Serendipity [Temporarily Discontinued]

Chapter 14

“What type of a party is it?”
“Birthday party.”
“Have I met him?”
“No.”
“Is he a good boy?”
“Yes.”
“Is he your boyfriend?”
“God’s no!” Saee dropped her clothes on her bed, exasperated. “Will you stop with your questions already?!” She shuffled through her bag and took out her cell phone. She had two missed calls from Meha and a text asking her when she will be ready. Meha and Piyali were going to pick her up from her apartment for Aarav’s party. Neither of them had been to Aarav’s home, so they wanted to move together as a pack.
Saee’s father appeared besides her and stood with his arms folded across his chest. He never had approved about his daughter going out for parties since the inception of her college days. He had always been skeptical about her friends, constantly judging them any chance he got. In this case, Saee much preferred her mother to be open minded and care free. Her mother only made her feel like a slave most of the time.
“Will you at least give way for me to move around?” She pushed past her father in a frustrated manner. She just wanted her dad to leave. She felt constricted and bound in rules and regulations. She did not like that she had to answer someone for the actions she undertook. She had been living alone for this long, she had kind of gotten used to it.
Father sat down and drew his cell phone out. “Does your mother know about these friends you have?” That condescending tone that her father used always pissed her off. “I guess she needs to put some sense into your head.”
“Well at least she’ll understand that her daughter has free will.” Saee mumbled the sentence. She meant it to be audible but not come out as harsh.
“You don’t understand me now,” the rising tone of her father proved that she might have hit a nerve. “But when these friends you have leave you stranded, you’ll come running to us.”
“What the hell is your problem?!” That was way out of line. Saee hadn’t expected him to take the conversation completely out of track. “I left home to escape this nagging and constant judging you do regarding my life and my choices. Don’t you have better things to do?! It would be very nice of you if you would just leave me alone.”
Saee had never thought, even for a second, that it was this easy to drive her father out of her way. She just had to say it. Silently and without a fuss, her father stood up. Haughty as he was, with not even a slight tinge of hurt on his face, Father started packing his things in his suitcase. He had his things organized always. He didn’t have to search around the house like Saee would have. Little differences like these made her feel like an adjunct to the Mahajan family. She was different and she wanted to live differently, it was a fact that her family and especially her father needed to learn.
Without a word, just like that, her father left. Saee could feel the remorse, the guilt of speaking rudely to him. It was like a reverse psychology kind of thing. Now that he was gone, she could sense the vastness of her apartment grow enormous and big enough to drown her in it. She wanted to cry out but then she didn’t want to either. She hated herself when she had these random bouts of moodiness.
Rather than wasting her time over her indecisiveness, she went on sorting her clothes out for the party.

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Piyali had never felt so self-conscious in her life. The stage fright might have been nothing compared to what she was feeling right now. Walking down the stairs, towards the living room where her family was seated, felt like such a gruesome task for her. The plunging neck line felt like there were spot lights attached to her breasts, just asking for attention to be granted. The dress looked fantastic on her no doubt. She had showed her aunt the night before and she had nothing but praises for it. But then she had added a kind of a footnote on the end highlighting the point of Piyali feeling uncomfortable at some point in the night.
How correct was she.
Without trying to grab much attention and being as discreet as she could be; Piyali tried to slide past her family. They were seated, discussing family affairs with Piyush perched on uncle’s lap. Piyali tried to walk quietly but her heels clicked on the floor with every step she took. There was no point in being discreet anymore because as soon as she was two steps inside the living room, their eyes were trained on her. They were scrutinizing and analyzing her like they do the animals in the zoo. Piyali could feel her mother’s eyes linger on her neckline and the raise of her eyebrow in amazement.
“Looking very pretty, Piyali.” Aunty’s words, although a repetition of what she had said the other night, were a welcome assurance for her. She nodded her head and consciously pulled her hair in the front, trying to distract herself.
“What time will you be back?” Mother’s words were dauntingly scrutinizing. Piyali knew although that her mother wasn’t one of those who kept an eye on their child’s every move, she felt weird about it.
Absurd as it sounded, Piyali was oddly much more nervous around her mother right now than she had ever been in her life. Yes, the balance of their relationship had changed now but that only meant that she should be comfortable around her rather than feeling the way she was feeling right now. Or probably it was because of the increase in their understanding that was making Piyali respect her mother’s feelings and it affected her what she thought of her daughter.
“It’s alright,” her mother said. And for the first time in years, Piyali felt absurd and encouraged. “Just take care, Okay?” Piyali gladly nodded. Her mother genuinely sounded concerned for her and that deeply touched her heart.
The honking of a car pulled Piyali’s attention. Just at the moment that she was about to open the door, her phone rang in her hand signaling an incoming call from Meha. Piyali opened the door, waved at her family-without missing the gracious smile of her mother’s-and walked out the door.
Meha’s car, an expected blue sedan-was parked on the driveway. Piyali pulled her hair back in a ponytail after pulling her coat over her shoulders. The air was chilling, signaling an impending winter to come. She walked up to the car’s front door while keeping her cell phone inside her purse. So, when she opened the door, the look of surprise on her face must have been unmistakable. Sat on the passenger seat was Bianca in her poised and uptight face on. Bianca wasn’t even invited, as far as Piyali knew. Aarav didn’t even know about her, at least not to Piyali’s knowledge.
“Hey, hop in the backseat. “Meha’s voice-although all chirpy-held a certain amount of strain in it. Her expressions spoke volumes and Piyali got the hint. She silently closed the door and opened the back door, only to find Saee sitting inside. She was greeted with a big smile and a hug.
“Due to unavoidable circumstances she had to tag along, “Saee whispered and released her from the hug with a smile, like nothing happened. Yet again, Piyali didn’t question anything and climbed inside the car.