Love, Marriage, and Other Disasters by Shilpa Suraj

Author:Shilpa Suraj
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2020-04-03T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Alisha had almost made her escape from the madness that enveloped her house nowadays when her mother’s voice hailed her. Groaning, she turned and waited for her mother to catch up with her. She couldn’t in good conscience have ignored her call and kept walking to the car. Could she?

She was still mulling the good behavior versus mental sanity dilemma when her mother finally caught up with her, huffing and puffing.

“When do you get back from work?” she huffed rather impressively.

“I have a 9:00 PM video conference, so I’ll be late.” Waiting for her mom to catch her breath, she asked, “Why?”

When her mother only continued to wave one hand in front of her face in a vain attempt to get some air in the dry heat of what was turning out to be an exceptionally hot and still day, Alisha repeated impatiently, “Why, Ma? What now?”

“Come directly to Kapoor uncle’s house,” her mother finally said.

“Why?” Alisha asked again, this time warily.

“Arrey…The families are getting together for dinner and you have to be there.”

“Pooja has to be there.” Alisha glared. “Why do I have to?”

“Arjun will also be there and it is a good chance for both of you to spend some time together.”

So would Vivaan, Alisha thought grimly. Pushing her sunglasses up with one finger, she turned away from her mother before lying. “I’ll do my best.”

“No, Alisha.” The firm tone stopped her in her tracks. “You’ll be there. If you’re a little late, it’s okay but you have to come.”

Starting to feel like there was only one word in her vocabulary, Alisha asked again, “Why?”

“Because I said so.”

Ahh the old parental fallback. At thirty three, Alisha really thought she’d gone beyond that. She wondered if her mother would send her to her room next.

“And if I don’t?” she asked, tongue-in-cheek. She really had to know. Truly. Maybe her mom would ground her or take away her T.V privileges.

Narrowing her eyes, her mother leaned closer. “Don’t take that tone with me, young lady. You’re never too old for me to swat your bottom.”

Laughing, Alisha raised her hands in mock fear. “I’ll come. I’ll come.” Walking over to her car, she unlocked it. “But only because you called me young lady.”

---***---

Alisha was halfway through drafting a press release announcing the appointment of the new CEO of the company when her phone shrilled. She silenced the ringer without looking at the screen only to have it start up again. Alarm flashed through her as she saw her mother’s name blinking. Her parents never called her at work unless it was an emergency.

“What happened?” she asked without bothering with niceties.

“Alisha.” Her mother’s strained voice had her sitting up straighter. “Come to City Hospital. The one in Begumpet. Your uncle has had a heart attack.”

Alisha didn’t wait for her mother to finish before she started typing out an email to her boss. It didn’t take long for her manager to acknowledge and approve her request for a half day off. Grabbing her laptop bag, she ran for the bank of elevators.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.