Bound by Law || 30- Accepting Fate

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

My blurred vision located a foreign object beside me. I furrowed my eyebrows and watched it for a little while.

As soon as it changed position, I furiously rubbed my eyes in fear of what it was.

My eyes adjusted to the brightness of the room and fixated themselves on a body—Jai's half-naked body to be precise and I gasped.

Jai?!

He was lying on his front, his face turned towards me on the pillow. I gulped and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Jai," I squeaked.

I hesitantly reached out and placed my hands gently on his warm, topless back, shaking him.

I didn't know where I had found the confidence to touch him, but since he was asleep, I felt like I didn't need to fear being yelled at.

When he didn't respond, I gathered the courage to shake him harder.

Jai grunted and knitted both his eyebrows together in irritation, his mouth pulled down into a frown.

He rolled over onto his back, bringing his arm up and over his face, resting the crook of his elbow on his forehead.

I shook him again, but this time with more urgency.

"Jai!"

"What."

Jai ran that same hand down his face, groggily. His half-opened eyes looked around the room before he turned his head and settled them on me.

His eyes instantly hardened as they met with mine. He smacked his lips slowly, and got up, letting out a sigh.

"Why are you here?!"

"Why do you think?" he asked, sarcastically.

"Jai, I'm serious."

"I know," he said with a nod, "I am too."

My chest began to heave uncontrollably because I was panicking.

Did he...do something?!

"I—um, did we—"

The look on my face must have shown something as Jai rolled his eyes and pushed himself off the bed.

"Calm down, nothing happened."

I didn't want to look at him since he was shirtless so I averted my gaze away and down to the bed.

"So, what exactly happened, then?"

"You were screaming in the middle of the night again, so I came in. You wouldn't let me leave after comforting you so I stayed."

He did that?

What I didn't understand, was why. I had nightmares often but he never cared to comfort me then. So it didn't make sense to me why he was helping me now.

"Why now?"

Jai had opened the door and was about to step out when he stopped at my soft question.

"What?"

"Why now?" I repeated. "You never seemed to care about me before."

He shrugged, his back glistening golden orange against the sun that shone through the blinds.

"Guess I just had a change of heart."

With that, he walked out of the room and to, I assumed, his own.

I got up to make breakfast for Jai as he got ready for work. We said nothing to each other but it didn't matter because I was still baffled to hear that Jai had came into my room in the middle of the night and comforted me.

It almost seemed too surreal. I didn't realize that my thoughts were taking over completely until I bumped into Jai.

He raised an eyebrow at me, amusement flickering in his eyes.

"Careful."

"Sorry."

Even after Jai had left, my mind still drifted back to what he had said. It was too good to be true.

I can't believe it! He had never done this be–

Just as I was about to walk up the stairs and go back to bed, the telephone rang. At first, I stared at the landline warily, but as it continued to ring, I bit my lip in contemplation.

Maybe it's someone important?

Putting the phone up to my ear, I spoke into it. The voice from the other side caused me to sigh in relief.

"Jai? I've got to tell—"

"Oh, Sanaya? I'm not Jai."

She exclaimed a little noise of surprise. "Karishma,
sorry to wake you!"

"No, it's okay!" I said in reassurance. "I had already gotten up to fix Jai's breakfast, anyway."

"Oh thank goodness. At first I didn't think anyone would pick up but this is something I have to tell Jai about."

I tilted my head. "Something to tell Jai? Do you want to call ba–"

"No, no. You're his wife so I'll tell you and if it's okay, can you pass it on for me?"

I hesitated. "Of course," I said, a little unsure.

"Tell Jai that gran wants to see him. She always asks about him so he needs to go visit."

Gran?

My silence must have told Sanaya everything because she gasped.

"You...don't know, do you?"

***

"Jai?" I called out softly as he walked into the house. He turned to me with a dark eyebrow raised.

"Yeah?"

"Sanaya called this morning and she wanted to tell you something."

I fumbled with my shawl nervously because I didn't know how he'd take the information I was about to give him.

Jai ran a hand through his hair and briefly glanced at me when I didn't elaborate further. "And? What did she say?"

