~Author's POV~
Rishabh gloomily entered his dimly lit bedroom after the very hectic ride from Sanvi's parents house. It was already three in the morning and he had a little over two hours to catch on some sleep before getting ready for practice in the morning.
Still in his jeans but tired out of his bones, he was just about to slump down on his bed, when he startlingly jumped up on his toes at the sight of the silhouette of a woman sitting on the rocking-chair near the balcony door.
It took him a few seconds to register that he was in big trouble.
"Is this what you do now, Rishi? Sneak out of the house in the middle of the night when I am not home?"
Mrs. Rani Singh Rathore's stern face came into light as she switched on the table lamp like any 80s brooding mafia boss.
"Mom! You gave me a start. Why do you always have to sneak up on me?" He complained as she stood up and walked to him.
"I am your mother. I possess the sixth sense of sniffing out any trouble my son stirs up. And I also enjoy catching you in the act, so that's a surplus."
"Mom!" He scrunched his nose up as his mother settled beside him on the bed.
"Stop whining. You didn't answer my question yet. What new trouble are you upto? Where did you go?" Rishabh somehow couldn't muster up the courage to meet his mother's eyes.
She was usually the first person he'd go to when he was in any kind of trouble but this was the very first time that he hesitated.
"Ah...hah. Nothing, Mom. Not any trouble, per se... I don't even know what I am doing..and I barely have any words to explain the whole thing." His mother sighed at his calculative demeanor.
"Look at me Rishi..." He was cut off in his speech by his mother's finger on his hesitating lips.
He looked up to see his mother's ever strict face transition into the usual sombre expression that he had seen on her everytime she talked with him after a long day.
"Son, I can understand how difficult it must be for you to confide in me. I know I haven't been around a lot eversince your father had to shift to the L City. The work load has been burdening, with all the changes happening around in the Company." Rishabh grimaced with the hint of where the conversation was going.
His mother caressed his shoulder while pouring her heart out.
"I have been having a lot of issues managing these people at the Company. With your father gone, they still seem to be adjusting to being lead by a woman on the Big Chair. Amidst all these, I can barely make out time to have a full meal with you. We don't watch movies or play around in the backyard like we used to. I don't even ask you how things are at school..."
"Mom, mom please. Why are you making this your fault? You have done nothing wrong. And I completely understand how hard it must be for you at the Company... Hell, you have bags larger than a bee hive under your eyes, for god's sake! If I don't understand your plight as your son, then who even am I?" Rishabh sighed.
"You are working so hard and I am proud of how you are so strong and resilient! It's not even with Dad's departure but you've always been so. Don't try to put yourself down just because you can't spend some time with your grownup son and go get those suckers that underestimate you."
His mother's lips curved into a smile as he spoke.
"Honey...I like spending time with you." Rishabh matched the smile at his mother's reply.
"I know. But now it's time for you to work. We can have our mother-son time when you manage to get the hang of it all and everything settles down. So, no slacking.." His mother hit his shoulder playfully as he imitated her stern expression.
"So...as I was saying. I hope you wouldn't drift away from your poor mother because of our situation. I would seriously drop my work and let the whole company go to hell if I see that this distance between us is making you stray in anyway..."
Rishabh banged his palm on his head as his mother crossed her arms against her chest.
"I am not being strayed in anyway, Mother! I swear on anything that is sweet. Do you even know your son, woman?"
"It's because I know my son that I am so worried." His mother clicked her tongue.
"Look, you want to know where I went tonight, right? I'll tell you..." His mother beamed at this and Rishabh led out a sigh of exasperation.
"I went to a classmate's house. A very irritating girl who wouldn't partner with me for the upcoming inter-school Championship which is very important for me and the school. I went there to convince her." His mother's eyes almost seemed to bulge out of the sockets at his confession.
"A GIRL?" Rani squealed like a kitten before settling the biggest smug smile that Rishabh had ever seen on her face.
"Mom! It's nothing like that! Stop making those googly eyes."
"Well, is this girl the same one whose diary you are currently in possession of?" Rani questioned her son with a suggestive rise of her eyebrow.
She felt him stiffen and return to his nervous state of not being able to look his mother in the eyes.
"Um..." Shit, he should have hidden the diary before senselessly barging out of the house.
"Um? I didn't read it but have you, Rishi? You know it is unethical to read someone's personal diary without their permission, right?" She narrowed his eyes at Rishabh and he immediately felt the guilt turn real.
"Son, when were you going to tell me that you are visiting your supposed 'rival' in the middle of the night, nowadays? Have I drifted so far from you that I don't even get updates on such big developments in my son's life?" He had always found it cringey when his mother turned over-dramatic about something as she was right then.
With her palm over her forehead and her exaggerated dialogues she could easily compete against the most popular sitcom actresses. No one could grasp her swift transition from the clever, goal-oriented Director to a goofball as she made such silly faces with her son.
"Mom, it's nothing like that. And why do you always snoop around my stuff? I got hold of it accidentally and I was going to return it. But I forgot to bring it with me. Also, you already know how I feel about Sanvi Dixit. I hate her guts and I hate it how we always somehow manage to score the same almost every damn year. I've always been super competitive against her eversince our kindergarten days."
Rishabh felt frustrated, being so direct about his distaste for the girl he was obsessing over for the past few months,-that too in front of his mother.
"Yes, darling. I remember the first day school when you couldn't stop crying on returning home...haha."
"MOM!" Rishabh gaped incredulously at her mention of that story.
He had tried very hard to erase that particular incident out of his memory but when one had such an invested and dramatic mother, it is next to impossible to expect that all the embarassing anecdotes of their childhood would be easily erased out of the collective consciousness till the rapture.
"Do you remember how you brought home a broken set of colour box that day? You almost pushed me to think that I had raised a kleptomaniac under my roof! You were so heartbroken about being rejected friendship by the little Sanvi that you didn't leave my lap the whole day. I had to do all my work with you hanging from my neck! Such a naughty four year old you were that you hauled over her broken crayon set home just because she didn't give you any attention."
Rishabh looked up from his hands that were clutching his face out of embarrassment as his Mom halted in her rant.
"You were such a stubborn kid that no matter how much I tried, you didn't let me return the set. I had to gift her a new one the next day while you pouted beside me. You have always been hostile towards Sanvi eversince that day. I had often wondered if you guys could be ever friends in the future and this actually happening in the very final year of school just rounds off your entire school experience." Rani had a pleased smile on her face at the conclusion of her speech.
"We're not friends, Mom. Just a couple of batch mates trying to save our school from losing like a fish on the very last year. We have a mutually agreeing contract and all about this." His mom sighed at Rishabh nonchalant words.
"Doesn't matter. I am just glad that you're maturing." Rishabh frowned at his mother's implication.
"But tell me one thing Rishi, you went to meet a girl at this ungodly hour? Weren't her parents concerned about this?"
"Uhm.. well, they didn't technically know that I was over there..." He scratched his eyebrow, trying not to look straight at her.
Rani's stern face hinted at her deep disapproval of her son's actions. She took no time to catch Rishabh by the ear as he winced out loudly.
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To Be Continued.