Chapter 15

Chaahat opened the door to find a woman, probably in her early forties, standing there with a smile on her face.

"Uh?"

"Namaste madam ji" the woman said, folding her hands in greeting.

"Namaste. May I know who you are?" Chaahat asked politely

"I am Suma. My husband is the caretaker of this apartment. I come here on alternate days to clean and cook. Mithran baba asked me to come and cook tonight" Suma said

"Oh. Please come in" Chaahat said and opened the door for the woman.

As the older woman got herself busy with her kitchen work, Chaahat went back to her work.

An hour later, she closed her laptop and books and switched on the TV.

She was watching a documentary and didn't realise when she fell asleep.

That’s how Mithran found her, when he reached home.

Suma smiled at him.

“Thank you Suma Akka, for coming at short notice and staying late” Mithran told the older woman.

“You can call us anytime, Mithran baba” Suma said

“You can go, Suma Akka. Will call you if there is any emergency” Mithran said

Suma neither asked who Chaahat is, nor judged Mithran for having a woman home.

Mithran looked at the couch where Chaahat had fallen asleep and noticed that she had taken her nuptial chain off.

For some reason, it bothered him.

‘What the hell, Mithran. How does it matter whether she wears the nuptial chain or not? This is not a real marriage’ she spoke to himself, as he walked Suma Akka out of his apartment.

Once the older woman left, Mithran walked back to where Chaahat was sleeping.

‘She could have worn the nuptial chain. That way no one would have suspicions about our relationship’ he thought to himself and then cursed himself for being stupid.

He had no intention of letting people know about this farce of a marriage.

He looked down at the sleeping woman and realised that he had never seen her face being so soft. She always held herself rigid.

His heart and brain had a fight on whether to wake her up or not and finally his heart won.

He gently picked her up from the couch and walked towards the bedroom.

Chaahat, feeling the movement, opened her eyes and looked at Mithran in horror.

“What the hell are you doing?” Chaahat asked coldly, as she struggled to get out of his hold

“Fu*king great” Mithran muttered under his breath and let her down.

“Mr Yadav, what kind of behaviour was that?” Chaahat asked coldly

“This is exactly what I wanted to avoid?” Mithran said

“What do you mean?” Chaahat asked in confusion

“If I woke you up, I would have had to have a conversation with you. So, I thought it better to take your sleeping form to the bed” Mithran said, believing his own lie

“You could have simply walked away after waking me. I wasn’t dying to talk to you” Chaahat said

“Unlike you, I am a polite man” Mithran said, rolling his eyes

Chaahat decided it was no use talking to this man. She walked towards the bedroom, took a pillow and duvet from the bed and laid on the couch.

Mithran freshened up and changed into a pair of night wear. He is used to sleeping in his boxers. He is comfortable that way. But he will have to make adjustments for the next three months.

He watched Chaahat twisting and turning to find a comfortable position to sleep.

“You can take the bed, Chaahat. It is big enough for two people” Mithran said

“I will manage, Mr Yadav” Chaahat said

“Oh for heaven’s sake. I am not worried about your comfort. All the twisting and turning you are doing is so noisy. It is a disturbance for me” Mithran snapped

He had never seen such an irritating woman before.

“The couch is hard” Chaahat told her excuse

“I know. It was bought with aesthetics in mind, not comfort. I didn’t foresee myself getting a temporary wife in the future. If I had, I would have bought a more comfortable couch” Mithran said sarcastically

Chaahat remained silent.

“I am an honourable man, Chaahat. I have no intentions of making a move on you. And being the gentleman that I am, it is difficult for me to let a woman take the couch. At the same time, the damn couch is too uncomfortable for me to make sacrifices. So, why don’t you do us both a favour and lie on the bed” Mithran asked in exasperation.

Chaahat hesitated for a moment.

“Well, if you don’t trust yourself..” Mithran trailed off with a smirk

That got to her

She stood up from the couch, taking the pillow and duvet and came to the bed.

She arranged the couch pillows in the centre of the bed, making a barrier between them.

“Tsk..Tsk” Mithran clucked his tongue in disappointment

“What?” Chaahat asked

“You just ruined your image with this cliche move, Chaahat. I had this cold ice princess image of you in my mind and you went ahead and did something so silly. I am so disappointed” Mithran said, making a pout on his face

Chaahat took deep breaths to stop herself from hitting him hard.

The man is getting under her skin and her emotions are threatening to overflow.

Especially anger!

Without answering him, she laid on the bed and pulled the duvet, covering up till her chin. She turned her back on him and closed her eyes.

As she closed her eyes, the demons of her life came chasing her, just like it did every night!

There is only so much she could run away from.

Then like a movie, it all started playing in her head.

The frozen face of a dead man. A woman crying her heart out, holding a baby girl in her arms. Them being pushed away from the man.

And then Him! The man with the wicked blue green eyes…

‘When will this stop? Will it ever stop?’ that was he last thought, before she slipped into a restless sleep like usual.

Mithran frowned, realising that Chaahat moved around a lot in her sleep. And it was disturbing his sleep.

“Damn woman” he muttered under his breath and wrapped his arms around her, stopping her from moving around.

When she felt his arms around her, she whispered a name confusing Mithran

“Rishi…”

Who the hell is Rishi, he thought to himself!