CHAPTER 39 #3
Mom smiles. But before leaving, she looks pointedly at Raghav. “I’m waiting for both of you at the dining table. Not just Siya.”
Raghav finally turns to face her. “You didn’t have to go to the trouble of cooking for me. I can eat at the resort. And why are you even cooking?” He becomes serious again. “Didn’t I tell you that you’re supposed to be resting? The chefs are there to cook for you.”
“I know that.” Mom waves away his concern. “I’ll eat what the chefs have prepared for me, but I made rajma chawal for the two of you. And I want both of you sitting at that table and eating it with me.”
She narrows her eyes slightly.
“So no excuses. No arguments. Both of you, downstairs now.”
For once, Raghav has nothing to say. A smile tugs at my lips as I notice how naturally Mom is including him, as if she’s already accepted him as a part of our little family here. And that makes me happy too.
The moment she disappears down the corridor, I shut the door, and silence settles over the room once again.
I glance at Raghav but quickly look away, because I have no idea how to face him after what almost happened a few moments ago.
My face is still burning, and my heart is still behaving strangely.
Without a word, I hurry past him and rush into the bathroom to get changed.
****************
Two hours later
We returned to the room a while ago after dinner, and now Raghav and I are lying on our respective sides of the bed.
Mom’s rajma chawal has always been my favourite, and judging by the way Raghav had eaten, it might have become one of his favourites too.
At one point, I even caught him licking a bit of rajma gravy off his finger when he thought no one was looking.
Mom had seen it too, and the happiness on her face was impossible to miss.
Slowly, she’s opening up to him. The barriers between them are beginning to disappear, and she’s started to accept him as her son-in-law.
Even so, I can tell he still isn’t entirely comfortable receiving that kind of affection.
A part of him still believes Mom hasn’t fully accepted him yet.
But I know he notices every small thing she does for him.
And honestly, I think things are only going to get easier from here. For all three of us.
Turning onto my side, I look at him. “Oh, I forgot to tell you something.”
Raghav turns towards me.
“I need your help.”
“My help?” One of his eyebrow lifts in surprise.
I nod and then tell him everything. The conversation Esha and I had earlier. Esha finally admitting that she has feelings for Haider. I share every word with him.
By the time I finish, Raghav is staring at me as if I’ve lost it. “Esha and Haider?” he repeats in disbelief. “Are you out of your mind?”
I push myself up on one elbow and narrow my eyes at him. “What do you mean, I’m out of my mind?” I shoot back. “Don’t tell me you’ve spent all these years around them and never noticed anything. I came here recently and figured it out with a snap of my fingers.”
“It’s not that I never noticed.” He lets out a sigh. “But Haider isn’t the kind of man who would want those kinds of distractions in his life.”
“Distractions?” I frown. “You think having a life partner is a distraction?”
“I said having a woman in his life is a distraction for a man like Haider… life partner or not, doesn’t matter.”
“You used to think the same way, didn’t you? You are his boss, after all. But look at you now. You still got married to me.”
Raghav stares at me for a long moment before he replies, “That doesn’t mean you are not a distraction, Princess.”
Suddenly, we’re both pulled back to what had happened barely two hours ago, right before Mom knocked on the door.
Urgh!
I need to think about Esha and Haider. Not... that.
“Anyway,” I say, brushing those thoughts aside. “It doesn’t matter what you think. I want you to talk to Haider and find out what he thinks.”
Raghav actually looks horrified. “You want me to interrogate Haider about his feelings?”
“Of course,” I nod. “Who else?”
“Absolutely not. I’m not going to involve myself in his personal matters.”
“Raghav.”
“Siya.”
I glare at him. He glares right back. Then finally he lets out a resigned sigh. “Fine.”
A smile instantly spreads across my face.
“But…”
I immediately become suspicious. “But what?”
His eyes gleam with mischief. “What do I get in return?”
I roll my eyes and adjust my pillow to lie down again. “First do the job. Make Haider confess whatever he’s feeling. Then I’ll decide what you get in return.”
His eyes narrow as I settle against my pillow. A few seconds pass by, then I hear him muttering beside me.
“Are you really sure about this?” he asks. “Haider and Esha?”
I smack his arm lightly. “Good night, Raghav.”
“That wasn’t an answer.”
“I know.” A deep yawn escapes me as my eyelids begin to grow heavy.
Within moments, sleep finally claims me. Though, somewhere in the back of my mind, I know Raghav isn’t going to get much sleep tonight. His bromance with Haider is officially about to come to an end. And that thought alone makes me smile as I drift into sleep.