If she hated him again?

45

The next few days in the Khanna mansion were far from normal, Avni's and Mowgli's presence in the house was hardly felt; they both indulged themselves in matters related to each other, and ignored taking up topics related to Neil or Zara. Obviously, Avni couldn't ignore her, and being a mother, she had to always make sure she woke up at the right time, and made the tiffin ready for the three of them whether or not they acknowledged her efforts.

Zara had started going to kindergarten, and she wanted to accompany her with Neil for the first day, but Zara did not want that, so she, hiding how much she was hurt, stayed at home.

Avni had absolutely ceased to go to HER room and was roommates with Mowgli. He did not mind that, he loved his Jaan didi.

Avni had started to spend the entire day at Sukoon House as per Mowgli's suggestion whose heart wrenched to see her mom getting treated like that.
The conversation leading to this activity was something like this -

Mowgli had seen Zara utilise the resources made easier by Avni but did not thank her for that and was instead growing rude everyday. "Mom you're not our servant. Do kheechke lagao isey sab samajh aa jayega." He spoke, angrily eyeing Zara's retreating figure.

"Aise kaise laga du?" Avni made a patchy sound, packing Zara's bag. "You stop doing all this! You should live your life ! She's attached with him na, let him do things for her!" Mowgli took away the bag from her.

"How do I live my life?" Avni crossed her arms and looked on. "Just like Jaan didi did." He retorted throwing away the bag.

"Jaan didi lived for you all." She justified. "No, she gave tuitions and was an independent lady, whom we all respected and never treated as our maid."
"Mowgli I'm a homemaker, it's not very feasible for me-"
"It is! Come on, when 3 of us are at school and he's at office, you can go to Sukoon House, spend time with Sunehri Didi and after the school hours are over, I'll be there only, and you give tuitions, I'll complete my work there and then we'll come back home in the evening. Simple." He huffed, giving a why-are-we-even-discussing-this look.

And she had to agree.

Conversations between Neil and Avni had nulled down. After Mowgli and Avni came back everyday, Neil did ask them where were they, but received no reply and Avni and Mowgli had set up a makeshift dining table in their shared room.

The main problem was at weekends when all three of them were supposed to be at home, but Mowgli rebelled and made strong arguments to prove WHY it should NOT be a problem. And then, it wasn't a problem.

But she found it difficult to dodge whenever she was in the kitchen and Neil came over, desirably wanting to talk, but she made no attempts and Neil didn't take as well. Maybe he had forgotten he hurt her, but she didn't.

>>>>>>>>>

"Aha, first salary huh? See you easily earned 30K, people are ready to pay someone like you , why not charge them more ?" Mowgli patted his mother's shoulder. "Need an ice cream before we go home?" Avni asked, ruffling his hair. "Or. Hold on, I'll buy the video game you've been wanting for so long." And she took him to the nearby store after which they happily went back home.

"Avni isn't it too late? I've been asking you guys, where do you go?" Neil was this time, at the door waiting for them both. Avni ignored his questions and tried to barge past him with Mowgli. "Vid game? How did you buy this? I don't remember giving you my credit card or any cash." Neil asked, taking his toy in his hands. "I bought it for him, give it back." And naturally, he did.

"Okay fine you did but how?" Neil asked, shrugging. "I don't want to tell you."

"Avni what's happening?" Neil gently held her arms and made her look at him. She released herself and retired to her new room.

"He needs to be treated like that." Mowgli justified her actions. "By the way, it's the 15th of June tomorrow." He spoke, raising his eyebrows in a quick succession.

"My....birthday." Avni looked up after straightening the sheets. "Yes ! Calls for a party neh?" He began dancing, simultaneously putting the video game in his TV.

They heard knocks on the door and Neil was standing there. "Avni can we talk?" Okay when Neil speaks in a soft tone like that, he really wanted to talk. So she couldn't refuse either and went with him to their room.

>>>>>>>>>

"D..did I hurt you that day? Are you still mad over me?" He asked, cupping her face.

How do you answer questions like that? Neil had long ago that day only walked out on her, it wasn't easy for her to just open out her heart, just like that.

So she didn't answer. "Your silence does give me an approval. Where are we going Avni." Neil sounded rejected.

"Can I ask you something?" Avni spoke. "Sure!" Neil exclaimed. "Why talk to me all of a sudden, after all those days." She asked, slightly confused. "Zara clarified you did not go to her and say that she..is weak...she overheard it."

"Trusting father." Avni murmured and turned to go. He did not believe her earlier and now did because he got a clarification. "Avni we don't walk out on each other. That's the unspoken code between us." Neil held her hand to stop her.

"You already walked out on me. You swore at me Neil. You hurt me. I... what's left?" She jerked him away, cursing dead Neela Ma for fixing her up with a non sense guy like that.

A thousand words, I end it here.