Luv (Un)Arranged (Luv Shuv #3)

Chapter 25

25

Song: Dhiktana Tiktana Dhiktana

- S. P. Balasubrahmanyam

Kriti

M y science class with the ninth-grade students was not going how I’d expected when I prepared a poster board about the reflection of light. And my students did not seem impressed.

When the principal had told me that they needed teachers to get creative, I didn’t think it would be this hard. As I explained my poster board while going through the chapter, most of my back-bencher students were already dozing. Half of the middle benchers were zoned out, and only a few first benchers actually paid attention and took notes.

I smiled at them and decided to finish this class, trying to get as many students as I could to interact and pay attention. I knew understanding the way that light travels wasn’t the most interesting topic, but it was my job to make it fun.

And I seemed to be failing miserably at it.

When the class ended, I reminded the students not to miss their homework for their next class and started walking toward the staff room.

It had been three weeks since I started teaching. Not only did I have to think about exciting ways to teach science and English, but becoming a sudden class teacher also rained hell on my days and nights.

I sat next to Meera in the staff room and dropped my head on my desk in defeat.

Meera quickly clutched my shoulder and shook me. “Oh my god, Kriti, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t think I’m cut out to be a teacher here,” I mumbled into the desk.

Meera squeezed my hand. “Of course you are. We all need an adjustment period.”

I raised my head and looked at her. “None of my students seem to like the posters and charts I make for them. Do you have any creative ideas that could impress the students and fellow teachers?” I leaned in closer to her and murmured, “Some of them don’t even smile at me when we pass in the hallways.”

Meera sighed and looked around at several teachers chitchatting among themselves. “I don’t care much about other teachers now that I have you with me. And honestly, since I teach students of lower grades, charts, posters, and models seem to work for me. Maybe you need to get more digital. Older children these days only have the attention span for electronic devices.”

That actually was a good idea. “You think so?”

Meera dramatically rolled her eyes. “You should see Hari. Ever since Luke got him an iPad, which was against my wishes, all he’s wanted to do is play on his iPad, study on his iPad, and watch movies on his iPad. His eyes are glued to that devil thing, and all I want to do is throw that thing away.”

My heart gave a tiny little dance of hope as I tried to think up some new ideas. Soon, the break ended, and I headed to my sixth-grade hellions to remind them of the upcoming sports day sign-ups.

When I returned home that evening, the sight that greeted me had me chuckling. Maa was scolding Abhi while Ria and Karan were having chai and laughing behind Maa’s back. The scene reminded me of how Rati and Kartik would laugh behind my mother’s back every time she scolded me about something.

Radhika Auntie noticed me the moment I stepped foot inside the living room. “Kriti Beta, grab some chai for yourself. Abhi has prepared a cup for you too.”

My savior.

I quickly went to Abhi to save him from Maa, who was still scolding him. I went to his side, wrapped my arm around his shoulders, and jokingly said to Maa, “Mummy, look at poor Abhi. I think he is really sorry.”

I turned to him and asked, “Aren’t you, Abhi?”

Abhi easily picked up on my help, quickly nodded at me, and looked at Maa. “I’m totally sorry, Maa. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I didn’t do anything. This Karan is the real criminal.”

I jabbed my elbow in his side, and Abhi quickly returned to his apology. “But I’m the one who is so very sorry, Maa. Please forgive me.”

I gave Maa pleading eyes, and she absolutely, totally melted, waved her hand in it’s okay at Abhi, and got back to drinking her chai.

With a light shove at Abhi’s shoulder, I led him to the dining table, where Ria and Karan joined us with their cup of chai.

Once I was back with my own cup, I sat beside Ria, who was working from home today, and across from Abhi and Karan, who were discussing something over their phone.

I took a sip and turned to Ria. “How is your new job going?”

As if she’d been waiting for someone to ask the question, she placed her cup on the table with a thud and turned to me. “It’s terrible.”

I gasped. “What? Why? What happened?”

Even Abhi and Karan turned to us.

Ria just rolled her eyes in exasperation. “The job is just fine. But I hate Aakar’s friend Zayan.”

“Isn’t he the one who got you this job?” Abhi piped in, not sensing the mood at all and incurring Ria’s wrathful glare.

Karan chuckled as Abhi tried to hide behind his chair, making Karan his human shield.

