Dilkash

(ix) aise kyun

"Kya hai yeh maajaraa? Kuch toh hai mil raha..."

Inayat's POV

"Actually, dad— don't mind me if I call you that," He spoke in an overly sweet and polit tone, which sounded really fake to me. "Just the post-wedding rituals our way, not the pre-wedding rituals. My family has had its share of Rajput weddings, hasn't it?" I heard him say, and my eyes immediately shot at him. What did he just call my father? And why is he trying to support my choices here? I would do that if I wanted to. I don't need him to do that for me. Why am I not feeling super pissed about this?

My dad was fine with that guy calling him dad. That was quick.

I saw my dad looking at me, looking at me like he was trying to say that his daughter had grown up so much. Looking at me like he was trying to tell me he was extremely proud of me. Then, it suddenly hit me, in about a month and half or so, I'll not be living with him anymore. And thenz even though I'll come back someday, it'll never be the same because he'll know that I lied to him. Tiny tears took their place in my eyes so I avoided any further contact with my father's eyes. But by then, my whole family had been hit by an almost realization too. So, I guess these tiny tears were okay.

On our way back home, I had a whole new and nice feeling in my heart. Though it was going to be a temporary feeling anyway, it felt really good. Today was the first time I had been to their house like that since a very long time. It didn't go as bad as I expected it to go, I had fun with most of them. Except with him, obviously.

But, there was a change in him tonight. For some reason he was being very considerate of my feelings and choices today. He hasn't done this once before in the last few times we met. I could give him credit at least for that. I can at least thank him I guess.

I decided to write him a formal 'thank you' message for what he did for me. That is normal human discipline. So, I took my phone out and started typing a message and sent it.

Hi, there. I don't know what you did this for but thank you for taking care of my feelings and being considerate of them today. It's better if this doesn't go on in the future, though. I can take care of myself.

I didn't check my messages until the next day because I went to sleep immediately after changing into my nightwear. So, when I finally read his message in the morning, it was a little bit of a surprise.

I don't care about the wedding much. All I have ever thought for my dream wedding isn't possible and it was not a good enough reason to ruin someone else's dream. I did not do any favor.

What it is you wanted, then?

It was more of a 'who'.

Why does he always send such complexly written messages? Can he not tell me directly what is it that he is trying to taunt me with? I didn't ask him that because I wanted to. I just wanted to show that I don't care about any taunts. But, his reply was what shook me. This was not even close to what I expected. So, I didn't reply anymore. I didn't have the time or energy to.

I put down my phone and was about to go back to checking all the papers. Evaluation of sheets is one of the two worst things about my job. First, obviously is supervising, nothing could ever top that. I completed thirty out of the seventy-five papers in the next two hours.

~

A week later, I was about to start with the sixtieth paper but someone knocked on my door. I sighed and stood up to open the door. I opened the door to find Vaidehi there. I let her in and sat back on the desk as she settled herself on the bed.