A Bond Of Intellect

Chapter - 8

One evening, Riti was solving puzzles with Adhya and Arun in the lobby. Evan entered, wearing his outing clothes, and said to Riti, "Come to the room." Riti noticed that his face showed no expression, and his tone seemed somewhat angry. She followed him to the room, standing far from him near the door.

"W-why did you call me to the room?" she asked in a low voice, fear evident in her tone. Evan pulled out a packet from his pocket and threw it on the bed. "What's that?" he asked her.

Riti looked at the packet and saw that it contained a phone back cover. She remembered asking her cousin brother to order it for her. "I-it's a phone cover," she replied.

Evan said, "And your brother handed me this , saying  you asked him to order it for you." His tone was not loud, but slightly angry. Riti didn't understand why he was upset and thought to herself, "Why is he getting angry? I just bought a phone cover."

Realizing she hadn't responded to him, she hurriedly said, "Y-yes, I asked him to order it. The old one was torn, so I threw it away."

Evan took a step closer to Riti and said, "Do you want to show your brother that we're not treating you well, that you have to ask him to buy a phone cover for you?" Riti's eyes widened in shock.

"N-no, no, it's not that," she stuttered. "I-I just didn't know how to buy it myself, that's why I asked him." Evan's expression remained serious.

"You could have asked me to buy it," he said. "Why bother your brother for it? You know you're married now, it's not good to bother ur family now." Riti understood his concern and felt a pang of guilt and tears came into her eyes after hearing it.

"S-sorry," she apologized,  "Next time, if there's something you need to buy, ask me without any hesitation," he said gently. Riti nodded, feeling a sense of relief.

Evan headed to change his clothes, and Riti took the opportunity to leave the room.

The day of the shopping trip finally arrived, and they all headed to a big, fancy store. Riti was unsure what to buy, but luckily, Ruhi and Shivani took charge. They decided that Riti would wear a saree and chose a stunning navy blue one for her. They also picked out matching footwear and some elegant jewelry. After a fun-filled day of shopping, they returned home at night and, after dinner, retired to bed.

The next morning, Riti and Evan were the only ones at home. Everyone else had left for a family function, his cousin's pre-wedding ceremony. They hadn't taken Riti along, telling her she only needed to attend the actual wedding day. Riti was secretly relieved and Evan too didn't attend,as someone had to remain home with riti.

As she sat using her phone, Evan walked in and said, "Bring your books; it's better to study than waste your time here." Riti's heart sank at the mention of studying. Nevertheless, she gathered her books and joined Evan, who began teaching her.

Evan taught Riti for a short time because he had noticed her expression at the mention of studying. So, he didn't force her to study more and asked, "Do you want to eat something?" As it was approaching noon, they had only had breakfast that morning, and Riti was a little hungry. She nodded her head, and Evan left for the kitchen to prepare something.

Riti thought to herself, "I'm very lucky to have a husband who can cook. If it were up to me, I don't know what I would have cooked."

After some time, Evan came back to the room with two plates of food and handed them to Riti. He turned on the TV and put on a movie.

In the evening, others too came from the function and Riti felt relief as it was her first time spending that much time with Evan alone because before, with college, they didn't have that much time together. Their day went by talking about the function.