Eklavya

Chapter LIV

Checking the time on her wristwatch countless times Anamika ferociously paddled back home. The school ended around half past two in the afternoon. And considering how it was only a quarter to three the girl was in a serious rush.

A few minutes later the familiar houses and shops came into view and taking a right turn Anamika entered her neighborhood. Opening the old iron bars, she parked her bicycle at its usual spot and crossing the threshold entered the living room after removing her shoes.

Bhagyashree, who was lying peacefully on a diwan under a heavy razai, looked at her younger granddaughter and said, "You go and freshen up Anu. I'll make fresh rotis for you,"

Grasping that her maa was still at her office, Anamika shook her head at Bhagyashree and said, "There's no need to trouble yourself, grandma. I can make rotis' too,"

Bhagyashree muttered something in protest but Anamika beat her to it, "By the way, where's Aarav?" she asked upon not locating the troublemaker in the home today.

"At Krishna's house, where else?" Bhagyashree exclaimed in disdain, "As soon as he finished his food. He rushed outside as if his pants were on fire,"

Anamika suppressed a giggle but a cheeky smile still bloomed on her pretty face. Ascending the stairs to her room with quick steps, she hurriedly looked for her phone.

Just as she reached for it, her phone started trilling. Picking up the call Anamika swiftly put the phone on her ear. "Hello!" she rasped from this side,

"Hi, Anu!!" came a voice she least expected. Because the zeal and the high pitch of the voice definitely didn't belong to a certain someone.

Checking her phone's screen, Anamika bit on her lip as the screen read Riddhima's name, her cousin from Delhi.

Masking her disappointment at the caller not being him, Anamika greeted back her cousin warmly, "Hi Riddhi!! How are you doing?!"

"I'm doing great as always. Just came back from Vadodara last night," Riddhima said from the other end,

"Yeah! I saw your pictures. So, how did the wedding go?" Anamika asks cheerily and Riddhima goes into great detail as she narrates all the crazy things they did before her cousin's wedding ceremony.

Meanwhile, Anamika swiftly changed out of her uniform to more casual clothes and walked to the kitchen to make roti for herself. She did all this while still being on call.

Her brown eyes fell on the screen. It was half past three now, realizing that she needed to talk to him. Anamika guiltily made an excuse to end the call. Not before Riddhima extracted a promise that next time, she'd not end the call this soon.

Dialing him up the girl waited with baited breaths for him to pick up the call.

Anamika only drew a sigh of utter contentment when she heard his all-too-familiar voice, making her heart flutter with giddy feelings.

"Finally, you called," he remarked plainly, not wishing to give away that he'd been waiting impatiently for this one call.

"Just came back from school," Anamika provided immediately not wanting him to grumble about it for a long time. "You tell me how is Nalini grandma doing,"

"Somewhat stable but she's still under observation." He sighed, feeling all in.

"And grandpa?" she queried,

"He's... he looks like a child lost without her," Eklavya gave words to his silent observations. "Shekhar Uncle is handling everything at the moment because Grandpa has cleared up his schedule so that he can look after Grandma,"