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

“Coming!!” she yelled and glanced at the mirror. Her conscience disappeared and her flushed face emerged on the glass. It was Yuvraaj who made her this way and she smiled confidently. “I am going to live this moment without thinking about the future. I’ll enjoy this as much as I can.”

*****

"Okay, now. I am done." She panted, crouching low and breathed through her nose heavily. She eyed those other hikers incredulously who were steeping like rangers. Yuvraaj groaned and pulled her straight, “Get up, yaar, Anahita. It's just a few meters away. If they rush, we will lose the track."

"But I don't want to go there." she whimpered, her lower lip rolled out and she fisted his shirt in her hands, beseeching. "My thighs are burning. I can't do this anymore."

"You've barely covered a hundred meter. So cry me a river. We're going to pull this off." he rolled his eyes and dragged her along.

"But my jelly legs say otherwise." She pushed the bangs behind her ear and rubbed her foot with another leg.

"Well your legs are wrong, pick up the pace."

"Show some sympathy, Yuvraaj." She groaned and tugged at his hair, making him pause. His shoulders squared and reality washed over her like a waterfall, soaking her in anticipation of the awful consequences. He pivoted on his heels, making it a slow-mo for her and she could read his deviant, revengeful eyes resting on her face.

"I am sorry. It was a reflex. I didn't mean to ruin your hairdo. Show me, I will do it for you." Instantly, she weaved her fingers in his hair messing them more whereas he tried to hold her wrist but she insisted on finger combing his hair tidily, “There we go!!”

"Anahita, it's okay." Yuvraaj reassured, edging down her efforts but she rolled her lips down, mouthing a sorry to him. He mischievously tousled her hair and chuckled, “I told you it's alright. Come on, now! We have to hike up." He glommed her hand onto his and ascended the knoll.

"Why are you so adamant on climbing there on the top? I don't even see the point." She huffed, matching his pace. "My legs are cramping now. Yuvraaj, let's go back."

"Anahita, we've been in the lodge for six days and now when the weather is pleasant, you're being picky instead of enjoying it." He dissuaded, tired of her constant nagging and she grunted, yielding to his stubbornness. At best, she prayed the lord to not fuse any bizarre concept of 'enjoy' in his brain.

"Um…why are we going there anyway? Is the view good from there?" She tried to cover the distance with small talks.

"Who said we're going there for sightseeing?"

“Then?” she was preparing herself to hear the heart pounding answer and it came being a bang.

"Ever heard of bungee jumping?"

Her feet solidified on the ground as she heard his enthusiastic voice and the she slapped her forehead for getting married to an adventure enthusiast. She pinched the back of her palm and whined, “Please tell me that it's a dream and I am still sleeping."

“Should I give you a love bite?” his voice was full of humor and she grumbled, “Where’s the sympathy, handsome?”

"In your dreams, sweetheart”

*****

Anahita scowled, buttoning the seventh dress of the evening and was mumbling curses to her husband. She bolted open the bathroom door and emerged out, looking murderous, "I swear if you reject this one. I will kill you." She warned Yuvraaj while smoothing the front down and he glanced up from his phone, examining her with an encompassing glance. She frowned deepened as she took in the sight of his eyes that spoke of dissent.

He scampered out of the bed and huffed, disappointedly. “This is the seventh dress and you're still not looking.....how do I put it...good?"

"Not good?" She gasped in shock, looking down on her lavender prom dress. It was the costliest in her cupboard and had squeezed great amount of time to have it designed especially but this wasn’t good enough to receive his approval. Her eyebrows bumped together and she chided, “Are you blind? This dress isn’t good? I got it done from the top designer in India and it also took most of my savings. Do you know that?”

Yuvraaj smirked, stretching his arm and faked a boring yawn. “I never said that this dress is not good. I just said you're not looking good."

"What's the difference?"

"Difference is," He stroked his chin, giving the dress a once over, “This doesn't suit you, my lady. The color fades in your skin tone. It doesn’t do justice with your beauty so go and change into something different.”

“Try on that bikini?” She tried to inflame him and his smirked turned wider as he sauntered near her, “If only I get to see you in that, why not?”

She rolled her eyes, “You know what? Just go to the prom alone. I am not accompanying you.”

“I am not going alone anywhere and you won’t accompany me in this joker dress. So, try a new trick.”

"Then at least choose a dress for me,” She recommended and twisted her lips, “It is helpful to me more than those thumbs-down. Or better, I will wear the dress Roop gifted to me,” She clicked her finger, realizing that she had unmindfully packed a few sets of dresses that her cousin gifted her. It was a different story that she had made Roop buy that provocative, backless sheath dress to gift her along with other moderately decent dresses.

She lurched to the wardrobe, pulled out her trolley bag and rifled through it to get the dress. She grinned, finally finding it and waved it before Yuvraaj’s eyes. “How’s this one? Apt for the prom?”

Lust filled his mind, coursing through his veins and shooting down to a prominent place in south as he glimpsed the dress. He hauled her on her feet and bracketed her between the wall and his body, keeping his hands firmly on her waist. Anahita bunched the dress in her fists, watching him parted lips in surprise. She swallowed the wedging breath in her throat when the sharp zing of sensations skyrocketed from her waist to his mind. His hands on her flesh were like the burning coals and she found herself sweating.