An Inconvenient Flame

Chapter 21

It's been seventeen days. And my grandmother is gone. After funeral, it seemed futile to stay there among all the gloominess and crowd of our relatives. The constant reminder of her presence gave me strange sensations in my chest, and it was bothering me a little too much. So I had to return back.

The grief settled in me a little too comfortably, I was sad the moment I heard the news but somewhere I was always ready for it. She was too sick to survive for long, death did her good, that pain had to end someday. And I am okey with it, happy she has finally escaped this sadness she was carrying all along her sickness.

A weird heaviness in my throat returns back.

I run a hand through my dark hair to give myself a second to calm down.

I move towards the couch Ishika has decided to rest on in the living area.

I take a seat on the couch and look at her for quite some seconds,"Which genre are you reading?" I couldn't help my curiosity.

She jumps up her seat from my voice, looks as if she was too much into the book to notice me sitting beside her.

She looks at me, a little dubious at my sudden question.

"Which genre?" I repeat, I have noticed she gets lost in her mind quiet easily.

" Ah... It's umm kind of a literary fiction, like a compilation of contemporary short stories." She rests her book on her lap before focusing on me, she looks so tiny in her pyjamas and those reading glasses.

I lean back into the couch cushions. " Contemporary short stories. What's the name of the book?"

She fidgets with her fingers," It's  umm... Called 'Men without women' by Haruki Murakami. It's from a man's perspective and each story has new characters and completely different plots."

Her body starts relaxing while she is telling me about the book.

It's the first time we are having a proper chat which is not making the other overwhelmed.

"I am hearing about the book for the first time. The title seems intriguing though."

I am a reader, but I am more on the thriller and sci-fi side. I have never given romance genre a try
but I don't mind doing it.

She scrunch her brows in confusion."What has happened to you today?"

I readjust myself tilting my body towards her. "Nothing. Why?"

"You never talk to me so randomly. What? it has been about a month since we are living together, and it never happened. That's why I am a little surprised. "

Whatever burst of energy I had which was making me have a conversation with her disappeared.

" We are married, we can't pretend like we are in a mime."
I grunt, in annoyance.

"Ohhh that means your 'I might hate you's or I don't like you's ' doesn't stop you from talking to me. Nice. But I am not like that." Her tone is void of any sarcasm. Her eyes are having a literal 'I don't take words lightly' look.

"You know I am trying really hard to be cordial with you. Don't spoil it."

Whatever I said a few days before is in the past. Half of it, I didn't even process it before speaking.

"Not before you actually clear it out to me what you truly feel about this whole situation. It's always me questioning you, or having breakdowns. Signing a damn contract or showing my displeasure towards it.

I don't know what's going on with you. We came back from your Village and you chose to shut me down. And after seventeen days suddenly you want to know the genre of the book I am reading. Really ?