LOSING YOU

Chapter 121- Pigtails

-KABIR-

My eyes open to the most beautiful site in the world. It's happiness like I've never known.

Siya is sleeping peacefully in my arms, her hand on my chest, her engagement ring shining bright in the morning sun. I'm sleeping beside my fiancée. My wife-to-be. And man, do I want to jump up and down on the bed.

Siya's parents weren't very happy to know about what I did, they were shocked to find out that Myra wasn't Vivaan's daughter, but they handled all the news pretty well. That's what I hope, at least. Myra was cuddled up against Siya throughout the night and she left to a take swim early in the morning.

She doesn't know how to swim. Ava went with her, she assured me that Myra would be okay in the water with her. So, I let my daughter go.

After I made her wear a swimming vest, and arm wings and put an inflatable tube around her body, of course. Siya didn't let me put arm wings around her ankles. I'm worried about her lower half. She just doesn't seem to care.

I plant a kiss on her nose, she shimmies closer to me. "When are we getting married?" She mumbles. I wrap my arms around her, my heart swelling. "Whenever you want, my love. We can elope and get married tonight in Vegas or-" She quickly gets up and straddles my torso. "Ow." I mock when she slaps my chest. "Elope? Elope? I don't want to run away and married to the love of my life in hippy style!" Her shriek hurts my ears. "Alright. What do you want? We can do a court-marriage- what? " Another slap. "I want to go back to India. I want a big, fat Indian Wedding! And I want to get married in your native state- A Rajasthani wedding and a horse you'll come in to take me home..." Her voice becomes dreamy. Girls. "And we'll invite over five hundred people who we don't know and who don't know us, and we'll book rooms for them, and entertain them, feed them-"

"Yes! Exactly! It will be so amazing." "Siyu, I was being sarcastic." I smile at her. She glares at me. "Fine, we'll have all that you just said. What happens after? You want to settle in Mumbai?"

"I don't know. I didn't think about it." She shakes her head. I nod. There's stuff to figure out but it'll all be fine. I'm going to marry Siya. That's all I care about.

-SIYA-

I remember the day I saw Kabir for the first time.

And I remember everything that happened after that. I have loved him ever since he was a nineteen-year-old boy and I was an eighteen-year-old girl. I'm a mother now. He's a father now. We have a child.

But, the best thing is that I have him. He's mine. Forever.

I go downstairs to find Myra in the pool, her body is barely touching the water. She floats listlessly on the surface. Her face breaks into a grin when she sees me. "Good morning, Mumma!" She flaps her tiny arms in an attempt to swim to the edge but fails miserably. I have so much to catch up on with her. "Good morning, baby!" I kneel by the pool and pull her by the tube surrounding her, she skims gracefully towards me, a burst of laughter bubbling out of her. It makes me happy. I lift her out of the water, kiss her and wrap a towel around her. Carrying her in my arms we both smile at Kabir, who is dancing with my mom. I have never heard her laugh this much in my whole life. Papa smiles at me as I take Myra upstairs. She squeaks the moment I close the door behind me- "Are you going to marry Kabir? Is he going to be my papa? Will we live with him? Does he love you?" I almost drop her out of astonishment. Carefully, I make her stand on the bed and dry her hair with a towel. "Yes, yes, yes and yes." She screams and wraps her arms around me. "I love Kabir."

"Yes, baby. I love him too." Both of us girls chime over our man for a while before I put on my polka dot bikini and Myra twins with me. We lock the room and dance throughout the afternoon, after giving her a milkshake and putting her to sleep, I go to Kabir. He is sitting in the hall receiving a lecture from his parents about how to be a good husband and what a great girl I am. I grin and listen to them talk while I stand quietly on the staircase. Papa speaks up then, "You are being too hard on him, Singhania ji. Siya is childish too, roams about the house in pigtails, that too at the age of thir-" I sprint to the hall, and scream- "I'm twenty-eight! And I'm not childish papa!" I wish Ava and Fatty didn't have work today, they always save me from embarrassment. Kabir doesn't smile like everyone else, I look at him as he sits on the floor between the legs of our mothers, his head leaning against his mom's knee. He gets up and excuses himself to do some work. I stare at his back as he disappears into the office. "Come here, sit." Kabir's dad pats the couch beside him. I have never had a real conversation with him. He is a really handsome man but the liquor abuse has aged him in a less than graceful way.

I smile and sit beside him. He turns towards me. "How did you two meet?" Oh, we're going down the memory lane. "I met him on the first day of college, he was my roommate." I grin. That day was a miracle. "There had been a mix-up between the surnames-"

"Roommate! What? You said there was this Priti girl who was your roommate!-" My dad yells. He looks mad.

"It's Priya, sir." Kabir comes out of his room. Just then the doorbell rings, and Ava and Gaurav come inside. They look tired. Gaurav's eyes ping-pong between Dad and Kabir. "What's going on? You married someone again?" He smiles at me. I swat his arm. "We were talking about Priya." I grit out. Ava and Fatty burst out laughing. "I wanna tell this story." She jumps on the couch and drops her heels on the floor. Everyone is so excited that they don't notice Kabir slipping into his office. I follow behind him. He's looking for something in his office supplies. "Lock the door." He whispers. I obey and walk closer to him, wrapping my arms around his waist from behind. "Are you mad?" I mumble he laughs softly. "No, I'm not mad." Kabir turns around with two rubber bands in between his fingers, placing them on the desk, he opens my hair- they fall in short waves, brushing my shoulders. "What happened?" I look at him, turning my engagement ring nervously. He ignores my question and parts my hair into two portions, picking up a rubber band, he ties a pigtail. I chuckle. "No way, I'm not a kid. Don't-" Kabir pulls me closer and resumes his hairstyling. I roll my eyes.

"I never thought I was a pigtails kind of person." He smiles, admiring his work. I probably look like a dumbass but I smile anyway. "What do you mean by 'pigtails kind of person', huh?" Okay, maybe I look cute.

"Lose your shorts and bend over that desk." He rips open a condom between his teeth.

Oh. Maybe, he is a pigtails kind of person after all.