Five Weeks by Shruti Omar (any book recommendations .txt) 📕

Yuvraaj was unbuttoning his Sherwani when Anahita pushed past him and unloaded her jewelry on the vanity table. He spared her a glance and watched her removing the bangles after undoing her hair. She looked exhausted, her face was pale. He strolled inside the bathroom, taking his cloth and when he came out, she was already dressed in loose t-shirt and shorts. He adjusted pillows and collapsed on the bed.

"On a side note, you looked pretty tonight." He grabbed her attention and tilted his head on folded elbow. “I mean only because of the sari of course you had to look breathtaking.”

“Breathtaking?” she caught the word, removing her flip-flops and sat on the bed, “Are you by mistake complimenting me?”

He flipped onto his back and scoffed, “You don’t have beauty in your genes.”

She gave him a quelling glance and rolled her eyes, adjusting quilt over her frame and laid down. “I would've given you a proper answer if I wasn’t so tired. So, do yourself a favor and just sleep.” She switched off the lamp and groaned as she heard him tittering.

In midnight, she stirred in her sleep and sat up straight, scratching her scalp. Her stomach growled and she glanced at Yuvraaj who was sleeping peacefully lying on his stomach. She removed the quilt and tiptoed to the kitchen. She scanned the refrigerator for edibles and made face, noting only gourmet food and meat supplies. Sighing, she extracted two eggs and started to prepare sunny side ups. The moment she tossed them on the plate and spun to grab seasoning, she heard Yuvraaj. “If you were making one, you could've asked me. I actually didn't have food tonight."

She jumped on feet, clutching her heart and glared at him, “I was just about to…hey, that was mine.” She whisper yelled, watching him downing both the fries in a gulp. Her mouth hung open and he licked the sauce off his lips, “I told you I was hungry.”

“But,” she objected and he fished out a Cadbury silk from his track pants. He tore open the foil and held it before her lips. She glared at him, biting on the chocolate and moaned in delight. She snatched the chocolate bar sat on the countertop. “You are such a pig!”

He evaded her and slid the used plate in the sink. “Btw, your cooking is still awful. Why don't you start taking classes? It would be good for your future marital life."

“I didn’t need your advice.” She snorted, wiping her lips and extracted the water bottle from the fridge. He slammed the door shut and leaned against it, watching her. “Though for five weeks, you’ve done huge mistake by getting married to me, mou.”

She choked on the water and he brushed past her, leaving her reconsidering her course of action.

*****

Morning crept in silently in their adobe. Post their dramatic marriage, two days flew away in a wink. Aside the encounter in kitchen, Yuvraaj didn’t bother her in anyway and maintained his distance from her. He iterated, loud and clear, that as long as she abided by her duties as daughter in law he won’t come in her way. For her, it was smooth as butter. She didn’t aim to hurt her in-laws anyways. Their wedding night a day before was uneventful; Yuvraaj stoically settled himself on the bed and somehow magically, didn’t bother her until this morning…

She was humming a merry tune, brushing her hair to fluff them up and look glossy when Yuvraaj walked out of the bathroom, whistling and ruffling his hair with towel, leaving trail of water behind him. She casted an uninterested glance at him and her eyes widened. She clenched her jaw, planking the brush on the dresser and turned to him.

Heedless to her, Yuvraaj carried on with his routine, fishing out his clothes from the wardrobe and swung it around his frame, tucking his arm in the sleeves. Sensing her stare on him, he smirked buttoning his shirt and teased her, “You realize it's not decent to drool on a man openly?" he paced to the mirror and combed his hair, “Especially, when the subjected man is unaware of it. I hope you haven’t forgotten about your boyfriend."

She looked murderous at his taunting and jerked his finger towards his waist, arching an eyebrow up. “What's this?"

He looked down, confused, "A towel?"

"Exactly! You came out in a towel wrapped around your waist when there's a bathrobe hanging in the bathroom." She fumed, waving a hand towards bathroom and he gave her a half shrug, spraying perfume. “What's this whole rant is about?"

“This is not a rant." She said on a frustrated exhale, “Do you realize that I am living in the same room with you? How can you just roam around with a towel hanging down your waist when you've a girl living under the same roof? Have some shame!"

"As if you were doing a remarkable job by staring at me," he mocked her, "You could've looked away."

"I wasn't staring at you. I was glaring. There's a difference between glaring and staring."

"Whatever!" he clicked his tongue, facing her and crossed his arms, “These very eyeballs were on me when I was just in a towel and that is so unsettling with you. Why?”

She blinked, feeling loss at words and retorted, “What did you expected from me?”

“You could've looked away instead of eyeing me hungrily."

Irritated, she plastered a fake smile. “I didn’t eye you hungrily. What nonsense! This is the joke of the decade and still very lame. I would rather gawk a llama than you.”

She motioned a hand down his body, rolling her eyes. “There’s nothing in you that interests me.”

Insulted, he crushed teeth and tightened his fist that his knuckles turned white. It was a hard blow to his ego. He knew he was handsome and he didn’t declaration from her but clear rejection on his face was a bit too brutal on her part. He had learnt how to deal with her but it was like a paranormal force pulling them together to have a fight.

"Done? Now get out of my way." He snapped, grabbing her shoulder and shoved her aside. She winced and muttered cursed to him, under her breath, “I don’t care what you wear but s long as I’m sharing your room, I want you to ….”