Bengal, Chatterjee Residence

An amicably decorated room; with jasmine garlands hung from above. The sweet and addictive fragrance filling the entire chamber, with rose petals scattered upon the bed. Cool zephyrs made the curtains rustle, the moonlight sweeping through the window, intermingling with the dimmed yellow lights inside.

And a beautiful woman, his wife; sitting inside.

Perfectly romantic.

Only if he could say so. What dreams he had seen for this day....

And now his wife asked him the reason he married her. 

Perfectly screwed. 

Anirban bit his lower lip, closing his eyes. His heart thudded faster, feeling clueless as to say her what so as to not worsen the situation further. He watched her freeing her long tresses, untangling them meanwhile. And ignoring him. He began to fidget with his thumb and index, silently striding towards her, "Saudamini?" 

No response.

She was sitting in the middle of the bed with legs behind her back, and her head lowered; busy undoing the ornaments. 

"You are upset with Maashi....right?"

"So? What am I supposed to do? Venerate her?" She crisply answered, but hurt was laid in her voice. Anirban brushed back his hair, and sat on the edge of the bed. She was miffed. Very much, but he couldn't blame her. She had the very right to be upset. 

"Mini, look- everything always doesn't sit well with everyone, you know that right," He breathed in, folding his one leg on the bed and gazing at her. The frown on her face was intact, but she had now given up removing the ornaments, "People say whatever they feel like."

"They are your family, Anirban. Not outsiders," Saudamini raised her head, her brows thinning as she gazed at him momentarily and looked away. 

"It doesn't mean that everyone in the family too agrees," Anirban tried to reason, shifting more towards her. 

"That's why I am asking why did you marry me if some of your family members have a problem with it?" She pressed her lips together, blinking a bit in anguish, "It's not that they were innocent regarding you getting married to me right? Then why?" 

Anirban stared at her for a moment, not finding the correct words, "Mini, it is not so...."

"You only nodded a yes to everything my mother asked you, including if anyone had any objections regarding the marriage, yes or no?" She sighed deeply, anger bubbling through her words, "And you said no!"

"But try to understand! I wanted to marry you!" 

"You wanted to marry me, so you said yes regarding everything? Didn't think about what your family is going to say?" 

"Mini, nothing is always perfect. Conflicts happen within a household. Moreover, Kadambari Maashi is nagging from always, she doesn't like majority of stuff I do," He bit his lips, furrowing his brows.

"How does it make the situation any better, Anirban?" Saudamini's lips curled in a sarcastic smile as she shook her head, "She can come and utter any nonsense in front of me if she wishes to!"

"I am not talking about making the situation better, it is just that some people can't change how much we try to. Her opinions are hard to change for you, but that doesn't mean that I am not going to marry you," Anirban forwarded his hand and held her wrist firmly, brushing his thumb on her palm. Saudamini gazed at him for a brief moment, as if feeling a bit astonished as to whatever he said, "Like these, many will go on speaking. Should I have left my determination to marry you then?" 

"You are my wife, not Kadambari Maashi's," 

"But family plays a major role regarding everything, it is not always a husband and wife..." She gazed up, trying to process his words and looking away. 

"Everything starts from a husband and wife only, Mini. Every family starts with them, if they work together, they create a family. If things don't work between us, even our family members won't be able to do anything regarding it." 

"But what is the use of it if your family members only badmouth me? If they don't support you then what is the use of it?!" She exasperated. 

Anirban threw her a sharp gaze this time. 

"Come on, Mini. You are talking as if you have never went against your family and did anything? Didn't you get reprimanded for it? Is your wish everytime entertained by your parents or family?" 

Saudamini lifted her lashes and met his eyes eventually. And all she could remember her mother repeatedly asking her not to go ahead and marry Satyakaam. And how she turned a deaf ear to her, and went on with her wish. 

She tried to find something suitable to argue back.

"And you were there right?" Anirban gulped for a moment, "If you heard everything, you must too have heard that I did not keep quiet..."

"But isn't it that every husband should do?" She furrowed her brows at once.

"But it doesn't seem from your words that you acknowledged that fact, Saudamini." Anirban instantly argued, "You were saying as if I was quiet all the time she spoke nonsense regarding you, isn't it?" 

"You tell me, Mini, what am I supposed to do?" He continued further, "How am I going to change every person's opinion regarding you? Your anger is justified but keep yourself in my shoes in well, for a moment too!"  

Saudamini held her breath for a while, gazing at him. She wasn't expecting him to backfire at her evenly. She opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't, knowing well that he was right. 

Both of them went silent for a while, as Anirban looked down, with her cold and slightly sweaty palm in his, which he gently brushed to soothe her. He was sure of one thing, Saudamini was an opinionated woman, whatever may be it. Not a silent woman who would keep enduring the miseries. It may be because of the pride or arrogance she had, whatever be it, it was something which most women lacked. A voice of reason. 

