Chapter 3

AADHI

Everyone was asleep even though it was late since it was Sunday. But I couldn't sleep. There were two reasons.

One was that it became a habit for me to wake up early in the morning daily and the other one was that I couldn't sleep after what happened last night.

I don't know about you, but this marriage happened without my interest. So I was thinking about getting divorced after a few months.

You don't have to worry about your family or mine. I will take full responsibility; I will tell them it was my fault.

We will come up with the reason when the time comes. You just need to sign the papers. What do you say?"

It was quite a shock for me. It wasn't even a week since we were married.

Of course, this marriage happened without my consent, and I didn't want to live with him as his wife, but I wasn't interested in divorcing him either.

Oh my God, what am I even thinking?

I didn't reply, so he continued, "I know it's kind of sudden for you, but you don't have to give me an answer now. You can take your time and tell me whenever you want."

After that, there was this awkward silence except for his laptop keypad. He was doing some work, and I couldn't sleep.

I was afraid to turn around, but my body hurt from lying in this position too long. I started wiggling in place without turning around.

"Aadhi?" He must have noticed me.

I stopped moving and pretended to be sleeping. I didn't want to deal with him and all those thoughts in my head.

"I know you are not sleeping so look at me." His tone was kind of bossy and annoying but still, I didn't respond.

"You can come up and sleep in here. We can share the bed, I trust you that you wouldn't dare to misbehave."

What the...?

I turned around to say something to him, but there was this smirk on his face and I developed an urge to throw my pillow at him.

I gave him a glare that made him laugh. He didn't even try to control his laugh. I decided to continue my silent treatment and turned to lie down again.

"I am sorry. I am sorry for the way I behaved that night."

That made me turn around and look at him.

"I am sorry, okay? I know that you don't trust me, but I don't know what else to say. I don't usually behave like that.

We don't have to be a husband and wife, but we can be good friends, right? There is a lot of space here.

We can share the bed and I promise I won't misbehave but if you don't want to share, I will leave to the terrace, and you can sleep here.

What do you want me to do?" He looked at me questioningly, expecting me to say something.

I easily forgive people who apologize wholeheartedly. I knew he was truly sorry for what he did, and on top of it, I wanted to sleep in the bed because my body was hurting.

I just went up and made myself comfortable without answering. He stood there confused thinking what to do because I hadn't answered him about whether he could stay here or should leave.

After a minute or so he prepared to leave. Even then I didn't say anything.

When he reached the door, I turned around and said with a smirk, "You can come and sleep here. We can share, I trust you that you wouldn't dare to misbehave."

He should have realized that I made him get out of bed because of the smirk on his face and what he said earlier. I liked to play with people sometimes. It excited me.

I knew he was smiling, I could feel that but he didn't say anything. He just came back to the bed and lay down beside me. I didn't know when I drifted off to sleep after that.

***

In the morning, still lying on the bed, I started thinking about what he said and about the answer that I should give him.

After making myself miserable thinking about that, I decided to ignore him until he asked again. I would postpone the decision until the last moment. Then I decided to get up and start my day.

Eventually, everyone woke up and started their routines. As it was Sunday, everyone decided to go for an outing.

The rule in this family was that no one was allowed to go to work or anywhere on weekends as it was family time.

Every weekend they did something like a movie, shopping or dinner. As I was the new family member and this was my first Sunday with them, they planned something special but not too big.

Mom, Dad, and Bharathi started discussing where to go, I sat there listening to them because I had no idea about this place. My hometown is far from here.

While they were discussing, he came out of the room carrying his coffee cup, switched on the TV, and made himself comfortable on the couch without acknowledging anyone.

He was not perfect, but he was attractive. He had a pretty face and was everything a girl could want.

He had beautiful eyes that could lure you in no matter how far you wanted to go away from him and a heart-melting smile that you could lose yourself in.

Even though I wanted to throw something at his face whenever he smirked, I couldn't deny the fact that I liked it. But I was not going to say that to him.

I didn't realize I was staring at him until I saw him winking at me.

Oh my God, he knows I am gawking at him. Of course, I am, but I don't want to talk about it. What a cocky bastard...

