LIES

37. YOU COMING

"Aarohi, what are you doing? , I already told you na, I don't have the key to the apartment, " said Neil, standing near her, while she was taking out stuff from the trunk of her car
" And I told you no questions till we reached our destination," said while unloading her car trunk in the parking lot
"Isn't it the destination?" said Neil curiously
"Quite the not, and what are you doing standing there, can't you help me in carrying these said aarohi while pointing at 4 plastic big bags which is now out of the trunk and on the floor near them
" Fine, I will carry them. Show me the way you ma'am," said Neil with sarcasm.
"It's ok. I will carry two, and you will the other two and you will be following me" said aarohi
Before aarohi went to carry the bags, Neil quickly grabbed all 4 of them, so that she didn't have to, after that he slowly followed her to the lift and the apartment later, aarohi quickly unlocked the door with the key, which Neil noticed is new, and Neil was about to ask her, how does she have the keys, she speaks
"Come inside,  you can ask the question there," she said while opening the door for him
"Fine," said Neil while entering the apartment.

Neil's eyes got wider as soon as he entered the apartment, it was not the same apartment he knew, for a second  Neil thought they entered the wrong apartment, but that was for a second, the apartment is so empty that it looks very big, Neil quickly put the bags on the floor, and went to look what new in this apartment, the first thing he noticed that, the apartment has new paint on his walls, next some a tv compartment to the left seat side of the gate, where they had table and couch before, and to the right side the place is little empty,  now keep going in the corridor,  he entered the kitchen,  which  is now totally different,  all the compartment are being now the modular kitchen and a new aisle is added where some months ago aarohi almost bleed to death and Neil still having nightmares,  that place is not anymore there, and then Neil went to next door into the corridor,  the bathroom, and entering there is totally feels different,  it gets bigger, don't know how did that happened, how come bathroom gets big , and wow is the first word Neil can think of , it has a jacuzzi there , with separate shower place , and the pot and sink is also modified and there is so much space in the bathroom, Neil still confused about how come bathroom gets bigger.

Then Neil entered the room, the room where he spend most of his time with aarohi, it's also looked different,  the bed is not there but so many changes,  a big window, and a big shelf on the side,  woah a new dressing is built in the corner with 2 almirahs in the wall, the room looked different and Neil felt a ping in his heart, he is supposed to preserve the very memory of this room and instead of that the room isn't that room anymore.

Next would be the big room, but he got stopped before entering,  there is one unlocked door also there next to the bathroom,  not very next, it was always there but with a big strong lock in it, vansh told him that this is a store room, that owner refuge to open, Neil entered the room, it was too big to be a store but, there is a balcony attached to the room, it was a big balcony,  not like the other one in next room, by the look of it it looks like this storeroom is a big room, now turned into whatever it is now, the balcony has big washer installed in it under half green shades and ropes were hanged in remaining place, clearly a laundry balcony or room, and the room has some vacant place, with two tables either side of the room, now Neil got some idea how bathroom gets so big, they use half of the room to extend the bathroom.

