Roundabout Way to You

14. White lie

"Did I give birth to a human or a buffalo?" Bella asked seeing her son scoop the third serving of Tom Kha Gai she prepared for breakfast.

It had been around two months since Kitty and Sarth broke up. Sarth, who owned the apartment where he lived with Kitty, found it suffocating to live in there even though his ex had moved out on the same day they broke up (more like he forced her to move out since she was a bitch to him.)

Despite him completely denying the fact that he was affected by her cheating on him and going to parties almost every weekend to prove his point, internally he knew that he wasn't really happy about the turn of events.

When he woke up next to complete strangers, whom he had hooked up with the previous nights, he didn't feel good the way he thought he would. He was a complete mess.

He put the apartment on sale and planned on renting a place for the time being and buying an apartment that would be closer to his workplace as soon as he got the money from selling the old one.

But, having his pocket thoroughly emptied by his ex, Sarth didn't even have enough money to pay the deposit money for the apartment he wanted to rent.

In the end, he decided to move in with his parents till he gathered enough money to pay the deposit and rent out an apartment.

"I am sure that I am the same species as you, Mom" Sarth retorted without looking up as he set down the bowl of soup in front of him.

Bella immediately whacked the back of her son's head with her paper fan. "You and your Dad are the ones of the same species, only alive to drink my blood."

 Num, Sarth's dad, tried to escape the scene in order to save himself from his wife's wrath. 

"Where do you think you are going?" Bella had her hands on her hips as she stared at her husband who was trying to sneak out of the house.

Num froze after being caught red-handed by his wife. "I was just going to the garden... to water the plants, you know..." He said with an awkward smile.

He was really afraid of his wife. His wife was a sweet amicable lady normally but when she was angry, it was better not to mess with her.

"I saw you water the plants early today morning. Why on earth would you water them again? Have you forgotten how much last month's water bill cost?" She glared at her husband.

Num gulped in fear. "I forgot about watering them. Since the plants are watered, I will go hang the laundry."

"Why would you do that? Isn't there someone else here to do such meager works? Someone who eats for six" Bella glanced at her son.

It was not that she didn't like the idea of her son staying with them. It was just that her ever since Sarth moved back in, the amount of domestic work she had to do increased astronomically.

 Especially when it came to cooking and cleaning. Neither of the men gave her a helping hand. This made her more pissed. 

"Mom, you should be happy that your son is eating so well" Sarth defended while slurping the warm soup. "You should go and see people my age. They are so conscious about what they eat that they only eat leaves and salads to survive."

"Other people your age are also in relationships, getting married and having kids. Are you planning to be different from them and not do any of that as well?" Bella scowled. "Don't you dare entertain any of such ideas in your head!"

"Mom, I just broke up with my girlfriend na" Sarth pouted.

"Broke up?" Bella laughed mockingly. "Say that she used you and dumped you."

"Bella, go easy on him na" Num tried to calm his wife down.

"I told him a hundred times that that girl isn't a good person. Look what she did to him in the end" Bella sobbed.

Both son and father looked at each other, silently understanding that Bella was in that time of the month.

She sat down on the couch with her face covered with her hands. 

Num got on his knees next to his wife. "Darling, in the times like this, shouldn't we be supporting our son instead of blaming him? He is heartbroken too."

Bella raised her gaze and looked at her son, who was looking at her with a pitiful expression on his face. "What is the use of having such a handsome face? What is the use of being so intelligent when he can't even get a girl?"

"Mom..." Sarth whined. "It's not that I can't get someone."

"Then why are you still single? Do you plan on being like Hit, trying to incubate his egg at home, without going out to meet people?"

"What do you mean Mom? Hit doesn't incubate any egg" Sarth said with a frown.

"Oh? He doesn't? I thought that he does, given how he doesn't move from his couch all day" Bella always treated Mihit like her own son. This had both advantages and disadvantages with the major disadvantage being subjected to her sharp words.

"Darling" Num wanted to prevent the situation from escalating further. But he had no idea how to divert the topic.

"Do you know, yesterday that women Rati was rubbing it all over my and Jolly's face at the aerobics class. Her second son is getting married next week as well. It has just been a few months since she had a grandchild. And here we are, with our sons not even showing any interest in dating anyone." Bella broke down.

The father-son duo exchanged glances which said 'So that is the reason for the drama early this morning.'

"Mom, I just got out of a toxic relationship na"

"Why didn't you get out of it earlier? Haven't I been telling you how much of an ill-mannered brat that girl was? If only you had listened to me..." Bella whimpered.

"What do you want me to do, Mom?" Sarth asked, putting down the culinary. He knew that his mother wanted him to do something since she was retorting to the emotional blackmail strategy.

Bella's face lit up a bit. "I want you to go on a blind date with the girl I found." She wiped her tears. "You don't have to go alone. Bring Mihit with you. I will arrange a date for him as well. You two can go on double dates."

Sarth knew that he was going to be deeply screwed if he agreed to this proposal. His mother would keep sending him and Mihit to blind dates until they settle on one of them.

"Mom, we are already seeing someone. It's just that we haven't made it official" He said a white lie.

"We? As in both you and Mihit?" Bella was dumbfounded.

"Khrab. Both of us" Sarth answered.