• Second Chances •

49. I Found You

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"It's a Sunday!"

Priya blinked. "I know it is a Sunday, Mr. Oberoi!"

He grinned and then raised a dark brow. "So, don't you remember our pact? We are supposed to visit Meera Ma today."

She scooped the remaining poha on the spoon and nodded. She was missing her mother a lot as well. "Sure."

"Wonderful!" Ram excitedly whooped and then proceeded to stuff his face with the crisp dosa of some kind of that Tarun was dishing out. "I miss Meera Ma and home."

Priya sucked in a breath. Whenever Ram called her house a home, something sparked in the pit of her stomach. Something akin to a child experiencing snow for the first time. Growing up, she never thought of that place as a home. It maybe was in some sense but her father had never let it feel like one. It was just a shelter for her sisters and mother. She had no real attachment to it. But Ram always felt differently. He had fallen in love with the small, somewhat shabby apartment they lived in. He lived in a house that was fit to be a palace of a small kingdom King. He still wanted nothing more than to spend his leisure time at her house. No. Home. She couldn't call it anything else now that Ram had branded it as a home.

She indulgently smiled at her husband. "Okay. But you better behave there. If you pig out on the food then...."

Ram shook his head quickly. "No. I won't. I promise."

"Good." Priya patted his hand. It was always nice to have some kind of fear considering Ram had the ability to eat dinner and then the home's roof as well. She caught him making faces at her but didn't say anything. She knew what he was thinking. At times, she was sure that he had her voodoo doll in his pocket and he poked pins in it on a full moon day. She suppressed her smile. He didn't need to find out that she found all this very amusing.

As they made their way to her former home, Priya's smile remained. How much had her life changed? She looked at her husband who was now busy driving while humming a cheesy Hindi song and felt happy. She went still even though her smile didn't fade. When was the last time she felt genuine happiness doing the normal things in life? Perhaps, never. Before meeting Ram, her moments of happiness came from the important events of her life. Maybe during festivals. But with Ram, even sipping coffee and driving in the city felt like a festival.

"Mr. Kapoor," she spoke slowly. "Do you ever get bored?"

Keeping his eyes on the road, he asked, "Bored of?"

"Of normal day-to-day life, of doing the same things every day. You know?"

He smiled. Then he turned to look at her. Lowering his shades, he playfully quipped, "How can I ever get bored of the people I love."

Priya's eyes widened. Had he...no. Had she heard him correctly? Had he actually used that word? Or was she imagining and hearing things? But don't people imagine things only when people think of those things? So was she thinking of love? Her heart started to pound in a mad frenzy.

She remembered the last time when he couldn't utter that word. Now he could. And so boldly. What had changed?

"What happened, Priye?" Ram purposely used that name, elongating it. He bit his lower lip and teased her again. "Why aren't you saying anything? Are you bored of me?"

She stared at him wordlessly. Her ears were ringing. No. They were heating up. Actually, she wanted to splash water on her face. She looked away. Her fingers itched. She wished to write something in her diary. She breathed in to steady herself. Tonight. She thought to herself. She needed to.