Ritwik didn't deserve it. Just because I was going through a lot doesn't mean he wasn't affected at all.
After my visit to the washroom made it clear that it was just a false alarm and Mother Nature hadn't visited me yet, my mind began to run through ideas to figure out how I could apologise to him for constantly lashing out at him.
I needed something to show that I was truly sorry and not just trying to buy his forgiveness. As I exited the women's restroom, my eyes landed a florist shop closeby. It reminded me of a video I watched where some men were asked what was the equivalent of flowers for men and a lot of them answered flowers. Apparently men don't get flowers that much but would love to recieve them.
I remembered that he once tried to explain the meaning of flowers once but I completely zoned out. So, I googled the meanings of flowers so that I didn't accidentally give something that meant maybe, "I want to kill you" or something. Apparently it was calla lilies. Armed with my new knowledge, I approached the lady selling it.
"Good morning, ma'am. How can I help you?"
"Do you have white calla lilies?"
She shook her head. "No, we don't carry those. If you could tell me the purpose, I could suggest something else."
Yeah. No.
"Just a second."
I knew one thing for sure, that there was a rose for pretty much everything a relationship could mean. So I decided to google meaning of different rose colours.
Bingo!
A site showed the meaning of different colours of roses and the significance the numbers have. The one closest to what I wanted was the orange rose.
There's no way they car-
They did in fact carry orange roses. Looking for the orange roses, my eyes landed on the artificial flowers next to the real ones. The artificial section also had orange roses.
Carrying a bouquet of roses into his office and then leaving without it would let the others know that those were for him. They'd think I was bribing him. And there was no way I could give those to him at his house without converting the whole house into a battle field. Buying the fake ones would be the best option. Apparently 5 roses showed that I cared about him, so that was the number I was getting.
"Can I have the artificial ones? 3 orange and 2 yellow roses."
The florist smiled at me and turned my request into a bouquet. Part of me wondered if she was judging me for asking for orange roses after white calla lilies. It didn't matter but it still bothered me for a bit. I watched her turn it into the most beautiful bouquet with the proper amount of leaves and other stuff that they put on bouquets. I thanked her and paid for it. Then stuffed it inside my handbag before making my way to the fifth floor to meet Surya at the food court.
"I already ordered our pizza."
"Did you order the pepper barbeque chicken?"
"Yes. And I got it at the everyday value option. I also got the detailed bill."
I grinned and sat down in the chair facing him. "And what did you order for them?" I pointed at the bodyguards. Two of who had definitely followed me around.
"What? Why would I order for them? I don't know them."
I rolled my eyes. "Do you really think I wouldn't recognise the uniforms of your bodyguards?"
He opened his mouth probably to lie about it but thought better of it. "They can buy whatever they want if they want to. We usually pay for their food in this situation."
"Oh cool." I picked up the detailed receipt and calculated my part. "I'll pay one GST as well."
"No, you don't have to. This is on me."
"Why?"
"Just because."
"Ohkay... I'll buy you something else."
"No really. Just let it be. Think of this as an apology for being one of the people to push you to marry my brother."
Damn it, this would be a better apology gift. But then again, Ritwik preferred to eat healthy and clean unlike me. He probably wouldn't appreciate the pizza as much.
We talked until we recieved our orders and I wolfed it down because well, pizza. Surya finished his food a couple minutes after me. We talked some more about random things regarding the company. After spending about two and a half hours in the mall, we decided to go back to the HQ.
"You don't have to go back if you don't want to."
"I know. I want to."
"You know he wouldn't blame yo-"
"I know. But I want to go back. It's not fair to Molly or him."
That shut him up for the 45 minutes drive to the HQ.
We arrived just in time for lunch. I ignored the looks I got inside the elevator as I made my way upto my boss' office. It was clear something had happened after I left but I couldn't be bothered to find out. On my way, I bumped into Neha who glared at me like I had killed her first born and then scurried away.
I walked up to his office running through all the ways I could plead my case and not have to follow through with what I had just said. I really didn't want to quit this job.
As soon as I entered, I was pulled into a hug and pinned against the door.
"You better apologise to me." He whispered in my ear.
Being the awkward person I am, my hands stayed glued to my side. "Of course. I'm really sorry for just storming out like that. I shouldn't have done that. It was extremely disrespectful."
He pulled back and looked at me. "What? No. I'm not talking about that. I understand why you would do that. Why didn't you to go a doctor? Joy told me you didn't go even after our call."
I rolled my eyes. "It's not that bad, you worry wart. It'll just blister a little. I've had worse accidents."
"You should have still gotten it checked."
