"Hmm," said Romir, after chewing as if he was contemplating what to say.
"That's it?" I grabbed a fork and took a bite from my own plate before grimacing. I swallowed. "The spaghetti's hard."
"You overcooked it."
And to think this was a way to cheer myself up. I only succeeded in making myself feel like shit.
I bet Claudia knows how to cook.
I took a big bite, trying to focus on the food filling in both my cheeks as chipmunks did with their nuts, so I wouldn't focus on the tears that wanted to come out.
"It's not bad," said Romir. "It's not unedible." His fork was still in his hand but it had stopped moving; he was peering at me.
"I didn't say anything," I said, my voice muffled as I spoke around the food in my mouth.
"You didn't have to." A few seconds later, he grabbed his phone and casually lifted it into the air. "FaceTime?"
"Huh?"
"Back home."
Why was he telling me this? I swallowed my food and shrugged. "Cool."
"...He'd probably want to see you as well."
He wanted me to join? "If it's okay with you."
"I wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise."
We waited for the call to go through and while waiting, I took another sad bite of the spaghetti. Maybe I should have just baked instead. At least with the cake mix, there was no way I could mess that up.
"Romir! I thought you forgot about me as soon as you left." Jose uncle's voice perked me up. I rushed over to the other side, forgetting about my plate, and snatched the phone from Romir's hand.
"Seems like you forgot about me too," I said, smiling and waving to the camera.
"Arshia!" Jose uncle beamed, his face in full screen with half of Tamara aunty's face in view. "Are you not eating over there? It looks like you've lost a lot of weight."
"If you saw what we were eating, you wouldn't be saying that."
"She made spaghetti," added Romir and I shifted the camera so that it included him and the plate in front of him. He gestured to it with the fork. "You're glad you're not here."
"Hey!" I protested, but I was laughing. Talking to Jose uncle made me feel like I was in India again. Somehow, despite not even doing much there, that place found a way into my heart. "Weren't you the one that said it was edible?" I turned to the phone, seeing the way Jose uncle's eyes lit up. "Don't listen to him, he said it was edible."
"At least no one's dying," agreed Jose uncle.
"And to think I missed you," I teased. "How is he, Tamara aunty? Causing you any problems?"
"Not as much as I'd like him to."
I scrunched my face up as a pang hit me in full force. They were cute but I guess I just wished I had something like that for myself. Feeling something on the side of my head I turned on instinct. In my excitement of talking to Jose uncle again, I had moved closer to Romir, our shoulders pretty much touching.
And even worse? His bright eyes were oddly dark as they caught mine.
I jerked away as if I had gotten burnt. "Sorry," I mouthed.
The rest of the phone call was a blur, my mind fuzzy.
***
On the weekend my parents invited Romir and I to their house for dinner. Well, to go out to dinner together.
When I told Romir, I was fully expecting him to make an excuse so he wouldn't have to come.
"That's fine with me," he said instead, closing his laptop. He pulled up the sleeves of his brown cardigan to his elbows and gave me a side glance. "You don't have any classes?"
"No?" I said, still reeling from the fact that he was cool with it. "I'm on holidays. I was only doing a short course anyway so it won't take long for me to finish it." I didn't mention that I decided to do it because I had quit my dream job for Varun.
To be honest, at this point I didn't even care about the course.
"Alright." His voice broke into my thoughts and I watched as he headed back into our room to get changed, I assumed. I was so confused. He never cared about my classes before. Especially that first day we got married, he forced me to go to Susanne's house when I literally had a lecture.
Now he cared? To impress your parents, maybe. That made more sense. If we didn't show up he had no chance to get into my parents' good books. I mean, he was already there but still.
I knocked on the door. "Are you done?"
"Yeah."
I twisted the knob and pushed it open. He was in the middle of strapping his brace on and pulling the leg of his jeans down before standing up. He was dressed down in a white shirt and a black and blue plaid long-sleeved shirt that he rolled up over his veiny forearm. He brushed past me allowing me to get a sense of his sharp pine cologne.
Shaking my head, I waited until he was fully out of the room to lock it. I rifled through my half of the closet and brought out a lavender, floral midi dress that I hadn't worn in a long time. It was cinched at the waist and flared out until my knees. It was completely sleeveless but stopped right above my cleavage, also showing off my apparent wide collarbones.
I didn't bother with my hair, running some fingers through it before letting it sit over my shoulders naturally.
When I came out, I tried to find the appropriate shoes to wear near the front door where I'd left them carelessly lying around. There were the flats. I clicked my tongue. Nah. Heels? Too formal. Wedges!
My brown and white wedges were laying under one of the heels. I tried stepping into one but due to its height, as I bent down to strap the back belts, it wobbled and I stumbled to the side.
Instead of falling on the side of my butt, an arm slid around my waist and tugged me to them. A gasp left my lips involuntarily at the force of the motion. My palms spread on a solid chest and I tilted my head up, my nose brushing against Romir's.
