Ajay's mother very soon returned home and stayed with him as it was much closer to the hospital. The siblings juggled their work to care for her alternately choosing to work-from-home.

His mother was an active lady, and the heart-attack came as a jolt — a reminder that life was pretty unpredictable. Most importantly, it brought about a grim situation for Ajay for his mother insisted him to get married before her time was up. Though he loved her and his sister to death, he was not much inclined to tie the knot.

He often wondered if marriages were inevitable when born in the Indian subcontinent. But now these thoughts were mitigated with the images of his vivacious Anya. Ever since she came into the picture, marriage didn't look like an impossibility but rather a very distant possibility. Yet, he was reluctant to move forward. He saw so many crumbling marriages to come to terms with it.

Ajay was too preoccupied with her thoughts and their mother to talk to Anu about her encounter with Rajendra. Anu was equally preoccupied with thoughts of their mother and unavoidable thoughts of Rajendra to speak to Ajay about Anya.

It was a couple of weeks since Ajay's mother's homecoming, while Mrs Mullapudi rested on her favourite easy-chair, Ajay was working relentlessly on his laptop.

She glanced at his son, "So, Ajay?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you even listening? Not sure why you are always working. I feel like throwing that goddamn laptop and your cell phone outside this very window."

Ajay quirked his brows in amusement at his mother's use of foul language and put his laptop away with a soft sigh. His mother was a force to reckon with, and there was no use denying her his time.

She knew him too well. Before she nagged him out of his wits, it was better to hear her out and find a simple excuse to get out of there. He praised himself about being successfully scarce in his apartment. But that was how his mother functioned, both tender and demanding.

"Tell me. Now, what do you want to talk about, Amma."

She looked at him with a spark in her eyes, and he knew by instinct —it was about some eligible girl that she had found for him. He internally rolled his eyes but wore a poker face to humour his mother.

"I heard from Anu that Anya came to the hospital while I was there. Is something going on between you two that I should know of? She is a delightful child, well-mannered with a clear sense of humour, quite tall and good looking. From her delicacy, I can easily say she can cook well. She has a software job too. Women should have jobs, makes them independent. I think she is right for you."

Ajay froze momentarily at the sound of Anya's name. He lived by her thoughts day in and day out. After she made her intentions clear at the hospital, he did not contact her at least once. This time until he approached her, she would never even look at him. She had sufficiently high self-esteem. He closed his eyes for a moment to overcome this daze and noticed his mother look at him intently.

"Yes, she did come. We are just friends, Amma. Nothing more."

It pained him to claim her as a mere friend. She was much more than that, but he was determined to fight off the attraction he felt for her. He didn't deserve her, and this uncertainty was not something she needed.

"So how is she doing? We should invite her for lunch or dinner sometime," when his mother claimed, oblivious to his discomfort, he wanted nothing but to run out of his house, and breathe in much-needed air.

He never lost his cool over any lady, but Anya made his blood run cold. She brought so much drama and nervous energy to his otherwise bland life.

He somehow controlled himself and answered his mother evenly, "I've not spoken to her much. It's year-end. She must be busy with her work. Not sure if she'll come here. But for the 'nth' time I'm telling you, she is just a friend. I don't have any other intentions towards her, Amma. Please stop nagging me about it."

"Ok fine! At least talk to her and invite her to our place. Don't friends talk or send messages to each other often? You are always on the phone."

Despite the discomfort, he smiled, "Amma, I'm on the phone because of work not for fun."

"Now, don't change the subject and invite her."

"Why only her? I have a few other friends, you know. I could invite Ramesh or my colleagues or college buddies."

"To create a ruckus here and disturb my sense of calm? Then it'll not be a peaceful dinner. It'll be more like a boy's night out. And about Ramesh, ever since the divorce, I've not seen him smile. He should get down to business, put everything behind him and move on. As long as I stay here, I veto that kind of drink-fest at home."

