Circle of Trust

Chapter 9

Naina woke up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. She stretched her aching limbs and stifling a yawn, sat up on the bed. Brushing her hair off her eyes, she peeked at the person smiling down at her.

“Good morning, beautiful,” Varun greeted his sleepy wife. Placing the tray with her coffee on the bedside table, he sat facing her. He leant forward and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead making her smile.

“Morning?” she mumbled, shifting closer to him. Burying her face into the crook of his neck, she discretely sniffed his cologne. “You showered?” She looked up questioningly into his eyes.

The blinds were still drawn and the room looked relatively dark for it to be morning yet.  He usually showered after he came back from the morning run so it surprised her that he already did.

“Yes. What time do you think it is?” he teased.

Her eyes grew wide, and Naina lunged for the alarm clock and peeked at it. 8 o’ clock. Unbelievable. She shook the clock hard and looked up at her husband, whose shoulders shook with silent laughter.

“Raj…” she cried and shot up off the bed, wearing nothing but her husband’s shirt. “Tell me it’s not working,” she pleaded and rushed into the bathroom.

Pulling her unruly hair up into a top knot, she grabbed her toothbrush and applying the mint toothpaste, she stuck it into her mouth. Relieving herself in the pot as quickly as she could, she rushed to the sink to finish brushing her teeth. She splashed water onto her face, mentally calculating the time it would take for her to get Ria ready and drive her to school in time. She had half an hour; she could do it.

Thrusting her brush into the stand, she looked up into the mirror.

Good heavens! A nightmarish version of her blinked back at her - her glossy hair was gone and a hideous replica of medusa curls poked out of her head. Her eyes were wild as if she had ingested drugs by sticking needles right into her retina. They were blood shot just like her cheeks. Were they on fire? Her lips were swollen as if they had been bitten and sucked on repeatedly. Remembering the night before, she flushed and caught her husband’s eye in the mirror. He was biting his lip, but had a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

“Not funny, Raj. What the hell did you do to me?” she accused, but couldn’t hide the tremor that rocked her entire body.

His eyebrows shot up. “You want to see my back or my arms,” he said, rolling his short sleeves all the way up.

She blushed and tried to brush past him but he held her back. “Move Raj, Ria is already late to school. Thanks to you, I have only half an hour to get her there.”

“Okay. I’ll let you pass once you give me back my shirt.” He held her by the front of his shirt and pulled her closer to him.

“You can have it back when I find something to change into.” She looked around the bathroom for a spare nightie or tee but found nothing but a set of towels neatly stacked in the glass cabinet.

She grabbed one off the shelf, and Varun snatched it from her hands and flung it to the wet floor.  Naina huffed and took another only for it to land on the floor beside the first one.

“Raj…stop being a child,” she scolded, reaching for the third one.

Varun wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against his chest and growled into her ears, “Trust me, I don’t feel like a child, right now.” 

“Raj, please,” her voice was more of plea for him to continue as his arms brushed against her aching breasts. She moaned and tilted her head back to rest on his shoulder.