The Accidental Husband

CH 18 || Undesired Wife

Aavya

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"What exactly is the problem?"

Did I figure out the core problem? Perhaps I did. Perhaps I didn't.

In an effort to come up with a suitable response to Eva's inquiry, I kept stirring the peach and jasmine iced tea with the bent stainless steel straw. I decided to choose the blah response while my subconscious was processing the situation.

"Nothing."

It didn't help me at all, as expected.

"Oh, come on, you're just too pensive and quiet. Arvik has also been acting really grouchy recently. Did you guys fight?"

As I sat back in the armchair to support my back and drew the glass of exquisite tea closer to me, I casually replied, "Nope."

I paid heed to the news that Arvik was being grumpy. It bothered me to a great extent and distracted me considerably. I desperately wanted to know what concerned him. My heart constricted as a sense of unease and discomfort swept throughout me. I avoided making eye contact with my girlfriends by gazing out into the mansion's garden from the balcony. Aditi was half-lying on the couch because her feet hurt, while Eva was pacing back and forth and asking me questions. The moment they saw me when they had arrived, around three hours ago, they both realized something was amiss. Eva had a suspicion about this at work, but I ignored her, avoided directly addressing her questions, and continued to put everything down to work.

They came to see me two days prior to the reception, and they were determined to elicit a response from me. Because they were quite worried.

"But something is undoubtedly bugging you. Do you want Arvik's ass kicked? Maybe someone else's? Just say the name." Even while pregnant, Aditi seemed serious that she would actually get up and carry out what she said. Maybe it all was the valiant journalist inside of her talking.

"Everything's fine," I attempted to smile, but I could not. The truth about Arvik being distressed was enough to dismay me to the core. That fact niggled me. I should have been aware of it, but I wasn't. I was completely clueless.

But then, how would I have known he was not being himself?

It had been four days with no communication between us. Quit chatting; I hadn't even seen him. But I felt his presence every day. He didn't want to face me, though, as if I was some sort of plague.

Maybe what his mother told me was true.

He only attempted to maintain the relationship out of a sense of obligation. He was trying to support me and give this relationship a chance, but he wasn't giving it his all, and it was killing him. The relationship, which had not even begun, had already started to deteriorate slowly. And Arvik, being a gentleman, was immensely perturbed by the fact I could be hurt.

Anyone else in his place would not have been affected, but he was, because he was a kind man, a pure soul. And I was just another vulnerable person he was helping to heal.

This forced relationship was breaking him.

The ultimate realization hit me with the intensity of a thousand slaps.

"So, the table was not long enough?" Eva chewed on a wafer while she awaited an answer to the dumbest question of the millennial. Aditi kept looking at us and seemed perplexed.

"What?"

"Is the table the issue?" Eva elaborated on her question. My 'WHAT' did not mean for her to elaborate on her query, but it came out as a startling response from me.