Our Arranged Marriage

VI.

"Coffee for you." Vaishnavi served three cups of coffee to the men in the hall. They smiled at her, picking their cups up.

"What about you, Vaishu?" Abhimanyu asked.

"I'll have in the kitchen only papa." She said. "Khana lagau kitne baje?" She asked looking at everyone.

"I ain't hungry." Lakhwinder said.

"Me too. I'm full." Abhimanyu said.

"Aap?" She looked at Shubman.

"After coffee, is that okay?" She nodded at Shubman, turning to go towards the kitchen.

She kept the rice in a bowl and stir-fried veggies in another, covering them. With her coffee mug, she headed towards her room to get freshen up. A bit messy was her room, which she cleaned up very soon, sipping her coffee in between. Deciding to get freshened up, she immediately took out her comfortable pair of kurti and pants before entering the washroom.

All done with her work, she applied the moisturizer properly, before moving out of the room.

Serving two plates of food, one for her, another for Shubman, she went towards him to call him.

"Umm, khana lag gaya h." Shubman nodded getting up and following her to the dining table.

Again, awkward silence spread. Only thing they could hear was Abhimanyu and Lakhwinder's laughter over some lame joke.

"Umm, match kesa rha?" She asked after gulping down her bolus.

"Thik tha. We didn't have batting today." She made a confused face.

"Ese... bhi hota h kya?" She asked.

He nodded. "Test matches m. There'll be two innings per series. All total 5 series, currently going on with Australia. So, first day one of the teams will bat, scoring a target, the next day, other team will bat. This completes the 1st inning. The next inning continues in the same way. And then, the result will be decided runs and wickets dekh k. This is per match. So, ese aur chaar bhi hotey h." He explained her softly, while she made an 'o' face.

"Damn! This is too much." She chuckled understanding. "I just knew about world cups and IPL." She laughed making him chuckle even. "So, you have match even tomorrow?" She asked taking her last bite.

"Nope. Kal stadium bandh h. So day after tomorrow, followed by the next two days.." He replied before gulping down the water. She nodded taking the plates and going back to the kitchen, as Shubman followed her to wash his hands.

"Shubman, wanna have some rest?" Lakhwinder asked as Shubman joined them.

"Nah, Papa." He replied pocketing out his phone.

Vaishnavi washed the dishes. Once she was done with her work, she came out wiping her hands.

"Vaishu." Abhimanyu called

"Ji Baba."

"We are going to my room. You both talk. We'll rest a bit." He said to which Vaishnavi nodded.

"Do you want to rest a bit?" She asked. She, for once, let her awkwardness set aside.

It's okay, agar m koshish karti hu logon se ghulmilne k liye.

"Nope. I'm good." He smiled saying her to which Vaishnavi gave a nod.

She got up to clean the shelf near the television unit. She kept herself engrossed so much that she nearly forgot about Shubman's presence. She frowned when her phone rang up with a call.

"Hello?" She asked, as if in a questioning way, once she put the call on speaker after picking it up. This caught Shubman's attention.

"Vaishnavi Salian?" She heard a boy's voice.