Chapter 76: chapter 76

CHAPTER-30SHIVA“Are you sure?” I ask for the hundredth time. It is Sunday evening. We visited my FIL in the hospital after we confessed to each other. Now, we are in my room with the doors closed. A precaution I took since I have a younger sister in her late teen who wouldn't let me live it down if she caught me doing something PG-13. Gowri is convincing me to go back to Chennai so that I can attend the investor meeting but all I want to do is be here with her.“Of course. You have already done more than enough for me,” she says wrapping her hands around me with fondness. “You must be there for the investor meeting.”“But only today morning, we confessed our feelings. I don't want to stay away from you,” I whine pulling her closer. Her cheeks flush and she grazes at me with a warmth that I am sure is mirrored in my eyes. Her smell assaults my sense. God! I love having this woman in my arms. It feels like the best thing in the world. The second-best thing. The first is kissing her.She shakes her head, “That is sweet of you. But stop behaving like a baby and go attend that meeting,” “But-”She doesn't let me finish as she suddenly presses her lips to mine. It is not an intense one but still makes my body go hot. I stare at her stunned when she pulls away. If she kisses me when we are in the middle of an argument then I am sure I will let her be the winner.She cups my face in her hands and says in a serious tone, “Just go back to Chennai. I will come in a week. I appreciate that you want to be here with me but you also have a role as a CEO.”I huff out a breath and rest my head on her shoulder. We stay like that for a few seconds when there is a knock on the room door. I pull away with a groan. Speak of my younger sister. Gowri turns around to open the door but I suddenly wrap my fingers around her wrist and yank her against me. Before she has time to react I press my lips to her in an intense kiss. When I pull back her eyes look heavy and startled.I grin at her reaction as I go to open the door.🍀🍀🍀🍀 GOWRIOkay, I know this is may seem too much but I miss Shiva. It is been two days since he left for Chennai and we both are always on the phone talking to each other. But I miss him. I sigh as I wait for his meeting to complete so that he will call me back. My father's condition has improved. He was dazed for the first day after the operation but yesterday he was able to speak. My mother never left his side after the operation and the biggest miracle is both my parents are acting like a lovely dovely couple all of a sudden. I think my mother realized how much she loves him when my father was admitted to the hospital. “Anni,” Nithya's voice pulls me out of my head.“Hey, finished studying for your test?” I ask.She groans, “Ask me about anything except school and exams.”“Alright! Tell me what do you want to talk about?”“How about I show you my ring collection?”“Ring collection?”“Yes, I am obsessed with collecting rings like how Shiva was obsessed with watch collection,” she says taking my hand. I follow her to her room curious about the collection.Every time I enter Nithya's room, I am still taken aback by the organized way she maintains it. Her room is neat and tidy. She has posters of a boy band above her bed. Her desk is clean and organized. I sit on her bed as she walks to her wardrobe. She yanks it open and I am not surprised by the way her dresses are arranged neatly. She opens a drawer and pulls out three big velvet boxes.She places it on her table and opens one showing me her ring collection. I gasp at the number of rings she has. Rings in different sizes. In different shapes. In different colours.“This is amazing,” I say, “But why do you have different sizes?”“I started collecting it when I was eight years old. I don't buy it to wear. So, if I find a ring that I like, I pester my mother to buy it no matter what the size is.”“What is this strip used for?” I ask taking a strip of paper that is placed neatly in the box.“To measure your ring size. Wait, I will show you how,” she says her eyes getting excited. She takes my right hand and wraps that strip around my ring finger and marks it. “Now, using the scale we can find your ring size.”“Why aren't you wearing any rings?” I ask looking at her empty fingers.She shrugs, “School rule. Besides, I am a collector. I collect them for fun. Not for wearing.”My phone rings and a grin forms on my face as I see who it is. But before I could attend it Nithya gets it from me and answers it on loudspeaker.“Hey, I miss you,” Shiva says. My cheeks burn as Nithya raises her eyebrow.“Aww, I miss you too, brother,” Nithya says in a sugary tone.“Nithya, why are you having Gowri's phone?”Nithya feigns a crying face and says in a baby voice, “My brother doesn't love me.”I could hear Shiva huff out a breath, “Seriously sister?”