Parinayanantaram

Burnt

“Bhoomi!?”

{Was it an exclamation or a question?}

She squealed excitedly.
“You remember me, Sir?”

Her eyes glowed like floodlights and her face lit up like the noon sun.
{And .... I practically realised that bright light is not good for health; because the bright light not only blinded my eyes, but my brain too stopped working.}

“Won’t you ask me to come inside, sir?”

I moved aside slightly to let her in. While my brain suddenly planned to go on a holiday, I was left to look like a fool.

“Why … are you here?”

Until her face dropped, I did not realise that I sounded slightly harsh. I cursed myself internally for being rude to her.

“I mean …” I tried to speak.

“It’s okay sir. I can understand. You must have been shocked to see me here. Sorry, looks like you were …”
Her eyes moved downwards from my face.

That is when realisation hit me. I was still shirtless!

"Excuse me!"

Startled, I turned towards the voice.

My dear wife was standing at the door with her eyes shuttling between me and Bhoomi; her lower jaw hanging in mid-air. If it would have been any other situation, I would have been on the floor, rolling with laughter. But unfortunately; my wife just found me in an awkward situation.

{Great luck Hari! Could there be a better situation to impress your wife?
Please shut up!}

Siri’s eyes were throwing daggers at me.
{For the first time after our marriage, I did not want her eyes on me.}

“Siri! What are you doing here?”

Bhoomi’s voice broke the deadly silence. I did not know whether to thank her, or strangulate her for the interruption. But when my wife’s eyes shifted away from me, I decided that I could go with the first option.

“I was about to ask you the same question.”
I could sense the frustration peeping through Siri's words. But maybe Bhoomi did not. She gave Siri a beautiful smile.

“I came here to take Sir’s help with regards to the project.” Her cheeks took a tinge of pink and her eyes moved towards me.

{Why is this girl blushing?}

I noticed Siri’s mouth form an ‘O’.

“But how did you get his address?” Siri asked.

{Good question dear.}

I looked towards Bhoomi, who was now a deeper shade of red. “It was really tough to distract the staff at our college office. But I somehow managed to get it from the records. He used to study in our college. Remember? But I was not sure if he still lived at that address. So I casually came here to check. Luckily, I found him.” There was a bit of pride in her tone. She was looking at me expectantly.

{What the hell are you expecting? You already ruined my marital life.}

But I gave her a tiny smile.
{I still have to appreciate her efforts.}

{Hey! Can anyone smell something burning? I have a feeling it could be …}

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Yeah .... Sorry ... Has been more than a month since the last update .... But ... Life! 😐