Chapter 7: Your Mom

Aarav sat in silence for quite some time, going over all that the middle-aged man had said. The said person himself meanwhile, was digging into the huge helping of noodles with gusto.

Aarav began helping Aanya clear the dishes. As she came over to collect the leftovers, Aanya paused a bit, first casting a curious gaze at Cabir, then at the serving of noodles and shredded chicken still left.

“Umm...should I wait a while?”

Cabir looked up, gulping the food in his mouth before asking sarcastically. “Do I look like a pig to you?”

Aanya raised a questioning eyebrow and picked up the utensils with the noodles and chicken. Handing over the bowl with the chicken to Aakash, she turned to leave but not before eyeing Cabir’s still-not-empty plate.

“I wonder why anyone would think of someone who ate four humongous servings of noodles with gusto as a pig?”

Aakash doubled over laughing uproariously; the expression on Cabir’s face was way too priceless.

“How can you be so stingy about food with your guest?! I might have indigestion due to you jinxing my appetite!” Cabir spoke out indignantly.

“A guest? And here I thought all of us were as close as family. Sad.” She made a mock sad expression and continued, “I guess the next time you visit Mumbai, we won’t be inviting you to our home, dear guest. We truly cannot show as much courtesy as our honoured guest expects from us. Please, find a hotel...well, you may leave tomorrow too if you wish to!”

Aanya gave a very sweet and innocent smile that left Cabir speechless.

“Gah!!!!!”

*****

Aakash came back from washing the utensils and was wiping his hands when he spotted the silent Aarav still sitting in his chair at the table. He frowned. Before leaving for the kitchen, he had seen his son smiling at the exchange between Aanya and Cabir.

Seemed like he had reverted back into his deep thought of Cabir’s words. While it was necessary to know them, there was no reason to ponder with so much gloom in his eyes.

Draping a hand around the boy and startling him, Aakash said, “You know, school is a place to make memories. Memories you cherish and miss after you pass out. I bet you have some memories like that too. With your friends.”

“Uh...”

Before Aarav could say more, Aakash added, “I can share stories of my time in school with you. All those ridiculous and crazy things I did with my friends...”

Cabir came in wiping his hands on a handkerchief, “Well, I’m here for two weeks. And you’re on holiday, kiddo. So, when we have time, we can share our escapades with you-”

“Yeah, who knows? You might have had some unique first encounters with your own friends as I did with Cabir. You’re just thinking about how times will be from now. Maybe chatting with us old-timers can make you remember how fun your days in this school were! I’m sure you and your friends have some unforgettable memories too!”

Aarav’s eyes lit up.

“Then, I want to know what you two did after that first day! Were you at each other’s throats every day?”

“About that...” Aakash began laughing as Aanya entered the dining room too.

Aarav suddenly exclaimed, “Wait! I heard about how you and Uncle Cabir met. But how did you and Mom meet, Dad?!”

Cabir grinned evilly, “I think it would be much more fun to learn how he asked her out-”

He was interrupted by someone clearing her throat. As Cabir looked towards the kitchen doorway, Aanya raised her fist meaningfully, “I believe you want to re-experience that day?”

Cabir’s face went pale. He gingerly touched his collarbone as if a phantom pain had resurfaced. Letting out a weak laugh, he turned to Aarav.

“I meant unlike me, your dad wasn’t as popular with the ladies-”

Aakash deadpanned, “That line...from a someone who’s still single-”

“By choice!” Cabir snapped back.

“I think you are still hung onto Pri-”

“Shut up!” Frantically changing the subject, Cabir asked Aarav, “When he was telling you about the playground scuffle, he must have mentioned a girl giving him a thumbs up. That was-”

Spying his dad cast a quick look at Aanya, Aarav interrupted, “His first crush?”

“Ye-”

“Mom, do you know about her?” Aarav laughed, sticking out his tongue at Aakash.

Aakash: “....”

Aanya; “....”

Cabir: “...Kid, that was your mom.”

“Huhhhhhh?!” Aarav was the one shocked. Without thinking he blurted out, “You had a crush on Mom at that age, Dad?!”

“Definitely not!” Aakash replied tersely. “Where did you even get that far-fetched idea?! And can we please stop talking about this topic? More importantly, Cabir, stop making the kid misunderstand things!”

Aanya just rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, “Boys...”

“Hey, it’s not my fault that you give your wife so much importance that you have to drag her into your stories whenever you remember any instances of her being present there!” Cabir shrugged.

Then adopting a high-pitched voice, he acted like a fan, “Oooh, those grey-eyes of hers!”

Aakash aimed a kick at his shins, losing all semblance of acting like an adult, “It’s not like that! I-”

“Ah, so I’m not important enough to be mentioned in your story? Then what was your reason for mentioning me?” Aanya gave him a smile that sent shivers down Aakash’s spine!

“Look, no! I mean, you are...I mean-” Aaksh threw up his hands his exasperation. “Ughhh! Stop teaming up with Cabir!”

He gave his best pitiable expression that made Aanya lip curl up.

“Well, you’re right. Teaming up with Cabir is seriously a disgusting idea!”

“Hey!” The person in question exclaimed indignantly.

Aarav just looked on, completely stunned. He had seen these elders acting childishly before but this...this was a whole new level!

“Anyway,” Turning to his son, Aakash explained, “That playground thing can be considered our first meeting. But other than that, we hardly had any interaction. We just knew each other’s names. I mean, till 5th, we just hung out with our respective groups...we didn’t get along much. And after that, she took German in Class 6th and I took French for our foreign languages, so we got separated into different sections. It wasn’t until Class 9th that we were in the same class again when the German and French sections were merged since the students who opted to continue with the language were few in number. The only other times we even crossed paths before that was when we took part in the orchestra during our Annual Days!”

“It’s okay, Dad...I was joking...you don’t need to get so serious and explain...”

“Oh, yeah?” Aakash asked cautiously.

As Aarav nodded, Aakash ploughed on, “OK. Great. Now, do you want to hear more about my first few days dealing with Cabir?”

“I think you mean my days of dealing with you!” Cabir said as he smacked Aakash on the back.

“Yeah, I wanna hear!” Aarav said.

“Let’s go to the living room then.” Aakash turned to Aanya, “You coming?”

“In a few minutes. I just need to fetch another batch of documents.”

“OK.” Aakash nodded at her with a weak smile before walking towards the living room with an arm around his son and best friend in tow.