Sister, will you not come?

Ch-71

A week later…

"Rahul," Laya calls as she leans her head on his shoulder.

"Hmm?" he hummed in response to her.

"Thanks," she says.

"Why, Darling?" he asks placing a kiss on her forehead. Currently, they were traveling on a flight back to Hyderabad.

"Because… We never had a honeymoon. I used to have some fantasies. Like… I want to go there and here for our honeymoon. But I never got to go anywhere. Atleast we went here and roamed around Goa," she says looking at him with a smile.

Rahul smiled at her. This woman gets satisfied easily. Where could he find a jewel like her?

He ruffles her head and makes her sleep on his shoulder again.

Rahul decides to take her on a honeymoon trip. He shall ask her friend and take her suggestion. This should be a surprise to him. He goes to Chennai tomorrow. Maybe he should meet her then.

In an hour, they reach Hyderabad. The driver was already waiting for them. Laya sleeps the whole day, he knew she was exhausted and the reason for her exhaustion was him. He smiles tenderly at her.

He wakes her up when it's lunchtime. Laya eats her food and sleeps again. During the dinner, Rahul watches her intently. She was still tired. He doesn't want to make her lose sleep. And if he doesn't say about his trip to Chennai tomorrow she would be upset when he was gone. She may even feel panicked.

"Laya," he calls her.

"Hmm?" she responds.

"Will you be awake for some time?" he asks.

"I guess so," she says.

"I am going to Chennai tomorrow," he says.

"Why?" she asks possibly shocked at his words.

"Business," he says. Laya sighs loudly. "When will you be back?" she asks.

"In four days," he says.

"Can't you shorten it?" she pleads.

"I will try to come in three days," he says.

She says nothing but just nods. He knew she was sad but he doesn't know what to do. The meeting was really important to him and for the future of their company. The Chennai Branch was recently established. The starting stage was really important to them.

They eat their food in silence. Laya goes to their room and sleeps on the bed. She turns to a side and crumbles like a ball. Rahul comes into their room and sees her position. He sighs, he joins the bed with her and hugs her from the back.

Laya immediately turns around and slams her lips on his. Rahul was confused at her taking the initiative for the first time. But he says nothing, he just kisses her hungrily. They break the kiss when they were out of breath.

"I want you," she says as she starts unbuttoning his shirt.

Rahul says nothing but he complies with her. He knew this was her way of saying that she would miss him. And he misses her too. He can't let her feel like this.

That night, Laya was insistent and wanted to go longer than she could bear but Rahul being considerate one… just stops when she was exhausted and doesn't continue. Laya slept in his arms while clutching him tighter. He couldn't fall asleep. He stares at her the whole time before sleep consumes him.

—--------

Next day,

He leaves with a note saying he already left for Chennai and says that Saranya would be coming here to keep her company. And her brother Abhinav would also come to stay with her.

When Laya woke up it was already late. She reads the note and sighs. When it's 9. a.m. Abhinav and Saranya come to her house.

"Akka! (sister)" Abhinav yells as he throws himself on her. Laya smiles as she hugs him back.

"How are you?" she asks.

"I am good," he says with a smile.

"How is sita amma?" she asks.

"Amma is good," he replies.

"I miss her," she says.

"Saranya, come in," she says to her.

Even though Laya accepted Saranya there weren't that close. She couldn't act herself as being close to her. She wants things to go in their own way.

"Had to breakfast? I made some for you guys," she says getting up.

"I already had!" Saranya says as she tried to be polite. After what her mother did, Saranya doesn't have any face-to-face Laya. So they were always on polite terms.

"Akka! I am dying to have your food! I will eat!" Abhinav says as he jumps from his seat.

"Saranya, you should join us too. Don't refuse me," she says.

Saranya joins the table along with them. Abhinav was a funny guy, he cracked very senseless and silly jokes every second making them laugh. Saranya tried to resist her laughs but she soon burst out and laughed out loud. Abhinav was dazed by her laughter for a second before turning his head away.

They had their breakfast. Saranya opened up too. She didn't feel that uncomfortable with them. After a while, Laya goes to the garden and sits there feeling alone. While Abhinav and Saranya follow her.

"She is sad," Saranya says.

"She is," Abhinav replies.

"What does she like?" she asks him.

"She likes food. She loves earrings," he replies.

"Hmmm… How about we go on shopping??" she asks.

"It's boring," he says as he twists his lips disapprovingly.

"It's for my sister-in-law," she says.

"Who will pay the bill?" he asks.

"Don't worry, I have my brother's card," she says.

"Okay!" he says.

"Sister-in-law!" Saranya yells.

"Saranya," Laya responds.

"Sister-in-law, see we are at the end of February," she says.

"Yeah, this is not leap year," Laya says.

"Shivaratri will come. We didn't get to celebrate Sankranti too. So at least Shivratri," she replies.

"But it's like after ten days. What's the rush?" Laya asks.

"Sister-in-law, you don't get it. We need to go shopping!" she says.

"Akka, Nandini is engaged too. Don't you wanna attend?" Abhinav asked suddenly popping out of nowhere.

Laya turns silent at him.

"Akka, whatever happened to you is my fault too. And Nandini is a poor girl. You know how women are treated in our family. Don't alienate her, please. She was hoping to see you. Even if you don't see her. Buy a gift for her. I will give it to her in your stead," he says hoping to see a slight affirmation from her.

"Let's go," she says after some silence.

"When is her engagement?" he asks.

"In a week," he replies.

"Then why are you here? Shouldn't you be there helping there," she asked.

"Akka, there are enough men to help them there," he says.

"But with you there she would be more at ease," she said trying to convince him.

"Akka, Arjun Anna is there handling everything," he says.

Laya stops in her tracks for a second but she didn't look back she walks inside.

"What are you guys waiting for? Let's go ahead," she says. They nod and follow her.

Abhinav was here not only to inform her about the engagement but also to say that Arjun and Durga were immersed in the guilt boat. They weren't the same as before. They don't even come back home at weekends like they usually do. This time they came back because of the engagement. Nandini is now twenty-one, so Raghuram decided to get her married. She was in her final year to graduate but he said she could graduate once she was married.

Nandini doesn't want to get married but she has no choice. Even though, she only made one request that was to call Laya and her brother-in-law. Raghuram doesn't want them to come over. He didn't like the way Rahul made it seem like everything was his fault. While he didn't like Laya's condensing which threw accusing glares at him. He decided to not call them. And Arjun knew very well about his father. He wanted to call Laya and inform her personally but he was scared. So, he decided to call Rahul. But Rahul called him asking him to send Abhinav to their house as he was leaving for Chennai. Arjun informed him about the engagement Rahul didn't give a word but he said he would try his best. There was a rift between Arjun and Rahul after the incident. Rahul was disappointed with his friend, while Arjun felt he wasn't worthy to be called a brother by his sister.

Everyone has their own struggles in their perspective. It's just that no one was willing to take a step ahead to solve the things. They were immersed in their self-guilt and other emotions. Laya blamed her brother for her misfortunes. She won't deny the fact that in the first three months of her mother-in-law's torture. She blamed her brother. But when Rahul came back everything went back to normal. Even though she no more blamed him for getting married to Rahul, she kind of blamed him for the torture she suffered.