The Marriage Contract

47 - The Good News

Akshara and Abhimanyu got up from the bed, all sticky and covered in melted ice cream, whipped cream topping and chocolate sauce. Abhimanyu eyes darted over towards Akshara to see her staring at the wet, sticky, chaotic mess their pristine white bedsheets, dozens of her fluffy, airy, fuzzy pillows and comforter had become.

Akshara buttoned up her Abhimanyu's shirt around her chest and picked up the tub of Half-Baked ice cream and stared into the empty abyss of the ice-cream container.

"Akshara?" Abhimanyu tapped her gently on the shoulder.

Akshara began hitting Abhimanyu's bare chest playfully as she complained. "My ice cream's gone. The bed is dirty. My body is sticky. I am going to have to shower again. The food I made is cold. I'm starving. And you need to stop ripping my clothes off!" She mumbled in a rush, leaving Abhimanyu to decipher the pieces.

"Hold up! Slow down!" Abhimanyu held Akshara's hands from playfully hitting him as he tried to calm her down.

"My ice cream! It's gone now." She pouted and flipped the tub of ice cream upside down for emphasis.

"Umm..."

"And the bed! It's all sticky, dirty and yuck now! Where are we supposed to sleep?!"

"But come on now, admit it. You had fun." Abhimanyu teased her, making Akshara's cheeks flush.

"The bed!"

"It was fun. You can't deny that. The cold ice cream, melting as it trailed your body, making you shiver. My mouth, my tongue exploring every sensitive part of your body...you enjoyed it...didn't you?" Abhimanyu's voice became hoarse as he gave a word for word description of what they'd just done.

Oh lord, this man definitely knew how to talk dirty. Akshara's cheeks flushed at the fresh reminders of Abhimanyu's lips against the softness of her skin. "Yes." She whispered, sighing dreamily. However, she was quick to snap out of her trance. "But the bedsheets! They are all sticky now!"

"We can just buy new bedsheets, pillows and comforter. Don't worry." He tried reasoning with her.

"Buy new bedsheets?" Akshara's jaw hit the floor at his words as her frugal self kicked in.

"Yah, isn't that what you do once your old ones get dirty?" He responded casually, shrugging his shoulders.

"Replace them? Buy new ones? What do you think has been happening to your bedsheets every single time you'd had a lady friend over?"

"Dunno actually. Never paid attention. Neil does...or well he used to handle it for me."

"Laundry. Abhimanyu. We do laundry. We clean the sheets." Akshara chastised in disbelief.

Abhimanyu's mouth formed an O in shock as he began to realize Akshara really did mean business.

"So...are...we going to do laundry...now?" He asked, just to be sure if that's what she wanted.

"Do you know what laundry even is?"

"Yes. Do...I have...one...in this apartment?" He narrowed his eyes in question, making Akshara even more agitated.

"How do you not know if you own a washer and dryer?" She asked, bewildered.

"In all fairness, you saw my refrigerator that day. And from there, you can take a guess about how much shit I used to give about living here. I just used this apartment to sleep in or sleep with strangers. Neil and Sir took care of the rest so I didn't have to."

"Fair point. You did live the life of a spoilt princess."

"Haha. Very funny." Abhimanyu replied with a stoic expression.