Chapter 2: Dev's Life

The day started with Dev taking charge as the company’s IT Project Lead. He introduced himself to his team and spent a while getting to know them in return. He laid out plans on how to get things moving.  

***

Past noon, Dev exited the conference room after a long session with his team. He ordered lunch on his way to his cabin and was about to enter when his phone rang.  

“Hello beautiful,” he answered as he walked through the door.  

“Busy?” A sweet voice responded from the other end. 

“I was, just got free. And now, I’m waiting for my lunch. You?” He plopped onto his chair, making it creak. 

“I’m done long back, you know me.” 

“Of course, we’ve been on countless breakfast, lunch, and dinner dates together. How wouldn’t I know?” 

She chuckled at that. “So how was your day?” she asked, and he narrated the day’s events like an excited little kid. 

Soon, she came to the point. “There's a wonderful alliance for you, by the way. Just came in yesterday. They would like to meet us sometime this weekend.” 

His face darkened. “Not possible,” he stated bluntly and typed out a mail with the phone wedged in between his shoulder and ear. Clearly, he wasn’t interested at all. “Tons of meetings,” he added to not sound rude. 

“But that’s what you said the last time too!” she protested.  

“I had interviews at that time, remember?” 

“And after that?” 

“After that I was busy.” 

“Dev…” she began in a disappointed tone.  

“Ma, can we talk about this later? Wrong time to eat my head!” He rattled away at the keyboard. 

Yep, he was talking to his dear mother all this while. There was a brief silence before she spoke again. “When?” she asked, the disappointment evident in her voice. 

“Later, but not today. Not this week.” He wished he hadn’t said the last part. 

“What is your intention?” she lashed outright.  

Pausing briefly, he noted the growing anger, frustration, and disappointment in her voice. He rolled away from his desk, held the phone properly, and leaned back on his chair, sighing. “You want me to get married, isn’t it? So, do me a favor and hold onto your horses. When the time is right, I will.” 

“And when is that? You’re thirty-four!”  

“You sound like I’m in my sixties,” he scoffed. 

“…Well, I definitely am,” she snapped.  

“And you’ll live to be a hundred, I’ll make sure of that.” 

“Be serious, Dev! I want you to get settled and have a companion.” 

“Which I find absolutely unnecessary when I’ve got a sexy girlfriend like you.”  

“Shut up! At least now, get serious!” 

“Okay!” He pursed his lips.  

“Why can’t you understand? Life is so unpredictable. I will not be around forever.” 

“And you’re certain that I will be?” 

She responded with an irritated sigh, and then, uncomfortable silence followed, a silence of contemplation, one that reawakened bitter memories. Life was unpredictable indeed, and no one could state that better than the Chaudhary’s.  

Dev was nine when his father, Amit, an army officer, was killed in action on the border. He still remembered that fateful day as fresh as his waking life. When the terrible news had reached them, he’d watched his mother crumble at the doorway. 

A knock on his door brought him out of his thoughts.  

Dev looked up to see the delivery boy with his lunch. He waved two fingers, gesturing him to enter. The guy zipped in, placed his lunch on the table and cleared out quickly, almost as if he could smell the looming tension. 

“Hello?” Dev finally spoke, to which he heard the line abruptly end.  

***

The sun sank below the horizon, making the sky gleam a bright orange with the silhouettes of people, vehicles, buildings, and other structures against it.   

Dev was on his way home in another train. This time, luck favored him with a seat near the window. Looking exhausted and crummy, but happy, he sat resting his head on the bars and stared dreamily at the sights whizzing past. His first day at work was uneventful but thrilling, nevertheless. He was entrusted with a big responsibility – to shoulder the company’s overseas projects. Though this was something he’d done before, it was still different in the case that he had a bigger team to handle, around twenty-five engineers locally and ten abroad to be precise. It gave him a really satisfying, important feeling.  

Coming to it, his job was fab, but not the commute. It was torture and sapped out his time and energy. This can’t go on, he calculated, need to find an apartment that’s closer to work, after that I can get mom over too.  

