Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

Bookworms Part 2

Note: I'm so sorry for how long this took to get up, I needed time to work out the details properly. In part 2 of this story, I alluded to a different reason as to why Priya and Pihu are at the Kapoor Mansion. It's not for helping Ram get the minister deal, because I just really didn't like the logic surrounding this track at all. I never found a good point earlier in the story to give additional context for this, but you guys will get it in this part. Other than that, this part picks up right where I left off in the previous part. 

After a few minutes, Ram drew his handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his tears. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. "Wow," he said finally, as Adi chuckled and clapped him on the back appreciatively. "This is actually happening." "Yeah," said Brinda. "I mean, just look at us. Did we ever even imagine, when we met in college, that we would come this far in our lives, together?" 

"No," said Ram. "We were all so young then, barely even 18. What did we even understand about life and adulthood back then? We were just trying to figure everything out." "And now here we are," said Brinda. "I never even imagined I would be a mother at any point. Until I met Adi, that is." She smiled at Adi, and then continued. "But even then, it took us a while to even think about having children. I mean, I'm having my first child at 41. That's what making me even more nervous." "Hey," replied Adi. "We'll be fine." "You're not scared?" asked Ram. "No," said Adi. "We've got each other. Why would I be?" 

"Adi yaar," said Ram, before leaning in to hug him tightly. Brinda joined in, and they were like that, again for a few minutes, holding each other and swaying slightly. Adi was the first to break the hug, and he stood up and said, "Ok let's stop being so senti for a few minutes. Why don't you two keep talking while I go and make us some coffee?" "Uh, I can't have coffee Adi. Pregnant women can't have caffeine, remember?" said Brinda. "Oh, right, sorry," Adi replied. "I'll make us some masala chai then." "And some cookies?" said Ram. "I'm hungry," he added, a bit sheepishly as Adi and Bri laughed. 

Adi left for the kitchen, and Ram then turned to Brinda. "I have something I need to give you," he said. He walked over to his work bag, and pulled out the hardcover copy of Anna Karenina. Handing it back to Brinda, he continued, "I finished it two days ago." "Oh, thank you so much," she replied. "What did you think of it?" she asked. "Well," said Ram carefully. "I didn't hate it." "That's great!" said Brinda. "I also didn't love it," said Ram. "Some parts of this book really drag for a long time." "Oh, I agree with that too," replied Brinda. "Tolstoy's writing makes the whole thing bearable, but he really does go on about nothing for a very long time." 

"About seven pages per chapter, to be precise," said Ram. Brinda looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, I counted. Sorry," he said. "It's a business man habit. I have to be good with numbers, you know. And in this case, I had to make reading this book for me fun, somehow." "I didn't think you still did that," said Brinda, chuckling. "I remember how, in our economics lectures, you used to count the number of lecture pages as well as the number of words per page so that you would know how much to study each day. Such a nerd you were, yaar." 

Ram laughed. "I mean, I didn't just magically become one of the class toppers in our college batch," he said. "That took effort, and efficiency. I've always had a pretty strong memory anyways. When you have a family like mine, where your mom and your siblings periodically forget about you, you have to get good at keeping track of things and deciding if you should remind them or not. That's where my counting and making mental lists habits come from. Weird, right?"

He laughed and turned to look at Brinda. She was gazing at him sadly. "You never told me that," she said. Ram's face fell. He played with his fingers for a few seconds as he said, "I don't really like talking about it. Brings my mood down." "I understand," said Brinda, scooting closer and placing a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Besides," Ram continued. "I've already cried about this stuff many times when I was younger, in my room. I didn't want to spend an entire lifetime being morose about stuff like this. That's no way to live. At some point, you just have to accept things and move forward."