Estranged | ✓

XXVII. tea talks

vanraj :

I sat restlessly.
The clock struck nine.
Toshu had already gone upstairs to meet Samar and Pakhi.

And I had come back home early, yet again, for my important appointment.
When I had informed Anirudh he had stared at me shell shocked.

But somehow I felt nice coming back to my apartment early.
But the point was, where was the madam queen who had promised to be here by eight thirty.

She liked the nickname.
And I was going to stick to it.

Last night was definitely a fantasy come true.
Kissing under the starry sky..
Ah.

Just then the calling bell rang.
I almost jumped out of my seat at the dining table and opened the door.
It was her, settling her hair, looking exhausted.

"Welcome.", I said, I knew I was beaming.
She looked up and me and smiled.

I stepped to a side as she strode in. She kept her bag on the dining table and sat back, drawing in a breath of relief.
I turned on the centralised AC in my apartment.

"How much did this cost you?", She asked as I walked down to the table.
"Around five lakhs.", I said pulling a chair and sitting beside her.
"Damn.. Vanraj Shah is a rich man then.", She said looking at me and smiling.
I smiled back.

"Not really. What's a rich man without happiness?", I said.

She raised a brow.
"You sound like one of those extremely intellectual men.", She said sitting up.
"Umm.. Anu what do you exactly do?", I asked awkwardly.

She put her hand into her bag and pulled out a box of official cards.
She opened it and handed me one.

Anupamaa Joshi.
Head Dance Trainer.
International Dance Academy,
California LA.

"Impressive.", I said as she smiled.
"Dreams do come true, I guess.", She said.
I took the card and kept it carefully in my wallet.

"I'll get the tea for you.", I said as I stood up and walked down to the open kitchen.
"I reconsidered your proposal.", She said.
I paused.
I turned back and glanced at her.

"And?"

"I am going to give you a chance.", She said,
"With one condition."
"If I ever hurt you you'll leave?", I asked, nervously.

She paused and then said,
"Yes."

I felt my heart leap.

"But also..", she added, "I will say yes to marrying you, the day I trust you fully. And there's no notice period for that. It might be days, or months, or years. If you still wish to stay, then we are good to go."

"I am okay with whatever conditions you set.", I stated, feeling a strange sense of confidence and warmth.

"It might be years.", She said again, startled.
"You can take decades. I'll still wait for you to say yes.", I said.

She smiled.

"I never thought I'd ever get an opportunity to make you wait, though.", She said, smiling to herself as I made tea for her.

And I never thought I would so willingly want to take a deep dive in love.

As we sat opposite eat other sipping tea, she complemented me saying, "this is the best tea ever", despite it having less sugar.
We spoke of of the last five years, she spoke of her struggles with English and cementing her place in the Academy,
I spoke of my kitchen struggles and late night work routines.

We spoke like old friends who met after years.

"You know.. when I was small.. I loved to dance.. my father had got me those ghungroos and all day I simply wore them and tried self choreographed dancing with the music on the radio..", she said and then smiled to herself.

A strand of hair fell before her eyes.

I carefully removed it.
She didn't seem to notice it.
She went on with how her mother would reprimand her and say she'd never make a good daughter in law.

Funny, honestly.

After a while I wasn't listening anymore.

Whenever she laughed, I joined in.
Whenever she looked at me I nodded.
I just stared at her, observing how her lips curved when she spoke, how she dramatically used her hands to explain things.

How she paused for moments reminiscing and smiling.

Jab se tere naina
mere naino se laage re
Tab se deewana hua
Sab se begaana hua
Rab bhi deewana lage re..

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