Sorry, for the two week delay. My new work has gotten a little overwhelming. It's hard for me to manage my schedule but no worries. I'll hopefully will be back on track soon. I will upload another chapter soon. In the mean time, enjoy this little filler chapter.
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"I don't understand why can't we just drive there!"
"You'll waste so much petrol! Come on, the metro is definitely a cheaper option."
Ritwik groaned. "It's fine. It's not like we will do this everyday. The car is so much more comfortable."
"And wasteful!" I added.
In reality, I just wanted to see if he was tough enough to deal with the metro trains' office hour rush. And I wanted someone I know to understand what my daily life looked like before moving in with the Sinhas. Literally no one believes the shit that actually happens during that time until they've been through that.
"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you, you little sadist."
"Come on, pup. It's not that bad."
"Are you ever going to tell me why you call me that?"
"Nope."
"Even if I take the metro?"
"I'll think about it then."
Groaning, he agreed so I grabbed his backpack that contained our clothes, mainly his since mine were mostly still at my parents'.
After a 10 minute walk, we were at the station. He tried to take the backpack several times, but I refused.
"Let me carry it now."
I shook my head. "No way. You've never taken the metro before. You can't deal with a backpack as well." I slid the straps off and brought to my front sliding the backpack straps back on. Then held my hand out to him.
He raised an eyebrow.
"Hold tight or we're gonna get seperated."
He held my hand just as the train began to enter the station. I had walked a little towards the middle of the station hoping to get a coach towards the middle, since those were the least hectic ones. But by the time the train stopped, many people had gathered behind us. Luckily the way the train stopped, one of the doors was right in front of us.
"What the f-" he cut himself off probably remembering we were in public.
I waited until the gate closed then turned to face him.
"What the hell is this?"
"What? This is great. You don't even have to actually get in. The crowd helps." I grinned.
"Yeah, no shit. We just got pushed in."
"Yeah, I miscalculated. We should have walked a little further to get an emptier coach."
"You have to calculate that?" He seemed baffled.
"Not exactly but kinda. Okay, not actually calculate. More like guesstimat-" I stopped mid sentence as someone pushed from behind. My grip tightened on the onion shaped things meant for holding onto to stay still and my eyes involuntarily closed.
Times like those were when I realised how short I really was and the cons of it.
My eyes snapped open as I felt a hand on my waist. I relaxed once I realised it was his hand. Obviously, he was having no problem holding on to that dangly hand railing thingy.
"Hold on to me."
"No, it's fi-" Another push from the back made it clear that it wasn't actually fine just because I was used to it. My arm strained and ached.
It doesn't have to.
Reluctantly, I held on to his shirt. A lot of people got off on the next station. Ritwik gently pushed me backwards as more and more people got off at their stations and new ones boarded the train. He kept it up until my back hit the glass barrier on the side of the seats. He'd caged me in by the time the gate closed.
"You seem pretty comfortable for someone who's never taken the metro."
"You do know that I used to live by myself in New York throughout my graduation, right? How do you think I got to places? The sub way was my best friend."
"Then why were you being so annoying!"
"This is clearly uncomfortable. There are so many people here pushing and being pushed. This was so unnecessary."
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.
"Is Sayan with us? Or anyone else?" I tried to keep the panic out of my voice. In my attempt to annoy him I completely forgot that I wasn't fucking with a regular person. He was an extremely important man. The Calcutta Daily termed him as the "Uncrowned prince of Bengal". So, obviously, he had enemies. Enemies who could take advantage of this situation.
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.
"Breathe." Ritwik's voice pulled me back into reality.
I looked up at him.
"You really think I'd let you go anywhere without protection?"
"I don't need protection." I grumbled. I wasn't the one who's life was important enough to be in danger.
"But when I say that, you get mad."
It took me a second to get the innuendo. I slapped his arm. "Is that all you think about."
"You're pressed against me. I'm very aware of you. It's hard not to think like that." His whisper made me shiver.
As soon as I gathered my composure, I glared at him. "We're in public, dumbass."
"We didn't have to." He whined.
"So, where are they?"
"See, you're always so stuck on protection." He sighed dramatically.
Okay, two can play this dumb game.
