Xaharau, the first chapter of this book is dedicated to you. You're amazing ❤

•

"Come on, Divija!" Adhika walked into the kitchen, to ensure everything was in order. "Quickly take the dishes to the dining room. Make sure everything is in place."

"Yes, yes." She nodded. "I got this! You can go ahead to your room and get dolled up. I'll take care of things here."

A grateful smile curled up Adhika's lips. "I trust you will."

Quickly, she left the kitchen for her room. Since she woke up, she had been doing one thing or the other. After a month, her husband was finally returning home. She was ecstatic. She could not keep calm. He was not the perfect husband, but he was everything she needed in a man — he respected her a lot and never, had he given her a chance to complain.

At the age of twenty three, she never thought she would be in her matrimonial home, but as fate would have it, she was. 

She smiled and walked into the bathroom for a long shower.

Emerging with a knee length towel, wrapped around her petite body, she ambled to the dressing mirror and took a seat on the stool in front of it. Her eyes dilated, as she stared at the reflection in front of her — it was her husband's. She smiled and then face palmed. "I must be going crazy." He might have left for a business trip, but his presence was still felt by Adhika. He was all she could see when she looked into the mirror — the first face she saw each morning.

After she was done applying lotion to her body and applying light make-up, she walked to their walk-in closet and picked a blue saree. It was her husband's favorite colour on her. Indisputably, she knew he would want that and for his happiness, she was willing to do anything.

She could not wait for him to return any longer. A month seemed like eternity to her. Initially, she thought she would not be able to bear it, but she found herself doing just that. Though she missed him terribly, she was good at hiding it from others, especially that nosy cousin of hers, Divija.

Running out of patience, she picked her phone from the table and took a glance at the time. For some weird, inexplicable reason, time seemed to have come to a standstill. She pouted and dropped the phone back on the table, exasperatedly.

A knock of the door jolted her out of her trance. "Sameer?" Her lips spread into a smile. She took one last look at herself in the mirror and fixed her lipstick, before hurrying off to get the door.

In a split second, her smile turned into a frown, when she opened the door and found out, it was only Divija. Her brows furrowed and her nose flared. "What is it?" She snapped, utterly disappointed by her appearance.

"I just came to inform you that everything is all set, ma'am." She rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault that your husband is not here yet." She playfully stick out her tongue at her and ran away, before she could get the chance to transfer her pent up aggressions on her.

She slammed the door and puffed out air from her mouth. She could not believe how silly she had been. Of course it could not be Sameer. He would not have knocked otherwise. She had been too excited to give it a thought.

She walked back into the room and plopped into the bed; her gazed fixed intently on the ceiling, like it was the most fascinating thing she had seen all year. "Should I call him or not?" She contemplated. "No, I shouldn't." She concluded. "I'd be disturbing him too much."

Instead of sitting idly in the room and waiting eagerly for him, she decided to go downstairs and confirm if things were already in place, like Divija said. Not that she did not trust her. She did — a great deal, but because she was overexcited, she wanted everything to be failsafe. Everything had to be perfect.

"Divija!" She called, as she walked down the stairs.

"Yes, ma'am." She sprung up. "At your service."

Adhika rolled her eyes at how dramatic Divija tended to get. "The lentils —"

"Don't worry about the lentils, Adhika." She groaned. "Like I said, I have made sure everything is perfect. I have also taken the briyani to the dining room."

"Thanks, Divija." For the umpteenth time, she voiced her appreciation. She did not know what she would have done without her. "Did you taste it? How does it taste?"

"Not spicy enough." She responded, with a scrunched up demeanor. "I wanted to tell you, but it skipped my mind."

"Really?" Adhika panicked, instantly getting worked up. "But I tasted it earlier and it tasted okay."

"There." She pointed out. "You said it. It tastes excellent, so don't be too conscious about it. You've been the one making his biryani for six months and he loves the way you make it. I'm sure it won't be an exception this time. Sameer is going to like it. I'm a hundred and one percent sure of this. You've put in a lot of effort to make sure he is happy when he returns home. Even if the dishes taste horrible — which they don't, he will have to shove it down his throat, regardless."

Adhika smiled; her one sided dimple popping out.

"What would you do without me?" Divija sneered.

"Absolutely nothing." She admitted and threw my arms around her. "Thanks for being here. I'd have been confused." She admitted. It was like a habit of hers to get confused when a situation arose.

"The pleasure is mine, even though you've succeeded in turning me into a loyal dog, always at your beck and call." She snorted.

"Don't ever do that again." Adhika chuckled. "You should have seen your face. You actually looked like a dog when you made that face."

"Did you just call me a dog?" She asked through gritted teeth. "Me? Divija?"

"I didn't." Adhika's somewhat muffled laugh filled the air. "You did, yourself."

"I'm not talking to you for a week — no, for a month." She huffed and stormed away.

"Dramatic as always." She yelled after her. "You should be given the crown of the world's drama queen."

Adhika did not realize how much time had passed, until she returned to their room and caught a glimpse of the time, on the wall clock.

