Once Upon a University Campus

Epilogue-Adios

Annika checked on Shivaay. He was busy in a late night meeting at his work desk. The coffee maker hissed. He looked up. He gestured to her asking if she needed a cup as well. She refused. She casually opened the back door and walked out to the patio. The twins were asleep. Shivaay had put Shivika to sleep and Annika, Ansh. Though he was technically on a paternity leave, he had a few hours of work each day after the twins went to bed. Annika sat on the top of the stairs that led to the garden below. Baby monitors blinked and lit up periodically.

The parijata tree was in full bloom again. The heady fragrance of the delicate parijatha filling the air reminded her of the initial flutters of their brand new romance a few summers ago. Her old windchime sang its mellow tune in the quiet of the moonless night. The solar lamps lining the perimeter of the lawns had shut off. They did so at 9 PM each night. It was dark, something that would have been unsettling, but not for Annika. She was home, dark or well-lit, it was her own. Her eyes grew accustomed to the dark and silhouette gradually filled up. Parijathas quickly took her down the memory lane, the rush of their first kiss. It was special, it would remain special. So would the parijatha flowers and the reminiscence of the time gone by. This was the same place she had seen a different, a more steely Om emerge, the study behind her was where she had seen a different shade of Shivaay for the first time on a crazy long night after the Lohri party. These were the same stairs she had surreptitiously navigated to meet Shivaay several times during her brief stay in the guest house one summer. Once she was a visitor here, today it was her home. She now ran the household, making sure that the bills were paid, staff were taken care and everything was accounted for. She had never thought that she would find it all so effortless. The hardship of her early years now helped her take care of her large family. But then she was her own shelf when she had thermostats installed all over the house to reduce electricity bills during summers. She would still switch off unnecessary lights. The staff too diligently followed her protocol of not wasting water, electricity or food. She embraced the home as her own, and the home returned the favor. Her and Saahil's struggles now seemed like another lifetime.

Saahil! She had gotten his buck tooth fixed over the past years. He was now handsome , way taller than her and on the verge of becoming an engineer. After doing well academically, he was interning at a manufacturing start up. He had made her proud. Beyond that, there was a relief that he was now ready to take care of himself, a fledgling ready to take off from the nest and explore the world by himself.

A light at a distance went out and it grew darker. The absence of a small lamp shade at a distance made the dark, a tad bit darker. She checked her watch, It was Shakti and Pinky's bed time and they had turned off their bedside lamp. They had become the parents she always missed. Not that she forgot her father, she occasionally remembered him but she had long stopped missing him. Her mother was now a distant memory. She had spent most of her life without her mother anyway. Sometimes, she would wonder if her own mother would have dotted on her just like Pinky did, especially after the twins were born. But there was no way to know. Besides it was pointless. She had to celebrate what she had and she returned Pinky's affection in equal measure. She could not have acknowledged everything Pinky did for her during her difficult pregnancy, but as a mark of her gratitude, she let Pinky pick names for the twins.

Her gratitude for Pinky, Shakti and Daadi had increased manifold after she reported back to work. She could not have transitioned from the baby-led nap, nursing schedule to her work routine where she had to be out of the door by 8.30 AM without their collective effort. It helped that Shivaay was home with the babies. But still she found it hard to work 8 hours without distractions. First day, she had ended up calling Shivaay every half hour to check on the babies. She was a tad bit disappointed that they had not missed her much at all. It was only Ansh who was delighted to see her back. Shivika could care less. She was just happy to be with her daddy all day long. By the end of the week, she was down to calling Shivaay thrice during her work day, once around midday when the babies had their lunch, once during her lunch hour when the babies napped and then before she wrapped up her work day.