Back home, she led a solitary life with none for company. She had two sons – Vikas and Dev, of which the older one, Vikas, had moved out with his wife after marriage. And then, it was just her and Dev for a while. But now…  

Dev was concerned. He didn’t want her to be alone. She was old and had medical issues. Besides, loneliness tended to remind her of Amit.  

Dev was academically bright and scored well in college. He had attractive offers from MNC’s but taking them up would have meant leaving his mother behind all alone, and he didn’t want that. It was through a lot of effort that he found this job that was closer to home. Closer in the sense, he still had to stay elsewhere. Somewhere that was much closer to work. So, for the time being, he found a dingy, congested apartment and shared it with another guy just like him.  

He observed a familiar station zip past and looked down at his watch. 6:45 PM.  

The train slowed down at the crossing and his eyes drifted off to the beautiful young lady he had seen in the morning. She was busy again, but this time, she was getting the chickens into their coop. Is this what she does all day? Dev snickered.  

***

At 7:30 PM, there was a knock on the door of the Chaudhary’s residence, and Mrs. Amala Chaudhary (Dev’s mom) answered it.  

It was a delivery boy holding a bouquet of red roses. “Mrs. Amala Chaudhary?” he asked.  

“Yes?” 

“This is for you,” he said and handed it across.  

“For me? Who sent this?” she asked curiously and spotted a tag on the bouquet. It had a winking emoji and a “Guess Who?” scribbled onto it. She sighed and smirked. That handwriting… she’d recognize it anywhere.  

***

Meanwhile, Dev was fresh and all set for some dinner he’d prepared – two chapatis, salads, and a few large chunks of boiled chicken. Yes, he was a fitness freak and a not-so-bad cook. His roommate was yet to get back from work. 

He had slipped into a comfortable pair of tracks and a t-shirt for the evening. When he sat down at the table, a notification popped up on his phone.  

Your order has been delivered @ 7:30 PM to Mrs. Amala Chaudhary 

“Perfect,” he mumbled, smirking.  

As soon as he said that, his phone started ringing. It was a call from his mother. He allowed it to ring at will. “Posture, Dev, posture,” he instructed himself. On the seventh ring, he put up the most pitiable face and answered it. “Hello?” he said unenthusiastically.  

“Where are you?” she asked rather calmly. From her tone, he could make out that she was smirking.  

“Home. Why?” He kept a straight face. 

“Nothing. Got the flowers, that’s all.” 

“Flowers? What flowers?” He asked innocently, biting down on his lip to suppress the smile. 

“My foot!” She snapped. 

Dev burst out laughing. 

“Don’t laugh,” she said rather crossly, “I don’t find anything funny.” 

“Okay, fine!” Dev caught a grip on himself.

“I’ve been after you for quite a while, and you’ve been doing great making a monkey out of me!”

Dev sighed, exasperated. “Why are you so hell-bent on getting me married? I’ve told you, I don’t want to get into this now. When the time’s right, I will. As of now, I’ve got a dream, and I want to reach there before committing to anything else. You know how hard I’d worked for that. And, I also want that whoever comes into our life, accepts you. I can’t leave you behind and walk out like Vikas.” At that, his voice trailed away. Things weren’t well between Vikas and them, Vikas’ wife and their mother, to be precise. Common in-law wars. Eventually, Vikas and his wife moved out before the entire family tree bit the dust.  

Amala sighed, giving in. “Fine. What’s for dinner?” 

“Chicken,” he stated and immediately, he was reminded of her – the strange, beautiful girl and her pet chickens. He paused, smiling, wondering why she even came to his mind. A strong urge to discuss her with his mother brewed inside him. 

Despite being on a voice call, his mother sensed him smiling. “What?” she asked rather sternly.  

Tell her, a voice in his head demanded, but…  

“Nothing,” he nodded, smiling.  

Just tell her, the voice insisted again.  

But for what, he countered. There’s nothing important to be discussed about her.  

“Then?” came his mother’s voice, snapping him out of his thoughts.  

“Nothing,” he repeated. “I want to kiss you, that’s all.” 

“Go and sleep,” she chuckled.  

***