Rab Rakha

Chapter 34

"Montu! How's it going with the new neighbour?" Preeti teased her brother on the dining table while they were having their team time together.

In response, Sidharth simply looked up from his cup of tea and gave his sister a care to explain look. He was certain that Advait later might have told her about Shehnaaz's crying episode and then how he came to pick her up. That was all for his sister to cook the rest of the story to tease him.

"I mean Shehnaaz kaisi hai?" Preeti reframed her question for him. She very well knew her brother would act like he didn't care for the subjects he actually cared for just for the others to believe that he doesn't.

"Kaisi hogi? Thik hai." He shrugged and Preeti smiled inside her head. Her son did tell her about how he cared a great deal about that one friend lately.

"Ha, ab lag bhag do mahine ho gaye unko aaye toh settle ho hi gaye honge." Preeti replied, sipping her tea.

"Hm." He nodded along.

"We're going to Indore coming week. Ajay ke parents ki 50th anniversary hai. Chalega na tu?" She told him then.

"Nahi yaar, please! Pri, mujhe aise gatherings me mat chalne bola kar." He clearly denied.

"Kyu? Abey mere in laws hain yaar! Chal le, sabko aane bola hai. 2-3 din ki baat hai." She requested.

"Tere hain na! Tu jana." He shrugged, fishing out his phone to avoid talking about it. He wasn't really a big fan of visiting the extended families out of station. Well the only reason was how everybody would push him to see girls in their families to get him married.

"Come on, tu itna bhi famous nahi hai ke sab tujhe dekhte hi shaadi ke liye puchne lagenge. Itna bhao mat kha Montu!" She scowled at him.

"Ha, of course. Shaadi ka plan nahi toh job kaisi chal rahi hai puchenge, package puchenge, zyada laga toh acche se bolenge nahi toh Mom se sympathize karenge. Gharwalo se alag kyu rehta hu puchenge, uspe doubt karenge. Gaya toh kitna vella bolenge, nahi gaya toh ghamandi bolenge." He replied with a small smile laced all over his face. There was a good reason behind that he decided not to attend such gatherings.

"Fine." She decided not to insist on him anymore, he had his reasons.

"Ajay ko bol dena, wo tickets book kar raha hoga." He told her.

"Mai kyu bolu? Tu mana kar raha hai, ja bata." She shrugged.

He rolled his eyes at his sister, she'd never fail to deny anything and everything he asked her to do. Getting up, he went to Ajay's room to talk to him. The good part was that the entire Shukla family was pretty honest among themselves, they would rather respectfully disagree than sugar coat a lie.

Getting back to his place on Monday, Sidharth didn't really make a great start to the week. He came back from his morning routine at the building's gym to find his cook and house help lady, Lata, takit a few days off because her son was sick.

"Majhya mulala fever ahe, mala tyala hospital gheuna jave lagel." Lata told him that she wanted to admit her son into the hospital since he had a high fever.

"Thik ahe, tumi jau sakat." He replied.

"Um, saheb.." she stood at her place, looking at him hesitantly.

"Kay?" He asked her.

"Saheb, purese paise nahit." She told him that she didn't have enough money to admit her son.

"Mi anin." He nodded in response, making his way into the house to grab some cash for her.

After she left, he took a quick bath and ordered some egg rolls for breakfast, while ironing his clothes.