I jolted in surprise at his voice. "Oh, um, she said that your grandma wanted to see you and that she always asks about you."

At the mention of his grandma, he shut his eyes tightly and mumbled something incoherently.

He then said, "Shit, I completely forgot."

My eyes widened. "You forgot about your grandma?"

He shot me an irritated glance. "No."

He licked his lips before shaking his head. "Alright, yeah I did."

"Yo–"

"And I forgot to tell you about her as well. I had planned to take you there but after all the shit that happened, I just forgot." He growled in irritation and muttered, "Ah, fuck."

I furrowed my eyebrows at the cuss word that I hadn't heard in a while.

"You shouldn't say tha–" I stopped myself from finishing the sentence and shook my head.

I cleared my throat softly and instead said, "It's never too late to visit your grandma. I'm sure she'll understand."

He rubbed his jaw roughly, his eyes flashing thoughtfully.

"You know what, I'll go now."

Jai grabbed his keys from the table and strode towards the front door.

"Don't bother staying up," he said. Before he left, I ran to catch up to him.

"Wait!" Jai stopped, turning his head slightly to the side.

"Um, can I come with you?"

Jai fully turned at my question. He had his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes were blank as they studied mine. After finding what he was looking for, his stiff shoulders relaxed and he nodded once.

"Alright."

With a small smile, I followed him and got into the car. What I didn't expect, was the destination.

The place was far, and Jai initiated small talk. I was surprised and gasped at him, but he coaxed me into answering and talking to him.

He seemed to be nervous as he was fretting; his fingers were tapping the steering wheel and his jaw was clenched tightly.

When the car stopped, I looked out the window.

An aged care?

We slowly walked inside and I looked towards Jai who was writing on a 'Sign-in' sheet at the front desk.

A middle-aged woman with a blue shirt and black work pants came in and gasped in shock once her eyes locked on Jai.

"Jai?!"

He swiveled around before chuckling delightfully as he saw her.

"Carol!"

She held out her arms, gesturing him to hug her. He bent down to wrap his arms around her and I could see her eyes fill with tears. She pulled away soon after and looked at him.

"I thought you'd never come back here after you got married, son!" Her words were accented with a Southern twang, making me smile.

I had only ever heard Southern accents on TV, and in India it was more than rare to find someone with an accent like hers.

Carol suddenly gasped, grabbing his face and turning it from side to side.

"I mean, look at you, boy! Now you're a hottie with all that stubble on your face."

Jai chuckled, a deep rumble in his chest. "It's only been a couple of months, Carol."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, ever since you left, we've all missed you and the food you buy, especially Vidyha!" Carol's eyes lit up. "Ah, wait till I tell her about you! She'll be as ecstatic as an old granny on Christmas Day."

The excitement in her voice, caused a huge smile to take over my face. Carol's bright emerald green eyes then travelled towards my face.

She tossed the curly wisps of her blonde hair over her shoulder as her face brightened.

"My, oh my! Is this your wife, son?"

Jai hummed in response and she gasped. "Why, isn't she a looker!" She leaned closer to me with a bright smile. "You're gorgeous, darlin'."

I shyly smiled, fumbling with the shawl of my Salwar. This was the second time someone said that to me, but I knew she was just showing kindness.

"Thank you, Ms–"

"Now, don't you go addressing me like an old woman!" she cut me off with a pearly white smile.

"You can call me Carol, sweetheart."

"Okay, um, thank you Carol."

As she led us through the big doors and down a hallway, I was still confused as to how Jai knew Carol.

"Vidhya always asks me where you are and I have to make up excuses. It's tiring."

She opened another door, revealing some elderly people watching TV, knitting, and some sitting by themselves on couches at the back and near windows.

My eyes glanced up at Jai, but he didn't look at me. He followed Carol who led us to an elderly Indian lady in a saree, sitting on a table, looking slightly bored.

"Vidhya? Guess who's here?"

Jai's grandma looked up and gasped, covering her mouth with one hand as she saw Jai.

"Jai? Are you really here?" she whispered.

Getting up slowly, Jai rushed forwards, helping her up before wrapping his arms around her tightly, his chin on her head.

