Arranged Yet Ours

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" tum, main aur Chai, toh phir aur kya chahiye. "

It was another day in Anamika's monotonous life. Every day started the same, went through the same, and ended the same. Nothing changed, ever. Earlier on, it used to irk her, but as time passed by, she accepted the way things were. But that didn't stop a part of her from having her fair share of expectations from life.

She was in the middle of tying her hair into a ponytail when her mother called out for her. She strapped her favorite watch, with a brown strap and the smallest dial you might have ever seen on her wrist and slung her brown cotton handbag on her right shoulder, as she hurriedly made her way out of her room.

She sat herself down at the dining table, with her bag hung over the back of her chair. She was halfway into ravishing the delicious gobi paranthas with butter and her all-time favorite pudina chutney when the clearing of a throat grabbed her attention.

She looked up from her plate, to see her parents having a conversation of their own through their eyes, which she could very clearly read, having had the experience of going through this more than once. It was clear that her father didn't want this conversation to take place, at least not now, but her mother seemed to not want to back down either.

And it was a well-known fact in their house, whatever their mother says, goes. No one else had any say in it, no matter what. She softly sighed, realizing their argument wasn't ending any soon. Taking one last glance, at her watch, she got up and hurried out of the house, before her mother could stop her.

She inserted the key into the ignition and turned it bringing the activa to life. In a few seconds, she was off, but she could hear the distinct voice of her mother calling her out. She knew, that the evening to come wouldn't be pleasant, but she could care less. On reaching her office, she threw herself into work, not before putting her phone on silent and locking it away in one of her cubicle's drawers.

On returning home, she looked at the 49 missed calls from her mother and father combined and sighed ready to face the storm waiting for her inside. As soon as she stepped inside, her mother went off on her.

"What is this behavior, Anamika? How many times have I told you to not get up from the dining table until I tell you to? And didn't you hear me shouting your name? Which I am sure you did, but just like the disrespectful and mannerless child you are, you ran off to your office to escape the conversation. Furthermore, you didn't even pick up any of my or your Papa's calls. Were you so engrossed in work that you didn't even have the time to look at your phone or had you decided to do everything to defy your parents and stress them out? Also, after all of this you come home late. Do you even realize what time is it? It's eight, you are two hours later than usual. What happened? You decided to stay at the office to ignore us but they threw you out that's why you came home or you had some shreds of respect for us in you left? Huh? At least answer me, when I am talking to you!" Anamika mentally sighed and looked up at her mother, who was fuming with anger, which was clear from her red cheeks and her sore throat, from all the shouting she just did.

"I am sorry. I had tons of work at the office and a very important project that I had to work on and which could not be delayed which is why I had to stay extra hours. Also, I was getting late in the morning, as I had to see things regarding the very same project. Now, what did you want to talk about?" Anamika said calmly, having gotten used to these reactions of her mother and having learnt to deal with them calmly over the years.

Her father handed her a file, while quietly sitting down on one of the dining chairs from across her, beside her mother. Anamika on seeing the contents of the file, stood up from her chair in a flash as anger and irritation took over her features.