You, everytime and always

Awkward Phase

I heard the door unlock as he entered inside removing his shoes and placing them in the rack right away. He kept his bag and washed his hands in the kitchen sink. "Hi." "Hi." "How was your day?" "Great. Did they already reach the restaurant?" "Yes and funny thing is it is one of dad's hotels." "What? Wow." I smiled and looked up to find him already smiling. He looked away breaking our milliseconds of eye contact. "I'll take a little shower and freshen up. Wait for me, okay?" "Yeah." He went into the bedroom as I could hear him take off his belt. What the hell? Was I getting horny? I heard the shower turn on and off. He immediately got out as his shower gel's fragrance almost reached the living room, combatting the dish washing liquid's fragrance on my hand.
My phone rang forcing me to go into the bedroom. Gosh, what if he thinks I'm a pervert? I went towards my phone. Phew, he isn't half naked. It was Nani, I cut it off. "Pick it up." "I can call her later, I need to cook right now." I went to the kitchen with my phone as he followed me, "I can help with cutting and washing the vegetables." "It's okay, you can relax." "Kavya, I'm not suggesting that, I'm telling you to choose a part that I am supposed to do. So, cutting or cooking?" I was dumbfounded, "Um cutting?" He started washing the vegetables and placing them near the chopping board. Nani's call resurfaced, "I think you should pick it up." I put the call on speaker while peeling the boiled potatoes, "Hey, Nani." "Why aren't you picking up the call? Are you in the middle of something steamy with your husband?" They both laughed cunningly as I quickly switched it off from speaker and went into the bedroom keeping the phone near my ear, "Nani! Stop joking like that." "Why, did your husband hear it?" "Yes, I was on speaker." "How would I know that? I was stating facts only, a married couple would obviously do their couple stuff." Nanu supported her, "Now we can't even crack some humour? These kids nowadays." "Nanu, come on, y'all know everything yet you keep joking." "Stop your excuses and let us see our great-grandchildren." "Hey, this is not why I got married." "Your husband is not as young as he looks." Nanu chimed in, "He would lose his potential." They both laughed a bit. "You both are saying absurd things. I need to cook so bye." "Okay, okay. Bye." My cheeks were red from the embarrassment. I went back to the kitchen and continued my work until I felt his body behind me as he stretched his arm over my shoulder, keeping the bowl of vegetables on the counter. "There you go." "Thank you." I was almost out of breath considering our proximity. "Did you do the dishes already?" "Yeah?" "How about we take turns washing dishes?" "Mr. Ve- No, Hridhaan, I am completely fine doing it." "I am not. You're my wife, not a maid." I turned to look at him, "I just wanted to take on the chores because I'll be home most of the time." "And you also have your own work to do. You aren't getting paid for nothing, right?" I can't with this man. He's probably taking advantage of how much I stutter around him. I looked down and turned to turn off the flame. "Kavya, I hope we can share chores and not make it just a wife thing. Even if you were a housewife, I wouldn't let you do things alone. We have equal responsibilities towards our home." "Okay, I did the dishes today, you can do tomorrow." "And laundry?" "Y-you will wash my clothes?" "Why not? I just have to put them in the washing machine and put them for drying." "Okay then, we can divide the putting for wash and hanging them alternatively." "Sure." After a brief period of silence, we were done with making our dinner. I placed the dishes on the table while he brought the plates and cutlery. We settled on our chairs as Hridhaan served the food on my plate. "Yeah, that's enough." "You're going to eat that little? Aren't you hungry?" "Ah, I almost forgot eating most of the time before marriage so I have a small appetite now." "You should eat properly." I nodded slightly. The awkwardness of not being able to decide whether I should initiate a conversation or not was killing me. I mean, aren't we eating so we're supposed to be quiet? The breakfast wasn't this awkward because it was quick and I was thinking of other things. "Dr. Harris is severely ill, I will go to meet him tomorrow. Do you want to join?" "Yeah sure, what time?" "After I come back at 6? Be ready." "Yeah. Are you going to come for lunch?" "Yeah. The break is around 1:30." "Okay." He chewed his food as we sat in silence. After the meal was done, we placed the plates in the sink and went into the bedroom. I was still dressed so I took out my pyjamas and switched off the lights. Hridhaan was on his phone while laying on his bed on the floor, his phone was the only thing emitting light in the pitch dark room. What if he sees me changing? My cheeks turned red when I realised that we're married and at some point things were bound to happen. It doesn't matter if he sees me naked, right? i switched on the lights after changing and went to wash my face.

HRIDHAAN'S POV
This woman is literally so pretty. She just washed her face but not an ounce of her beauty was taken away. She was pretty even without makeup. Her small body looked cute in those pyjamas. I could keep staring at her my whole life. She plopped on the bed as I regretted not sleeping beside her but wouldn't that be uncomfortable for her? I can't just think about myself. We can go slow with everything. She looked at me with her big brown eyes, "Hridhaan?" "Hmm." Every fucking time she called me by my name, I lost it. She could ask me for my heart after saying my name, I would give it right away. "Can you give me Danish's number? If I can't reach you, I'll call him." "Yeah sure, I'll just send you the contact information." "I've sent you Aashna and Ruby's contacts." "Yeah, thanks." "Goodnight." "Goodnight."

~

"Ready?" "Mhm." "Give me a minute to change." "Yeah sure, take your time." I quickly went and changed into some semi formal clothes. I hurried buttoning my shirt as she patiently wore her shoes. I slipped on mine as well and looked at her, "Let's go." She nodded a bit and followed me into the car. "Uhm Hridhaan? Should I be going with you in your car?" "Yeah why not?" "What if someone sees us?" "It's alright, we can just say I saw you so gave you a lift." "Hm okay." She sat and put on her seatbelt. We drove silently to the hospital with light music. I parked the car as we reached. We went to Dr. Harris' room, he smiled, "There comes my favourite kid and my dearest colleague." "Good evening, Prof. Harris." "Drop the formalities, how was your wedding?" "What? Who told you about our marriage?" "Sources." "Yeah it was great. Tell us about your health condition." "I don't know, the doctors say it's deteriorating." "You'll get better." I placed the fruit basket near his little table as Kavya kept talking to him. He grunted, "You must have tried searching for me. Ask your questions." "What? How do you know?" "I'm a genius." "That you are." "Ask." She asked him the questions as he explained her things in detail. She could have asked me as well. After some time of talking, we went back wishing him well. "Kavya?" "Yes?" "You could've asked me all that." "Yeah, I know. Actually, I thought you would be too tired or busy to answer so I didn't bother you." "What? Come on, that's the least I can do. Just ask me when you can and I'll try helping you with my best." She nodded looking down. We reached home and started cooking. After eating, I went to the bedroom when I heard a loud thud from the bathroom, "Kavya? What happened?" "I'm fine." "What was that sound?" "It's nothing." She came out as I checked her head to toe, "Did you slip?" She looked down embarrassed, "Yeah but I'm fine." "Where did you hurt yourself?" "No, I didn't hurt myself." "Come on, I heard a loud one." "I really feel fine." She's stubborn as hell. "Alright, if you feel any pain, use this cream." I handed her the cream from the drawer as she nodded her head lowly.