A Heart of Stone with a Coat of Gold

Sweet and Bitter

"Why are you telling me now?" Anu spoke aloud. It was late at night, and they had just come back after having dinner. Neel craned his neck from the couch and sneaked a look, then went back to working on the laptop. 

Anu had Reema's school notice in her hands. She had a Parent Teacher meeting early morning, the same day as Anu's exam. Worry creased her forehead, she didn't want to ask Neel to handle this.

Ultimately seeing no other resort, she unwillingly got up from the table and ambled across the room to the couch, where Neel sat, his laptop alarmingly close to his face. His eyes were squinted with concentration. When he noticed her, he placed the laptop beside him. "Your eyes are growing weak," Anu simply stated. 

"No, they aren't. I just had a long day working." he denied as he took out a cigarette.

Anu shook her head in disbelief. Dropping the matter- there was something else she wanted to discuss- she handed him the notice. "Can you please go tomorrow? You know I can't." Neel heaved a sigh, twirling the cigarette between his fingertips, not even making the slightest attempt to hide his displeasure. "I am not good at such stuff. You already know that." He murmured.

"Just this time. Please." Neel munched on her words, then finally relented with a simple nod. 

He went back to his losing battle with the laptop.

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The whole school gallery was thronged with parents and their children. Neel felt uncomfortable as he headed towards the classroom Reema was pointing to. On entering the room, he took the seat across a young woman of thirty with thick-rimmed glasses, who Reema had already whispered about; she was her Homeroom teacher.

The woman took a quick glance at the girl and then turned to Neel. "Your daughter is a bright child. Mr. ?" she threw a questioning look.

"Neel, Ma'am. And I am not her father." He replied, fidgeting slightly in his chair.

"Then Uncle I guess?" she probed further. Apparently, she was a very curious woman.

"Brother-in-law," Neel replied quietly. The woman gaped at him for a few seconds, then collected herself quickly. "Very well," she had a sheet which she handed over to him. "The child performs exceedingly well in Arts and Literature. She is not particularly bad at Science and Maths too, but the teachers have complained that she is not attending them. Last week she skipped classes 4 times."

The lady's tone turned serious. "I am afraid if she goes on doing this, she won't pass." Then she went on for half an hour about the importance of studies, the values which parents needed to give their children and other random mundane topics about ethics. By the end of it, Neel was done, perspiring gallons of sweat on his face. He made a vow in his mind; he was never ever going to attend such talks ever again.

As they headed towards the car, Neel finally asked, "Why are you missing classes?" Reema, on the other hand, seemed least interested in the question. She was staring intently at a family leaving the school. There were two kids, a man and a woman. The woman was talking on her phone, while the man held his smaller child, a girl, in his arms. The elder one, a boy about Reema's age held his hand, while they walked. 

"I don't need Maths or Science or other subjects like that. I have decided, I wanna be an author." Reema replied as she pulled her eyes away from the couple and turned to Neel. As they walked further, something strange was playing in her head. After a moment of hesitation, she reached out and grasped the loose suit dangling on Neel's forearm, lightly between her thumb and a finger.