Finally, everyone decided that we would go to the beach. The thing is, I don't really like

beaches.

I don't know why, but I don't like to be in the saltwater. It's kind of salty and makes your body sticky, and you have to stay like that until you get back home.

It could be fun with your friends and siblings but with older people and with no company (my husband is not good company at this moment) the beach seemed kind of boring.

"Mom, are you going to sit there doing nothing, eating snacks, and watching everyone? It's kind of boring, Ma," my husband said as if he read my mind.

I smiled to myself. He was thinking the same as me.

"Then you choose, Kutty. Where do you want to go?" Mom asked him. He thought about it for a minute and said, "It's okay...let's go to the beach." I was shocked and turned to look at him.

He is smirking at me. So he did this on purpose. He must have noticed me looking relieved when he said no to the beach. What an annoying idiot!

As I thought, it was boring. Bharathi saw some of her friends at the beach and joined them. Mom and Dad sat on the sand comfortably and conversed with each other, admiring nature.

They left us alone because we were a newly married couple but I have no idea where my husband went. He left to get some snacks or something.

I sat a little far from Mom and Dad, watching them. They still acted like a newly married couple.

I could see that they love each other even now like the first day. I always dreamed of this kind of love. But what can I say, I guess I got unlucky.

When I turned to look at the other side of the beach, my husband was already there watching his parents.

I wasn't sure if he was admiring them as I did, because there was this sadness in his eyes. He averted his eyes to look at me. Our eyes locked on each other. This time he didn't look away.

He looked into my eyes as if boring a hole. There was sadness, expectations, and other emotions that I couldn't decipher. I didn't avert my eyes either.

I was curious to know what he was thinking. I tried to get my answers through his eyes.

I read somewhere that eyes speak more words than lips. That is true, but the problem is I couldn't understand what his eyes said.

His eyes were calling me to him, maybe I was delusional but regardless, I started walking toward him as if I was in a trance and his eyes were controlling me.

The moment I reached him and sat beside him, he got up and walked away.

It hurt me, but then I realized it was my mistake. Maybe he wanted to be alone and I had invaded his privacy.

So, I just sat there looking at the ocean for hours, thinking how familiar this view looked.

I didn't know how long I was sitting there like someone who had lost their mind. After some time, I felt someone sitting beside me. I knew who it was.

"A penny for your thoughts," he said.

I didn't turn around. I wanted to say that it was none of his business.

"I know you won't open your mouth to talk. So I thought maybe you would open your mouth for this?"

I turned to look at him. He had two ice creams in his hand. I forgot everything he did and smiled at him.

There was this smirk of victory on his face. I didn't want to lose my dignity for just ice cream, so I turned away.

My mind tempted me. But it's your favourite flavour, who cares about your dignity?

"You know what? I am just accepting this because it will be a waste when it melts, and you can't eat two." There goes my dignity.

"It's okay if you don't want to, I can manage to eat two," he said with a smug look and that stupid smirk

I was officially angry. No one denied me ice cream, so I tried to snatch it from his hand but he got away. He was teasing me.

Oh God, why does my weakness have to be ice cream of all things? I am so frustrated now.

Giving him an angry glare, I turned to go away but he caught my wrist and gave me the ice cream, controlling his laughter.

I snatched it from him and started eating. When the cool chocolate ice cream slid from my mouth to my throat I let out an involuntary moan.

I heard a chuckle but I didn't care. I concentrated on my ice cream. My ice cream and me. No one comes between us.

But I couldn't stop myself smiling upon hearing his laugh. It was contagious, I didn't know if it was his laugh or the ice cream that made me happier.

After finishing dinner in a restaurant, we returned home. Everyone was tired and went straight to bed, but I couldn't sleep.

I turned around to see him sleeping peacefully. I felt like combing his hair with my hands but was afraid of waking him up.

Watching him sleep, I felt an unknown pull toward him. That was when I knew that I was attracted to him.

I suffered a lot in the past. I thought I would never even bat an eye for another man in my life.

Yes, I was in love once. I thought I was incapable of that feeling anymore. Slowly, I drifted off to sleep...to my own dreamland...