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

"Extra rooms! Why do we need extra room?" Anahita meekly queried, peeking at customers details register that he was filling. He had confirmed a beach villa and booked a room on the second floor of the hotel.

Yuvraaj didn't bother to glance at her and handed the register back to the receptionist. She took it politely and asked them to wait while she fetched them their keycards. Reception desk was crowded as railway station because the tourist had chosen the month to enjoy holidays. Anahita was fidgety with tension and his silence was bothering her. She wanted him to confront ergo she could explain or cooperate when she started to narrate but he eliminated both options. He wasn’t even looking at her.

"I asked you something, why another room? You told me we have beach villa booked." She asked, softly this time. She knew he must’ve bubbling with rage inside and she really wanted to come clean before him. They couldn’t afford misunderstanding when it was just two of them together for next few days. She cleared her throat again and touched his arm, “Yuvraaj, I asked…”

“I heard you.” he retorted and she consciously looked around, embarrassed with his louder tone. Yuvraaj shoved his hands in his jeans, “For your loving boyfriend, I booked the second room. Since you were missing him so much and my presence was suffocating you, I thought to deliver some relief. You can move in with him, I won't mind."

“Yuvraaj…” She pleaded with her eyes but held out a finger. “No. you wanted to know, right? So, let me explain. The only reason of my persistence to bring you here was just to shield my family from getting hurt further. I knew it from the beginning that you're going to escape and I knew that would pain my family. They would blame themselves for trapping me in this excuse of a marriage and I didn’t want that. To set you free, I brought you here. You can stay and wait for him or leave; it’s your call. I won’t bother you anymore.”

He finished, paying no heed to the gasps people let out on his acerbic remarks. Tears pooled in her eyes and she blinked rapidly, digging her nails in the back of her palm to not cry. She never expected him to humiliate her publically. He stigmatized her character, broaching their personal affair before unknown people. She was aware that many of them couldn’t understand their mother tongue but she knew his expressions were telltale.

"So, this was the reason. You brought me here so that I can leave with my boyfriend." She repeated and he nodded, penetrating his grudging stare in her eyes. “Yes. This was the only objective.”

“And, what will you tell them you when you go back?" She hissed through her teeth, hoping that he would not say anything that would hurt her.

"Anything. Anything but the truth,” he said, catching the keycards from the receptionist who was staring at them in perpetual shock. She cleared her throat and handed him their IDs before chipping greetings.

Yuvraaj shoved one card on her palm and secured her fist, “This is the keycard for your room. Don’t forget to call Mukund because I am done with responsibilities now.”

He took his luggage and strutted away, arrogantly. Anahita kept rooted to her place, staring at his retreating figure with her heart broken and her pride bruised. A drop of tear dribbled onto her cheeks and her lower lip got tugged brutally between her teeth, depicting how hard she tried to suppress her sobs.

Yuvraaj could sense her eyes on his back. He just had to pause and crane his neck to see her and she would run to him, crying. It had always been that way. But, he didn’t. She had fucked up a big deal this time, bringing his family into the matter and shaming them. His conscience spanked him for being cruel and despite that, he refused to be affected and dragged his reluctant feet to his booked villa.

Throwing his luggage on the floor, he perched on the swanky bed, dropping his head in his hands. The silence dwelling in the suite added insult to his injuries. He wanted to hurt Anahita, to cause just as much pain as she did to him and since he had achieved that, he should’ve been happy. But, he wasn’t. He should’ve been satisfied perhaps as the mortification brought upon her cured his ego that was massacred when he happened to overhear her conversation. The wound could only be healed by inflicting the same amount of pain on her but this was proving punishable to him.

He wasn’t at ease. He had showered, swigged cups of black coffee, even strolled to the beach but his discomfort was propelling him to meet her. At least, make an excuse to see her, more or less. He rubbed his chest, cursing out loud and bit the bullet. Three minutes and two seconds later, he found himself at her doorstep, pondering whether to knock or just reassess his actions once before put into action.

A fleeting thought of returning trespassed to his mind but he kept staring the door as if he would be able to peek inside through it. Contemplated, he raised his hand and knocked on the door.

Once, twice, thrice,

He groaned, manning up and shoved out his phone to type a message for her, ‘Open the door.’

He tapped his phone but got no reply whatsoever. His back began to tense at the lack of response. Technically, I should be the one to get pissed off, he argued with himself and bargained with the situation to text her again, ‘I won’t repeat myself, Anahita.’

Now the passing time started to get on his nerves, he was aware that he was at fault but she wasn't naive though. She should've let him be and stop prodding about why he booked extra room. She was doing it since the moment they stepped out Rome's border – unnecessarily pestering him to derive reaction.

"Anahita, Enough. Stop behaving kid. Open the door." He growled knocking on the door and irritation rushed in his nerves. He was starting to get worried about her wellbeing as well. He put his hands on his waist, watching that passer bys were giving him skeptical look. He considered calling the bellboy but made a final try. He typed, furiously on his phone, ‘Open the door in a minute or else, I will barge inside and drag you out in whatever condition you are in. Understood?’