The Big Swap - Part 36
Meera had always prided herself for her complete grip over her emotions. In her early teens, she had had serious anger management issues, but being with Kanan had surprisingly changed her a lot. Changed her in a good way, she liked to think. So much so, that she never quite realized the precise moment when she became an acute peace lover.
But today was different.
Today, she was feeling the need to let every ounce of her anger for Rishi out,
"If you needed money, why didn't you ask
Rishi let out a loud, exasperated sigh as he got back up from his seat. For a second there, Meera thought he would leave the room out of anger and frustration. It seemed quite unjust to her to be honest.
But he surprised her, as he didn't head for the door. Instead, he looked her way,
"Because it wasn't two or three hundred bucks I needed. I needed money yes. I needed
She stared at him agape, wondering how to react. Head tilting to one side she questioned, "How much?"
"What?"
"How much money did you steal tha-" she paused, realizing how horrible it sounded and corrected instantly, "How much money did you need?"
Rishi now began pacing the span of the room anxiously, obviously needing to let out something so very huge he'd carried within himself for years.
"Fifteen...." He didn't complete. Rather,
"...hundred?" she whispered softly, a part of her subconscious certain that that wasn't the answer. Rishi's gaze dropped to the floor. "
"Please don't ask me for what it was Meera. I...I've tried
"-Why?"
He looked baffled, but didn't respond.
Meera pressed her eyes shut tightly, and controlled the urge to say something she'd regret. Instead, she rephrased and repeated, "
Rishi took a deep breath in, and then let it out at last. "Do you remember Jyotin from college?"
Meera nodded doubtfully, "The skinny guy with the wobbly adam's apple."
Despite the tension in the air, Rishi found himself smile at hearing Meera's witty remarks return. "Yeah. He uh...."
When he hesitated, she found necessary to cut, "Rishi
"-
Meera stared at him for a couple of seconds, visibly shocked. How many more surprises was he going to throw her way in one goddamned day?
He waited for her to react, or respond. But when that didn't happen, he found a strange nervousness take over him.
"Please say something Meera."
"So you were high that day." It was a statement, not a question, and Rishi found himself marvel, yet again on the swiftness of Meera grasping details. She'd always been like this, smart and calculative and sure.
He didn't deserve to be her brother.
"Yes."
Meera continued to stare his way, not ashamed of letting him see that she had not, even in her wildest dreams, imagined that he would reveal something like that to her. It almost felt surreal. But a part of her knew Rishi wasn't lying to her that instant.
In fact, this was quite possibly the most honest he'd ever been to her.
"Were you guys...
"-no no! Of course not! We came to our place
She nodded, trying to let all the news sink in. "Do you still-"
"-no. Once was enough for me to know it wasn't my thing. And just for the record, I don't smoke either."
Rishi tried to analyse her reaction and predict her response to this new piece of information. But Meera had always been amazing with masking her expressions. Her features were
Would she forgive him?
"Can I ask
She looked up to him at that without a response. But her silence seemed like an affirmation.
"You've known through
It had been
But today, he watched silently as she allowed a small smile slip from her lips, and that was the precise moment Rishi realized just
"It wasn't my confession to make." She shrugged, "The biggest challenge after making a mistake is not just realizing the difference between the right and the wrong, but accepting it and owning up to it. If I'd tell on you, you'd never be as sorry for what you did as you are today."
He blinked at her, recalling his failed attempts at irritating Meera in the hope she'd at least yell at him about
But Meera never budged.
Instead, he'd only pushed her farther away from himself.
"And what about my antics? The way I irritated you
Her gaze dropped down to the kurti he'd gifted her, "...I knew that the silent treatment is the worst punishment anyone can ever get. Besides, what was the point of yelling when I didn't see what I wanted to in your disposition?"
"See what?"
"Regret." She mouthed quietly.
Rishi sighed.
"...And in complete honesty, I was pretty disgusted of you."
He didn't blame her. He'd spent too many years being disgusted with his own self.
"Do you think you'll ever be able to forgive me?"
"It's not me who you wronged Rishi."
He shook his head at that, "Is
Meera looked away at that.
"I'm your
Silence filled the air yet again.
"Please don't lose hope in me Meera. Heck you're the only person who ever saw any potential in me in the first place!"
Meera ran a quick hand through her moist eyes, and controlled the urge to snort in her watery nose as a dead giveaway to her tears that threatened to spill over from her eyes any minute.
"What have you done to undo your mistake Rishi?"
"I've contributed more than four times that amount back into Papa and Chachu's shop. I handle their accounts for the new shop they'd been saving for then. I even tried searching for the house help who got kicked out because of the false accusation of stealing from us, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I...didn't know what else to do Meera. I felt
She said nothing. More importantly, she didn't know w
He really wasn't too surprised at her response. It wasn't easy for her to forgive him just like that. But the fact that he'd finally opened up to somebody, that he'd apologized and tried to make amends to a relationship he held so very dear to him made him feel relieved.
She'd come around someday. He knew how much she loved him.
But realizing now was not the time to push her further, he sighed. And with a nod of finality her way, walked towards the door.
She still said nothing. Five minutes after she was certain he'd left, she quietly picked up the brown package and neatly placed it into her suitcase.
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