When You LOVED Me...

56.

*Unedited*

I left the class after giving instructions to the student for next session and headed towards the staff room.

"Hello, Mrs. Rathore." Her fellow colleague Mrs. Shweta Tiwari greeted her. She was also in the chemistry department. But she was senior than her.

"Morning, Ma'am." She greeted back. She had taken a two hour lecture and had one hour break before her next class. She sat on the chair opposite to her colleague, as they started talking about their day.

"I noticed you have not changed your surname after marriage, Is there any problem between you and your husband?" Mrs. Tiwari asked. And honestly Mia wasn't expecting such personal questions this morning.

"Well, that didn't crossed my mind. And My husband is also very liberal enough, that this things doesn't matter that much." Mia said truthfully. Changing her surname never crossed her mind or even adding Rathore officially after her name. But whenever someone call her Mrs. Rathore she feel good and she acknowledge it.

"That's very nice. But you should change to your husband's surname, so, your children don't have problem later."

"I'll think about it." Mia replied. She was going to read the notes for her next class as preparation but Mrs. Tiwari was in the mood for chatting, so she asked again, "And I heard you chose to stay for the job rather than going with your husband. That's a very brave step, I'll tell you."

"I just think women should be financially independent before anything, really. And I just can't give up the one thing I worked hard for. But Aaron supported me. And that was something special, I felt."

"You are right. It is very special. But I feel it should be this way only." Mrs. Tiwari made a very good point.

"Things are changing, and It should be." Mia agreed.

*

Life isn't perfect.

Some nuances will always be there and you just had to know how to handle it.

And Maybe Mia don't know that. But she try.

That's why when Aaron told her that his company was facing some problems she told him to give his full attention to the issue. But now she was regretting it a little bit because Aaron and Mia had not been talking except few texts and short calls.

He was busy and the time difference was eating Mia up. Plus Aaron sounded very tired through it all. And there was nothing Mia could do to help

It was nearly one month passed since he had been to New York and one month from our first night together. It was an unforgettable night and Mia was glad that she was able to trust Aaron. That was a huge step for their marriage and the memory of that night was becoming anchor to Mia's lonely nights.

She was scrolling through Aaron's Insta profile admiring his pictures, some were with his brothers others were single on the different destination he had been to. Mia's eyes lingered more on some of his bare chested ones but one that caught her eyes was in which his half back was in the photo capturing his tattoo and its etheral beauty. She lingered her fingers across its design wanting nothing more than do to the deed in person.

She was missing Aaron too much.

A knock sounded on her door and she sighed. She was thinking of Aaron so much that she felt he was on the door to surprise her. But it was just Neha, her colleague who lives on the apartment across from her.

She had also joined recently and they were really getting along and living in the same apartment was a bonus.

"Mia, I was thinking of going outside, maybe to some club or something, my other friends were also coming, would you like to join?" Neha asked. She was straightforward like that and Mia liked it on her.

"Do we have to dress up or something?" Mia was not a fan of clubbing an all but anything to get her mind off Aaron and constant worrying.

"Just do you. You are amazing." Neha winked and Mia laughed lightly.

"Ok, sure. I will see you in a bit." She said and closed the door and started getting ready for the night out. She just wear a simple black dress and open hair with slight heels and she was ready. It was eight thirty. Night out was not something new for Mia but she never drank and they always come back before midnight.

You have to be careful in Delhi.

They went to some small club near their area. It was not wild but loud music was playing people were dancing at the stage slightly drunk. They ordered drink and Mia just ordered something non alcoholic for her.

Soon enough Neha pulled her on the stage with her group of friends. Two of them were males and other two were females. Mia had met the girls before. Mia didn't felt the need for talking beyond greetings with them as it was only for tonight. They started just moving with the music. Everybody was doing random steps so she didn't felt awkward about her moves.

But she was reminded of Aaron and her first dance. Their first kiss.

She was pulled out from the thoughts of Aaron when someone crashed into her. She wasn't able to see who it was as he moved quickly away from her stumbling a little, clearly drunk.

They danced and drank for nearly three hours before everyone decided to call it off and head home. Mia didn't drink but she was buzzed from the loud music and tired as hell from all the dancing. But she had a very big smile on her face at the end of it.

Neha's friends dropped them off to their apartment and she thanked Neha for such a nice night out. She needed it. Neha laughed it off and they bid goodbye to each other.

Mia went inside her apartment, ready to just collapse on bed. She checked her phone for any missed calls from Aaron as she had her phone in silent mode.

And there were missed calls.

But they weren't from Aaron.

They were from Arnav.

*****
Hey guys.

I hope you are okay.

I was little less on motivation this days for finishing this chapter.

So, comment and vote for a booster dose for upcoming chapters.

Enjoy reading!

Kai_po_che!

*****