Ajay smiled slyly, "Then I'll definitely invite them over to cheer Ramesh. What do you think? You'll then have one more person at your disposal to inspire with your sage words,"

She arched her brow at him, "You think you are very clever, don't you? You are trying to rile me up with all this nonsense. Let me remind you that we are talking about inviting Anya over."

Ajay took a deep breath, and he knew he couldn't get away this time.

"Amma, it's been ages since we spoke. Not sure if she'll accept my call."

His mother looked at him with furrowed eyebrows when he let go of that information. He was never the one to slip such things about anything. She broached the subject with care, "So what happened? You two fought or something?"

"I don't think we fight. We agree to disagree but never fight. We had nothing much to share and slowly drifted apart."

This was the very reason why he kept his connections strictly at a physical level. He never mixed pleasure with business and never with emotions. The entire womankind aside from his mother and sister were trouble.

Anya was right, to stay close would mean they could develop irrevocable feelings for each other and that simply wouldn't do. Though his heart reminded him that he had pushed her away until she left him, he calmed himself down, inferring that she had left him.

He got up abruptly and went straight to his room leaving behind his indispensable cell phone.

Mrs Mullapudi was too sharp an observer to miss the cues his son posed when a certain girl was mentioned in his presence. She saw him leave his cell phone, which spoke volumes about his present state. She understood that he liked Anya but was too stubborn to admit it to himself. She never thought for a minute that the friendship anything but wilted. She was sure something was going on.

Gradually, her thoughts drifted to Anu. She had accepted long back that Anu was in a better place now. Rajendra was a good man but was too sophisticated and arrogant for his age. Young love is always beautiful. It looked like Rajendra would cherish her dear Anu for life. She was instrumental in Anu's marriage. She encouraged Anu in accepting him when Anu cited her inexperience and ignorance in comparison to Rajendra and was uncertain about the marriage. But Mrs Mullapudi convinced her daughter otherwise, and Anu agreed.

They never fell out of love, but circumstances created a divide. Eventually, the gulf was too big for them to breach. Mrs Mullapudi was a practical person and knew that it was improbable for them to be together. She wouldn't encourage nor discourage if such an instance occurred. It was not her place to take a call, and Anu's best interests would always be at her heart. She would support her daughter in her decisions.

However, Ajay was posing a bigger puzzle than Anu ever did. She was so confused if he was genuinely uninterested in marriage or if he merely felt that it wasn't the right time. She hoped it was the latter. She was very well aware of all the crippled marriages Ajay had witnessed. She thought he was much more sensible than that.

Mrs Mullapudi sighed, she shouldn't have given birth to kids at all, now she was stuck in wanting them to have a happy life, and that stressed her to no-end. Stress was something that came as a packaged deal with parenting, she supposed.

She went back to thinking about her life with Ajay's father, Mr Mullapudi. However, short their time together was she was blessed to have found someone like him in her life. She couldn't just move on from him, not that widow remarriage was common in this conservative society, but still, she couldn't.

She rested her musings when Ajay came back to retrieve his laptop and cell phone. After a second, he sat on the floor, next to her easy-chair, lay his head on her lap and held her tightly.

Though she was taken by surprise at this sudden gesture, she welcomed him in her warm embrace and quietly ruffled his soft jet black hair. She hoped whatever distress he had would get resolved, and her instincts lingered on the beautiful Anya to be the cause of his anguish. She was sure he was very competent in handling work-related pressures without getting burned.

Ajay got lost in his mother's soft caresses. He missed the comfort and solace that only his mother's lap and her small, warm hands provided. Sometimes, he wondered why at all he grew up. He could've left all life-altering decisions in his mother's capable hands, trusting her to make right by him, but now he couldn't. He was a grown-up and for better or for worse had to own up and make his own decisions.

He just wanted to escape from these melancholic feelings and enjoy his mother's love. He was very fortunate to have very good parents, and a loving but slightly annoying sibling though he could remember very little of his time with his father.

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