Cause it was an ARRANGED LOVE

CHAPTER ONE

I took in my new room, in my new house, owned by my new husband. It was a massive bedroom. The towering windows flooded the room with moonlight. The bed was a heavy wooden thing, overwhelming the space decorated with real roses and mogra flowers in celebration of our wedding night. The pleasant fragrance of the fresh flowers filled the whole room. The walls were light blue, with a texture on the front wall—something I had always liked. The room was brightly lit making my head ache after the long day. But, my tension and nervousness had suppressed the exhaustion. The bridal attire was making me uncomfortable, but I had been strictly instructed by Mumma to wait to change until my husband entered the room.

I still knew nothing about my husband. I love to talk—my friends call me 'radio'—but I find it so hard to talk to him. Maybe it's because of his reserved nature or just the fact that he seems angry all the time.

I still remember my first phone call with him about a month and a half ago. I had gone for a walk with Shubhangi when she said, teasing, "so, how's it going? Has Arnav proposed to you yet?" She was excited, her dimples creasing her face and her eyes gleamed.

"Proposed?" I asked. "Do you even expect him to propose?"

"Oh come on, don't hide things from me, I want all the details."

I took a deep breath, and began to explain. "So, according to my would-be mother-in-law, he leaves for work at about 10 a.m., then comes back at about 7 p.m., apparently, once he's home he continues working. I don't think he does much more than work, and you expect me to talk to him? What would I say? 'Hey Arnav ji, how's work going?' and then he'll just bore me to tears by telling about all his catering orders." I rolled my eyes as I tried to concentrate on my soft drink.

She laughed, her chubby cheeks completely overpowering her eyes. "Girl, I think you're exaggerating."

I gave her a confused look and she elaborated, "I think you need to talk to him, if he's not making the move, then why don't you be the one to make it?" I brushed the topic off and ordered a butterscotch ice cream from the waiter. "Kriti, Arnav seems like a good guy, he's just a bit different from you and I."

I smiled and drowned my voice in sarcasm. "Oh really! How do you think he's a good man? And I don't know how all of you, be it my friends or family, have suddenly started to like him without even talking to him properly. It's just because he's rich."

"Oh! God! Kriti, it's not about his money, and we don't always need to talk to a person to decide we like them." She put her hand on her heart. "And that perfect jawline of his makes me swoon."

"Are you saying that you're attracted to him?"

She replied sarcastically, "are you jealous?"

Before we could get lost in our girly conversation she started pestering me to give him a call as a matter of 'my guts'. I ignored her until she took my phone and hit the green button declaring 'call'.

I mouthed to her, "this is not funny!"

When he answered, it was with unconcealed impatience. "I'm at work," he snapped before I'd even said hello. "I'll call you later."

A second later I was talking to dead air. I stared at the phone in my hand. "What the hell? He's so rude! How am I supposed to spend my life with that? The jerk could have at least talked to me for a few seconds!"

Even Shubhangi was surprised at his behavior. "I agree, that was way out of line, he seems so gentle usually." That was all she could manage before she burst out into laughter. "Oh, your face! I will have a picture of this stuck in my head forever."

I scowled at the phone some more. I hadn't expected him to be like this, and it made me shiver inside. What if that was his normal behaviour? Before we could make any more assumptions, my phone flashed with a text message fromArnav.