Languidly, she sat on the bed. She was beginning to get really worried now. He did tell her not to call, as he would be busy with some work, on his way home and would not be able to pick up, but he ought to have at least given her a call.

Not able to stay idle anymore, she picked up her phone and dialed his number. As expected, he did not pick. She tried for the second time and got the same result.

Groaning, she threw her phone across the bed and buried her face in her palms.

Just then, Divija barged into the room, startling Adhika in the process.

"Wh—"

"Sameer is back! He's at the door. I haven't opened the door for him yet. I know you want to be the one to do it."

"He is back?" A glittering splendor shimmered in her eyes.

"Yes, he is. He is still standing outside. Hurry up and let him in."

"Okay. I'll be out in a jiffy."

Immediately Divija left the room, Adhika rushed to the mirror and retouched her makeup, then walked out of the room; a permanent smile plastered on her face.

Momentarily, Adhika paused in front of the main door, before turning the doorknob and pulling.

She did not think her smile could get any wider, but immediately her gaze met his, it did. The brown eyes of his, which she had terribly missed, had her lost in them. He looked handsome in his tuxedo, holding his suitcase in his left hand — had always been. She did not fail to notice how fuller his beards had grown.

"Took you long enough." That was the only thing he said, before opening the door wider and walking pass her.

Adhika stood there, shocked. She had not expected him to be as excited as she was to see him after a whole month, but she did not expect him to react so nonchalantly as well. What she had expected, was for him to at least reward her with his charismatic smile, and then embrace her.

His action made her heart sink to her feet. It meant two things. He was either exhausted — which was not a valid excuse — or he had lost a contract with an investor. In any case, she did not deserve such treatment.

Disheartened, she turned around and stretched out a hand to collect his suitcase, but he stopped her.

"It's fine." The words emerged in a subdued tone.

"How was your journey?" She forced a smile. "I'm glad you're finally home." She voiced.

Sameer's grip around the suitcase loosened and he walked closer to his wife and engulfed her in his embrace; his head buried in the crook of her neck. "I missed you." 

Adhika tightened her arms around him and wiped away the tears that prickled her eyes, before they had the chance to fall. "I missed you more." No matter how hard she tried, she would never be able to prove to him just how much. She had missed the feeling of having him so close to her.

He disentangled his arms from around her and pulled back; his hands on her shoulders. "You've lost weight." He commented; his demeanor contorted in concern. "Why is that?"

"Welcome back, Sameer." Before Adhika could respond, Divija chose the moment to approach and interrupt her. 

"Thank you." He responded, curtly and averted his gaze back to his wife and picked his suitcase.

Without speaking, she already knew what his next move would be. The realization of him not even noticing she dressed up for him made her feel a pang in her heart. "I prepared all of your favorite di—"

"Sorry, I am not hungry." He stated and without sparing her another glance, he walked away.

Five words — those words of his wrenched her heart. Right in front of her, all of the efforts she had put in, in order to please him, crumbled. What hurt her the most, was his display of detachment. He had said he missed her, but did he truly? His actions contradicted his words. Sometimes, people tend to tell us what we want to hear — Adhika believed it was the case with him. She felt so stupid for thinking he had begun to have some kind of feelings for her. Stupid!

"Adhika." Divija called and placed a soothing hand on her shoulder.

That simple act of hers was what triggered Adhika's pent up tears to stream down her cheeks. She did not want to cry in front of her cousin, but she could not control herself anymore. In the hopes of making her husband happy, she ended up making a fool out of herself.

As if Divija knew what Adhika needed, she hugged her and whispered; "Maybe he had a bad day."

"Probably." She ferociously wiped her tears away and forced a smile. "I will just take the food to his room."

"I will get it ready for you." Divija offered.

"You've done enough, Divija. Don't worry, I got this."

•

"I don't want to hear of it! I'm not changing my mind! Cancel the damn meeting."

Adhika walked in to sameer screaming to someone over the phone. She was taken aback by this — in the five months they have spent together, it was the first time she saw him acting so aggressively. He looked like a lion, ready to pounce on its prey. This rare sight of him, scared her.

In an attempt to try to calm him, she slowly walked up to him and mustered some courage in her, before placing a hand on his tensed up shoulder. "Sameer?" She called in a soothing voice.

"What?" He snapped, without turning around.

Adhika flinched at the tone of his voice, but regained her composure in few seconds. She blinked away the tears that prickled her eyes. Her heart was shattering, yet there was nothing she could do, but endure the pain quietly. "You must be hungry..." She finally found her lost voice. "I brought you some food, so —"

"I am not hungry." He repeated the same words from earlier — the same words Adhika dreaded to hear. She could not bear to see all of the efforts she had made running down the drain.

"But I specifically prepared all those dishes for you. See, I prepared your biryani the way you like it. Just have a taste, I'm sure y—"

"What part of 'I am not hungry' don't you get?" He boomed and turned so aggressively, knocking off the plate of biryani in the process.

Adhika's eyes dilated and she gasped.

•

Assalamu'alaykum/hello!

Chapter one is here 💃💃

I don't know about you, but I think this book is going to be interesting 😍 what do you think?"

What do you think about Adhika?

What do you think about Sameer?

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