The Fate Joined Us Together

PART 22 :: FIRST TIME ALONE

Surya's pov

After breakfast, I went to my room to check my mails as I did not get time to do that yesterday. There was a new site on sale at the most busiest streets of US. It attracts more tourists and if I got to open a branch there, I can take my business to a different level. So I was talking to John, who without hesitation met me in the middle of the night. I asked him to arrange meeting with the real estate people and my other staff at around 5 PM IST. Then I asked about the restaurants and if there was any issues with anything. He replied that there is nothing that I should be worried about and he informed me about my schedule and meetings for the day. 

I usually work till late nights when I am in India as all my meeting are with the people in a different time zone. If we need things to be done, we are the ones who need to work hard for it. So, I ask John to set meetings at the convenience of the opposite person. 

As my call with John came to an end, I thanked him for his help and started to see the documents sent by my staff about the new site. We also recently moved from our small office to a bigger place as the business grew. It is a 2 story office space in one of the business hubs in the city. All the business, accounts and suppliers bills are handled here. So, I need to be careful before purchasing this new site as our budget is a little tight at the moment. 

I was busy with all this stuff when I heard someone calling me from downstairs. I went to find Jaya pinni calling me to come down. 

"What happened pinni? You need anything?" I asked her going down the stairs.

"Can you take us to the near by mall this evening? We need to purchase some clothes." she asked.

"Sure Pinni. At what time will you all be ready?"

"After lunch, maybe around 4 or 4:30 pm?"

"Works fine for me. But, one condition. I will leave you to purchase and only come at the end to pay the bill, ok?" I confirmed, because I have meetings around that time.

"Ahn sare sare"(ok ok)she said and went inside the kitchen.

I smiled and went back up and continued my work. It was around 1 PM that I went down for my  lunch. This time, I was very careful and ate the food that is made by only my aunties and Rukmani amma. I ate it only if I was sure that it wasn't made by Ms.GD. She, like morning stood with other ladies and served the food. I always felt a little guilty that they are not eating with us, but every time I ask them to join us, they refuse and insist on serving food to us first and eat after that. If we ask the reason, they will say :

"Us women need to eat peacefully.. If we eat with you guys, you guys will be like 'Amma, I want water' , 'Amma I want avakai(pickle)', 'Amma, I don't like this food' You guys won't let us to eat properly. So, after we feed you and kick you all out of this place, we can happily sit and enjoy our food"

Smart women.. I can never win them all. After that, I spent some time with my siblings and watched them laugh, scream, fight and play. When everybody is at home, we spend time together if we do not have any work. I usually sit in the Sofa and watch them from tearing their heads off each other. Usually, The girls spend their time, doing facials or do any girly stuff and the rest of the boys spend time either begging for the masks or tearing the masks in front of them. So, my job will be to keep them from fighting or trying to solve the fights. 

In a blink of the eye, the time flew by and it was already 4PM. As it was time to take my family to the mall, I went upstairs and packed my laptop as I need to attend few  meeting while they shop. When I came down, I saw my pinni was not ready and the kids were also not there. She and Ms. GD were sitting down and cleaning spinach. I didn't even take a look at her.