Silver Lining | Grooms #3

XXVIII. Wedding Invite

The entire time they were having breakfast, Esha noticed Nikhil lost in his thoughts. It was very unlike him. Every time they'd had meals together, whether outside or at either of their places, he'd always be sharing. He'd either be telling her of his day or something he saw happening around him or things about his parents.

Always getting her to smile.

But this morning, nothing.

He just sat quietly in front of her, eating.

Absentmindedly, he stood up after his plate was cleaned up to return it to the sink. Having finished herself, she too got up and followed him to the kitchen.

She was quick to say, "I got it," when he was about to pick up the scrub to wash the dishes. "You cooked. I'll clean up." It was her way to share the load.

Knowing he didn't want to pick that battle with her first thing in the morning, he moved aside to dry his hands with a towel. He stood next to her to give her company and seeing how he wasn't jumping to a topic, she took that upon herself as well. "There's an art festival tomorrow downtown. There'll be music and food trucks too. Do you want to go?"

He didn't mind going to anything which included spending time with her, "Sure, sounds fun."

"Cool. So, what are we doing today?" She went on to remind him, "You did say you were booking me for all of tomorrow."

He recalled the plans he had made last night after her phone-call canceling their date and repeated them to her. "Well, I was thinking we could go by the mall. You were saying how you wanted to buy a few baby things for Sanam."

Twisting the tap knob on, she turned to face him momentarily. "Really?"

It somewhere surprised her that he didn't mind going shopping with her. She did recall telling him over their continued text conversations that she wanted to go shopping, but she had figured she'd go by herself sometime over the weekend when she was ready to stop being lazy about it. She hadn't even thought of asking him, assuming he wouldn't want to.

He offered her a smile, "I know what your sister means to you. So yes, really. And if we're done early, there's always parks and museums. You still haven't gone to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. There's also the zoo. There are plenty of things to do."

She chuckled, making an observation. "You've taken it upon yourself to take me to all the attractions in this place, haven't you?"

He laughed back, slipping out of his thoughts. "Someone's got to, else you'd be holed up in that room of yours amidst all that mess you never bother to clean up."

"I can't even argue there." She placed the last of the silverware in the drying rack and turned off the water. He passed over the towel for her to dry her hands. "So, what's really on your mind?"

"What do you mean?"

She bobbed her head to the side at his pretense, "Really, Nikhil. How long have we known each other now? Four months? Five? I think I know to tell when something is bothering you."

He sighed, running his hands over his tracks to wipe off the sweating palms he was getting from the sudden nervousness. He should have known she'd notice. "Um, well... do you remember I mentioned my ex once? Sonia?" He began with hesitance, and when she nodded, he continued after reaching for the pile of mails on the island counter and flipping through a couple, picking out one and forwarded it towards her. "I got this yesterday. Her wedding invite." He scoffed, "How can she even think of inviting me?"

She opened the envelope, pulling out the invite and reading it. "Why do you sound bitter?"

It was unlike him to sound bitter and angry, but she would understand why. She was his ex.