Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. 

Don Marquis

Chapter 43: The Potty Excuse

   Riya's condition didn't get better after two days. Madhan wouldn't have minded if she yelled, but she didn't do that. She hardly spoke to him. Whenever they sat to eat, Riya would simply serve him and when Madhan asked her to eat, she would reply that she wasn't hungry.

   Madhan never asked Riya the reason why she was acting detached. Riya wondered if Madhan had even noticed. He would leave for office and come back like nothing happened. He would act really normal around her. Did he care about her? It would have been nice if he asked her how she was doing.

   On Monday evening, Madhan hadn't reached home yet. He was an hour an a half late, and Riya was getting worried. She tried calling Madhan but his phone wasn't reachable. Finally, it was nearing eight and her phone rang.

   "Madhan," she said, breathlessly. "Where are you? You got me so worried."

   Hearing his chuckle lit up her soul. Much as those feelings made her guilty, Madhan had grown on her. She got so used to him, and these little things made her day.

   If she had to choose only Aakash or only Madhan, it would be a much harder decision to take now. Before a few months ago, she would have chosen Aakash hands down, and not looked back at Madhan even once. Now, she didn't know whom she would choose.

   Riya wondered when these guilty feelings would go away. She remembered the conversation she and Aakash had on the day of her wedding. He had told her to let go, and move on. She deserved happiness now, and just because she did something for her parents' happiness, doesn't mean she can't have her own. That's not what her parents would have wanted.

    Then why did they get her married to him? Did she regret getting married to him? Her answer surprised her. She regretted it only because Madhan was supposed to marry someone who could love him, and she can never give him that. Even if she did love him, betraying Aakash like that will kill her.

   Especially when she had no idea where and what he was doing. Maybe, just maybe if she knew he was doing okay, she wouldn't feel so terrible.

   "I'm on my way. Just bringing some guests. Have dinner cooked for four, okay? Preferably something heavy. We'll be there in half an hour," Madhan said, over the phone.

   That idiot just called her to tell her to cook? There was no way she was going to listen to him.

   "No," she said stubbornly and hung up on him. Madhan smiled uneasily at his mom. "Dinner will be ready," he said, lightly. He knew Riya would cook for them despite her annoyance. He had learned to handle her rebellious ways with grace.

   You tell her to do something, and she says no, and you act like it's fine. It was a normal everyday routine that he learned to follow for the past few weeks.

   Mrs. Roy gave him an earful. "How can you ask her to cook? Why are you making her work so hard? She's in such a delicate position now."

   Madhan was taken aback. "You know?" he asked, surprised. He wondered how they guessed she was having a difficult time to adjust. "It's a mom thing. Of course we know," Mrs. Sharma chimed in from the back.

   Of course, they were both on totally different tracks, which would come into light only two days later.

   Mrs. Roy and Mrs. Sharma could not stop about how handsome he looked. They rambled and rambled about how they were so proud he was fit and healthy.

   "Riya did you good, son." Mrs. Roy said. Mrs. Sharma was feeling very proud. Her daughter had achieved a great feat.

   At first, Riya was vehement about not cooking. Finally coming to the conclusion that she needed to take her mind of her confused feelings, she started cooking. She decided to prepare continental.

   Just as Riya placed all the dishes on the dining table, she heard the doorbell ring. She quickly redid her hair and adjusted her dress to look a bit presentable.

   She opened the door, curious to know who the guests were.

   "Mom," Riya squealed, when she saw the most familiar human being on Earth. She couldn't believe her mother was right there in front of her. She crushed her mom into a bear hug. And then hugged Madhan's mom. She managed to not look at Madhan. Pleasantries were exchanged and a few tears were shed.

   They were still standing in front of their apartment after fifteen minutes. "Show us our room, Riya. We need to freshen up. We'll eat after that," her mom spoke up.

   Riya panicked. She shut the door to their face. Riya looked at the house. It wasn't so messy, but it still needed to be clean. But that wasn't the problem. The problem was her stuff was in her room. She couldn't let them know that they were not staying together.

  On second thought, she thought it would be better for them to know, but when she remembered Mrs. Roy's words on the night of their wedding, she shuddered. The last thing she wanted them to ask was for a grandchild. And if they knew they were sleeping separately, then they would be asking her every minute of their stay.

   "I'm going potty. I'll be right back," she said, through the door. Riya cringed. Couldn't she have come up with another excuse?

   Riya heard her mom wail. "Not potty! She takes half an hour to finish." Riya was mortified. Did her mom say that out loud? She wondered what other stories she would be telling them about her. It was an inside joke, and she wasn't ready to share it. It was horrifyingly embarrassing.

   She zoomed to her room, and let out a frustrated yelp. She had too many things to shift and there was no helping hand.

   A little warning would have been nice, she yelled at him in her head. She and Madhan were going to have a lot of work to do to clean up his room once she transferred everything.

   She made a trip to transfer all her teddy bears. Then she took a pile of her clothes and dumped it on Madhan's shelf. And then she took her makeup set and jewelry and placed it on his shelf. She cleaned up the stuff in her bathroom. It would have taken her fifteen minutes to make sure everything was all transferred. Fluffing the pillows, she gave a satisfied sigh. Good work, Riya, she told herself.

   Riya's hair was a mess when she opened the door. She smiled so big and crushed her mom into a bear hug again. She missed her terribly so much. Madhan watched her from behind, a bit puzzled, but he gave her a reassuring smile, and Riya was tempted to smile back, feeling so grateful, but she didn't. Now that she knew he was safe, she was still a bit annoyed at him for ignoring her. Kind of.

   Madhan was a bit hesitant to show them their room. He was about to open his bedroom door, when Riya scrambled after him standing in front his door blocking him.

