《Short Recap》

I let out a content a sigh as I watched our parents drowned in animated retellings of their college anecdotes and bittersweet memories. All the people I loved were under one roof, happy and bursting with life.

And under the soft golden glow of the fairy lights strung around the house I felt my heart warm up too.

●○●

Three weeks.

That's twenty one days, five hundred and four hours, thirty thousand two hundred and forty minutes and almost two million seconds.

It felt like a lifetime, at least it would be if I was a drone ant.

Vinay had picked Cornell after days of studying course objectives and career prospects along with the budget planning aspects. His first semester started in four weeks and he was leaving a week in advance to settle in and get familiar with New York.

But three weeks felt too short to mentally prepare myself. They'd be gone before I knew it, taking Vinay with them.

I wanted what was best for him but I hated the fact that Vinay was going halfway across the globe. And I really wanted to spend more time with him, cherish every second we had left but making time for us was becoming close to impossible ever since we'd put twenty five percent of our company shares up on the share market.

I felt immensely guilty and my mind had become a farrago of contradictions.

Honestly, the only time we spent with each other was breakfast which was a quick and quiet affair and at night when we shared the same bed, a tangled mess of arms and legs as I slept away the daylong exhaustion. The physical proximity felt like a bleak compensation for the fact that we never had time for any impromptu dates and lazy Sundays anymore. The lack of conversation in itself was jarring.

"Did you find an error in that proposal, Akira?" Neel asked, leaning over my shoulder to take a peek at the open document on my laptop screen.

I jolted out of my train of thoughts and I turned to him with a bewildered expression before composing myself quickly.

"No, no it's all right." I replied with a slight shake of my head, "I was just about to send them a confirmation and schedule a meeting as soon as possible. Would you like to go over the proposal yourself?"

"No, I'm sure you have it worked out." Neel replied, grabbing a chair and sitting in front of me, "But I do want to know what's going on in your mind."

I shrugged my shoulders in response, hoping that he would let it slide.

"Akira?" he asked again, his voice filled with concern, "Talk to me."

I massaged my temple gently before slumping lower in my seat.

"Does Lara ever get annoyed that you spend so much time working and you don't have time to give her anymore?" I asked with a sigh.

"Oh she totally does," Neel answered, shifting his gaze to the floor pensively, "It's pretty much the subject of all our fights. But if you think about it there's not much I can do to help it."

I nodded my head wordlessly before swinging my chair around.

"We do try to make the best of our time together though." He started, "I quit the basketball team and I try to spend the entire college day with her. It's great that we're in the same course lectures."

I hummed in response.

Vinay and I weren't even in the same classes. His current course was BTech in Electronics and Communication while mine was a BTech in Computer Science.

"Wait this isn't about me, is it?" Neel dragged his chair closer, "I have a feeling Vinay's going out of his way to act like a drama queen."

"That's the thing, he's not." I frowned, looking away, "He's trying to be understanding. I can see it. And I can see that he hates the fact that I have to work late with Harsh in the same room almost every day. But he's not saying anything because the two of them are finally trying to mend their relationship."

Neel leaned back in his chair and pulled his mouth into a thin line.

"I honestly don't know what to do." I said, my voice cracking slightly, "He's only going to be here for three more weeks and we don't even have the time to have a decent conversation anymore. And whenever we're together, I can almost feel the tension of unsaid words straining the air between us and I have no idea how to make it right. God! I feel like such an idiot."

Neel got up and hugged from the side as I let out a quiet sob and fidgeted with my fingers.

"It's six fifteen right now." He said, glancing at the clock in the corner of my laptop screen, "Why don't you go home now? It'll be a well deserved break for you and for him too."

"I'll just finish reviewing this proposal before leaving." I pulled away from Neel and smiled weakly.

"No, not at all Akira." He grunted exasperatedly, "You're going home right now and I'll go over that proposal. Now shoo!"

"Are you sure?" I asked reluctantly.

"Akira, get lost before I decide I don't want to sacrifice my video gaming hour for you."

"Right." I chuckled, pushing down my laptop screen and gathering my stationary, "Bye. And thank you Neel!"

I made my way out of our makeshift office on the college campus excitedly, a light skip in my step as I brought out my phone and texted Vinay that i was on my way home.

My phone began to ring less than a minute later, his caller id flashing on the screen.

"What happened?" Vinay asked in a panicked tone before I could say a word, "Are you sick or is it your period? I'll come and pick you up."

