"Okey mom. Let's talk when we are there this sunday. Take care. Bye." Pavan ended the call. He sensed annoyance coming from Neeta and he was confused. Before he could ask her the reason, Neeta spoke.
"How could you do this? This sunday!? Really Pavan?"
"What happened? What's wrong with this sunday?"
"How can you forget about our plans Pavan? We are going to the resort over the weekend. You only said we can go for safari and Arav will have play zone. You know how much we need this! "
"Well, mom said she was missing Arav and she wanted to meet him. We can go to the resort next weekend."
"You always do this! That next time will never come. Some family function or work commitments will show up again next week. I don't understand this! You could have simply told them that we have a booking already at the resort and we cannot cancel it. So we will meet them next weekend."
"You know they are old people and they don't understand all of these. We can just postpone the booking for next weekend! It's no big deal."
"Fine. Do whatever you want."
Neeta just left the room and went outside the house with her bag. It looked like she went for grocery shopping. Pavan was confused about her reaction. He felt that he could never understand her thoughts or reactions.
She was not like this before marriage. She was so understanding and supportive. But now his every reaction and habit seemed to have ticked off irritation in her. She would fight over unnecessary things like this and then she would just ignore him for sometime. Pavan never understood what he was doing wrong. He was earning well and she had access to all his money. He never hid anything from her and never asked her about her salary or savings. His first priority had always been his family and parents and she knew that. But still, she would fuss over things when he prioritized his family. Was it because of her work ? But even if a woman is working, her priority is always family. He had told her the same thing when Neeta restarted her career after Arav was born. He knew at some point that Neeta expected him to take care of some of the household responsibilities. But being a man, how can he take care of household stuff! Especially when he comes home tired after a long day of office work. Even his mother was working in office all these years and still she perfectly managed house and work. He had never seen his parents fighting over these silly things. So Pavan always wondered why Neeta could not handle things the way his mother did.
So in the last few years they hardly had any good memories with each other. There was no romance left in their relationship and Pavan was always confused about Neeta's reactions whenever he tried to get closer to her physically. She would sometimes make excuses and sleep. Other times she would just let him do whatever he wanted, but it was all so mechanical. This was something that Pavan never could understand. They had been married for close to 10 years now. Shouldn't she know what he wants by now? But it felt like she could never understand want he wanted.
Pavan was looking at the TV but his mind was wandering around. He heard Neeta coming back with a bag full of groceries. He ignored her angry looks and focused on the match.
***