You're my dawn

5.No, I'm busy

“Where have you been?” Arsh rushed to her as she stepped inside the house. 

She hung the keys, changed the slippers and waded towards the dining area. Keeping her bag on the table, she poured herself a glass of water and chugged it in one breath. Meanwhile, Arsh followed her and waited for her answer patiently.

"I asked you something?" He repeated his question when he saw her not replying.

She glared at him. She was hell-tired and the public transportation, and the above-average temperature left her exhausted more than usual. 

"Arsh, can you not give me a little space?" When he kept looking at her expectantly, she snapped 

Arsh looked at her for a few seconds before storming away muttering 'fine' under his breath. He was scared for her. He had waited in front of her college for an hour and had dialled her number multiple times but she was out of reach. He had even gone to Firdous Villa to inquire about her whereabouts. 

He was worried heck for the past four hours and the girl wasn't even ready to answer him.

He huffed angrily as he furiously started rummaging through the cupboard.

As she entered the room after fifteen minutes, she saw him in front of his laptop, busy with his work. Keeping the bag in its place, she took out her PJs and strode towards the washroom. After a long calming shower she sauntered towards the kitchen. She felt a little relaxed and hungry as well but she wasn't in the mood to cook. While rummaging through the fridge she tried to look for something to eat.

"Your food is in the oven." She heard Arsh's voice and closed the fridge while standing straight and looked at him.

He was filling his water bottle from the dispenser with a sullen expression.

"Will you eat?" She asked out of courtesy and he denied it. Shrugging her shoulders she heated the food and ate alone. She was hungry and also the mutter paneer was extremely delicious. 

Making coffee and pouring it in two cups, she sauntered towards the room.

"Arsh, can you come to the balcony?" She asked, looking at him expectantly. 

He looked at her, sighed and muttered. "No, I'm busy."

She sighed. "Arsh, please," 

He huffed in annoyance but nonetheless followed her to the balcony. 

Sitting on the swing, a new and pretty addition to the balcony, she gestured to him to take a seat and forwarded his cup. 

"I was in the academy." After a few minutes of silence she spoke. 

Arsh looked at her quizzically.

"I teach there after college." 

He processed the information that she threw at him. It had been almost twenty days of their marriage. They were getting along pretty well, at least what he had thought but to his surprise he knew very little about her. 

"When did you join and where is it?" 

"It's been more than a year, and it is near my college." She calmly replied, sipping her coffee. "I was on leave and I rejoined today."

"What do you teach?" 

"Math to the nine and ten standard students."

Arsh didn't speak anything for a good few minutes while she waited for him to say something. As silence prevailed, she fidgeted internally. 

"Arsh, Are you upset about it?" She looked at him nervously. 

"Huh? Why would I be upset?" He looked quizzical. "But I genuinely want to know a few things and I want an honest answer."

She nodded in encouragement while he gouged her expressions. 

"Do you like it?" 

"Huh?" She looked puzzled. 

"Your job?" He clarified. 

She looked taken aback. Did it matter? It had been long since she had stopped prioritizing the things she liked to do. The last time being when her father was alive. After that, it had always been about surviving with dignity.

"It doesn't matter." She sighed and rose to her feet, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. 

He held her wrist and looked into her eyes. "But, it should." 

"Arsh, I'm tired and also I need to complete an assignment." She sounded irritated while trying to free her wrist. 

He stood up too. "Sahar, you don't have to do it now if you don't enjoy it. I can support you and I believe it is affecting your studies too."

She glared at him. Was he pitying her because she was poor? She jerked her hand free and stormed inside, leaving dumbfounded Arsh behind. He didn't know what wrong he said to make her so furious. 

Sighing he took the cups and strode inside too. Sahar wasn't in the room. She might be in the other room because she had been using it a lot. 

After washing the cups, he watched a football match while patiently waiting for her to come out of the room. An hour passed, two hours passed, two and half hours passed but she didn't come out. Sighing he switched off the TV. God, after marriage, he had been sighing a lot. He padded towards the guest room and pushed the door. It was not locked thankfully. He entered and saw her on the floor, between floor cushions, with a laptop on her lap. She was probably watching something intently. Didn't she want to complete an important assignment? He thought while approaching her. 

"Ahhhh," a scream left his throat as his gaze landed on the screen and he stumbled on his feet, landing on his bottom. It was sudden and embarrassing. Sahar looked up, startled and as the scene processed in her head, she broke into laughter throwing her head back. 

Arsh flushed red. "Can you stop?" 

"Were you scared?" She enquired while trying to not laugh. 

"What? Noooooo!" 

It was a blow to his male ego. "I was just caught off-guard."

"Sure." She said with a teasing smile. 

"Have you completed your assignment?" He attempted to divert her from that unfateful topic. 

"Yep," She replied while clicking the play button. 

"You like horror movies?" He enquired sitting beside her. 

"Nope," He frowned at her reply. 

She paused the movie. "Let me watch or do you want to watch it with me?" 

"No, I'm fine," he replied and she smirked as if she got her hands on something valuable. 

"Okay, let's watch it." He agreed not wanting to hurt his already bleeding male ego. 

While watching the movie he got to know that she was right, she didn’t like watching horror movies because it certainly made her horrified but he was curious as to why she would watch something she wasn't comfortable with. And as they slipped under the covers he voiced out his curiosity. Sahar was silent for a few seconds before replying. "Because it works as therapy for me. When I want to feel lucky and fortunate, I watch horror movies and while watching those characters suffer because of those lingering monsters in their lives, I think that I'm lucky that those monsters are not after me and I'm safe." Her answer had frozen him in his place. It was childish but it was her coping mechanism. But the thought that she needed something like a horror movie to make herself feel lucky and fortunate gave him an unsettling feeling. He knew she hadn't had the best of life but was she that miserable? He didn't know or maybe he didn't try to find out. They weren't in love but for sure they had a budding friendship and for the sake of it, he wanted to pull her out of that space where she was alone, fighting her battles. More than ever, he wanted to be her anchor. It had been almost twenty days since they got tied up. Apart from the usual talk and act like roomies, they had no progress in their relationship. He cursed himself for not putting extra efforts to make their marriage work. He thought everything would fall into its place, gradually but he thought wrong. He needed to put in effort and she needed to put in effort too. But neither of them were doing so. At least he should initiate and he believed she would come along. With a promise to go a little extra miles be each other's home, a place of comfort and peace, he dozed off. 

Happy reading!