"Yeah, gran. I'm here," he said, softly.

"I thought you had forgotten me."

His voice was muffled as he spoke, as if he was choking on something. "I'm sorry, gran. I'm so sorry."

A smile was about to emerge at the scene of Jai with her, when I froze.

This is Jai's grandma..

I looked at her; she was in tears, her body trembling. Carol smiled at them lovingly before putting a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm guessing he hadn't told you about her, had he?"

I shook my head and her eyes softened.

"I don't know the full details sweetheart, but after Vidhya was put into this aged care, he would regularly visit and help us serve food and talk to the elderly here. We all loved Jai because he was a regular visitor and he would buy food for the staff. But after some time," she lifted one shoulder in a shrug, "he just stopped coming."

She smiled bitterly. "Anyway, I'll leave you to get acquainted, then."

As Carol walked away, I turned to Jai and his grandma, only to notice her eyes on me, a small smile on her face.

Jai said something in Hindi to which she replied before smiling tearfully.

"I knew you would come back." Her eyes met mine and a smile etched into her face, "and this is your wife, I'm assuming?"

Jai's eyes suddenly hardened, but it disappeared as soon as it came, leaving me flabbergasted.

I quickly shook what I saw away and watched as she said something in Hindi to him, who responded.

I didn't know what they were saying but I heard Jai say 'Malayali' in between, confirming that they were indeed talking about me.

"Ah," she said softly in realization.

She gestured for me to come closer, and as I did hesitantly, she grabbed my hand. She then softly tugged me down to sit next to her.

"You are from Kerala?"

I smiled, holding her hand tightly. "Yes."

"I love Kerala! I have been there twice and it was a beautiful place."

I smiled and nodded my head. "Thank you. I'm glad you liked my place...Grandma."

"Ah, no no!"

Her face scrunched up and I heard Jai chuckle from behind her, his face amused as he watched us.

I worriedly looked at Vidhya who shook her head.

"Call me gran, like Jai! Grandma makes me feel old."

Internally, I let out a sigh of relief. I feared that I had unintentionally hurt Jai's grandmothers feelings, and I really didn't like hurting anyone's, especially not our elderly people's feelings.

"Okay, gran," I said, smiling brightly.

"Do you understand Hindi, beti?"

My bottom lip stuck out slightly as I shook my head.

"I only know Malayalam."

She tsk'd and shook her head. "What a shame. But this is good. If you are fluent in your language, then you can teach Jai and he can teach you his language. It would be much more fun than speaking English all the time."

She lovingly paced a hand on Jai's stubbled cheek.

"My grandson's Hindi is beautiful. Even after being raised in America he hasn't lost his mother tongue, right?"

The hard edge Jai usually had in his eyes seemed to vanish as he smiled at her.

"Mhm, right, gran," his deep voice said, coolly.

I smiled, my heart fluttering at the love that they both had towards each other.

"Will you please teach me, gran?"

She laughed heartily. "Of course I will! I guess I would be a better teacher than Jai."

Jai roared with laughter, the manly laugh reverberating through the room.

"You wish, gran."

Gran threw her head back and laughed, her shoulders shaking before she looked between both Jai and I who were sitting on each side of her.

She smiled lovingly, tears in her eyes.

"I knew you would find a wonderful wife Jai beta and come back to me," she said with a bright smile. "You two are the perfect example of a wonderful North-South relationship." A toothy grin appeared on her face. "Who said we cannot get along, na?"

I wish I could tell you that we're not the perfect example, gran.

None of us said anything and just looked at Gran with small smiles on our faces. Jai's gaze slid over to me before he turned to Gran.

"Now," he smirked, "what do you say about playing your favorite game?"

Gran gasped and I blinked at them, confused and worried.

Jai walked over to a box near an elderly couple, giggling to each other and pulled out a packet of cards.

As he came closer, he held it up, allowing us all to see what it was. The cards all had one word sprawled across in big letters.

'UNO'?

His lips curled up into a small smirk as his eyes landed on me, gauging my reaction.

"UNO?" I asked, blinking up at them both.

Gran stared at me in shock and Jai raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"You don't know what UNO is?" he asked, incredulously.

