"Happy Married Life, Shivya Pathak" I weakly smiled seeing my condition, mangalsutra dangling in my neck, vermilion in hair and both hands filled with gold bangles.
"Come out quickly or do you want me to break the gate," my husband knocked again...
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"Main driver ke saath chali jaati, Ruh ka admission zyada zaroori hai," she said to Vedant, who was seated beside her in the driver's seat.
(I would have gone with the driver; Ruhi's admission is more important.)
Vedant took a left turn, leaving the haveli behind, and replied, "Shaadi ke baad pehli baar apne mayke jaa rahi hain aap, aapke saath aana zyada zaroori tha."
(You are visiting your maternal home for the first time since your wedding; it was all the more important for me to come along with you.)
She pressed her lips into a thin line and turned her face away, resting her head against the window. She didn't know what was going to happen when she reached there. She didn't want him to find out about her family drama, but she needed to retrieve her documents, debit card, and laptop.
Vedant glanced at her, deciding not to disturb her, even though he wanted to know what was going on in her mind. Didn't she want to go to her parents' house? But she was the one who had insisted on going there.
Shivya picked up her phone, connected it to the car's bluetooth, and played Chan Kitthan, keeping the volume low. Placing the phone back in her lap, she once again rested her head against the window.
During the three-hour drive, neither of them spoke. She didn't want to, and though he wanted to, one look at her face stopped him. It was just music and their silence filling the space between them.
In a few minutes, they would reach their destination. "Didn't you want to go to your mother's house, Sona?" he finally asked, voicing the question that had been on the tip of his tongue since the drive began.
She turned to face him and said quietly, "I need to."
He slowed the car and said gently, "You don't have to if you don't want to. I can take a U-turn, and we can go back."
"I need to go. The fact is, I don't even know whether I want to go or not... whether I love my mother or not. I need to see how she's doing. I haven't spoken to her for seven months because I'm angry with her, and maybe I'll never talk to her again... but I still care. I'm stuck between loving her because she's my mother and hating her for the same reason."
"I understand that feeling," he said softly. "But it's better to be stuck between those emotions than to choose one side and regret it every day, wondering why you didn't choose the other."
She stared at him, confused by his words. He didn't have this kind of complicated relationship with his mother. Shivya knew he loved her deeply-she had seen it in his actions. They shared the kind of bond Shivya had always wished to have with her own mother.
Vedant cleared his throat as he realised what he was doing and asked, "Do you want me to stay with you?"
"No," her reply came instantly. She knew how suspicious it sounded, and maybe he would think she was being rude-which, in a way, she helplessly was. "I mean, you need to go with Ashray to see the college where Ruh will be enrolling, and that's more important. In fact, you'll get bored at my parents' house."