"Nah. But if not that, what were you talking about?"
He wrapped his arms around me again and burried his face in my shoulder. "You didn't tell me I was meeting Meera Paul."
"What? Your ex? You were supposed to have a meeting with Rajdeep Pa- They're related, aren't they?"
"Twins."
"I'm really sorry. I had no clue." I wrapped my fingers in his hair and began to massage his head.
"Mm. Saying sorry isn't enough." He locked the door and tapped my thigh. I wrapped my legs around his hips and he walked me up to his desk and sat me on it then pulled back to stare at me. I held his gaze. We stayed like that for a couple seconds. It felt unnecessarily intimate.
"Well, I do have an apology gift for you."
He raised an eyebrow. I pulled out the bouquet from my bag and held it up to him. Surprisingly, the bouquet wasn't crushed. I guess that's one of the pros of buying artificial flowers.
"Orange roses?" He smirked.
"What? They're pretty!"
"And they don't have any meaning?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Well.." I grinned.
He took the plastic covering off. "Fake ones? What, because our marriage is fake?"
Even though he was smiling, I could see that I had offended him somehow. Of course I would pick an apology gift that makes things worse.
But I didn't think like that.
I hadn't thought anything other than the fact that orange and yellow were supposed to indicate our passionate friendship.
I had to bullshit my way out of the fake flower situation. So, I came up with an explain on the spot. "Nope. I didn't interpret it like that. These flowers are artificial, so they don't have to be looked after often. There's no compulsion. They'll always look pretty, they will last long and not die out in a week. And if you don't feel like looking at them anymore, you can hide them and they'll still live. It's fun and beautiful not an annoying responsibility."
"So, you're saying they're low maintenance?"
"Yepp. Like this." I pointed at him and then me.
"I didn't think like that." He stared at the flowers.
"Of course you didn't, dumbass."
"If I was to keep this hidden for a month and then decided to bring them back out, I would have to clean them."
"Well, you have to do something if you keep them unattended for a month."
"Maintain the low maintenance flowers?"
"They're low maintenance not no maintainance."
"And they're supposed to represent us?"
"Yepp."
He fell to his knees and pushed my legs apart, placing my feet over his shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
"Maintaining my low maintenance wife."
The way he looked at me made me want to give in. My body heated up in anticipation of the heavenly feeling he'd give me but I couldn't give in. Not then.
His hands grabbed the waistband and began to pull.
"Stop!"
He looked at me with a startled expression. I wanted to tell him the truth. But no matter how many filthy things I did or wanted to do to him or have him do them to me, I couldn't talk to him about my periods. I just couldn't. That's where I got tongue tied. So instead I took a different route.
"Did you really think our dynamic changed just because of what happened this weekend?" I leaned back. "Get up." He stood up looking at me intensely. I grabbed his tie and pulled it down forcing him to lean on the table for support. I ran the back of fingers along his jaw.
"You get to do that when you earn it and being late to your next meeting isn't the way to do that."
"It's lunch time. I'm hungry."
I've always cringed when I read the ML of any book I read say,"I'm hungry" to insinuate that he wanted to fuck the FL but somehow when he said it, I didn't feel like dying from second hand embarassment. Instead I felt excited as memories flashed in my mind.
I wasn't going to give in. I couldn't. It would be hella awkward if it just started. Plus, I didn't want him to be disgusted. Like it's one thing to see it, but have your mouth near it? Gross. No. That thought sobered me up.
"What makes you think that I care? I don't care if you're starving. You will earn it."
"Why do you have to do this? Wasn't the whole month torture enough?" He whispered against my ear.
Ignoring the goosebumps on my skin, I grabbed his chin and made him look at me. "You better behave if you want your reward anyti-"
I didn't get to finish my sentence as the asshole crashed his lips against mine. I didn't resist him as he pulled me closer by my waist. I wrapped my fingers in his hair and pulled him even closer. I was practically wrapped around him. Kissing him felt like drinking water after being parched for a long time. I didn't realise how much I had missed it.
As we pulled back, he grinned at me.
"Brat." I huffed pretending to be annoyed.
"I've been wanting to do that for quite sometime."
"You were engaged to my sister." I narrowed my eyes.
"Cousin. And not by choice."
"That doesn't change the fact that you were engaged."
"Exactly. I was. And that doesn't change the fact that I am married to you now."
*Knock*
He tried to get to the door but I held him by his tie. "This isn't over. You're not getting away with acting like a brat."
"I wouldn't dream of it." His grin made it clear that he wanted me to be mad.
Asshole.
I let him go and got off the table before he opened the door.
"Misti?"