Part Time Lovers!

7. Another Day In Life

"Anurag, that's not fair. You promised me", Snigdha grumbled, glaring at her boss, cum friend, sitting on the opposite chair and Anurag gulped in fear looking at her threatening eyes.

"I forgot, the meeting was important!", he defended immediately, while Snigdha rolled her eyes at him, snatching his laptop away and pushing the tray of food towards him. Anurag silently began eating, aware of the catastrophe that could befall him if he dare say another word.

Anupam giggled sitting on the couch, looking at them. He was so glad to have Snigdha as Anurag's friend, she had become the small speck of normalcy Anurag had, had in his life for the last week. He didn't know how it happened, their transition from colleagues to friends, but he was overjoyed it happened. He knew Anurag moving on from Prerna would probably never happen, but Anurag learning to smile again, could happen, for sure!

--------

Kuki grinned, tugging Prerna's saree, who looked at the little girl, raising an eyebrow. Kuki immediately climbed into her lap, and questioned about her father's whereabouts. Prerna's smile faltered at that, the last week had been weird. Mr. Bajaj hadn't really talked to her much, and stayed aloof for most time. She didn't even get the opportunity to thank him for all his help with respect to Sharmas, he would come back too late and leave too early.

Kuki's silent whimper brought Prerna back to reality and she smiled at her, telling her that he was in office. It made Kuki excited, and she ran to her room and brought a card she made for her dad to show Prerna. The card read :

"Happy Birthday Papa"

Prerna was surprised, she had no inkling about Mr. Bajaj's birthday.

"When?", she immediately asked Kuki, hoping for this to be a chance to talk to Mr. Bajaj, maybe sort the differences that had began to bug her, she hated his ignorance towards her.

Kuki signalled tomorrow, but also stopped her  from calling or arranging for any party.

"Papa doesn't celebrate his birthday with others, only me and Papa. Now you too!", Kuki gestured, and her innocenct smile made Prerna smile back. She kissed Kuki's forehead and began tickling the little girl who laughed her heart out, enjoying the play with her mother.

After an hour of play and a little nap, Prerna woke up, to find Kuki still sleeping, snuggled into her. She covered her properly, and stood up, realising it was already night. She remembered how she was thinking about going to Maasi and asking about atleast Mr. Bajaj's favourite food preferences, so that even if he celebrated a family day, he would enjoy it more. But before she could, she felt bile rise up her throat and intense nausea hitting her.

She ran towards the washroom, trying to empty the contents of her stomach into the basin, but the cramps hit her hard , making it difficult to breath. Rishabh who had just entered the room, heard her pained voice and ran towards the washroom only to find Prerna sitting on her knees, trying to vomit, clutching her stomach.

Instinct kicked in, and he held her, slowly rubbing her back. Prerna initially flinched at the touch, which Rishabh noticed, but right now it was more important to comfort her. He held her and used the wet towel to dab her face, and clean her mouth. Prerna felt drained, her head was spinning. She let Rishabh help her because there was no way she could help herself at the moment.

Rishabh picked her up, in his arms and put her to bed, after cleaning her face and hair. Pulling the conforter up, he saw Kuki move a little in her sleep and then cuddle to Prerna, who found her hand moving to pat the little girl even in her own discomfort.

Rishabh then poured some water and asked her to sip it, very slowly. Water did wonders to Prerna's parched throat. She looked a little less paler than before. Exhaling in relief, Rishabh stood up and walked down to the kitchen, asking their cook to make some light soup for Prerna and send it up, but crashed into Anupam at his way back.