Shrinidhi
Next day I woke up as I heard the continuous knocks on my door. Shit.. Its already 7.30 and its my reopening day…still I’m happily laying on my bed after snoozing all my alarms. Great job Shrinidhi, way to ruin a fresh start….
I woke up quickly and splashed some water on my face and brushed. When I walked out of my room, he was reading newspaper with his coffee and my cup was kept next to his.
“Sorry I should have set my alarm early. I overslept."
I mumbled as I sipped my coffee.
“That’s ok. You’re not late actually. You don’t need much time to reach college since we hardly need 5 minutes to reach college and I have prepared breakfast. So just freshen up, get ready and after breakfast we can leave”
He said as he finished his coffee and walked to kitchen. I finished my coffee and ran to kitchen.
“When did you wake up? "
I asked him since he had already finished cooking everything.
“ 5.30, I usually go for jogging in the park and comeback at 6.30. Then I prepare my breakfast and get ready for college”
“You should have woken me up early. I can’t let you do all the work”
“It’s ok. You can slowly adapt. Moreover I can manage. You don’t have to think that cooking and cleaning are your duty. Its our home, so we will do it together"
God…. Am I dreaming…..
Appa would never say anything of this sort. Even if he gets to know that I let my husband do all the work he might be furious.
“Lost in thoughts?”
He asked me.
“Haa. Nothing I’ll get ready “
I washed my cup and got ready with a simple jeans and kurti and tucked my hair with a clip. I prepared my college bag along with necessary books. I filled my hairline with vermilion on my hairline. Suddenly my mind started getting clouded with thoughts about college.
Though I have asked him not to mention about our marriage, people will still know that I’m married. What if something happens at college and it starts creating problems in our lives... I really don’t want to create problems for him. I kept praying all the time while we were on dining table. He was dressed in his white formal shirt and black trousers.
“Nervous?"
He asked me.
“Kind of”
“Don’t worry everything will be fine”
His smile was contagious and made me smile too.
Finally we finished our breakfast and cleaned everything up. When we reached the parking lot, the tube light in my brain started flickering.
“I can’t come with you”
I blurted out and he looked confused.
“If we both go together people will start questioning. There’s still time, I’ll walk.”
“Nidhi… All these are seriously necessary?”
He asked with a tiny frown.
“Please”
I showed the best puppy face possible.
“Fine. Just be careful. Call me if necessary”
“Don’t worry I’ll manage. Take care. Meet you in college. Bye have a good day”
I spoke everything in a single breath.
He smiled at me and I walked to college following the google map.
It took me exactly 10 minutes to reach college, thank god shortcuts exists. But once I reached the college, I started getting worried more and more. The only people who knew about my marriage with Chiranth sir was Pri and Harshith sir. Both of them agreed to keep it secret but still the news of Chiranth sir’s marriage had already spread like wildfire.
On my way to classroom I heard many students murmuring about it. My gut was stirring as if it’s set on magnetic stirrer. Once I reached my classroom Pri came to see me.
“You look soooo good Nidhu. Looks like married life is treating you really well?”
She winked at me.
“I’m literally trembling and you consider this time to joke. What if…”
“Nothing of the sort you’re thinking will happen. Calm down”
I nodded and decided to stay calm after she left to her class. Some of my classmates congratulated me after knowing that I’m married. I tried to reply with a smile without getting worried.
“How could this happen to me yaar…… I loved him so much… I thought I’ll confess after the exams, I don’t believe he married someone already”
One of my classmates Mayoori screamed as she slammed her books on the desk.
“Calm down, Mayoori. You can’t decide things for him”
Her friend Preeti tried to console.
“You don’t know Preeti. You won’t understand. He was everything to me. The way he talked, the way he behaved, we had some spark. He can’t do this to me”
And she continued to hurl and curse at the girl who married him, that’s indirectly me. Urghhhhhh what a way to start a day…
Thank God we didn’t have his class today, I don’t know how worst it would have been if we had his class. Rest of the day was moving normally according to the time table. He had packed my lunch so I ate it with Pri during lunch hours.
“He cooked?”
She asked me.
“Of course I got up late. He had prepared everything and even packed lunch for me”
“Awwww…..so sweet. You’re lucky Nidhu”
“That’s true. But I feel bad about everything that’s happening”
“What happened?”
