71. The Way Back Home #3
"Of course she does," Mumma laughed. "The pictures you've seen are from when she was a teenager. Now she's a grown woman."
"Oh..." Mysha leaned a little closer. "The sunlight makes her eyes shiny." She pointed towards my face."And she has a mole here."
Her tiny finger softly touched the mole beside my lower lip. " Just like the picture."
I looked at Mumma in surprise. "She... knows me?"
Mumma nodded."She does. You were never just a memory in this house, Dhwani." She looked lovingly at Mysha. "I've told her about you ever since she was little. You always existed here. Isn't that right, Mysha?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "Yes!"
Her shyness had completely disappeared. "Mumma tells me stories about you."
She smiled so brightly that my heart melted. "I love you... just like Mumma does."
My eyes instantly filled.
"Aww..." Without thinking, I pulled her into a hug. She hugged me back just as tightly.
"Can I call you Dii?" she asked hopefully looking up at me.
I laughed through my tears. "Of course." I kissed her forehead. "You can call me dii forever."
When I was little, I used to complain to Mumma that I wanted a sibling because I always felt lonely. But maybe she had some problems conceiving after me. I don't even know the child she lost was planned or what, and I don't even want to know that anymore.
Looking at Mysha now, I realized life had still found a way to give both of us something beautiful.
"How old is she?" I asked as Mysha happily skipped towards the broken piggy bank and started counting her coins.
"She's nine," Mumma answered. "I adopted her when she was just one year old."
Her eyes followed Mysha lovingly. "After losing you... and losing the unborn baby..."
She smiled sadly. "The emptiness was slowly swallowing me."
She looked at me. "Then Dad suggested we adopt. It wasn't easy but one day we found her."
She looked towards Mysha again. "Or maybe... she found us."
A tear escaped my eye. "And since then," Mumma smiled, "she has been waiting for her elder sister to come home."
I quickly looked down, trying to hide my tears.
Before they could fall, Mumma gently wiped them away.
"Stop crying now. Go freshen up first." She tied her hair into a bun. "I'll make breakfast."
"I don't have any clothes."
"You do."
She smiled knowingly. "Yugant sent everything you might need with the driver about an hour ago."
She pointed towards her bedroom. "It's all inside."
My heart melted. Yugant...Seriously... How did I get this man? Smiling to myself, I walked towards Mumma's room.
The moment I stepped inside, I paused.
The room felt warm. Lived in. Comfortable.
A soft beige bedspread covered the bed, fresh flowers sat in a glass vase beside the window, shelves were lined with books, little indoor plants filled the corners, and the faint fragrance of sandalwood lingered in the air.
It felt peaceful.
Like every corner had been arranged with love.
My eyes wandered towards the wall above the bed.
Frames.
One of me and Mumma from years ago.
One of Mumma and Mysha. One of Naanu smiling beside both of them.
And another... An old picture of me laughing.
All these years I thought I had been forgotten.
When in reality...I had never left this home.
I picked up the small travel bag resting on the bed and unzipped it. Inside was everything I needed. My nightwear. My toiletries. And neatly folded on top... A sleeveless lemon-yellow floral dress. Beside it lay the matching shorts and a nude strapless bra.
I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to hide my smile.
So...
My husband now knew exactly what I wore with which dress.
Heat rushed to my cheeks.
Shaking my head at the thought, I grabbed my clothes and walked into the bathroom to get ready.
After my shower, we had breakfast together.
Just me, Mumma, Naanu and Mysha.
It felt strangely familiar, as if the seven years between us had quietly disappeared for a while.
The food tasted exactly the way I remembered.
Maybe even better.
I smiled to myself while eating. I had already decided. I was going to have dinner here every day.
The rest of the day passed talking. Mumma told me about her work, the cases she handled, how impossible her clients could be sometimes, and all the little stories about Mysha that made us laugh. Naanu joined in every now and then, adding his own version of every incident, making Mumma roll her eyes.
After such a long time I laughed without forcing it.
It felt... light.
Funny how until yesterday I believed I had no one left and today, I suddenly had everyone.
Yugant.
Dhrithi.
Daadi and Daadu.
Vedika...( though we still weren't very close.
But maybe that wasn't because of her. Maybe it was because I had always kept myself locked away from people.
I never really gave anyone the chance to come close.
But now... I wanted to change that. I wanted to know her better. I wanted to spend time with Pihu too.)
Then there was Naanu.
Mumma.
Mysha.
Samarth Bhai.
His parents.
Somehow, my world didn't feel empty anymore.
Maybe life wasn't about finding perfect people.
Maybe it was about accepting the imperfect pieces that somehow completed your puzzle. And in my case, I was the only imperfect piece everywhere. So it's better to change myself a little.
Since it was a holiday, Mysha was home all day. As the afternoon passed and the sun slowly began to set, Mumma took both of us around the society. It was huge.
Beautiful gardens, children playing, elderly people walking together, and neighbours chatting on benches.
Almost everyone seemed to know Mumma.
And every single time someone stopped to greet her, she proudly introduced me.
"This is my elder daughter, Dhwani."
The Dhwani who had always avoided people somehow didn't mind it anymore.
In fact...I liked it.
I got along with Mysha surprisingly well. I told her about Yugant, Dhrithika, Daadi and Daadu. By the end of our walk, she was already demanding to meet everyone.
Wait...Dhrithi. I suddenly stopped.
Did she and Yugant sort everything out?
As evening settled in, Mumma busied herself in the kitchen while I sat beside Mysha, helping her with her homework.
Well... trying to help. She was much brighter than I had ever been in school. I finally picked up my phone, which had been lying untouched since last night.
Two missed calls from Yugant.
Two from Dhrithika.
I smiled and called Dhrithi first.
"Hey, Dhwani..." Her voice reached me. It wasn't as dull as it had been a few days ago.
"Hey. How are you?" I asked.