𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 [𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡]

ＣＨＡＰＴＥＲ 13

Laksha Chaudhary was sitting in the dinning hall, going through different photo albums. She sat there browsing through the photographs of her marriage. It was an extravagant event as if a celebrity was getting married and Sidharth was no one less, even in the 90s. She was looking beautiful and still was, according to many including her husband but she knew she had put on weight after Arman’s pregnancy. The photographs had her cousins and friends in them whom she had to leave behind. She remembered how embarrassed they were.

“Could you not call us to the upper class tea parties of yours?” Sakshi, her cousin whispered to her over the phone.

“Why, what’s wrong? You guys are my friends and I am the one throwing it! You all have to be there. Plus, what's upper class? Nothing matters like this with family.” She excitedly squealed into the handset.

“umm about that-” hushed voices could be heard on her side, Laksha wondered what she were up to, “Hello Laksha?” it was her cousin Meenakshi.

“Hi how ar-”

“listen to me,” she cut Laksha off, “I get it, we mean a lot to you and we’re best of friends! But we can’t do it anymore; we hate it when people look down upon our middle class clothes and our normal manners not etiquettes or the way we laugh. We will meet but not in front of those judgy people. Bye and have a nice time!”

Her heart broke every time she remembered it. It was almost as if she relived those emotions whenever she remembered them. Shaking her head she closed them and kept them away, hidden in her almirah where no one could ever find them.

*****

"I fell.. actually," Alia sheepishly admitted the truth but hid the other. Alia knew well about how to lie and she almost always got away with it, if concrete evidence was not found. "So Shivani brought me to the hospital and I am coming back now after making a stop for the medicines on the way."

"Oh my god!" Like a good Indian mom, Pujita had started cursing her own child instead of the fate. "I am going to take away that scooter of yours! The first thing that we agreed on before buying that thing was your safety!" She continued talking and scolding her child. Alia was used to this, she had started walking out with Arman and he had begun driving when she had finally interrupted her mother.

"Mama, I fell on the wet floor!" She stressed on the cause, "the scooter was parked far away, I fell because of the slippery floor." She repeated. "Now, I am coming back in half an hour max depending on the traffic, bye." She hung up before her mother could ask about talking with Shivani and she could definitely get caught.

Alia made it to her home and had Arman drop her at the begining of the sector and not the front of the house. For the scooter, she had decided to say that it was parked in the college's residential area or simply known as the hostel. Arman made sure of it.

"Hi," She said closing the door.

"Oh my god!" Pujita came running to her and held her from the uninjured hand. She had inspected the sprain from a doctor's eye which she didn't have. "Medicines?" She questioned.

"Got it." Alia showed her the bag she held.

"Alright, have some painkillers." She brought Alia a glass of water and checked her mouth to see if she had swallowed the medicine or not.

"I'm not a kid!" She protested. "Where is Shaan anyway?" He didn't reply back when she had said hello earlier.

"His tuition's till 8pm today, he's got a test tomorrow and there are a few chapters that he has not covered yet." Pujita informed her, sighing out of tiredness.

"Wanna take a nap?" Alia offered. She herself felt sleepy from the painkillers.

"A nap now?" With uncertainty on her face, she said, "We won't wake up in time."

"It will be a short one." She winked.

*****

"I loved the nap!" Pujita exclaimed as she rose up from the bed. She felt energetic.

"Yeah I know, it was definitely needed." Alia agreed. "Twenty to thirty minute ones are refreshing."

"What do you want to eat for dinner?" The elder woman asked her child noticing that it was already late in the evening and Shaan would be home any minute.

"I want Chinese today, Yo China or Mainland China?" Pujita answered her with the first option knowing the kids loved a few particular dishes from there.

"Okay! I'll call them then." She went ahead with the ordering.

Pujita wondered why Alia did not call immediately or even Shivani. Both of them knew about informing the elder woman is anything happened and today, even if it was minor, an accident did happen. They should have called immediately. The bell rang, their order was here. Pujita decided to check the medicines and the time that they were supposed to be taken. She couldn't trust Alia on this.

Dinner was done. They cleaned up the plates and table, talked about their day and went to their rooms. Alia was on her phone when her phone pinged.

'How's the pain now?'

It was an unknown number but she had a feeling that it could be Arman as he was the one who knew about the sprain apart from her family. But then again, her feeling had been wrong when Arman said that he had helped her because she needed it and not because he wanted to impress her.

'Who is this?' she wrote back.

'Arman. Do you want more painkillers?  Did your mother question you?'

That made her angry, she had no reason to lie in the first place if not for him. She literally had a heart attack from the call about her location and lying about being with Shivani.

"Alia," Pujita came in her room and Alia changed apps patiently not to seem suspicious. "This bill is of Fortis. There is no way you could have afforded it without me. What really happened?" She glared at her daughter, catching her lie.