My Life is a Soap Opera

11. Knight in shining armour

There stood Mrs. White with a hand on her mouth and a horrified and pained expression on her face.

Ritwik's jaw ticked. He pulled away maintaining eye contact with her. Her eyes flitted from him to me and back to him. She breathed heavily as she took in our disheveled state.

I fixed myself quickly as footsteps made their way upstairs. My eyes landed on the discarded panjabi. I quickly grabbed it and threw it at him. He put it on. The whole time his eyes didn't leave hers.

"What happened?!" Ritwik's mother's voice didn't faze either of them. They continued to stare at each other and I stood there awkwardly as the family appeared at the doorway.

"Dyuti, what are doing here? Shouldn't you be in Kaju's room?" Pratyush asked.

Where the fuck were all of you when I was looking for Meenu's room?

"Yeah. I was looking for Meenu's room."

"What? Why?" Surya asked.

"I'm supposed to stay with her."

"No. You're supposed to stay with Kaju." Ritwik stated.

"You didn't know? What, you two didn't get time to talk?" Mrs. White hissed.

"What happened?" Surya's mother asked.

"Why is the food on the floor?" One of the older men asked. He wasn't Mr. Debashish Sinha, so not Surya's dad. Probably Kaju's dad or maybe some family friend.

"She slipped." Ritwik answered.

"And why is she here? What are you doing in my son's room?!" Ritwik's mother grit out.

"You're not supposed to be sharing a room with him yet. You shouldn't be here." Ritwik's grandfather said.

"I couldn't find Meenu's room. So, I came up the stairs like Ritwik di-"

"You thought that the servant quarters would be on the same floor as Babu's room?" Kaju's mother interrupted rudely.

"No, I was hoping he could help me."

"He was helping you, alright. Just not to find Meenu's room." Mrs. White glared at me.

"What do you mean, Mishti Bouma? What did you see?" Ritwik's grandfather's eyebrows scrunched curiously.

"Yes, what did you see, Mishti Boudi?"

Oh. OH!

OH FUCK.

The woman I had jokingly dubbed as Mrs. White was definitely a Mrs. But the worst part was that my joke was insensitive. Despite how well her accessories matched her saree, she wasn't wearing white as a personal fashion statement, there was a reason behind it. Ritwik had drunkenly ranted about her and the rest of his family quite a few times but mainly her.

But it also meant that the situation was awkward as fuck. Her hands shook a little and she was clearly gritting her teeth.

"I think it's best if she stays with Joy's assistant for the day. That way you all get the chance to discuss everything privately and the ritual of her and Ritwik not seeing each other tonight gets fulfilled too." Pratyush, my knight in shining armour, saved my ass.

"There's nothing to discuss among us. Paritosh will be here tomorrow and I will ensure that he's punished for his deceitful behaviour." Ritwik's grandfather said authoritatively.

"Dadu, can I talk to you for a minute?" Pratyush somehow didn't evaporate after basically defying the big man.

"Why? So that you can convince him to keep this girl in this house? Did she trap you too? Of course she did, women like he-"