Poles Apart

Chapter Fifty-Nine

The morning after the party, I woke up with a backache and wetness between my legs; not the pleasurable kind.

I pick up my phone to check the time before getting off the bed and onto my sore feet to take a shower and go back to sleep, after making sure that I haven't stained my sheets.

Groggy and half-asleep even after a shower, I slip on one of Arjun's t-shirts over my panties and go back to the bed with my passed-out husband.

I assume Arjun's asleep when I silently slide into bed, but Arjun immediately moves closer to me, draping his arm over me, and whispers, "where'd you go?" in his morning voice before snuggling into my neck.

I move away from him, not wanting to cuddle, but instead, be the one to be cuddled. "I got my period," I tell him, sliding down the pillow to cuddle him.

"Are you okay?" he asks, bundling me up in his arms.

"My back aches," I groan, moving closer to him.

Arjun presses his finger pads into my back, applying pressure onto my back in an attempt to relieve the pain.

"Thank you," I express, coiling my arms around him, tightly.

"Isn't your period early?" Arjun asks, his voice husky from just waking up.

"I think so," I yawn.

"Should you get it checked?" he asks further.

But I don't answer him as I slip back into a deep slumber, only to wake up around noon to Arjun's whisper-yelling on the phone.

"I cannot be at the office every hour of every day telling you what to do— you will have to apply yourself!"

His tone startles me. Arjun rarely ever raises his voice at his employees, and if he ever does, it's certainly louder than this.

I turn around to look at him, leaning against the headboard of the bed. He looks down at me and mouths "sorry" before getting out of bed and walking into the balcony, closing the french window after him.

I sigh to myself. What's happened now?

I push myself to sit up against the bed's headboard before reaching for my phone, the notifications on my home screen beaming brightly back at me. I realise that I'd slept in, the time on my screen reads 12:30.

"Fuck," I curse, flinging the sheets off myself. I was supposed to organise the things for dinner tonight.

Arvi, I scold myself, why are you so fucking irresponsible?

I unplug the charger of my phone and try to stand up at once, only to fall back onto the bed because of a blackout, my skin feeling cold with sweat.

I squeeze my eyes shut, taking in deep breaths.

I hear the door to the balcony slide open over my heartbeat and open my eyes to look back at Arjun.

Arjun's eyebrows scrunch as he looks at me. "Are you okay?" he asks, walking over to me in quick strides and kneeling in front of me.

"I'm okay," I tell him calmly, letting him hold my hands.

"Your hands are cold," he observes, resting both of them against his cheeks.

"That's normal," I shrug it off, not wanting to worry him over a regular period blackout.

"Are you okay though?" he asks, holding my hands with both of his again.

"I'm okay, baby," I chuckle. "My hands get cold, it's normal."

Arjun looks unconvinced. "I opened the door and you were sitting here, hunched over. You didn't look okay."