All Strings Attached

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Sita smiles, "I'll be back in a second," she excuses herself. "Veer, please sit down," she addresses Veer, "or would you like to be shown to your room? Do you want to rest for a bit?"

"No, I'm okay," Veer says, occupying the place on the couch that Sita just left. "It's been a while since we've seen you, and I've not spent any time with Dhushyanth at all; I need to compare notes with him now."

Sita smiles fully. "Okay, then. Coffee? Or tea? Or would you like coconut water, or a juice or just regular water—"

"I've not seen Sita be such a perfect host, ever," Veer says, looking genuinely surprised by Sita's behaviour. He looks at me, and shakes his head. "I swear. She's made me cook for her when Meera and I went to visit her in Bangalore."

"That was one time," Sita gasps, visibly appalled at the allegation. "I've always been a great host."

Veer presses his lips together, "we'll have to agree to disagree. Marriage has changed you."

Sita frowns and looks at Meera, who passes her a sympathetic look. "As much as I hate to side with Veer, this is brand new behaviour."

Sita turns toward me, frowning cutely. "It really isn't."

I jut my bottom lip out, almost unconsciously mimicking her. "You having a cordial conversation with me is still something I'm coming to terms with, so I can't comment on this development."

My wife's eyes narrow with indignation. "As if I ever let you leave on an empty stomach when you visited me in Bangalore."

I smile, remembering a time when Sita had cooked me chicken curry in the middle of the night cause she heard my stomach rumbling after some demanding activities earlier that night.

"You have been a good host to me," I agree.

"See!" Sita demonstrates to her friends, but they shake their head sympathetically.

"Your husband has a bias for you," Meera offers as an explanation, "We cannot take his word for this."

Sita looks at me once again, her eyes pleading for support. "She has only been civil to me recently," I offer, as though that might support her argument, "but she was a good hostess always."

"Being a good hostess involves being civil to your guests," Meera points out.

"So far as our relationship was concerned, Sita was never out of line with me."

"Your standards are very bare minimum."

"In light of our relationship until now, she was better than anyone else in her place would have been."

"Can you say this with your hand on your heart?"

I put my hand on my chest, and repeat myself, "Sita was the best host she could've been in the circumstances at that point in time."

Meera raises her eyebrows, impressed. "I didn't expect Dhushyanth would become his wife's sidekick after marriage."

"Marriage does incredible things to the toughest of people," Veer says, almost pityingly.

"You sound very sorry," Meera comments, the underlying threat in her tone quite apparent.

"No, of course not." Her husband is quick to redeem himself, "I was just saying that marriage softens people up."

Sita grabs my hand and pulls me away when Meera begins to respond, still sounding miffed, but I don't gather what she says as I notice a new sound with Sita's movements.

"Are you wearing anklets?" I find myself asking her, and she turns to look at me, her lips lifting into a grin.

"Do you like?" She wonders, slightly pulling her saree up to show me the golden anklets. The gesture is very innocent, and honestly, maybe even pious, but the thoughts that follow are in extreme contrast, and I'm amazed at how quickly my mind travels to those places.

My wife tugs at my hand, waiting for a response, her eyebrows raising in question. I take a moment to appreciate her shapely eyebrows, Kajal-lined eyes, the bottu between her brows, and the slight dash of kumkuma just under, accompanied by another dot in her partition.

"You look beautiful," I find myself saying to her, even surprising myself.

Sita's dark brown eyes look away from mine instantly, hues of pink rising to her cheeks as she looks down at her feet and back up at me. "That wasn't my question."

"I love."

The surprise in her eyes, and the quickening of my heart make me wonder if I was even referring to myself.

Sita affects me too much; I cannot comprehend my thoughts or anticipate my words around her.