Celestial Bond

2

Sita🌻

"Where are you?" Divya's voice crackled through the phone. My bestie.

"I'm in bed," I answered.

"Doing what?"

"Just eating chips."

She paused. "What would you do if Arjun was there with you... in bed?"

"Eat chips," I replied, still munching.

"You dumbhead! I mean, what would you do if Arjun was there and there were no chips? What happens then?"

"I'd ask Arjun to remind me to buy chips when we go for groceries," I said, without missing a beat.

I heard a frustrated slap followed by a long sigh on the other end.

"I feel so bad for Arjun," Divya muttered before hanging up.

What was her problem? I shrugged it off and looked around the spotless room. The place looked perfect after I spent hours cleaning it. Arjun's grandmother had gifted us this apartment. It's just a few kilometers from our college—so convenient.

We arrived at Arjun's house late last night, completely drained from the journey after going to the temple. We barely had the strength to stumble into bed before collapsing. This morning, we dragged ourselves up early, rolled up our sleeves, and dove into cleaning. By noon, we had unpacked everything, and arranged the furniture, and now the whole place feels like a completely new space.

Tomorrow, we'll go back to college, acting like nothing's changed. No one knows we're married.

My gaze landed on the wedding gifts, and a sudden rush of excitement surged through me.

I hurried to the hall and called out to Arjun ji.

"Ji? Can we open the gifts now?" I asked, my excitement bubbling over. He just nodded, like he's been doing all morning as if he's practicing some sort of neck exercise instead of actually talking.

We started unwrapping the presents, sitting side by side but keeping a respectful distance between us.

"Should we hang this clock there?" I pointed to the wall with the nail already hammered in.

He picked up the clock and headed toward the wall, and I followed closely behind.

"What's the time now?" Arjun ji asked as he adjusted the clock's time.

"1... 4... 3... 1:43," I said, leaning in to peek at the clock from the adjoining room.

Suddenly, he started coughing, and I frowned.

I instinctively reached out to pat his back, but he brushed my hand aside and continued with his task without a word.

We opened one gift after another—cups, plates, a tea set, photo frames, and a few gift cards with money. Nothing exciting or different. If I were giving a gift at a wedding, it would be something unique, something the couple would really appreciate.

"I guess we won't need to buy any more cups. This is the fourth set we've received," I said.

"Let's do one thing," I suggested, a little more seriously. "Why don't we sell all these cups and buy something we actually need for the house? What do you think?"

Arjun ji glanced at the stack of cups and plates piling up on the floor, then back at me. He gave a slight smirk, the first sign of amusement I'd seen from him all day.

"But we don't have to sell anything to buy something for the house," he continued, his tone calm and thoughtful. "I mean, people barely have time for themselves, yet they still came to our wedding and spent time picking out these gifts. We should appreciate that, even if the gifts seem repetitive. Let's just pack them up and keep them on the upper shelves."