I reached home in approximately 30 minutes thanks to the traffic in Mumbai. I went over to the door and rang the bell in hopes that Gia would let me in quickly.

Gia came almost immediately and let me in.

"Alveera, what the hell? Where were you last night?" She whispered.

"I was with Zaid, why are you whispering? And what was the phone call about?" I asked.

"Your mom is over here, that's what's up," she said, in a matter of fact way.

Shit! I forgot about mom. It was graduation week and of course she came over for my graduation. How could I forget? Oh God!

"What?!?!" I asked panicking," what did you tell her about where I was last night?"

"She came this morning, I told her how you went to college to get your graduation transcripts ready," she replied.

I was relieved. Gia was a life saver. Had mom known that I was staying over at my boyfriend's place, she would've killed me.

"Gia beta, kaun hain?" I heard a familiar voice from my room.

Shit! She was in my room, I couldn't change into my not sexy clothes anymore. Fortunately, Gia got me a sweater that I wore over my top to make it look like something a Sanskari-ish girl would wear.

"Mum, it's me," I replied, as I walked into my room.

As soon as mum saw me, she hugged me tightly.

"Beta, I missed you!" She said," what took you so long?"

"Mum, those transcripts took some time to get processed," I said furtively," anyway, forget about that, aap kab ayi?"

She then replied how she wanted to surprise me by being there for my graduation. Boy, I was surprised. She was very happy when she found out how I had gotten into Wharton.

"My perfect bachchi," she said, after she found out about it.

Mum was the coolest. She cooked lunch for Gia and me and spent time with us. I missed her so much. I had not been living with her for the last four years, but these visits really cheered me up. I only wished that dad could make it too. But he had work to do back in Bangalore, so he stayed back with my sister Shaheen. He did send a saree for me though. It had a note that said how I should wear it on my graduation day, and I planned to do just that.

Later that day, my Mum and I decided to go shopping. She was a shopaholic and was not going to miss any opportunity to go to a mall. I missed going out with her, so I complied with her request.

We went to Infiniti where we shopped alot. We even stopped on the streets to have pani puri. I missed days like these so much! That day made me feel like I was 16 again, going around malls with my mother and taking full advantage of her. I wish I could go back to Bangalore at times, live the easier life. But I had to become independent, so moving to Mumbai was the right decision. My parents understood how important it was for me, to be able to live alone, so they supported me throughout.

After we got home, we were both tired and famished. So we decided to freshen up and then have dinner. Gia got takeaway which we had for dinner.

Mom didn't stay up late, so she went to sleep at around 9. Gia and I stayed up late, watching TV shows and talking about life.

We were discussing about Zaid that night and how we has handling my going away rather well. Gia was really fond of Zaid, and rightfully so. He was caring, sweet and extremely nice. He was everything any girl wanted and Gia agreed that he was all that.

Gia had always been a little tough on my boyfriends. She always looked out for me and so, when she saw that I was treated badly in any relationship, she would make her disliking towards my boyfriends very obvious. Zaid never gave her any reason to complain fortunately.

After we were done hanging out, Gia and I went back to our respective rooms to sleep.

THE NEXT MORNING

The next morning, I woke up to the sight of my mom cleaning my room. Oh God! Mummy.

"Mummy, aap yahan bhi cleaning mein busy hain?" I asked laughing.

"Your room is so dirty Alveera, how do you live here?" She asked, clearly agitated.

"Arreh mom, leave it," I requested, " let's go and have breakfast."

She reminded me how I had slept till 2pm and how normal people had lunch at that hour. Typical mum and her banter. I only laughed as I realized how much I had missed it. So I got up and got ready for the day.

That day was a little boring. Gia went out while me and mum stayed in watching TV. She watched 'Humsafar' and marveled at Fawad Khan's features while I just lay beside her texting Zaid.

Zaid: Your mom is in town? Introduce nahin karwana?

Me: Yeah, but I don't know how to do it. Do I just randomly bring it up?

Zaid: lol I don't know. Should I come over? I miss your pretty face.

Me: NO! let me talk to her first. ;)

Zaid: I love you.

Me: love you too. Xo

I was lost in my thoughts when my mum spoke.

"Beta, who is this Zaid?" She asked casually.

"Where'd you hear that name?" I asked, getting up, extremely nervous.

"Nahin, I overheard you and Gia last night," she replied calmly.

"Mom, I was going to tell you about him, I just didn't know how to bring him up," I replied.

Mom reacted a lot more calmly compared to how I expected her to react. That didn't stop me from cursing myself under my breath though.

"When am I meeting this 'friend' of yours?" She asked with a smile.

"If you want, we can meet him for dinner tonight?" I replied.

She was okay with it. So that was done. My mom was meeting my boyfriend. Oh God. I was so nervous. I was hyperventilating when I got into my room. Would she like him? Will she have a problem with our dating? Were questions that haunted my mind.

Then, I finally decided to text Zaid.

Me: Z, mum wants to meet you.

Zaid: What? Today? Okay that's sudden. It's okay to be a little nervous, right?

Me: I don't know, mum never met any of my boyfriends before. I don't know anything.

Zaid: Al, calm down. I'll come over and pick you guys up for dinner. Dinner's on me.

Me: Are you sure? I mean, we can split

Zaid: Don't worry about it. You just look sexy 😏

Me: Shut up! You try to look decent. Bye love you.

Zaid: love you too babe.

"Please like him Mom, Please like him," I prayed as I waited for our anticipated dinner.

Alveera's mom is played by Soni Razdan.