“Since morning I’m hearing indirect curse words because of the marriage. I don’t know what will be the situation when the truth is spilled.”
“Nidhu… You should stop worrying about all these things. People will speak nonsense even if your doing good or bad. So forget them and enjoy life”
I nodded.
“Listen…. Samay wanted to see your new home. Can we crash on this sunday if it doesn’t ruin your romance?”
“Shut up Pri. You can come and I know its not only Samay but also you who want to come there. I don’t think sir will have problem.”
“You still call him sir. Such big turn off”
“What else are you expecting? Its like 3 days we got married. Calling all these mushy names is already not my thing”
“Still at least you can call his name”
“I try my level best but end up calling sir.”
“It’s ok. You will get better with time. Stop showing me that kicked puppy face. Let’s go… we have classes to attend”
Yeah… lunch break was almost ending and I had two classes after lunch. The day finally came to an end after a boring organic chemistry class.
I went back home and he was already home and my coffee was in flask. I settled with my coffee cup on the couch after dropping my bag on my bed and changing to some comfortable clothes.
“How was your day?”
He asked me.
“Not bad. Wherever I was, I heard your marriage story in multiple version”
I bit my tongue after blurting it out. Way to embarrass yourself Nidhi…
“You mean our marriage story Nidhi?”
He was smirking…
“Whatever… People almost made me look like a villain. Like I stole their prince charming”
“Was it that bad?”
He asked seriously.
“ It was fine…. May be people will get over with it. Anyways how was your day?”
“ Not bad.. I didn’t have classes, second year batch had lab, so I was in the lab for most part of the day”
We talked some more and I freshened up and started studying while he started preparing for tomorrow’s classes. We prepared dinner together and had it and slept in our rooms.
Chiranth
Nidhi was finally getting adapted to living with me. Her friends Samay and Priyanka came home on Sunday and we went out for dinner together. Through their conversations I realized Nidhi’s family was a bit strict with her and usually didn’t allow her to go out or spend time with friends. That’s the reason she didn’t have many friends.
I really felt bad knowing about this, so I decided to become her good friend first so she can feel free to speak her heart with me. Our classes and preparation for NET was going good. Days were moving quickly and it was already three months to our marriage.
We had visited her family and also mine during weekends and festivals. She was opening up slowly but her habit of calling me sir, still continued. Her sem exams were announced and soon it was study holidays for her.
When it comes to studies she can literally study for whole day without getting bored. She drowns herself in books and I have to literally push her to eat and sleep.
One day suddenly her father called me in the morning asking us to come home. I was worried if its some emergency or something. But he said everything was fine and told about his transfer to Bangalore.
So next day I asked Nidhi to get ready to meet her family. She was confused about the sudden family gathering plan but still got ready quickly and we drove to her father’s place. It was a short drive of about 30 minutes from our place.
After the initial talks her father started speaking.
“Nidhi I’m getting transferred to Bangalore branch. It was a short notice promotion plus transfer, so I couldn’t inform you all early. We are moving to the staff quarters tomorrow. So I wanted you to know about it. We need to settle down quickly since Shrey’s classes will begin soon. Take care of yourself and your husband Nidhi.”
She wasn’t much affected after hearing the news.
“Is everything packed Amma? You need any help?”
She asked her mother.
“No Nidhu, everything has been packed”
Her mother spoke.
“ There are few things of yours too Nidhi, your old books and stuff. I think you should take them. You might need them”
“Sure Appa. I’ll take them with me”
After that her brother took her to his room and I sat with her Ajji and talked to her in her room.
“My Nidhu is a very sweet girl. All her life she thought about us before herself. Please take care of her. I know she will be happy with you. Please come to Bangalore whenever you get time. Also I won’t force you to have kids soon. You both are young you still need to enjoy life before the problems of family starts. I just want you both to be happy”
Her Ajji is really a cool lady.
“Don’t worry Ajji. Nidhi is my responsibility I’ll take care of her and whenever you want to meet her let me know. We can go out and party”
I said with a smile. We continued to talk for some more time.
Life is a journey full of unexpected surprises...
Hope everything goes well for our girl...