"You sound like you want an accident. You know children are a lot of work, right? If I were to have children, they'd have to deal with a lot of shitty situations. I am not well established enough to give them a carefree luxurious life. I get why you'd want them. Little Sinhas would be-" I looked around to search for his bodyguards. I didn't like the way Ritwik was surrounded. It was when I spotted Sayan that I felt calmer. "-comfortable. I'm not putting my body through shit just to bring new life into this shitty miserable world."
"They won't necessarily have shitty lives."
"Yours wouldn't. Mine probably would. Maybe our kids can be besties when I finally adopt some. Maybe they could date. We'll just have to make sure they don't know this-" I gestured between us, "-happened."
He rolled his eyes. "I don't think you should promote incest."
"What the hell? Gross. That is not what I am saying."
"You're implying."
"No, I'm not! You want your kids. I want to adopt. Plus, it not like this is going to last. Why add kids to the mix and make it more complicated? So, we'll be going our separate ways and then that's not what happens if they like each other."
Ritwik looked like he was about to say something but the announcement of the next station interupted him. We moved a little closer to the door. Ritwik still kept himself between me and the general public.
Getting an autorickshaw was a hassle. Ritwik tried to go towards the line but stopped once I told him it could take almost an hour to get an autorickshaw that way. We skipped the line and and stood at a little distance from the line. That area was crowded my metro locals who knew about that trick.
I had held on to his hand as I kept looking for the autos and as soon as one driver began to nod, I grabbed on to the auto. The driver didn't stop and kept it moving for close to a minute and I kept running alongside it, dragging Ritwik with me. Finally the auto stopped and I launched myself in. He followed suit. Sayan jumped in right after him.
"This is the last time you're taking the metro during this time." Sayan stated matter of factly.
"You two obviously can't handle it." I shrugged.
"I'm not talking about him, I'm talking about you."
I rolled my eyes and ignored him. Over the past month, my bodyguard has gotten annoyingly overprotective. I mean, yeah, sure, there were many people who hated the man I was married to and his family but why did that have to stop me from going out and doing daily stuff without Sayan constantly breathing down my neck. The only times he left me alone was when I was with Ritwik. Even then I knew he was lurking in the shadows. The whole metro incident was in a way a rebellion against him.
Ritwik squeezed my palm making me realise that my legs were shaking. I was actively being pissed off at Sayan but subconsciously, I was panicking.
I hadn't seen or heard or had any form of contact with my parents over the last three months. After returning from our weekend getaway, Ritwik and I were swamped with work. The audit season was hectic for both of us. Constantly running around trying to ensure our accounts were correct didn't ensure a smooth audit. We still had to run to the CA office sometimes, respond to emails and calls while still continuing our regular business.
The audit wasn't supposed to be his responsibility but mine as I was an accountant as well as closely connected with the CEO. But Ritwik being Ritwik decided that I shouldn't have to bear it by myself. Honestly, I'd probably go home crying if I had to do it all by myself for my first time ever supervising and co-ordinating an audit.
I knew that with Ritwik around, my parents probably wouldn't do anything stupid but that didn't calm me a bit. I had no task to focus on to force my brain from overthinking. My body was on autopilot the rest of the way to my parents' house while my brain ran marathons and participated in the Olympics. I even stopped to buy soft drinks and sweets and didn't even notice that I wasn't the one paying.
"Yo, Ruby, what's on your mind?"
"Can you stop with the 'yo'-s? You sound dumb. And Ruby? Seriously? It's been months. When are you going to drop it?" I huffed as we walked the last few steps to reach my parents' front door.
"I will stop when I find a suitable nickname for you." He rang the bell with a grin.
"I already have a name. I don't need a nickname. It's stupid. Just drop it already."
He snorted. "You're obsessed with Romance novels. Don't tell me you don't like nicknames, love."
Love. Love.
I knew it was just a condescending throw away word but still it felt like my brain short-circuited and could focus on just that one word.
Luckily my mother opened the door at the exact same time and spared me from having to respond.
I had expected for her to shut the door on my face or for her to make angry passive aggressive comments. But instead, she stood there with a big smile. I suspected it had something to do with the man that was currently holding my hand and gently squeezing it but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that she seemed open to listening to me.
Maybe there is hope.
Then she moved to the side letting us enter the house. As soon as she did, I realised it was a massive fucking mistake to have informed my mother that we visiting because sitting on that couch was none other than my aunt. The same aunt that acted like the whole situation was my fault somehow. The very same aunt who had tried to emotionally manipulate and had succeeded to do so in an indirect manner.
Fuck my life.