The Life She Wants

Five

"Hey," Aadya mumbled in her sleep, "wake up. You have the office."

Both of them couldn't sleep well last night, which is why they struggled to wake up this morning.

"Tanayyyy," she dragged out his name.

"Give me my phone," Tanay drowsily said. She handed him his phone and forced her legs to get off the bed.

"Get ready; I'll cook something," she said.

"Wait." He grabbed her hand just as she was leaving and pulled her back, making her flop down on the bed with her head hitting his hard stomach. "Give me a moment."

He typed something on his phone and then turned it off.

"There. Now go back to sleep," he said, closing his eyes.

She got up from his stomach and laid down on her pillow.

"You're bunking?" she asked in a whisper. When he did not answer, she poked his cheek to which he groaned.

"I took a couple of days off," he said, pulling the covers over his head.

"A couple?"

"Mhm."

"Why?"

"Aadya?" He called her out.

"Yes?"

"Go back to sleep."

She sighed and faced the ceiling. Tanay tried pulling the covers over her in his sleep and surprisingly succeeded.

"What are you gonna do in these couple of days?" she asked.

"Dates."

"Dates?"

"Mhm. With you."

She blushed and laughed.

"Now let me sleep. I'll wake up in an hour."

"Okayy." And she dozed off too.

Forget an hour; both of them woke up three hours later, and that too because they were hungry.

Aadya got up and freshened up a little before stepping inside the kitchen.

While Tanay was still drowsily walking down the stairs, he suddenly heard Aadya's startled gasp.

"Aadya!?" He called out and rushed to the kitchen. "What happened?"

"Nothing," she chuckled uneasily. "The nail scratched my hand when I was grabbing the tea."

"Are you okay?" He grabbed her wrist and inspected.

Her skin was a little scratched off, but there was no blood, thankfully.

Tanay looked at the nail that had not been properly hammered in its place and sighed. He left the kitchen. Aadya prepared the tea and brought the cups to the dining table. A while later, she heard some sort of banging sound.

"Tanay?"

He was hammering the nail.

He placed the hammer back in its place and joined Aadya for tea.

"You're cute," she couldn't help her words.

Tanay looked at her, surprised and flustered. "Why?"

"You just are," she giggled. "Okay, tell me what do you want for lunch?"

"Anything is fine; I don't really mind."

"Tell me."

"Um...palak puri, if we have the ingredients that is."

"We do!" She grinned.

"I'll help," he smiled.

"Hey, we have some paneer in the fridge. Let's stuff the puris with it?" Aadya asked, taking the cottage cheese out.

"Okay. Sounds yummy."

She handed him the paneer and the grater. "You grate it, I'll roll the puris."

Meanwhile, she also added oil to a kadhai to fry the puris.

"Okay, I'm done," Tanay told her. "What do you want me to do next?"

"There isn't anything left. All I gotta do is roll them and fry them," she said.

"Hmm." Tanay walked around her and sat on the kitchen island. He grabbed one of the spoons and held it out to her. "Tell me something about yourself."

She looked at him, smiled, and thought for a second before answering.

"I actually prefer coffee over tea. I don't really like tea," she scrunched up her nose.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. You know the cafe-style cold coffee? I really love that, but making it home is too much work," she huffed.

"Be careful," Tanay warned her as she picked up the rolled puris to fry. One by one, she dropped them into the kadhai and rolled another. "Is that supposed to go all...uh, bubbly-bubbly?"

Aadya looked back at the kadhai and nodded, laughing. "Yes, it is supposed to go all bubbly-bubbly."

"Okay then," he sighed. "I like to travel. But I don't get to do much of it."

"You should take days off and go on a vacation once in a while," she suggested.

"We should do that someday," he said and watched her face brighten.

Ten minutes later, they were done cooking the food. They took out the plates to the living room and turned on the TV as they ate sitting on the floor.

Both of them impressed by how amazing the food tasted, high-fived each other with bright grins on their faces.

In the middle of their lunch, the doorbell rang. Tanay got up to open the door.

Who could it be at this time? Their parents weren't supposed to come back this early, and even if they did, they would surely call Tanay and let him know.

"Maasi," Tanay said in surprise. "What a surprise!"

Aadya stood up from the ground and smiled.

"I was at the bank; now it's their lunch break, so it's gonna take a while. I thought to check on you than to wait there," Maasi said, patting Tanay's head as he touched her feet.

"You're right on time. We were just having lunch. I'll get another plate," Aadya said and walked to the kitchen.

"Thank you, dear. Are you doing well? And where's didi and jiju?"

"I'm well," Aadya smiled. "Maa and baba are at bhai's place for a few days."

"Ah, yes. She did mention something like that."

"Freshen up, Maasi," Tanay said.

He then carried their plates and everything to the dining table, turning the TV off.

As soon as Maasi took the first bite of the food, her eyebrows raised up. "Mmm, this is so good."

"I helped," Tanay childishly rose his chin up and said.

"Yeah, sure," Maasi rolled her eyes, making Aadya giggle.

"No, he really did," she nodded, smiling as she looked at him.

"Oh, my baby boy. Look at you going from a beige flag to a green one," Maasi cooed at him.

Tanay was confused. "What flag?"

Aadya and Maasi laughed. Tanay realized it was some internal joke.

He, however, planned on asking Aadya about it later.