Chapter 70: chapter 70

SRUTHI

The smug smile slips off his face and he looks guilty confirming my suspicions. With a huff of breath, I push the cart to the next aisle. Which happens to be the section for sanitary napkin. He follows me wordlessly but the mood between us is ruined. I feel foolish and embarrassed. I am angry at him for hiding about this from me.

“I only learned about it recently, Sruthi,” Madhav says.

“How recently?” I ask turning around to face him. He looks guilty and worried.

“A couple of days after the day we got married,” he answers looking at the pack of napkins behind me. Only then does he realize what the shelves contain. It is funny to watch him. A couple of women come into the aisle to buy napkins and Madhav flushes red. It is hard to stay angry with him when he looks so flustered.

“I will go and pick up salt packets,” Madhav mumbles and turns around to go but I catch his wrist. He pauses and turns back to me with a question in his eyes.

“If you don’t want me to stay angry with you, then stay here,” I say in a low voice. There is a challenge in my eyes. He holds my eye for a moment before his lips curve into the smirk that I find both attractive and infuriating. He gives me a nod and stays where he is. I wait for the two women to move to another aisle before talking again, “You know, it is perfectly alright for you to stand here with me in this aisle. There is nothing to be flustered about a sanitary napkin.”

My voice is gentle and soft. I am not judging him for his flustered reaction.

He nods his head, “I know that. But, I have never bought these for anyone in my life. My mother would always buy hers and after she—” he pauses and I nod my head in understanding. He continues, “After her there was no women in my life. As you know my adopted father was a widower when he took me in. So, I have no experience in this area. But, I am willing to learn.”

I smile at him and point to the product I use which as luck would have it happens to be on the top shelf. I can’t reach it without jumping. So, Madhav picks it up. I am glad he isn’t flustered anymore. He drops it into the cart and he frowns at the nearly full cart. He motions for me to hand over the cart to him. When we started, I insisted on pushing the cart because as silly as it sounds, I like pushing the cart around in the shopping market. But, now that the cart is full and we have nearly checked off all the items of our shopping list, I give the cart to him and step aside. He pushes it to the biling counter and we are silent.

Taking a deep breath, I ask him the question burning in my mind, “How did you find out about Praveen? And why?”

Madhav is silent for a few seconds before answering. His voice is careful when he does, “I was angry—no, strike that. I am still angry at that bastard for what he did to you. I wanted to know if there was any connection between him and the attacks.”

“You suspected him?”

Madhav nods his head, “Remember the sniper attack?” I nod and he continues, “Praveen left the place early. So, I had my suspicions and dug deep into him. But then you know what happened on the wedding day. He ran away and we got married but my sources were still investigating him. A couple of days later, I found out he was seeing Pavitra when enaged to you. I wanted to find him and give him a beating when I learned about that. But, he was good at hiding himself and I had other things to focus on, so, I let him go.”

“Why did you hide it from me?”

Madhav laughs, “Seriously Sruthi? You were already wallowing in sadness. I didn’t want to add more to your wounds by telling you that he cheated on you. I didn’t want you to suffer so, I thought it was best unknown to you. But you somehow found out? Didn’t you?”

“I just stalked Pavitra a bit and found out. She had put a post about how she spent a wonderful night with her lover and the said lover was wearing a ring I gave to Praveen on our engagement day. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he was cheating on me.”

“Were you hurt?” Madhav’s voice is gentle as he asks the question.

“I am not going to lie. I was angry when I learnt about it but before I could think more about it, Vishnu attacked me and then you know what happened.”“How do you feel now about it? Do you want me to break that bastard's bones?”I laugh at the seriousness of Madhav's expression. I don't know what prompts me to say the words but I have been meaning to say them to him for sometime, “Thank you so much, Madhav.”He looks stunned for a moment but I continue talking, “But you don't have to go as far as to break the bastard's bones. He isn't worth your time. As for you first question, I don't have an exact answer to it but let's just say that I not am bothered by him or his love life anymore. I am over him. I don't care who he spends his time with. I was just pissed off at you for hiding the truth from me.”“Okay, then the next time I will try not to hide anything from you.”We reach the bill counter and Madhav hands over items slowly from the cart to the employee.  When we are done with the billing, we go back to the car. Madhav starts the car but before he could move ten steps, his phone rings again. Since it is connected to the car's Bluetooth he attends it in loud speaker and the call is from an unknown number but the voice and her words sure aren't.“Baby, I have missed you so much,” the voice sing songs. I feel a sharp and bitter sensation in me. I want to know who this woman is and pull her eyes out for calling my husband ‘baby’.I blink in surprise. Wait, is that jealousy?❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