His Arranged Bride

Chapter 49

Pratham

Lying on the bed, as I wait for Nitya to return with the oil, I find myself smiling at the ceiling. After so long I feel lighthearted joy creeping within me.

And it's only because of my lovely wife.

The door opens, and I smilingly gaze at Nitya as she steps inside the room. But my smile dims when I continue looking at her. Her face is too red and she looks flustered.

"Nitya?" I sit up on the bed, my smile now completely fading and replaced by a frown. "What happened?"

She seems a little frazzled, clutching the bottle of oil to her chest like it's some kind of shield. She doesn't say anything at first, her eyes darting around the room and the floor as if she is looking for an escape.

It only makes my concern grow.

"What's wrong?" I ask, climbing down from the bed and walking to where she is standing.

"It's nothing," she mumbles, but looking at her state I know it definitely is not nothing.

I move closer to her. "Tell me, Nitya. What happened?"

She glances at me for a moment and then sighs heavily. "Dhritiji, Shrutiji, and Namanji are here."

"Ah, yes. Bhaiyya had told me yesterday that he would be coming here today with Bhabhi and Dhriti. But I thought they were coming in the afternoon," I tell her. "Still, why do you look so flustered on seeing them? Did something happen?"

Nitya hesitates, and I am unable to figure out why she looks so embarrassed. Her fingers fidgets with the bottle in her hands, and he bites her lip before continuing, "When they asked me why I looked so tensed, I blurted out that..." She trails off, her face reddening even more.

"That?" I urge her to continue.

She squeezes her eyes shut and says, "That you are feeling sore all over from the last night."

I stare at her for a second, and then it hits me like a punchline to a joke. With the realization dawning, the laughter bubbles up. It starts low, and before I know it, I'm laughing, really laughing.

"Oh, no," I say through my laughter, clutching my stomach. "You said that?"

Nitya looks horrified as she stares at me and I quickly rein in my laughter. "I'm sorry. It was just too funny."

"It's not that funny," she murmurs, clearly mortified. "Yash bhaiyya and Namanji practically ran out of the apartment, and Shrutiji and Dhritiji were relentless in their teasing."

I lowly chuckle, squeezing her shoulder. "It's okay, Nitya. It's really no big deal. Let them think what they want."

"But how will I—" She abruptly stops, frowning as she looks at me. "You are standing and walking just fine, Prathamji. If your back was really hurting that badly, you wouldn't be moving around like this."

Oops.

Getting concerned after seeing her flustered, I had totally forgotten about my backache—or rather—pretend backache.

I immediately put my hands over my back. "Mm, ahh," I let out a low groan. "I was worried for you so I tolerated the pain while I talked with you." I attempt to sound convincing by hissing lightly as I slowly lean on the wall. "My back, my shoulders, my legs... I'm feeling sore all over."

Nitya crosses her arms and narrows her eyes, contemplating whether she should believe me.

"Prathamji, are you really—"