“Seriously brother,” she mimics his voice and I burst out laughing.“Wait, is the phone on speaker?” he asks.“Yep. Your wife is safe with me. Don't worry, I will not bite her. You don't have to keep on calling her.”“It is not like that.”“Ok, then. Bye, I will hang up,” she says and cuts the call to Shiva's protest. “I am sorry Anni, if I have overstepped. You can call him now. I was just playing.”“No, it is fine. It was funny to see you tease him,” I say still laughing.🍀🍀🍀🍀I walk to the hospital in a good mood. The hospital smell doesn't bother me as it did the first day. I think I am getting accustomed to it. Today my father is shifted to a normal ward. It is four days since the operation and the doctor told me he is recovering well. I enter the room to find my father alone with a book.“Hello pa,” I say.He looks up and smiles at me. His smiles are unusual but he is doing that a lot after this surgery.“Hello. Where is my son-in-law?”“Whoa! So, you don't want to see your daughter?”“No, I am happy that you came but I never got the chance to thank Shiva for being here for our family,” he says.“Don't worry. I will thank him enough,” I say.He smiles at me and motions to sit on the visitor's chair. I obey.“So, how are you doing?”“Fine. Though, I feel pain at times.” He is silent for a few seconds and then looks at me with guilt, “Gowri, I am sorry for being a terrible father to you. No, don't protest. I know I never showed any interest in your life like a normal father would. I always let my ego take over me and never listened to your mother. I always let your mother down. I was always indifferent to you and your sister.”“Do you regret marrying ma?” I ask. This was a question I always wanted to ask him.He smiles, “You know Gowri, when we were in college, our friends referred to us as Romeo and Juliet. When I think about it now, I feel they were right.“Because both I and your mother had problems in our house. I was a single child for the first few years. I was a pampered rich boy. But after your uncle was born, the attention I got was divided and I hated it. So, I grew up a rebel. Your mother on the other hand was the last of the four sisters and had to always get the used things from her sisters. We had problems and we used our love to escape from them. “We lived in a fantasy. Then you know how we got married. We eloped. My father disowned me. We were happily married. The happiness only lasted for a few days because reality caught with us. Financial situations caused a rift between your mother and me. When your sister was born, I barely made money. We were physically mature to have a baby but not mentally mature. Being a parent is a responsibility that I wasn't ready to take even when you were born.“Your mother's emotional tantrums increased and instead of confronting them, I pushed them away. I became indifferent to your mother's complaints and that only made her complain more. At one point I realized marrying her was a mistake and that is when we filed for divorce. But, then we had to withdraw it for the sake of you and your sister. I convinced myself that I was staying in the marriage only for you and your sister.“But Gowri, you know what I realized in these few days in the hospital. I still love your mother. Even though we fought a lot, I can't imagine a life without her. I realized how much I should have done for her and you. I should have been there for you and your sister when you both were hurting because of our fights but I was selfish and kept being indifferent. I am sorry for that. I know my sorry can't change anything but I don't regret marrying your mother or having you as my children. “I am proud of you and your sister for growing into strong women despite my lack of interest in your life.”I am dumbfounded. I never thought I would have this conversation with my dad. Though there were many times in the past, I wanted to confront him about his indifference in our life. I stare at him unsure of what to say. Because my father is not the one to admit his emotions. Yes, that is where I got the genes to maintain my poker face. But, I guess people change. My father's eyes flutter close in tiredness. I watch him fall asleep and slip out of the room still in wonder about what he admitted. He owned up to his mistake. I guess I got the answer to a question I had in my mind for a long time. My parents are still in love. They were just blinded by their egos. I smile as I remember how distraught my mother was when my father was admitted and how my father looked regretful now for hurting my mother all these years. It took heart failure for my parents to realize this. I just hope this realization will change things between them.🍀🍀🍀🍀