Southern Avenue

Chapter #15

Chapter #15 

Finishing off with the washing and after a good talk, Sharanya went back to her mother's room to find out if she was still asleep or not. Her mother usually woke up silently; sitting there on the bed she went through magazines and story books, reading and finishing as much as she could in one go. When Sharanya had been a child her mother had always read out stories to her aloud. More than making up fairytales herself she chose to read out stories to her daughter. Always having believed that children needed to know reality along with fairytales, she had made her daughter stronger than she had ever thought she could.

Sharanya loved her mother because of that. There had never been fake expectations that came. Her father wasn't someone who had a financial crisis. Her childhood was filled with her father abusing her mother; sometimes she had wondered if all the men in the world were like that. All the men she had seen in her childhood had been like that.

That was when she had met Raghuvir Singh Shekhawat. He had restored her faith in mankind, somehow in more ways, she could have ever thought of.

In the room she found her mother, sitting leaning on the headrest and reading a book with utmost care.

Sharanya smiled looking at her. It was typical of her mother to do something like that.

"Mumma," Sharanya went and touched her mother's arm, "You okay?"

"I'm fine Guriya," Her mother mouthed softly, a serene smile on her wrinkled pale face, "Did you talk to Ranvijay? I heard you talking to someone. Is the little one here already?"

"No, Mumma. The little one isn't here. I talked to Ranvijay though."

"Did he come?"

Sharanya nodded to her mother and was about to walk out and call Ranvijay, when he came into the room himself with a casual smile on his face.

"Hridya maa, were you missing me?" Ranvijay sat down beside her on the bed and grabbed her hand, as she kept her book aside on the nightstand and grabbed his hand.

"Ranvijay baba..." His Hridya maa smiled at him, and pulling his hands softly to her lips, kissed the back of his palm, "Why didn't you come all these days?"

"Sorry, maa," He said sheepishly, "Work had been lagging behind. But as I had promised, I and your daughter had some fun times, on Sunday morning."

Hridya chuckled, "What kind of kids are you? You should go party on weekends."

"Mumma, you are sick. How can..." Sharanya started to say but her mother hushed her.

"Oh, hush! You always have excuses."

Ranvijay caressed her hand and her head as he answered her numerous questions about where he had been these few days, why he hadn't come that Sunday when he had dropped Sharanya back home, what he had been doing in the office. He tried to talk to her in Hindi as much as possible and Hridya chuckled and corrected him whenever he made some mistake.

Hridya told the both of them about the story that she was currently reading. Her storytelling skills were so polished that even though these were adults whom she was talking to, Ranvijay and Sharanya were both instantly dragged into the story itself.

"You should rest, Hridya maa." Ranvijay kissed her forehead after a while, as Sharanya fed her mother some soup and gave her, her medicines.

"No," She discreetly denied, "I want to meet your puppies."

Sharanya was about to deny it, tell her off that she was too weak to play with puppies that would jump around the room if they came to meet her, when Ranvijay hushed her and barged in, "I'll bring them tomorrow."

He actually wanted to bring his puppies to meet her. If it was a request he could abide to, then there wasn't a chance that he would reject these simple wishes of his Hridya maa. His puppies were well behaved when they wanted to be.

Sharanya sighed; she didn't have the chance to contradict the request, even. "Mumma, please be okay soon." She mumbled under her breath, although she knew that it wasn't going to happen. Her mother had given her the bitter pill of reality too soon in her life for her to know that this hope of her was just wishful thinking.

"Guriya?" Her mother's call instantly made her look towards her.

"Yes, Mumma?" She smiled at her mother brightly.

"Bring me some kheer."

The request from her mother instantly made Sharanya smile brighter and nodded frantically, running out of the room to get some kheer. All while she heard how Ranvijay spoke to her mother about her cooking and teased her about the cooking.

Quickly giving some kheer to her mother, Sharanya exited the room and was sitting in the corner of her own bed. The wishful thinking had changed to over thinking. Her hands were around the knees which she had pulled closer to her chest. She didn't even try to wipe away the tears that were rolling down her face. Just the thought of her mother not being there, crawled her skin and broke her into pieces, little by little.

Sharanya Devyani was crying and she pitied herself for it.

Ranvijay had been feeding her mother and refused her to let her do it. She didn't know why she was suddenly feeling as if she didn't have the right over her mother anymore at that moment. She shouldn't have been feeling that way. What had come over her? Her mother had been her own for as long as she could remember; it was well known that he wasn't trying to take her mother away from her.

She wanted to feed her, hold her hand, kiss her forehead and lull her to sleep. But it was Ranvijay doing all those, although it was her mother. Sentiments were such complex things. There were all of a hundred reasons for her to not feel this way and yet she was, feeling that way.

She wept soundlessly when two arms wrapped themselves around her shoulder. His arms were gentle and careful.

"I didn't mean to hurt you." He whispered gently, stroking her hair.

She buried her head in his chest and shook her head. Why in the world was she feeling this way? He had done nothing wrong and she knew it. "You didn't hurt me."

"Really?" He asked, "That's why you are in your room, crying?"

She sighed, "Ranvijay, you've only been helpful and generous. You didn't hurt me," She wouldn't take a word against it, "What's mom doing?"

"She fell asleep," He answered shortly, "Can you help me bring Nikki and Jimmy here tomorrow?"

"I will," Sharanya sniffed and pulled her away from him, while he pushed her hair back from her face, smiling at her.

"Better."

"Thank you."

"Why?" Ranvijay frowned.

"For taking care of us." She wiped the remaining tears under her eyes with her knuckles, while he leaned in and engulfed her into another warming hug, knowing that she needed it.