   "That side, mom and Aunty, " Riya said, pointing with her head in the direction opposite them. The moms were too tired to notice anything. Mrs. Sharma was already frustrated that Riya couldn't have let them inside while pooped, but now that she was in the room, the first thing she did was head to the showers.

   Once Riya was sure they were inside her room, she quietly closed the door. "Madhan, get in your room quickly," she whispered, opening his door, and motioning him inside.

   Madhan muttered a few words at the sight of his room. The entire room was in chaos. His once clean shelf was filled with Riya's makeup and jewelry. Their bed was filled with teddy bears, and he didn't even want to look in his bathroom closet.

   Daring to take a peak, he opened the door and found himself engulfed in her clothes.

   Riya watched in fortification as Madhan turned to look at her. Her pink underwear perfectly wrapped his head, and one of her bras was dangling from his ears. "Oh my," Riya said, turning pink.

   "What the hell is this?" he fumed. He was unable to tolerate it. Everything was terribly messy.

   "Keep your voice down, will you?" Riya snapped. "Do you want them to know we are living in separate rooms?"

  "Yes! It would make things so much easier. At least they won't keep pestering us for a child."

   "Don't be a douche-bag. They would pester us to start our lives if they know we aren't."

   Madhan rolled his eyes. "Whatever floats your boat. Before we get into the whole awkward 'sleeping' on the same bed situation, help me clean up this room."

   Riya gulped. He was right. They had to get through a couple nights on the same bed. She had an idea that solve their problem. "Nope. I'm not helping. I transferred everything without any help. You clean this mess up."

   Madhan muttered something under his breath but Riya paid no heed to it. "I'm going to watch TV while I wait for them to freshen up."

    Madhan grunted and got to work. He had a long night ahead of him.

   Fifteen minutes later, Mrs. Roy came out of the room in her night dress, followed by Mrs. Sharma who was wearing a cotton sari. They smiled at each other secretly as they looked at Riya watching TV. She definitely needed her rest.

  Riya turned around as she heard them come out. "Oh, please take a seat, I'll get the food ready."

   Mrs. Roy was quick to stop her. "No, it's okay. We know you must be really tired. We'll serve ourselves."

   "No. I insist," Riya said, and got up. Why would she be so tired? She looked at them weirdly but proceeded to serve them their dinner. When Mrs. Sharma asked where Madhan was, she told them that he was really tired and was resting. She would bring him food later, she had said.

   Riya caught the secretive smiles on their faces and groaned inwardly. They were as far away from the truth as they could be. She needed to pull off this facade just for a week before she can go back to taking her time to settle in this relationship.

   Their moms had retired for the day. Riya brought dinner to their room just as she had said. Madhan was showering so she kept the plate on his vanity table. She looked around and appreciatively nodded at the clean room. He had done a great job. The jewelry and makeup was kept neatly in his drawers.

   Riya frowned. Her teddy bears were aligned beautifully on the cabinet shelf. She couldn't sleep without them. There was a problem, however. With the teddy bears on her bed, there was only space for one. Where would Madhan sleep?

   Riya plopped onto the bed, trying to rearrange the teddy bears in a line so as to give Madhan some space, but whatever way she had arranged them, there wasn't sufficient space. Riya doze off in the middle, having felt extremely tired.

   Madhan came out shirtless in a pair of shorts. He looked startled to see Riya sleeping on his bed with all those teddy bears, but she was looking really tired. He saw that his dinner was kept on the shelf. He gobbled it up and scratched his chin wondering how he was going to fit in the bed.

   Riya was hugging two teddy bears, had one in between her thighs, another one between her calves, the fifth one underneath her foot, a sixth one under her neck, and the seventh one behind her back. She was sprawled on his bed and he was worried if his weight dipping the bed would wake her up.

   Madhan liked to sleep without a shirt. It was very comfortable. He didn't think twice that he was going to be sleeping with Riya.

   Riya opened her eyes the moment Madhan was comfortably tucked in. She sucked in her breath at their close proximity.

   She widened her eyes when she saw that he was shirtless and sat upright in an instant.

   "Okay we need to set some boundaries." Riya removed the duvet covers on top of him

   Madhan scowled at her. He had struggled so hard in getting onto the bed without touching her. He was forced to sit upright now. "What?"

   "You can't sleep shirtless. Wear a shirt."

   "Why? Afraid you'll fall for me?"

   "Yes. Go put it on now."

   Madhan had no idea whether Riya was joking or not. But he got out anyway and put on a shirt.

   "What's next, ma'am?"

   Riya threw a teddy bear at him which he caught admirably. He never failed to impress her with his reflex skills.

   "Okay the last rule, no touching."

   Madhan rolled his eyes at her. "Then these teddy bears can't stay."

   "What? No!" Riya gasped.

   "I'm abiding by your rules."

   Riya looked at her teddy bears sadly.

   "Stop with the pouting," he muttered. "Only one teddy bear allowed."

   Riya's smile lit up her face, and Madhan chuckled at her relief. Together, they arranged the remaining teddy bears on the shelf, and Riya mischievously chose the biggest one.

   She put it in the middle, creating a small barrier between them.

   They both lied down such that their backs faced each other. It was all going smoothly until Riya kicked him off the bed at two in the night.

   Madhan woke up with a start. He cursed inwardly when he looked at the time. He moved her as gently as he could without waking her up. An hour later, Riya kicked him off the bed again.

   Frustrated, he slept on the sofa in the hall, keeping an alarm so that he could wake up before their moms woke up. He had only three hours of sleep left.    

Author's Note:

So :') One heck of a chapter huh? :P Poor Madhan :'D Wonder how he's gonna get some sleep :P

This chapter is dedicated to:

@sijukutty

@meangel17

@dishataneja

Thank you for reading! <3

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