I chuckled loudly enough for him to hear.

"No, Neel was kind enough to cover for me at work so I'm coming home early. It's been ages since we simply hung out." I said, contemplating his response, "And I happen to get my period only once a month. Thank the bloody heavens for that!"

Vinay snorted on the other side of the phone line and I imagined his eyes crinkling at the corners.

"Okay then," he answered, "I'll go take a shower and wait for you. Don't take too long."

"Yep." My lips stretched up to my ears, "Twenty minutes max."

I made a small a slight detour from my usual route home and walked to the small bakery opposite the old dusty bus depot that always sold a variety freshly baked bread and cakes.

The sweet, mouth-watering aroma of oven fresh chocolate cake greeted me as I entered the bakery.

A middle-aged Muslim man wearing a crisp white skull cap greeted me with a small smile. He'd been in the shop every single time I'd come here but I still didn't know his name. In fact, I didn't think I'd ever heard his voice before.

The first thing that I noticed was that the bakery was oddly empty today. I knew their footfall on an average weekday was close to a solid hundred because of their prime location, delicious baked goods and moderately low pricing. It was an old shop, the kind of place that had been run by the same family for generations.

"Not many people today." I surmised aloud as I paid for half a pound of chocochip banana cake.

The man's crinkly eyed, warm smile faltered and he glanced out at the parked buses nervously.

"Haven't you heard?" he asked in throaty whisper, glancing behind me again.

I narrowed my eyes questioningly before turning around. At that moment it struck me that the bus depot across the wide street was empty too, most of the buses were parked and a group of men wearing their khaki driver's uniforms were gathered near the ticket dispensing booths.

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other as I turned to look at the baker again.

"They're going to protest about the rise in diesel prices today." He answered the question before it left my tongue, "Apparently the municipal corporation is also holding back their salaries for this month to discipline them."

Before I could respond, a loud crashing sound cut through the air. A similar sound followed soon after. I looked over my shoulder in panic to see the men running in all directions armed with broken hockey sticks and crowbars, smashing everything they could see in the depot.

I gasped loudly as a couple of men dragged some rubber tyres and began burning them in the middle of the road, roaring out slogans in the local dialect.

My feet remained rooted to the scrubbed granite floor of the bakery as the baker jumped over the counter swiftly and pulled the shutter of the shop down.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I asked in the boldest voice I could muster, as my hands began to shake with fear, "I need to get out of her before this protest worsens."

My mind invariably jumped to the worst case scenarios as the man closed down the shop locking the two of us inside.

"Not now." The man shook his head, eyeing me with disbelief, "Those men are very aggressive and it's not a good idea to step out right now. They'll probably barge into this shop and vandalize it if they see it open."

I sucked in a deep breath and squinted out through a small gap in the aluminium shutter. More men had joined now and the faint sound of sirens announced the arrival of the police.

The crowd went wild on hearing the sound- running rabidly, their screams becoming louder.

I remained frozen in my spot and it felt like eternity before my brain decided to do something sensible.

I fished out my phone from my oversized tote only to find that I had four percent of the battery remaining. As I opened the messenger app and began to type out a message to Vinay, explaining the fix I'd walked into, my phone decided that it didn't remotely cate about my wellbeing and chose to drop dead.

"Dammit!" I cursed, throwing it back into my bag.

I was about to ask the baker who was now seated on the floor behind the counter for his phone when I realised that I didn't know Vinay's phone number by heart.

You'd think I'd know my boyfriend's darned number by heart with my memory!

"Does this bakery have a backdoor?" I asked leaning over the counter and peering at the man who was now praying with his palms towards his face and fingers pointing upwards.

He nodded silently, hastily finishing his prayer before pointing towards the kitchen.

"I wouldn't go out from there if I were you." He stated gravely, "Just wait for a couple of hours, the police will take care of the mob. This isn't the first time something like this has occurred."

My eyes widened of their own accord when he said hours.

I wanted to get back home. Scratch that, I needed to get home. Vinay was probably sick with worry by now. Ughh! To think I expected this evening to be perfect.

Pursing my lips, I shook my head.

"I really need to go." I said determinedly, "Please show me the way out."

The man stared at me incredulously with an unreadable expression but nodded after a moment's hesitation. He motioned for me to follow him into the kitchen.

In the kitchen, he retrieved a loaf of fresh brown bread that was still warm and wrapped it in brown paper before handing it to me.