That slight touch caused goosebumps to lift all the tiny hairs on my body. The heat of his hand burned through the fabric of my dress and to my skin; every exhalation of his chest moving against my hands made me shudder.
He made no move to let me go and I cleared my throat. His grip hadn't loosened. Is he okay? Was he thinking about his ex-girlfriend or something? Or maybe he was projecting his desires for her onto me?
Gross.
I struggled in his hold, making it obvious that I wanted to be let go. He slowly loosened his arm around my waist.
"Thanks," I muttered as I chucked the wedges off that one foot.
"Be careful," was all he said back.
No way was I going to go through that again. Might as well wear white sneakers. So that's what I did.
Even as I was tying up my shoelaces, my mind was drawn back to the way my body reacted to his touch. I shuddered, another ripple of goosebumps spreading on my skin and lighting myself on fire less so than his touch had done.
Okay, stop. I don't even like Romir like that. Was I so desperate for a man that my body was even considering him?
We stepped out and I locked the door before going down the steps. The air was a little bit chilly now that it was dark and I wrapped my arms around myself. Maybe wearing a sundress was the wrong choice in this weather.
Whatever. I couldn't be bothered going back inside again. I was about to head to my Mini Cooper when Romir cleared his throat. He gestured to his bike keys and then to the vehicle chilling near the steps.
That's when I saw it.
Two helmets, one chilling on the handlebar and the other on the seat. Two helmets? He only ever had the one for as long as I could remember. In India he refused to buy another one for me because he could care less about my safety.
Romir grabbed the helmet on the seat and vaguely thrust it in my direction. I narrowed my eyes at the black helmet with a clear shield. "Why did you buy another helmet?" I asked more briskly than I'd expected. "You never cared about it before."
His expression didn't change. "Do you want to wear it or not?"
"Well, I'm taking my car so that would be a no."
"We're going to your parent's house," he said to my back making me stop in my tracks. "Showing up separately won't look so good to them."
Damn it! He was right. I had promised my mum that I would be taking this seriously and neither of them knew that Romir and I agreed to a platonic marriage. That would just worry them going forward.
And mum's heart didn't need the stress.
I silently turned around, letting the wind push my hair back. "I'll come with you but I don't want the helmet," I said. He pursed his lips and nodded stiffly. He took out his spare key, went inside, and then when he came back out he didn't have it with him anymore.
We got on the bike, even though my dress made it sort of awkward for me to sit properly, and began the short journey to my parent's house. The traffic wasn't that bad here and since it was dark, the cars were few.
As I watched the usual green scenery now pitch black shadows moving in the dark, very familiar sirens sounded behind us.
Every nerve in my body shook. I knew exactly what that was and who that was for. I turned my head, placing strands of hair that slapped at my face behind my ears. The blue and red lights shone in my eyes and flashed the surrounding night scene.
"Crap," I mumbled.
Romir obediently pulled over to the side and I waited with bated breath as the cop car followed us. A cop got out of the car and I cursed once again.
Romir pushed his shield up and gave me a look that obviously read 'You should have listened'. I looked down in embarrassment.
The cop wore a bright green vest and signature black cap. He shook his head at me. "Why aren't you wearing a helmet, ma'am?" he asked. I opened my mouth but he cut me off. "You know how dangerous that is?"
"I know, sir."
"If you knew you would be wearing it. There are laws in place for this very reason."
"Sorry, sir," I said, my voice small. My phone's ringtone began to blast through the dark night and I laughed nervously as I turned it off. "It won't happen again. I promise."
"Your ID, ma'am," drawled the cop. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. I took out the case of my phone and grabbed one of the two cards I stuffed in there and handed it to him. "Alright, give me a second to run this."
As he went back to his car, I checked my phone. I had a missed call from mum but I texted her that we were caught in a rut and would be a few minutes late. I looked up and caught Romir's gaze. His hands rested on his thighs and his feet were planted on the floor as he balanced the bike.
"Don't you dare," I warned.
"Did I say anything?" he retorted.
"No, but that was a warning so you wouldn't."
After the cop came back, I said, "I have to pay a fine of 500 pounds, don't I?"
The man's light-coloured bushy brows raised even in the dark. "Yes, actually. So you haven't forgotten, just foolish."
"I used to work in law."
"Well, I'd expect someone who was well-versed in the law to be smarter than this." He clicked his tongue before tipping his head. "You two have a good night, now." After he left, Romir revved the engine and we were off again, speeding down the lane.
"Happy now that you've been fined?" he asked though his words were slightly muffled. My warning from before had gone through one ear and left the other.
"Very happy."
"Don't worry," I think he said after a few minutes. "I'll pay for it."
"I can pay for it," I said, stifling. I wasn't in need of pity. "I work."
"I'm aware—"
"Clearly not. You're pitying me."
He sighed. "Why would I pity you? I should be happy you got a fine. You were a brat."
"You gave me a choice."
"And you picked the wrong one." I said nothing. He was right. My body deflated. "Whether we like it or not, we're married now." He paused, like he wanted to say something but then decided against it because it was quiet again.