Arranged Marriage to Kill Him

Chapter 31 : Stripping Each Other Naked

Naina kept swinging her legs impatiently at the table, wanting Ahanay to leave so she could meet up with Ohas.

"Do you have somewhere to go?" Ahanay raised his eyebrow at her, folding his arms on the table. He was dressed smartly in a casual linen shirt and jeans as if he was going to play a summer sport, and there was no trace of his everyday suit and polished shoes. The breakfast spread lay before them with an eclectic assortment of breads, cakes, and jams, Naina was confused to eat which with what. All her life, her breakfast was dipping Parle G in a cup of chai. But more than the mouthwatering breakfast, this mouthwatering man was confusing her.

"Don't you have somewhere to go?" Naina asked back, imitating him by raising her eyebrow and crossing her arms. "Like your office perhaps?"

"I expected my beloved wife to be happy that I'll be at home today."

"You're not home even on weekends. Why today?"

"So I can spend time with you."

"Spend time, my ass! You're just jealous of what happened yesterday so you're not letting me go anywhere!"

Okay, oops. Naina wasn't supposed to reveal her thoughts out loud. But her tongue ran faster than her thoughts and often she had to bite it to hold herself back.

At her outburst, Ahanay simply unfolded his arms and leaned back, tipping his chair lazily. "Where do you want to go?"

"Why are you interrogating?"

He frowned, looking so deliciously sexy that she wanted to leap over the table to kiss him right away. "Why do you think this is an interrogation? Did you do something to deserve an interrogation?"

"Nothing at all. Yet, I'm getting punished."

"Punished?" His frown deepened and there, floating in his dark eyes, she saw something close to resembling hurt. She didn't mean her words to come out as if being with him was a punishment, but wait, why was she feeling sorry? She should be reveling in his hurt, celebrating it even, yet why did she want to erase whatever she had said? Frustrated by what she mistook as her clean conscience, she started to spew out meaner words.

"Of course, this is a punishment! I hate being around you. I don't even know why I'm married to a prick like you who has an affair with another woman and---"

"It was in the past."

"and a whole child with her!"

"He's dead."

"What?" She snapped, her contorted face smoothening at what she just heard. She asked again, this time her voice was feeble, "Sorry, what-what do you mean . . . ?"

"He died some years back." With that, Ahanay stood up and disappeared into the hallway, leaving Naina alone at the table. She shrugged at that as if the shrug was going to shake off her guilt and uneasiness. Biting into her buttered French toast, she winced. Even that crumbled like sand on her tongue and she couldn't believe how her life was turning out to be. This was the dream that she had seen day and night, every minute when a shiny car sped by her or a family ate a scrumptious meal at a posh restaurant that had glass walls for everyone to admire.

No way she was going to let her childhood dream vanish into nothingness because of a privileged, lying, cheating asshole. Only, he wasn't cheating, he never lied (because she never waited for him to respond, she assumed) and the real asshole was her to snap at him like a cranky, old mother. But one annoying and unforgivable thing still remained. Privileged.

He was going to rip apart families, snatch their houses and turn everyone into beggars for what might seem like a little pocket money to him. Naina kept repeating these thoughts in her head as she went about her day, rolling and laying on every bed and sofa, in every air-conditioned room, at every luxurious corner of the house yet her whole body itched and sent her tossing and turning in pure agony. Finally, she cried out in frustration, "What am I supposed to do?"