"No takers for stale bread. I have to bake fresh loaves tomorrow anyway." He shrugged when I raised a brow, "Take it."

I brought out my wallet but he refused to take extra money.

He led me to the door and scanned the deserted street before allowing me to step out.

I turned around to thank him, but the door was already fastened when I looked behind.

"Thank you." My words hung in the eerily static air.

Before I could scan my surroundings properly, a loud thud at the far end of the lane had shivers running down my spine in irregular bursts. Without thinking, I ran in the opposite direction hoping to get away unnoticed.

I didn't dare to look behind a single time as the sound of the wind whistling against my eardrums drowned out the beseeching pleas of the wronged bus drivers.

I ran two entire miles nonstop to my apartment complex, adrenaline raging through my dilated veins and my paper bag of cake flailing around like an extra limb, with the sole objective of getting back to my cocoon of safety. I covered the distance in seven minutes.

As I stood outside my flat door, breathing in short pants that sounded more like wheezes, I closed my eyes and smiled to myself before rapping on the closed door.

The door opened revealing a hard faced Vinay. He looked like he had been about to head out.

"Bus stand....mob. They got violent...started burning tyres." I gasped at the same time that Vinay seethed, "You should have fucking..."

"Fuck, Akira!" he paused, taking in my utterly frazzled appearance before pulling me into a tight hug, "Why didn't you fucking call me?"

"I tried." I mumbled into his shirt, as I breathed in his scent and revelled in the warmth of his embrace.

Shutting the front door, Vinay took my bags and dropped them on the sofa before pulling me into the living room.

"What the fuck were you doing near the bus stand, Akira?" he asked, his expression painted with worry as he searched my face, "Warnings of the protest have been all over the news today."

"I wanted uh..." I started in an unsure tone but was cut off again as Vinay hugged me tightly again.

I feel like I was lucky my blood circulation hadn't stopped completely yet.

"For someone as smart as you are, you can be so stupid sometimes!" he gritted through his teeth.

Cupping my chin lightly he angled my face upwards and pressed his lips to mine, just a light graze at first as. Like he was asking for permission.

Smiling against his mouth I lifted my body on my toes and threw one hand around his neck pulling him closer and caressed his cheek with the other.

Our baby pecks slowly began to become longer and more sensual as days of frustration, bottled emotions and unsaid words flowed out unchecked like a flood from a broken dam in monsoon.

Until that moment I didn't realise how much I craved this intimacy and proximity. It made me forget everything else, and even though just for a moment- it made me feel alive.

Science may explain that this blissful feeling was a result of spurts of dopamine and serotonin but logic lines always seemed to blur every time I was with Vinay. To me it as just the irreversible chemistry of our souls intertwining and complementing each other seamlessly.

As we pulled away gasping for air, I shifted my gaze to meet Vinay's. We stared at each other wordlessly for a few seconds before bursting out into laughter a simultaneously.

"You went to get that disgusting banana cake didn't you?" Vinay asked, raising his brow.

"Am I that predictable?" I groaned, falling onto the couch in an ungraceful heap.

"When it comes to bananas, yes, you are." He shook his head, "I fucking swear to God, your obsession with bananas is going to get you killed some day."

"Whatever." I said, pulling a face at him as he settled down next to me.

Shaking his head, Vinay picked up the paper bag from the floor and pulled out the bread and cake, eyeing the banana cake with distaste and placed them on the kitchen counter.

I leaned back and rested my head against the back of the couch, my eyes watching Vinay as he poured out a glass of water.

His back was facing me and I thought he lingered in the kitchen for a few seconds longer than he intended to.

I don't know why but all of a sudden Vinay seemed to be on edge about something. My mouth dropped into a faint frown.

He turned around to face me slowly, still standing next to the kitchen counter.

"Akira, we need to talk." He said, his face hardening and instantly masking the emotions that clouded his eyes.

●○●

Ok, first of all this story will end in a couple of chapters from now.

I feel like I'm rushing the ending but I want to complete the story soon and move on to other projects now. I might come back end think of extending it later although I think that's highly unlikely.

So if you guys want bonus chapters or Vinay's pov for any of the chapters until now drop a comment here -->>

Please vote, comment, share and don't forget to spread the love!❤

QOTD: Since I don't know much about Thanksgiving except for the turkey feast part do feel free to educate me. I love cultural exchange!

PS: ^^I felt like a history teacher when I wrote that :p