Sea Mist

Chapter 3

KHUSHI woke up to a bright and sunny morning, and after her usual routine of pilates, she showered before hurrying down to the kitchen to make breakfast. The fact that Arnav had left for Delhi had put her heart at ease. But at the same time she dreaded the house search that she would have restart all over again.

"Good morning Khushi akka!" Ratna walked in smiling brightly. "What are you making today?"

"Good morning Ratna," Khushi answered back affably, "I am planning to make upma. I will need your help on that."

It was time to get back to work on hand, Khushi thought as she decided not to think about anything else for today – after all she had two weeks in her hand.

"Upma is extremely tasty today Khushi," Mrs Rai said after eating one spoon of her breakfast, "I see that you have added vegetables."

Khushi had looked up the recipe on the internet and made an extra effort to make the upma better. Khushi knew that she had done this because of comment from a man, she would probably not be seeing in the future, but nevertheless she had done it. She didn't know why that comment had bothered her so much. Generally she was good at ignoring frivolous things that people said. What had gotten into her? She had better stick to her plan and move on in life.

But there was a saying that the best-laid plans usually go awry.

"Khushi, are you planning to leave after Arnav comes back from Delhi?" Mrs. Rai asked out of the blue, "Why dear? Don't you like it here?"

Oh God! Why did he have to tell her? "It's not like that aunty!" Khushi said quickly, "I love it here."

"Then what is it my dear?" Mrs. Rai enquired, "I thought you settled well here in the last two months. Everything was going so well."

Khushi squirmed as she saw the look of utter dismay on the kind woman's face. How could she explain to her that she did not need any sort of complication at this point of time in her life. Was it too much to ask for some peace of mind?

"I just thought you might want to spend some time with your son – without me in the way." Khushi didn't know what else to say.

"You can see how well he is spending his time with me," she smiled, "I was just kidding of course. He went because he knew you were here to take care of me – especially in this condition. And moreover, he went because he cannot ever refuse a call from his father."

Khushi looked up at Mrs. Rai, confusion written clearly on her face. Of course she had a lot of questions since the day he had arrived. She had wondered how he had landed on their doorstep the very next day. She had also wondered why their surnames were different though it was possible for a child to have a different surname from the mother as many women didn't opt to change their names after marriage. But then Arnav had addressed Mrs. Rai as 'Ma'.

"Arnav calls me Ma because he thinks of me as his mother – especially after he lost his own mother when he was just eleven," she said wistfully, "I am Arnav's aunt – his mother's older sister. My poor sister died of cancer." Her eyes teared up.

"Oh I am so sorry to hear that aunty," Khushi said. She quickly rushed by her side and gently placed her hand on hers. "Really sorry."

Mrs. Rai remained silent for several minutes. "His father and – his step-mother live in Delhi," she said looking up at Khushi, "Arnav and his father -- " she paused when Ratna came in to clean the room.

She changed the topic. "Khushi –I have a request. As you know the doctors have told me not to walk too much for the next eight weeks, except to go to the restroom. If you could just stay on at least until then, I will be really grateful to you. I love your cooking but it is not just that. You have a way about you which gives me lot of mental peace. I would like you to stay here until I heal from this.