Ria still held Abhi in her line of sight and uttered the words from between her clenched teeth. “He did not get me the job . He got me the interview. I got this job based on my qualifications, skills, and experience. Got it?”

Abhi nodded quickly, his hands raised in defeat. “I’m sorry, dear sister. Can I please have my chai in peace now? What did Zayan do anyway? I’ve met him a few times. He seems like a decent guy.”

Again, not sensing the mood, my dear brother-in-law. Karan and I must’ve been thinking the same thing because our eyes immediately met as Abhi said the words, and we shared a chuckle as Ria’s temper burst.

“Decent?” she yelled. “He is the most narcissistic, condescending, know-it-all asshole. The other day, our boss was just about to hand me the new project files so I could lead that project. And do you know what your precious, decent Zayan did?”

She kept her eyes pinned on poor Abhi while Karan and I couldn’t stop chuckling. When Abhi silently shook his head, Ria looked at all of us and said in an outrageous voice, “He told our boss that since I was new to the company, he thinks he should be the one to handle this particular project.”

I gasped while Abhi, who still hadn’t learned his lesson apparently, asked, “Why would he do that?”

Ria’s eyes bulged out of her head. Karan put his hand over Abhi’s mouth, making me laugh out loud, and Ria yelled, “Because, Abhi, Zayan is an asshole.”

Right then, Ria’s mother walked in, apparently having heard enough of the conversation. “I’m telling you, that’s because he’s Muslim.”

Abhi and Karan groaned loudly while Ria dramatically rolled her eyes at her mom. “Maa, please. Stop being so Islamophobic. His being Muslim has nothing to do with it. It’s his personality that’s my problem.”

She then proceeded to strangle the air as if imagining this Zayan guy’s neck, making us all chuckle.

I turned to look at Abhi and Karan as they looked at something on Karan’s phone. Karan said something while on the phone, and I swear I saw Abhi stare at his lips. Karan seemed oblivious, or maybe I was just delusional. Perhaps I needed to focus on my work.

And I had an idea for it. I just needed some help.

I cleared my throat, causing three heads to turn my way.

I met Abhi’s gaze and said, “Umm…Abhi, I was wondering if you could help me with something if you have some time.”

Abhi completely turned to face me and gave me his full attention. “Of course, bhabhi. Anything.”

I ran my finger over the rim of the cup, already debating if it was a good idea to ask for Abhi’s help. He was a genuinely nice guy, but to ask for help, I’d have to admit that I was struggling at school. And I really wanted to keep my good impression in front of my in-laws.

But I didn’t have a laptop and absolutely no skill in creating presentations about my subjects and other creative options.

Deciding to be honest and just ask for help—because what do I have to lose—I placed my cup on the table. “So I have been struggling at the school a little.”

“Do I need to beat up some teenage kids?” Abhi asked, cracking his knuckles. “Don’t you worry, bhabhi. I hate little teenagers. I’ll gladly beat them up for you. What’re their names?”

A chuckle burst out of all of us. I met Karan’s and Ria’s eyes, who shook their heads with a smile. I turned to Abhi. “You don’t need to beat them up. I’m struggling because students here are used to more interactive and digital learning, and I’m used to a little more traditional approach like charts and models. I was hoping you could help me prepare presentations for my subjects if you have some time? I’m not the best at coming up with these ideas on such short notice.”

Abhi was on his feet. “That’s it? Oh, bhabhi. Let me get my laptop. I’m an expert in making presentations. You can ask Karan or Aakar Bhai. Or even Ria Didi.”

Abhi ran upstairs. In the meantime, Ria and Karan were all praises for Abhi’s apparently superior presentation skills.

Ria then turned to me. “I didn’t know you were struggling. You should’ve come to us. Does Aakar know?”

I looked down at my cup. “I should’ve. But I also want to create a good impression in front of my new family, and I really don’t want to appear to be incompetent at my job.”

Ria squeezed my hand, and I looked at her. Compassion shone through her warm brown eyes. “We already know you’re competent. We also know it’s a new city for you, a new culture, and a new type of school. Nobody expects you to be perfect all the time.”

Either Ria was too naive or too blinded by her love for her family. “Ria, that’s literally what everybody expects from their new bride.”

Before she could discuss this further, Abhi was back with his laptop. He took his seat beside Karan and called me to sit on his other side.

Once we were all seated, Abhi asked me what I wanted the presentation to be about. I quickly grabbed my science textbook and opened it to the chapter on the reflection of light.

