Bade Achhe Lagte Hain | ✓

19. Valentine

He followed her. "Par batao na, who gave this and convinced you? Sandy? Sara Di?"

"Your Meera Maa," she replied, seeing each other in the mirror.

In the afternoon:

"Maa, didn't Sara Di inform you I'm looking after Bakery in her absence?" Priya asked as her mother arrived in the afternoon.

"No, she did," her mother confirmed and added, "Can't I meet my daughter to chit-chat?"

She eyed her suspiciously and clarified, "Maa, you know I hate beating around the bush. Toh seedha-seedha batana, what brings you here?"

"Are you still upset with Ram?" Meera asked reluctantly.

"Accha, so your son-in-law sent you here," she groaned. "Mujhse toh kaha jab maaf karna hain tab karo, coupons use nahi karunga, yeh, woh, aur ab aapko bheja."

Her mother stopped her from rambling and told her that neither Ram discussed this, nor asked her to speak on his behalf; it was her choice because she felt Priya was stretching it too far.

"Seriously, Maa?" Priya shut the register and stormed off to a table nearby. "You think I'm being unreasonable when he is the one who doubts our honesty by not trusting us!"

"He trusted you when nobody else did," her mother said calmly. "When everyone questioned us about our past, he stood up for us, bearly knowing for a couple of weeks. Be it about Neeraj or Mahendra."

She looked away as Meera continued, "And you often say Shivi is like his baby. Isn't it natural to react how he did?"

"Then why agree to the marriages if he doesn't trust us?"

"Priya, you're unnecessarily complicating it by making it about trust and mistrust," her mother answered. "Our judgments are often clouded when it's about people we love. It happened with Ram too."

"Which totally justifies calling you Aunty!" Priya looked at her with eyes pooled with tears.

"Toh yeh baat hain," Meera let out a chuckle and took her hands in hers. "Bacche, he doesn't merely call me Meera Maa, but even considers me his mother. And if he has the right to take care of me and pamper me, then what's the issue if he bursts out some day? Should I remind you of all you say to me in fits of rage? My son at least gave a heartfelt apology. What about you?"

Priya left her hand and turned away again.

"Let bygones be bygones and accept this," she advised, sliding the box over the table. "Sandy told me Ram had bought this a while ago to gift you today. Let go the past and focus on your present."

"I..." he stuttered, glancing down.

She turned around to face him. "Mr. Kapoor, it's not about your apology. I tried to tell you that whenever I met Anjali, she flipped, but you didn't listen," she said. "You think I trusted Akki because he's my brother, but that's not true. If living together or being family was solely the reason, I would've believed Mahendra Sood too," she stopped.

"If even once I felt Akshay was lying, I would've questioned him," she told him.

He didn't respond; instead, he held his ears. "I'm very sorry for not trusting you," he said after a moment.

She watched him through the corner of her eye. There it was, his apologetic puppy face. And it was next to impossible for her to not give in again. Apart from being beautifully blue-green and dangerously deep, it was the utmost sincerity in his eyes that she couldn't say no to.