12-08-2026, 08:37 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-09-2026, 02:08 PM by Authorsunny.)
Chapter 7 – Growing Preferences
16 October 2025 – Thursday
I reached home later than usual. After office three of us from the team had gone to a small Chinese place near the station. Nothing fancy — just noodles and manchurian — but it felt good to sit under bright lights and talk about things other than whats going on at home. By the time I climbed the stairs it was almost nine-fifteen.
The moment I opened the door I knew Azad Bhai was inside, or had been. There was a faint trace of his aftershave in the air, the same one I had noticed the evening I walked in on them near the window. Ma was sitting on the edge of the bed in a cream saree with a dark green blouse. The pallu was dbangd loosely over one shoulder. She was putting her phone down as I entered.
“You’re late,” she said. Her voice was light, almost pleased.
“Went out with some people from office.”
She nodded and stood up. The saree clung to the full roundness of her hips as she moved toward the kitchen corner.
“Azad ji was here,” she said while pouring water. “He brought the exact calculation for this month’s rent. We have to pay only seven thousand.”
I put my bag down slowly.
“Seven thousand?”
“Yes. He said there is no need to stretch when he can help.” She turned and looked at me. “I told him thank you. What else could I say?”
She handed me the glass. Her bangles made a soft sound. The gold chain she had started wearing every day rested in the soft hollow of her throat.
I drank the water and sat on the chair. The folding table was still in the middle of the room. The single tube light made everything look slightly yellow.
“He stays a long time when he comes,” I said.
Ma was already moving back to the bed. She sat down carefully so the saree would not crease too much and looked at me with a calm expression.
“He talks properly. Not like the other men in the building who only stare. He asks about the flat, about whether everything is working, about you also.”
She paused, then added, “He is not a small man, Sunny. This building is his. He has another building also near Jogeshwari. Some shops. People in the area listen when he speaks. So when he says the rent is adjusted, it is adjusted. No one argues.”
The way she described him, the quiet pride in her voice, sat strangely in my chest.
“You talk about him as if he is family.”
Ma smiled a little, the same small smile she used when she thought I was being childish.
“He is the landlord who is helping us. That is all. You’re still so young. You see everything in one way.”
She said it gently, but the correction was clear. I was young. I did not understand. She did.
That night when she changed and lay down on her side, she checked her phone once more before switching off her side of the light. I saw the screen glow for a few seconds. She typed something short and then put the phone under her pillow.
I lay awake listening to the fan and the distant sound of a car starting downstairs. It could have been anyone’s car. It could have been his.
---
16 October 2025 – Thursday
I reached home later than usual. After office three of us from the team had gone to a small Chinese place near the station. Nothing fancy — just noodles and manchurian — but it felt good to sit under bright lights and talk about things other than whats going on at home. By the time I climbed the stairs it was almost nine-fifteen.
The moment I opened the door I knew Azad Bhai was inside, or had been. There was a faint trace of his aftershave in the air, the same one I had noticed the evening I walked in on them near the window. Ma was sitting on the edge of the bed in a cream saree with a dark green blouse. The pallu was dbangd loosely over one shoulder. She was putting her phone down as I entered.
“You’re late,” she said. Her voice was light, almost pleased.
“Went out with some people from office.”
She nodded and stood up. The saree clung to the full roundness of her hips as she moved toward the kitchen corner.
“Azad ji was here,” she said while pouring water. “He brought the exact calculation for this month’s rent. We have to pay only seven thousand.”
I put my bag down slowly.
“Seven thousand?”
“Yes. He said there is no need to stretch when he can help.” She turned and looked at me. “I told him thank you. What else could I say?”
She handed me the glass. Her bangles made a soft sound. The gold chain she had started wearing every day rested in the soft hollow of her throat.
I drank the water and sat on the chair. The folding table was still in the middle of the room. The single tube light made everything look slightly yellow.
“He stays a long time when he comes,” I said.
Ma was already moving back to the bed. She sat down carefully so the saree would not crease too much and looked at me with a calm expression.
“He talks properly. Not like the other men in the building who only stare. He asks about the flat, about whether everything is working, about you also.”
She paused, then added, “He is not a small man, Sunny. This building is his. He has another building also near Jogeshwari. Some shops. People in the area listen when he speaks. So when he says the rent is adjusted, it is adjusted. No one argues.”
The way she described him, the quiet pride in her voice, sat strangely in my chest.
“You talk about him as if he is family.”
Ma smiled a little, the same small smile she used when she thought I was being childish.
“He is the landlord who is helping us. That is all. You’re still so young. You see everything in one way.”
She said it gently, but the correction was clear. I was young. I did not understand. She did.
That night when she changed and lay down on her side, she checked her phone once more before switching off her side of the light. I saw the screen glow for a few seconds. She typed something short and then put the phone under her pillow.
I lay awake listening to the fan and the distant sound of a car starting downstairs. It could have been anyone’s car. It could have been his.
---
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