make sure it's legal and right." She said, as Ekansh nodded.

She was ready to get up, when she paused. "I'm trusting you, Ekansh. Again. I hope I don't regret it."

"You'll not. I vow my life on it." He says with sincerity in his eyes. She nods, ready to take his son back to the woman she was fighting against.

She just had to make sure Tejas didn't tell Harmeet where they had been.