Beyond the Beats

Chapter 102. Us

⚠️ Long chapter ahead ⚠️

Our first spot was a big public park. Since it was Saturday, a lot of families were present, but because of the huge area, the space didn't feel crowded at all. I got my stuff from the autorickshaw as Tejas observed the surroundings.

Our autorickshaw uncle went to chat with other guys from his profession, and I told Tejas to follow me. He tried to take the things I was carrying, but I shot him a warning look.

He shook his head, and I stopped under a huge neem tree. I laid down a big mat and put the picnic basket on it. I sat down and patted the spot beside me. Tejas sat down, but directly in front of me, with his back turned towards me. He kept hardly any space between us.

"Tejas, please shift," I told him.

He ignored me. I told him again, but he kept looking at the people roaming around.

"Dear Mr. Jaiswal, please shift, because if you won't, I won't be able to feed you. I will get squashed between you and the tree," I explained.

His ears perked up, and he shifted, but there was just one eighty degree rotation that happened. He was now facing me, leaving very small space between us.

"Okay, act however you want since it is your day today. I will adjust," I said.

He is angry, but since he can't say anything, he is being passive agressive. He is cute even when he sulks.

As I had no area left, I put the plate on my lap and made fresh fruit salad. After seasoning it, I kept is aside and took out the veg sandwiches - they were Tejas's favourite.

"Open your mouth," I told him.

He refused and told me to eat first. I sighed, again thanking my stars to have him. I knew he was stubborn, so I took a small bite of the sandwich and took another one to feed him, but he shook his head like a toddler.

"I want that one," he said and pointed at the sandwich I had taken a bite of.

In that moment, I had a very strong urge to hug the hell out of him, but I inhaled a deep breath and fulfilled his request. His eyes sparkled when he ate the sandwich.

"Mom's recipe," he mumbled.

"I learned from her," I told him, smiling at his happy expression. "How is it? You like it?"

He nodded and finished the sandwich in another two bites. I fed him one more, and after eating the fruit salad, I took out two puzzle boxes from the basket.

"Puzzles?" he asked with curiosity.

"Let's play and see who finishes first," I challenged him.

"What's the prize?" he asked.

"I won't tell you. If you win, you will get it later, not now."

"Fine."

We started playing after setting a timer. Hriaan had told me how Tejas had a phase in his childhood where he was obsessed with solving puzzles after getting one box of it as a gift on his eighth birthday.

I admired how Tejas was so engrossed in solving his puzzle - I clicked a few pictures with the mini camera I had borrowed from Jiya. As expected, Tejas finished his puzzle way before the timer went off. And as his personality was, he offered to help me as I was still way behind in my own puzzle.

I let him help me, and he told me a lot of incidents from his childhood. I listened carefully, feeling happy to see him being so carefree.

Before we left for our next destination, we played antakshri, and to add fun to it, we danced while singing our songs. We spent two hours at the park, and then, we carried on with our journey.