Kalam

Chapter 19

       A little less than 2 years ago.

She was cooking in the kitchen. Making something she heard that Advitya likes. It's been two months since her marriage to him, and things have been awkward to say the least. After the first night they slept together, he has maintained his distance.

He has never been a talkative person to begin with. He doesn't say anything to her, and touching her is out of question. He sleeps on the far end of the bed with his back towards her. She sleeps on her side. He keeps so much space between the two of them that another person can come and sleep in between them comfortably. He wakes up before her so she doesn't get to watch him sleep either.

She has overcome the grief of losing her father. All thanks to her wonderful new family. Though you can never forget a person. She would always miss him. However, the hope she had for a relationship with her husband dies a little everyday. She cooks him breakfast everyday in hopes of some words. He eats everything. Never complains or praises. At first when she didn't know anything about him, she cooked whatever she felt like. Later she got to know how choosy of an eater he is. Though he ate the food she cooked, he would've never before if it was made by someone else.

Then she asked Anjali maa, and the kitchen staff about his preferences and started cooking him his favorites. It's not like he said anything earlier but she felt the need to do it. He still didn't say anything after either.

Over the two months she tried to talk to him. Ask him questions about him, to try to know him. He gave her one word answers. Or just looks that she was left to then decipher. When he didn't tell her stuff about himself she told him stuff about herself. Without him asking. He would just be sitting there with his laptop and she would start blabbering about herself and her work. She tells him all about her office and stuff everyday she comes back from the office.

She has drowned herself in her work too. What else would she do? Her in-laws are busy with business and other high society stuff. Her two brother in-laws are busy with their careers, one with business, the other with music. She has no parents and her husband isn't interested in her. She really wishes to scream in his face and tell him how much he hurts her but she doesn't. He married her because her father asked him to. That was a favor enough. She doesn't want to sound ungrateful.

He doesn't even look at her when she talks to him. But he listens to some parts. She told him she loved reading books and the next day when she came back from the office, she saw a bookshelf installed in their room, full of the type of books she reads. She didn't tell him her preferred genre but Ayaan told her how Advitya asked him about it. She was a little upset about why he didn't ask her himself but she was so touched by the gesture that she didn't dwell on the other part. She thanked him when he came back from his office and he just nodded at her.

She wanted to hug him but He had set some unspoken boundaries between them that she didn't have the courage to cross. However, there is something different she always noticed. The hardness in his eyes, the sharpness with which he looks at everyone else isn't there when he looks at her. The edge to his gaze is absent when he has his eyes on her, which is not often. He is a difficult man to understand and there is only so much she can do before she gives up. Fighting for a relationship alone is exhausting and humiliating. It's like she is trying too hard whereas he isn't even bothered.

With that thought, she plated the breakfast she made for everyone and served it. She sat there quietly playing with the food in her plate while the sound of cutlery surrounded her. Everyone was eerily quiet today. But nobody questioned it. Meera was the first to get up. She didn't eat much. And as she went away, her every move was followed by a set of Grey eyes until she went out of sight. He knows he hurts her. Every single day. But he doesn't know what to do. He is not good at talking. He will say things that will worsen the matter so he stays quiet. He felt terrible after their first night together. They didn't even know each other. It felt like a one night stand but they have to see each other everyday and sleep on the same bed.