"Everything, everything will be as per your family and we will fit in, I don't think that's how we can display our true worth," His lips curved into a silly smile, "You see, the moon too has it own blemishes but it keeps shining. Yet it thrills upon displaying its blemishes openly to the world."

There was a short spell of silence for a moment. 

"You have to trust me, Mini. No marriage works without it, and regarding my family members saying anything to you, I can't really promise you that uproars won't occur. There would be, but trust me we will be together and make it work. I can promise you regarding that." He inhaled, looking down, for he couldn't find anything else to make her feel better. 

Saudamini blinked, looking down, her features softening. 

He promised. 

 Did he really say that? Was it the same man who was goofing around literally without worrying about anything of the world? What happened to that Anirban? To be honest, a tiny part of her wasn't expecting him to understand and console her. But she was wrong.

He wasn't, he wasn't clearly aligning to what she had prejudiced against him. 

"So you have married me to experiment with your thrill?" She lowered her chin and peered at him, causing him glance at her and blink, "What kind of thrill you are talking about, Saudamini?" Anirban raised a brow, squinting his eyes, making Saudamini's breath hitch. This man-O God! He just did not find a double meaning in her words! She shut her eyes firmly, he was hopeless. Definitely. But that was making it now things too hard for her not to chuckle.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, her lips curling up into a smile and shifting her head on the other side and shaking it, "You're really..."

What was this man even made of? 

"Brilliant. And are you done with your anger? Or I must continue further?" Anirban gazed  at her and blinked innocently, "If you want I can please you the entire night...."

Saudamini choked at his words, "What?" 

"I mean, pacify you, of course." He cleared his throat slightly, watching her cheeks flushing. She had smiled, she freaking smiled at his words. Anirban couldn't believe he did that. And there was something more he felt in his heart for a moment, something more than the happiness he felt when she accepted the marriage; but he just couldn't figure it out. It was something which made him feel good. 

Well, that meant he wasn't that bad in pacifying.

He went over towards the table and lifted the glass of turmeric milk, and forwarded it to her, "It's warm and good." She stared at the glass for a meantime, it was true she was feeling exhausted, and a bit hungry after everything. Given the fact that everything had overwhelmed her and taken a toll, she badly wanted to drink it to clear her mind.

She didn't argue further, but wrapped her fingers around the milk and blew air over it. The vapors cooled down, and she took a small sip. 

Anirban sat beside her, almost half lying on the bed on his elbow and rested his jaw on his palm; collecting the rose petals and stacking them above one another while peering at her and smiling subtly.

"What are you smiling for?" Saudamini blinked at him, removing the glass from her lips. 

Her lips parted open as Anirban held her chin up with his index finger, an intense yet soft look lacing in his irises; it visibly and unabashedly trailed towards her lips, making her heart skip a bit. She stiffened as she held the glass, she wasn't still accustomed to his sudden plans of unleashing his charms. And the traitor of her little body always fell for it. 

He brushed his thumb over the corner of his lips, wiping off the drop of milk, his gaze not leaving hers. 

Her stomach flipped almost instantly as he instantly released her chin and sucked his thumb after a while, "Delicious..."

Saudamini kept gaping at him, her cheeks flushed deeply as well as her nose. 

And with that ladies and gentleman, was her husband Anirban Chatterjee. 

★★★★★★★★★

A/N

Hayeee...tense atmosphere ko kaise romantic atmosphere me badle koi Anirban se seekhe 🙈✨

Btw, I realized this is how my parents exactly have their banters 🤣🤣🤣. 

The offended one sometimes speaks things which are always generated due to pure anger, while the other one tries to speak in sense and make that person understand. I feel like this is how all arguments take place. 🤭✨

Specially that line "What am I supposed to do? Venerate her?" Uff this so a common dialogue of my mom 🤣🤣🤣. It sounds more classic in Hindi, it goes like, "To aur kya karu? Aarti utaaru unki?" Like almost every wife says this to their husband after receiving a snarky comment from their relative or so. And the husband tries to calm her down. It's too cute. 🤣

I specially loved how Anirban tried to console her, it shows that he wasn't also blind in her love that he just nodded a yes to everything she says. There was a clarity in what he wanted to say and he did, without hurting Mini's feelings. You would often see how a besotted ML is portrayed like that. Like the FL would often try to impose her opinions on him, and he will just work according to her whims without his own individuality, without thinking much. These MLs don't take a stand for themselves. It makes their charm lose and they appear like a lovesick puppy, something which I ain't fond of. It makes them look DUMB. 

Whereas it seems very progressive when FLs take a stand for themselves, and when MLs do it, they are reprimanded by pseudo feminists 🤡. 

If anything is wrong, speak against it. Take your stand. Irrespective of whether you are a boy or a girl.

This may be a very tiny issue, happens in all homes, but it is from your home where you start from. 

It may not be visible externally, but Saudamini definitely realizes that Anirban is not DUMB or blind in her love. It would rather attract her more to him.

We do not stan Karn-Dury friendships U_U. 

Signing off for today!

Nushkie