Neighbour Next Door

35 - Loving

"hi." she whispers as soon as he picks up the call

"hey, good morning." he says cheerfully

"mumma is coming tomorrow and wishes to meet you." Silence

"she knows?" he asks quietly

"of course dumbo, due to her I'm here. She knows and I guess dad does too. Like of course they know." she said like it was supposed to be a known fact

"Isn't it too early?" he sighs tensing 

"you've met both of them." she says

"Can you come and meet my parents and say 'hey, I'm dating your son I hope you're okay with it.' and be calm about it?" she winces at the dramatic loud tone

"okay okay I get it. Vedika already knows though, she might-

"She won't tell a soul. And about Vedika, I'm mad at you. You didn't tell me she broke up." Mallika gasped

"You idiot, it's like 3 months ago thing." 

"so what? Who was this guy and why did they break up. No wait why did they even date she's just-

"she's 22." Mallika cuts him. "an adult, capable of making her own decisions. Stop bossing her. She's sensible and smart enough to choose what people she wants."

"I'm just looking out for her." he says with a soft tone

"protect her, not suffocate her. Give her space so she knows she can tell you stuff. If you react like this, she'll never open it. Stop doing what your parents did to you." She says and instantly stiffens realizing the impact of her words

"Sumedh?' she calls out

"Sumedh I'm sorry." she whispers guilt and regret clouding her

"It's fine." he mutters, the words weighing at him, hitting him like a rock.

"Can we meet?" 

"Tomorrow evening, I'll text you the details. Bring your mom too." and with that the conversation was over. 

"stupid me." she bangs her head on her office table and wanted to cry. 

why am I so stupid

_______

The door opens and Mrs. Mehra walks in happily but her smile vanishes seeing her daughter in a distressed state, which looked like she had cried or sobbed a LOT.

"sweetheart?" she calls her out and it all took for Mallika to burst into sobs once again.

"what happened beta." she calls out softly sitting next to her quickly while Mallika leans her head on her mother's shoulder. She narrates the whole story and how regretful she feels right now. 

"I'm so bad. I'm so messed up and the most bad thing is he'll never blame me mumma. He'll now think he did wrong. And he will not talk, not meet nothing." she completes

"First stop crying, it wasn't intentional was it?" she shook her head

"then stop crying chalo. Go wash your face and come." she pushes her towards the washroom to wash her face and stop her ugly crying. 

Mrs Mehra sighs and picks up her phone messaging her husband that she reached which received a thumbs up emoji which caused her to roll her eyes. "Call at night." she texts and soon Mallika emerges in a little better state. 

"You're an ugly crier." Mallika snorts at her mother and sits down at her previous place.

"You're a human and in relationships you WILL make mistake. There's no chance you'll not make mistakes. He will too, you already did. But communication is not the key here." Mallika looks at her confused.