Abhi and Karan quickly went through the chapter, turning pages and discussing and pointing out things in my book. While Karan kept the textbook in his hand, Abhi did an over-the-top action of twisting his neck and cracking his knuckles. “You ready to impress teenage little shits, bhabhi?”

As Karan laughed out loud, Ria threw a paper towel at him, shaking her head. I couldn’t help but join in on the fun with Abhi. “Yes, I’ll show those little shits tomorrow who’s the boss around here.”

Karan and Abhi both started clapping at my use of shit but then quickly turned to work.

As we went through some other online presentations and collected images and videos, Ria returned to her room to work. We’d been sitting there for about an hour, barely making some headway, when Maa and the aunties passed us in the dining room on their way to the kitchen.

Maa stopped by and asked us what we were up to, and I explained to her how Abhi was helping me with work. The only thing she said was to Abhi. “You better make a very good presentation. Karan, better keep a watch on him.”

She simply smiled at me and made her way to the kitchen.

Warning bells started ringing in my head, and my mother’s voice loudly scolded in my head. What are you doing, Kriti? Prioritizing this presentation over helping out your mother-in-law and aunts in cooking dinner? You used to cook dinner at home and work.

Yes, but I wasn’t struggling at school then, was I?

Just that inner voice and warning bells had my heart rate rising, and I couldn’t help it when I called out to Maa and asked, “Umm…Maa, can I help with something?”

“It’s okay, beta. You carry on with your work.”

I knew she genuinely meant it, but my mother’s voice managed to put a seed of doubt in my mind.

I smiled at Maa and said, “Please let me know if there’s anything I can help with.”

Maa simply smiled and nodded.

Once she was gone, I turned to Abhi and Karan and asked, “Do you think I should go help in the kitchen? Would they be mad if I didn’t help in the kitchen?”

Abhi frowned at me. “Umm…don’t we need to finish this presentation tonight?”

“We do, but I’m afraid if I don’t help out in the kitchen, Maa and the aunties wouldn’t like it.”

“But they know you have work to do. And Maa just said it was fine.”

That she did. I couldn’t help but wonder, though.

Before I could voice my thoughts, Abhi added, “They’ve been cooking without you for years and managing it just fine, right? And you’ve been helping out in the kitchen ever since you got here. Why would you worry about something like this?”

My heart warmed at their thoughtfulness. I nodded at the boys, and we got back to work.

For the next hour, we continued to make the presentation. Abhi and Karan were really creative. They searched for all kinds of cool images and little clips of light rays. We were in the middle of laying out the slides in the chronology of the topics when a hand came over my eyes.

I nearly screamed, but I quickly recognized the touch.

I clutched the hand at my eyes and brought it down. I looked up from where I sat to find Aakar grinning down at me.

“Hello, wife.”

It had been weeks since we were married, but his wife still gave me butterflies. “How was your day, husband?”

Aakar placed his hand on my shoulders and gently squeezed. My eyes almost rolled back in my head at the pleasure. I so badly needed a massage. And I just knew that Aakar’s big, strong hands would take me to heaven.

Aakar quickly kissed my head, all the while, Abhi and Karan pointedly kept their gaze on the laptop screen and said, “I’m exhausted. Anything that could go wrong today did go wrong.”

He did look tired. His forehead had a stress line popping, and his eyes looked a little sunken. I squeezed his hand in support.

He took a seat beside me and leaned his head on his palm, elbow on the table. As he kept my hand in his, I turned to the laptop screen, knowing that Abhi and Karan were waiting for further instructions from me.

I asked Abhi to highlight the incident ray in red and the reflected ray in orange. We discussed the images to put on the slide when Aakar said, “Kriti, would you please get me some dinner if it’s ready? I’ll go freshen up in the meantime.”

I nodded at him while he went upstairs.

I quickly gave some instructions to Abhi and ran into the kitchen.

Since dinner was ready, I told Maa and the aunties that Aakar was home. I served up the plate for Aakar, rushed out of the kitchen, put it on his spot beside me, and got back to the presentation.

I really needed to finish this for tomorrow’s class and show my students that I could be cool and modern and interesting too.

Aakar returned, silently placed another kiss on my head, and ate as Abhi, Karan, and I worked. Soon, Pappa and the uncles came for dinner too, and we put the work aside so all of us could eat together.

