Bonds of Trust

The she-devil

It had been more than two hours now that Saheer had left. Veera and Ovi made the most of this free time. After binge-watching Doraemon for nearly two hours, Veera remembered Saheer's words of not letting Ovi have more screen time. She decided to follow this, after all, she had no knowledge of parenting and this was Saheer's kid, so he knew the best.

"Hey Ovi, how about you play with your lego set now? Or may be you can show me your car collection?", she suggested, a bit cautiously, since this was the first time she was with Ovi without Saheer and she didn't want to come across as a mean person.

"But aunty, Doraemonnn", Ovi whined and pouted cutely.

Veera almost melted at her innocent gestures and was about to give in when she remembered about Saheer's warning.

'Ah, so this was what Saheer was speaking about. Her innocent puppy face. Oh god, how does he not melt every time she does this.', Veera wondered.

'No, I need to divert her mind from this.'

"But papa had told me that if Ovi makes a lock and key safe out of those legos, he would be making her favourite shrimp gravy tomorrow. So, what should we do now? You don't even want to play with them?", Veera pretended to ponder. In fact, Saheer had never said such a thing, but she decided to trick Ovi because she did not have it in herself to speak sternly with her.

"Wait aunty, I will make the set for papa. Shrimps are so yummy.", Ovi did the famous action of all the foodies of licking her lips in anticipation of the tasty food her papa would be cooking tomorrow.

Veera chuckled at her cute antics.

"Would you like to eat a sandwich now? I will prepare for the both of us.", Veera offered at which Ovi nodded and went to play with her legos.

Just as Veera would get into the kitchen, the door bell rang. Ovi too came out of her room wondering if her papa was back. Veera glanced towards Ovi who shrugged.

On the other side of the door stood Veera's mother in law, Mrs. Aparna Khanna. She sauntered into the living room as though she owned the space, a deriding expression on her face when she glanced towards Veera.

"What are you doing standing here? Go, get me some water. Or do you even lack these basic manners?", she spat rudely.

Veera was taken aback by her hostile tone. It was the first time that she was meeting this lady after their marriage and such was the intensity of her words. She nodded quickly and went to fetch water. Her face had now paled a bit as she was suddenly taken back to those days when her parents used to behave in the same manner with her.

'But they were much worse.', she reminded herself.

When she handed over the glass to her mother in law who was now seated on the living room couch glaring at a corner. Veera's gaze followed her and she was surprised to see Saheer's mom glaring at Ovi who was trying to shrink herself in that corner, a visibly tense expression on her face. She knew that expression all too well, it was of fear.

"Ovi beta (child) come here.", Veera called out gently.

Ovi heard Veera's soft and assuring voice and went near her, clutching her dupatta and trying to make herself vanish. Veera gently took her hand and held it firmly, ruffling her hair with the other arm. She just could not understand why the ever-happy Ovi was bothered so much by her grandmother.

(dupatta - a length of material worn arranged in two folds over the chest and thrown back around the shoulders, typically with a salwar kameez - an Indian dress)

"Listen here girl", Saheer's mom called out.

"Where is Saheer?"

"He's not at home aunty. He had some work at the office."