I sheepishly smiled. "I've heard of it?"

"But you've never played?"

I shook my head, feeling a little foolish but Gran smiled at me, raising a hand to stroke my head, lovingly.

"We'll show you, beti. It is the best card game in the world."

After a couple of minutes of explaining, we began to play. I didn't realize I was flashing my cards to Jai until I heard deep chuckling from beside me.

"I can see all your cards," he whispered, and I gasped, hiding my cards by shoving them against my chest.

"Don't look!" I scolded, glaring at him. Gran wagged a finger at Jai who raised his hands in the air.

"I wouldn't be looking if you were holding the cards properly," he retorted, calmly.

I frowned and squinted my eyes at him in an offended manner before shuffling towards Gran more, causing him to raise an eyebrow at me, amusement touching his features.

Gran put down a reverse card, and whenever it was Jai's turn, he played a block card on me. He did so several times and even put down multiple plus two and plus four cards, targeting only me.

I sulked as my eyes raked the cards I had. I was holding around eighteen or fifteen of them, and it was tiring sorting through it all to put down a card that matched the one already played.

I stuck my tongue out like I always did when I was concentrating as I sifted through my cards to see what I could use since it was my turn.

Smiling evilly, I took out a card that I didn't even know I had. My mind suddenly drifted towards the fact that I was actually having fun and seeing his grandma and getting acquainted with her, made me truly ecstatic.

"It's your turn," I heard Jai say in his hoarse voice.

Ignoring my thoughts, I smiled mischievously as I showed Gran my card, making her laugh heartily. Jai looked unimpressed as his eyes darted between us, a glare directed at me.

"Oi, you can't show each other your cards!"

"I just did," I said with an evil giggle. He narrowed his eyes.

"Well, then that better not be what I think it is," he warned me.

I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing when Vidhya put down a plus reverse card.

Take this!

I slapped down a plus four card and laughed whole-heartedly when he grunted in irritation, angrily picking up four cards.

"Touché," he said, his lips pursed in a deadly straight line as he watched me laugh whole-heartedly.

Though he was glaring, it wasn't filled with the intensity of hate or disgust like it used to be.

It was playful.

A lop-sided smile tugged at his lips as Gran said something. I couldn't help but ogle him; a smile suited him really well, better than the glares and the angry snarl.

His strong features were made more prominent by it, his sharp nose and chiseled, angular jaw made him look charming and...exquisite.

Oh my gosh, what's wrong with me?

Though I tried not to, my eyes couldn't help but go back to his face. I admired how long his eyelashes were and how the corners of his eyes crinkled, the smile on his face forcing his eyes to narrow into pleased slits.

Those very eyes were filled with mirth and quiet gladness.

I didn't realise I was staring until his molten irises suddenly locked with mine. I quickly looked away, not wanting him to think anything of it.

Oh no! What if he thinks I like him when I don't?What do–

"Honey?"

A voice cut into my panic-stricken thoughts and I turned to see Gran with a knowing smile on her face.

"It's your turn."

"Oh." I said, lamely. Playing a random card, my hand trembled as I felt a familiar pair of eyes on me.

I kept my chin down, pretending to look at my cards, but then lifted my eyes up to look at him through my eyelashes, timidly.

Jai stared at me for a couple of seconds before tearing his gaze away from me and to the pile of cards in the middle of the deck.

***

"Come with us, gran."

I smiled as Jai grabbed her hand tightly. Gran shook her head, a sad smile on her face.

"I'd love to, but you're a married man now, son. You have your own life and a future. I'm old and I belong here."

"No, you don't," he said, firmly, eyes stern. "You belong with us—your family. I'm not taking no for an answer, gran. You're coming with us whether you like it or not."

Jai tugged at her hand when Gran forcefully removed her hand from his.

"I said no, Jai." She sighed, shaking her head. "My life is here, now. I don't want to be cooped up in your house, doing nothing but feeling sorry for myself. At least I have friends here and get to play games and watch what I want. I don't feel like an old person here, Jai."

"Gran, you can do whatever you want at our place, too. Please."

I watched with my heart twisted. He seemed to be

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net