Chapter 58
Akira's shrill voice filled the whole house. She was recounting how she had this huge fight with one of her classmates and how she kicked his ass like a pro in an argument. Akira's proud and extremely smug expression brought a slight twitch on Shreya's lips.
Somehow she got lost on the little girl's animated story while unconsciously eating whatever Charan had been filling her plate with.
By the time she actually gave attention to her plate and the surrounding, she was already full stomach with drooping eyes on her couch. She just sat there when Akira came to her. Charan was cleaning up the table and putting away the leftovers.
Akira struggled around slightly before climbing on Shreya's laps.
"Hey, baby…" Shreya said with a very small minuscule smile holding Akira on her laps.
"Do you miss them??" Akira asked pointing at the TV screen in the front.
That is when Shreya noticed that she had paused one of her family videoes on the TV. She was watching it sometime yesterday night when she paused and fell asleep.
"Yes, baby," Shreya said again with the same minuscule smile.
"She is pretty…" Akira said pointing at her mom- Sumitha.
Shreya suddenly stretched her hands and played the video and snuggled on the couch with Akira on her arms.
"You want to hear about what happened there?? Shreya asked pointing at the video.
Akira bobbed her head enthusiastically while Shreya started to recount the birthday party that was currently playing on the TV.
"We had this big balloon you know… it was a figure of Tom I think. I was playing with it and suddenly a sharp edge of my bangle scratched on the balloon and it exploded on my face. I got so scared that I did not play with a balloon after that when I was a kid."
Shreya talked about everything and anything while Akira listened to it eagerly and slowly dozed off. That is when Shreya bothered to look around and of course, her eyes met with Charan who stood just a few feet away from them.
Charan took Akira to her room and came back to Shreya. Shreya was on the couch flipping over a photo album. He came and sat beside her. His hands went around her and brought her against himself out of habit and Shreya leaned in without protest.
As she was flipping through the photos, she slowly started talking in her mellow voice.
"You know since they were so rich and posh you would expect them to be all poised and distant or something. But my parents were just the opposite. They were always at two extremes. Either they will be all over each other to point it would be awkward for me to be around them. Or else they will be on each other's throats fighting like cats and dogs. If you ever try to intervene, you will be caught in the crossfire and suddenly you will be fighting both of them and you won't even know how the hell that shit happened."
"And I am talking from experience. But trust me when I tell you, you will never win any argument in which both of them are against you!"
"You look just like your mum," Charan said looking at her mum's photo.
"I know…" She said running her hands over her mum's picture.
"You know that stereotype of how rich family's kids always being brought up by nannies and people in the house while the parents go off attending parties and charity gatherings… that somehow never fit my own family."
"They made it a point to be there for me somehow. And how my mum managed it being such a big star is beyond me. They never missed any of my birthdays. And all of my birthday celebrations were actually not business parties where I was dolled up and showed off. It was always just close family and friends. With all their faults somehow for me, they were perfect. Maybe I am biased because they are my parents… but still." Shreya said smiling at the memory but not really completing her sentence.
"Well, they should have done something extremely right since you ended up being someone this perfect!" Charan said pecking on her temple.
"Well, now you are being biased! With all my faults even I know I am not perfect. Far from it!" Shreya said rolling her eyes.
"Well, to me you are," Charan said kissing on her temples.
Shreya did not reply. She just took his hands on hers and started playing with them.
But then after a while, she started talking breaking the silence.
"You know throughout the year… I just cope somehow assuming and pretending that they are still here and around watching over me or something even if they are not around physically. I talk to walls and fool myself that they are listening… but this one day somehow that façade always crumbles."
She paused taking a deep breath before continuing.
"This one day… I just never could make myself pretend and believe that they are still around and laugh my way through the day when they are actually not here. Somehow, that just always felt wrong."
"So you wallow up one day like this every year??" Charan asked looking down at her.
Shreya stayed quiet without replying for a while deep in thoughts. But Charan waited patiently until she talked on her own.
A few moments passed when she talked again, "I know this is not ideal. I also know this is not something they would want me to do. But somehow, I always get afraid that I will end up forgetting them or something if I don't wallow on this day. I couldn't really digest the fact that I wasn't there for them when they needed me the most!!"
"What do you mean??"
"I… It's just we have this tradition in the family or more like my dad made up a tradition in the family starting with me. After completing college before I could start with work, I was sent away for two years… or at least that was the way dad wanted it to be. In those two years, I should fend for myself on my own… but then it also came with generous pocket money." Shreya said smiling.