Chapter 8 #2
“And then I saw your eyeballs playing ping-pong behind those eyelids. You will do that all night. Just say it.”
“Get out.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Out.”
“No way! You can’t throw me out for thinking about you!”
She grabbed his pillows and threw them at him — “I can.”
He threw them back at her — “You can’t.”
Aditi glared at him, he glared back. She pushed her duvet away, swung her legs out of the bed, got up with his pillows and marched out of the bedroom, knowing his soul wouldn’t rest in peace without following.
Zubin followed, she led him, right to the main sofa of their hall. Aditi dumped his pillows on the sofa and turned to snarl his newest address to him when he took a U-turn and broke into a run towards their bedroom.
“Zubin!” She whisper-shouted, running after him. He closed the door on her face and locked it.
Unbelievable.
“Zubin!” She whispered through the door. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“Karma coming to bite you back, Doshi?”
“I will show you karma! Open the door before Aara wakes up.”
“She is out cold today.”
“Open the bloody door, Zubin!”
“Get my pillows back.”
“The hell I will! Open the door.”
“The hell I will!”
“Ugggggh!” She banged her hand on the door.
“Aara will wake up,” he warned.
“You just said she is out cold!”
“Out cold, not deaf.”
“Fuck you!”
“Come in, I’ll show you.”
“You are making this worse for yourself.”
He went silent.
Aditi kept breathing heavily, so angry and so confused and so done with him tonight.
He loved to hear his own voice but was usually higher on the emotional intelligence scale.
Tonight, he just wouldn’t take the hint.
Aditi didn’t have the energy to be empathetic and check if something was wrong with him, too. Not tonight, at least.
When there was no sound or movement from the other side, she sighed.
Exhaustion won over. She rubbed at her forehead and turned to go and sleep on his pillows on the sofa when the door behind her snapped open and her wrist was caught. She whirled to fight back when he tugged her inside their bedroom and stepped out himself, closing the door.
Aditi stared at the dark wood of the closed door, hearing his footsteps recede in the alley outside. The hum of the hall AC came on. And Aditi quietly trudged to their bed.
————————————————————
The mild chirping of birds penetrated the thick blackout curtains of their bedroom, along with the chirping of her own birds on her mobile’s alarm.
Aditi snapped her eyes open, ready for the day.
5 am, a new day, Aara’s drawing competition, and a Friday.
The weekend couldn’t come fast enough. She turned, and found the bed empty on the other side. Then remembered last night.
And suddenly, the day was not looking that great to start.
Aditi sat up and rubbed her face. And then heard noises outside.
She got out of bed and strode to the door, her feet slapping on the cold marble. She threw the door open and rattled down the lobby, hearing two voices. And froze when she saw it.
Zubin was lying awake on the floor, on his pillows, while Aara was jumping on the sofa, striking poses. Up at 5 in the morning.
“What’s happening?” She asked, her voice broken and coarse.
The little dancer stopped jumping. Grinned at her. Then braced herself and jumped over her father, landing on the floor with a flourish.
“Aara!” Aditi yelled. “Papa will get hurt. What are you two doing?”
“We haded a party night on the floor,” Aara picked up the small pink pillow beside Zubin’s. Her pillow.
Aditi cut her eyes to Zubin.
“I didn’t…”
“Aara, it’s still early, go to your room and go to sleep.”
She yawned with her tiny mouth torn fully open — “I am not sleepy, Mumma.”
“You are, you are yawning, come…”
“I’ll sleep here with Papa.” She lay down next to Zubin on the cold floor.
“Why are you both sleeping on the floor?”
Aara closed her eyes, nuzzling into Zubin’s side and hugging her arm across his chest. He pulled her closer, looking up — “I couldn’t sleep on the sofa.”
“Why?”
His mouth pursed. “I am used to sleeping on the floor now, thanks to…” he eyed the tiny dark head buried in his side.
“Why is she awake?”
“She woke up in the middle of the night to come to us, saw me here and lay down.”
Aditi gritted her teeth.
“I was feeling hot inside so I came out to sleep. You always turn the AC to 26,” Zubin added for their daughter’s benefit.
“Papa?”
“Yes?”
“You can pretend to daivorce like this.”
His eyes squeezed shut, his teeth gritting. “How?”
“Presha Kapoor’s Daddy when he lived with them slept out like this… so does Daivorce means sleeping outside?”
“Aara, we agreed yesterday that a gift will be earned. Isn’t it?”
“Haaaw…. wwww…” she yawned, nodding. “Yes.”
“Right. Then daivorce is of no use to us, is it?”
She shook her head, her eyes still closed. Zubin pushed his arms under her and sat up, then slowly got to his feet. “Let’s sleep for some time, ok?”
“Ok…” she buried her head in his chest. Aditi watched him walk away with her into her bedroom. She waited in the hall, collecting his pillows from the floor and tucking them under her arm to take back into the bedroom. But Zubin never came.
Aditi padded to Aara’s room to check, and found him passed out cold on her bed with her.