A Bond Of Intellect

Chapter - 7

The next morning, Riti woke up before Evan. As she opened her eyes and turned onto her side, her heart skipped a beat when she saw Evan lying extremely close to her. It was actually Riti who had slept close to Evan.  Because of her moving, Evan also woke up, opening his eyes. Riti quickly closed her eyes and slightly lowered her head, trying to avoid eye contact.

Evan, too, was taken aback by Riti's face being so close to his. Without making a sound, he got out of bed and left the room. As soon as Riti felt him leave, she let out a sigh of relief and headed to the washroom to get ready. She knew Evan would start his daily exercises before taking a shower.

Riti was still feeling shy about sleeping too close to Evan, but she was relieved that he hadn't mentioned it. After their studying session, they had breakfast and left for college. In the evening, as they were driving back, Evan remembered that he needed to buy some groceries and other essentials. He parked the car in front of a supermarket and said to Riti, "I need to buy some things. You can too, buy your own things." Riti realized that she had been using the same bathing soap as Evan and only the products given by her mother-in-law. And had to buy sanitary pads too but she was too shy to buy these things herself and couldn't ask Evan to buy them for her.

Evan and Riti got out of the car and entered the supermarket. Evan took two shopping baskets and handed one to Riti. "Put the things you want to buy in here, okay?" he said. Riti took the basket, but she was unsure where to start. She didn't know which section had which products. She thought to herself, "She thinks to herself that as a wife, it's her responsibility to buy groceries, but her husband is doing it instead. So, she should at least be able to buy her own personal products." Riti was a bit of an introvert, but she motivated herself to move forward.

As she walked through the supermarket, Riti turned back to look for Evan, but he was already gone. She took a deep breath and continued shopping. She put the things she needed in her basket, but then her eyes landed on the stationery section. She got excited and rushed over to explore the colorful pens, pencils, and notebooks. She wanted to buy some colors, but she hesitated, thinking that Evan might think it was a waste of money.

Riti was so engrossed in the stationery section that she didn't notice Evan approaching her. He suddenly appeared beside her and asked, "Do you want something from here?" Riti flinched at the sudden voice, replying, "No, I was just looking." Evan said to her, "If you want to buy something, you can." Riti felt a little embarrassed but then asked in a sweet, low voice, " Then ,can I buy some art supplies?" And Evan said, "Yeah, buy whatever you want. I'll meet you at the reception area." He left her to make her purchases.

Riti was thrilled and couldn't decide which colors to buy. After making her selections, she went to the reception area, where Evan was waiting for her. She handed him the basket, and they left the supermarket together, heading home.

As soon as they reached home, Riti couldn't wait to start exploring her new art supplies. Without even changing her clothes, she eagerly unpacked the colors and tried them out. She was thrilled with the results and couldn't help but feel happy. Only then did she take the time to change into comfortable clothes.

The college semester was coming to an end, and with Riti having joined late, she was excited for the upcoming month-long break. Today was the last working day of college, and Riti couldn't wait to head back home and meet up with Shivani, Ruhi, Adhya, Arun, and the others.

After returning from college, Evan turned to Riti and said, "Pack your bags, we're going home." Riti's eyes widened in surprise as she asked, "Right now?" Evan nodded, "Yeah." Riti quickly packed her bag, and Evan did the same. They left soon after.

After reaching home, Shivani was overjoyed to see Riti. Adhya and Arun were also thrilled to welcome her back. Shivani exclaimed, "So, you two are finally home! Now I'll get some quality time with my daughter." She smiled warmly at Riti, happy to have her back home.

At night, after dinner, Shivani, Ruhi, and Riti sat together, chatting. Shivani said, "It's good that Riti is home now. We can go shopping for Evan and Vivan's cousin's marriage."

Ruhi nodded in agreement. Shivani continued, "Initially, I didn't want Riti to attend because she's young and people might bother her with useless talks. But it's a close family wedding, so you'll have to come, Riti."

Riti nodded in agreement. "Is the marriage near or is it still far away?" she asked.

Ruhi replied, "It's coming soon. We might go shopping in the next three or four days."

As they continued talking, they eventually went to sleep. But Riti's mind was still racing, thinking about the upcoming marriage and how she would manage to interact with her relatives-in-law.

Riti woke up feeling happy and refreshed, realizing that Evan hadn't  Said  anything about teaching this morning or the previous night. She quickly freshened up and headed to the kitchen, where Ruhi and Shivani were busy preparing breakfast.

Ruhi, the eldest daughter-in-law, had previously worked outside the home but had to leave her job due to the children's school schedule. Not wanting to burden Shivani, she had joined a company that allowed her to work from home in the evenings.

As Riti entered the kitchen, she asked, "Is there anything I can help you with you ?" Shivani warmly replied, "No, beta, you don't have to do anything. We'll manage." Ruhi agreed and added, "Adhya and Arun woke up early and are waiting for you to play with them. You go and join them."

Riti joined Adhya and Arun in the garden, where they were sitting on a swinging bench, chatting away. "Don't you think Chachi wakes up too late?" Adhya asked in her cute little voice. "Hmm, and nobody wakes her up like they wake us. Not even Uncle wakes her up," Arun added.

Riti listened to their conversation, laughing to herself. She then walked over to them, making a fake pout. "Oh, so you guys were getting jealous of me?" she teased.

Adhya stood up, speaking like a little old lady. "Finally, you came." Arun chimed in, "We're not jealous, we were just waiting for you for a long time.
Arun ran inside and returned with his cricket set. "So, let's play now!" he exclaimed.

Riti asked, "Do you guys have holidays too in school?"

Arun replied, "Yeah, we got holidays a week earlier than you."

He set up the wickets and handed Riti a larger bat and a smaller one to Adhya. "So, how will we decide who bats first?" he asked.

Riti felt a bit embarassed playing cricket with little kids, but she didn't want to disappoint Arun and Adhya, so she agreed and said, "Why not play Rock, Paper, Pencil, and Scissors? You guys want to play as a team, right?"

They played the game, and Arun won. He picked up his bat, and Riti went to bowling.

As they played, Riti's father-in-law, Agnesh, arrived with a smile. "Beta, now they're forcing you to play with them!" he teased. Riti felt a bit embarrassed.

Just then, Evan returned home. He watched them playing from a distance, but didn't say a word. Instead, he sat down beside Agnesh. Riti felt even more embarrassed, especially since it was her turn to bat.

As she ran, she felt a bit self-conscious about her figure, especially with Evan and Agnesh watching. She had a little bit bigger breast and she felt little uncomfortable in running, so she walked instead of running. Arun asked, "Chachi, why aren't you running?" Riti smiled and replied, "I don't like running."

Just then, Ruhi called out, "You three! Children's party, come and have breakfast!" Hearing this, Riti got a big relief as she couldn't play anymore. She gave Ruhi a big two thumbs-up. Ruhi smiled and nodded, saying, "Come fastly without any delay."

Riti said, "Let's pack up your things and go inside." They quickly gathered their things and went for breakfast.