The Wrong Woman

62. Mouna

My grandma shook her head, slapping her lips together as she took another bite of the cake. I watched her with a giggle.

"And you work here? With all this delicious food?"

"Yes, Mohi," I said for the tenth time.

"Why did you never bring me?" That was a very good question. I didn't know. I had asked her where she wanted to go and without hesitation, she gave me the name of my workplace.

"I think," I began, mulling it over, "it was because I was so focused on work that I didn't give you or anything else a second thought. I was selfish. All I did was complain and thought watching movies with you was good enough. It wasn't." I reached over the table to put my hand over hers. "I'll do better."

"Having you here is good enough. That other woman..." She shook her head. "She was very kind to me and looked after me well but she wasn't my granddaughter."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"What could I say?" She took a second to chew the cake. "I am not better than magic. I believed everything would be okay."

"Mouna."

Grandma turned her head to the side; it was then that I realised someone was calling out to me. It had been a long time since that name had been associated to me. I almost forgot it. For a brief second, my pulse quickened. Dhruv, my heart called.

Had he come here somehow?

Looking up, the hopes vanished. It was Raj. And he was smiling at me. Had Rani showed some of her professional magic here too in my body? She had said Raj taught her there was more to life than adventures.

"So this is your infamous granny, huh? It's very nice to meet you, ma'am." Mohi and I shared a befuddled look but she nodded her head. He turned to me, arms behind his back. "Your daughter talks about you a lot."

"Really?"

"Of course. Mohi is her role model she says. By using you as her inspiration, she makes sure she talks back to me and doesn't let me off the hook with anything. And here I thought I was teaching her a lesson by being tough, she's the one tough with me!"

I thought the fork in my hand was going to fall out of my hands with a clank at those words and the weird image of him laughing! With me. Talking about me in high hopes! Rani really had done her magic here. A twinge of guilt passed through me. I had thought I was the only one that had made a difference in her life, but she had made a big difference in mine, too.

Raj then turned to me. "I'm still going to be tough with you, young lady. You've been on time and working well so don't start slacking off."

"Yes, sir."

"Sir?" He looked confused. "Back to that?" I blinked. Did she call him something else? "I call you Mouna and be lenient on you while you call me Raj, learn how to cook better and don't tell anyone about...you know. Wasn't that the deal between us?"

"The deal?" Grandma asked for me.

"She happened to see me in a vulnerable situation and threatened to tell my staff." Mohi gaped at me. "A tough one, she is."

Something in my chest twisted. "Raj..." I muttered, trying not to grimace at saying his name. It was so strange doing that all of a sudden. The last time I had seen him was before this whole swapping thing and he was very snappy and rude. I had only ever called him sir. Now coming back to a completely different man who wanted me to use his first name!

That was the true shock factor.

"Good. Enjoy the cakes. She made them," he said to my grandma.

Rani made them? Maybe she had learnt something from being in my body, after all. I watched him leave, wanting to laugh like Mohi was in that moment.

But as I thought about Rani, I also thought about Dhruv.

How he was. How happy he would be once Rani came back and possibly never explain to him about the change. It would make sense if that is what she did. Why would there be a need to explain when everything was normal, again and Dhruv didn't understand?

That was the way it needed to be.