Neil entered the biggest room of the house, which is big, he couldn't see it before because vansh put his set up in this very room, and on the right side there is a balcony,  big enough to put two chairs there, after taking it all in Neil slowly went to the hall where he left aarohi,  who is sitting on the floor,  taking out the stuff from the bags, Neil left there, it was some paint and brushes with rollers.
"So when I told you, I wanted to buy this apartment,  you decided to get it so I couldn't have it," said Neil in a little angry tone
"It's not like that" aarohi replied patiently
"Then what's it like, and you changed everything in this apartment,  I said I wanted to preserve it, with my share of memories," said Neil now getting properly angry
"I didn't change everything,  something is just the same " replied aarohi calmly
" and you bring me here to rub salt in my wounds," said Neil now yelling in anger
" no, that's not why I bring you here," said aarohi now losing her calm a little
"Then why did you bring me here " now Neil is angry and yelling
" Calm down Neil,  let me explain," said aarohi a little louder, while getting up from the floor
"Why should I calm down, I wanted this apartment,  I told you about that, why I wanted this, hell I sold my bike so I  can have this, I trusted you when I told you that, but you wanted to destroy what I have left with memories" Neil is yelling at top of his lungs and in anger, he kicked the tin of paint in front of her, the white paint is all over the floor and on her, because she isn't up from the floor, Neil didn't notice at first what has he done, but with the second look he saw that what he did, his anger immediately replaced with guilt when he saw aarohi cloths is all in paint while so much paint is on her face.
"Shit, I am so sorry,  it wasn't intentional," said Neil with so much guilt in his voice
"It's ok, I know it wasn't intentional," said aarohi her voice breaking and tears now on the verge of crying, Neil noticed that and his heart sank a little bit there
"Let's it wash first, so it won't get dry up much, on your skin," said Neil while scooping her from the floor,  not worrying if the paint is also getting on his clothes too
Neil carried her to the bathroom and let her sit on the jacuzzi edge and grab the shower head, which fortunately reaching to her, Neil washed her face, which glistened with tears now, Neil washed her face gently,  so much water is on her clothes and his too, but mostly on aarohi,  after washing her face thoroughly, Neil washed her hands, then he realized that water is really cold and it's October end, meaning the winter has started,  not at peak, but weather is colder, aarohi needs to get out of these cloths now, Neil said: "by any chance, you have some extra pair of clothes with you ?"
"Yeah I have scrubs,  in my car," said aarohi slowly
"You should get out of these, I will get those for you, ok," said Neil carefully, doesn't want to send the wrong signals to her, she nodded at that
Neil quickly gets her scrubs and comes back in quickly, he is also shivering since a cold wave pass through him in the process,  but right now it doesn't matter,  aarohi matters more, so he ran towards the apartment quickly, entering,  he quickly closed his eyes and went inside the bathroom whose gate was open, he said with closed eyes
"Wear these please "
"You can open your eyes, it's nothing you haven't seen before" aarohi chuckled a little
"I am afraid that's the exact reason I can't open my eyes," said Neil nervously
"Fine turned around then," said aarohi while grabbing her scrubs from him
After Getting decent now, aarohi came out of the bathroom Neil to follow,  aarohi straight went towards the place where the paint is on the floor, she grab her now ruined clothes and start scrubbing the floor with them, Neil followed her out and saw this
"You should dry your hair first, they are dripping," said Neil with concern in his voice
"They are fine, I need to rinse this before it gets dry  and won't come off," said aarohi while rinsing the paint
"I will do that, you should stand back," said Neil taking the cloth from her
"You shouldn't,  I will do that, I can do that you know," said aarohi looking at him
"I know you can, there is nothing in this world you can't do," Neil said looking at her eyes, they both hold an intense eye lock until it was aarohi who broke this and speak first
"Since you will be rinsing that, you got to listen to me while you do that, I owe you quite some explanation,  I will try my best to cover all here," said aarohi, Neil just nodded to that.
"Firstly I bought you here today because it was getting ready after all those changes, today seems like a good day, but that's not it"
"I have to leave for my college reunion tomorrow,  and I get the permission after a lot of pleading and assuring them, so this has to do coming week"
"As you can see, this house is ready, but not ready enough to live in, so I need to get it ready, and as you just said I can do anything by myself but"
"But I want your input too because this is not my apartment only, I registered it under both of our names, but since we can't share any properties, because we are married I know stupid laws," said aarohi looking at him
"So I put this property under your name, took me a while to gather your documents without your knowledge, but still need your signatures on some papers, " aarohi take out a file from the kitchen cabinets and put it near him
" And I know you wanted to preserve the apartment like it was, and you wanted to get this apartment on your own, but hear me out"
"That's what I been doing for past 5 minutes, "said Neil finally
"Shhh," said aarohi putting her finger on his mouth
"You are not allowed to speak yet, the paint is still there, you can't speak until it becomes spotless," said aarohi to which Neil's eyes go wide, thinking spotless really,  is that even possible?
" do yeah where were we?" Asked a confused aarohi,  Neil opened his mouth to say something,  but aarohi put her finger on his mouth
"Nope, no one asked you to speak, I remember where were we," said aarohi in a serious tone
As aarohi is speaking this much and with this much liveliness,  Neil couldn't help but watching her and admire,  what's its like to be near her, that's what is been missing
"So yeah I figure that out you won't be accepting anything from anyone, let alone me, so I got a deal, you won't be getting anything for free," said aarohi, sensing that doesn't come out right.
" what I meant is that now this apartment needs a lot of money on it too, and I am pretty bumped out now, so from here you should take over, furniture,  electronics and groceries, and utility bills, from now on that's on you "
"Is that okay with you,  will you accept this deal? "asked aarohi,  and before Neil could open his mouth to reply, she spoke again
"Don't speak, I am not finished yet" said aarohi
"Well, now why did I renovate it and changed it, when you wanted to preserve it, even why did I ever get involved in this apartment business "
" to answer that question,  yes I get that you wanted to take those memories with you, but they are not only yours to keep, I am in that too, so why do you have to pay and suffer for it alone, and about renovation,  I don't know about what happy memories you can conjure out of this apartment,  for me, it's mostly dreadful,  painful and embarrassing memories and I hurt you most in those intentionally and unintentionally," said aarohi looking at him holding his gaze
"Yeah we had some mind-blowing sex at the start but is not good here, so I wanted to change that, let's create some really good memories here," said aarohi, to which Neil doesn't react, just giving her a confused expression
" to answer your question how we have about one week, and in that one week, we need to finish this apartment and go for shopping furniture "
" Now you will be asking what finishing,  well the painter didn't paint my bedroom, as I told him  to do, and I was working when he finish it off, so you and me going to paint them all over again, and since you spilled a paint box, you gotta get other, and we need to do some restocking in kitchen and bathroom and I think all the room needs stuff "
" and yes we both take one room each, I will take one without the balcony one because firstly you need that balcony more than me, I refused to put a smoke zone this time, and the other room is mine because it's quiet there, I liked it, and like I said we both need beds, hope you didn't spend your all money of bike of yours"
" and on that note,  according to my family I am going on a reunion trip for 10 days, so I would be staying here, I changed the lock, so you can have one key and I can have another, the third key would be kept in this apartment in case anyone needed that"
" and chores will be divided equally between you and me, I took the liberty to add dishwasher here, so my manicured hands won't get worse," said aarohi with a gleeful smile that Neil couldn't stop smiling too
" and now comes an important thing, could you like get away from the hospital, not more than just for a week, our home needs our attention," said aarohi with a pout, Neil wanted to say something but didn't say anything this time, because he is stunted at words, our home, he doesn't know how to react to that.