Better Together | ✓

31 | tease

"Careful on the steps," he said following close behind her. The staircase was dark. The only source of light was down the stairs, the two night bulbs illuminating the living hall just enough to make out silhouette of the furniture.

Ruhaani was going to climb down along the railing. However she moved away from the railing of the staircase and moved to the centre. It was stupid and petty, still, she like defying everything that he said. She heard him utter something under his breath that she could barely understand. It pissed him she gathered, satisfied.

"Take the side. You don't want to fall, do you?" He said, his annoyance building up. He absolutely hated when people didn't listen to him, especially when they defied him. Especially Ruhaani.

"Say a please, I might," Ruhaani said turning to give him a look over her shoulder. Her eyes twinkling with a wicked glint. Their gazes met. His eyes fixated boldly on hers.

"Your food doesn't digest until you annoy me, does it?" He spoke, his voice etched with irritation. Almost at the verge of snapping.

"And yours, till you order me?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"It was not an order." He argued.

"It was not a request." She countered.

A muscle in Aadarsh's jaw ticked as he shut his mouth, pressing his lips tightly together.

Don't fight. Don't say anything that disrupts peace. She was upset through the day.

He looked aside as his mind calmed down. She was a benchmarking test to his patience. He looked back at her blowing out a breath. He held her hand. It was better than giving in to her demand.

Ruhaani's gaze softened as it lowered to their hands. It swiftly flew up to his eyes. "I am perfectly capable of walking down the steps on my own, without the need of holding a hand."

"I had thought so too. However I was shockingly proved wrong. If you topple down these steps on my watch, people might blame me."

"Oh, I didn't think of that."

"Yeah. Now come along!" He said stepping down one step.

"You know, if you only added a please to your sentences, it would saved so much time and effort." She gave up and walked down along with him.

"If you just stopped being stubborn, it would make you so much better."

"Same to you!"

Aadarsh wondered if she learned that from Pari or Pari had picked it up from her mother's vocabulary.

Ruhaani didn't like losing to him, surrendering to him. But she could definitely benefit from some support to climb down the dark steps. What if she stepped on something she couldn't see, freaked out and jumped suddenly landed on her butt.

As soon as they were down he released her hand and she immediately missed the warmth of his hand. She shouldn't have. In complete silence, they made their way to the kitchen with him taking the lead.

Aadarsh had quickly switched on the golden lights over the kitchen island. She made her way to the other side of the kitchen island.

Aadarsh stood between the kitchen stools, placing his hands on the expensive granite as she went about opening cabinets to get her ingredients out on the other side. He walked over to the kitchen window and opened it letting in a cool breeze. He walked back, his eyes following her as she brought the milk out of the fridge.

His thoughts went back to their conversation about Nirvan. He should have been a little more thoughtful before defending his brother. Sometimes he forgot that Ruhaani had grown up without her parents too. He should have been more careful with his words.