Since Abhi and Karan were aware of the amount of work we still had to do, they quickly polished off dinner and returned to the presentation. I gave them a nod of thanks as I waited for everyone to finish dinner. Ria had also just popped in to eat a little and went upstairs right after them.

Aakar turned to me. “Could you get me some mixed pickle from the fridge?”

Irritation pricked my skin. Couldn’t he get it himself?

Not wanting to make a scene or offend anyone, I nodded and got his precious pickle for him.

Once everyone was done, I helped Maa and Auntie clear the table. The house help, Raju Kaka, would clean up the table and the utensils.

Thank God for him because I had no time to help do the dishes and finish the presentation. I already felt guilty enough for roping Abhi and Karan into doing so much work for me. I might have to quickly learn how to do all of this so as to let them get back to their life. I couldn’t ask them to do this for me for the whole year.

I was about to take a seat beside them when Pappa shouted from the living room. “Kriti Beta, if you’ve not sat down, could you get me a bottle of cold water from the fridge?”

I mean, I would’ve gotten it for him, even if I had taken a seat.

Abhi rolled his eyes at me, his exasperation at his father clear on his face.

I winked at him and turned to move toward the kitchen when Aakar piped in from the living room, “Kriti, could you also get some mukhwas?” Mukhwas was an after snack of seeds and sweets, often eaten as a mouth freshener and digestive.

I was so tempted to shout, Get it yourself, but I guess it would make sense since I was already going to the kitchen.

It’s okay. He’s not taking me for granted. He’s just tired today.

Once getting everyone everything they needed, I sat beside Abhi at the dining table. Karan had already left, so it was just the two of us.

“You okay, bhabhi?”

I nodded. “Just a little exhausted myself. We’ve been at it for a while.”

“Hold on,” he said and ran to the kitchen.

I went through the presentation we had so far while Abhi was gone. It looked so nice and clear, and I could just imagine explaining the diagrams and discussing each topic as I went through the slides.

Abhi was back in a minute with an ice cream cup in his hand.

Aakar must’ve seen it as he walked toward the dining table, and he asked Abhi, “Could you get me one?”

Abhi ran, sat on the chair beside me, and met Aakar’s eyes as he said, “Get it yourself, bhai. We’re working.”

Aakar quickly nodded. “Sorry, sorry. I’ll go get it.”

Once he went to the kitchen, Abhi murmured, “It’s okay to tell him to get his own stuff, bhabhi. You know that, right?”

Oh, my awesome little brother-in-law. I smiled at him and nodded. “I know. He’s tired today.”

Abhi simply shrugged. “So are you.”

And his words hit me right where that little root of irritation was growing. “I know. I just didn’t want to sound rude or offensive or defiant in front of the rest of the family.”

And wasn’t that the truth of the matter?

I had no issue telling Aakar what I wanted or needed. But I also didn’t want to sound like a defiant wife or too bold or too outspoken in front of my new family. Did their approval of me trump my own thoughts or voice? I guess you have to choose your battles when you live with fourteen people, and bringing some water or food wasn’t worth any arguments. Right?

I was lost in my thoughts when Aakar sat beside me with his ice cream, so I now sat between Abhi and Aakar.

He laid his arm on my chair and leaned in to see the presentation we were making.

“Since when are you guys helping Kriti with her presentation?” Aakar asked, watching us making the last minor changes.

I turned to him. “I’ll tell you all about it later. But just know that your brother and Karan have been a godsend.”

Abhi waggled his eyebrows at Aakar, preening at my praise and making me laugh.

Aakar looked at me with a smile and rubbed my back in a mindless, soothing gesture. “Do you guys need any help?” he offered.

“We’re almost done,” I said.

By the time our ice cream was done, we’d completed the presentation.

As Abhi transferred everything to my USB drive, I chanted, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Abhi chuckled. “Anytime, bhabhi. I know it’s all new for you, so even if you need Karan and me to make one tomorrow, don’t hesitate. We’re usually just gaming or copying some assignments, so it’s no trouble at all.”

My nose tingled at the incoming tears, and no matter how much I sniffled, a tear or two just slipped out. “Thank you, Abhi. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.”

Abhi totally got awkward at that while Aakar rubbed my back and placed a kiss on my shoulder.

My new family wasn’t all that bad. Dare I say, I was really starting to love them all.