A Bond Of Intellect

Chapter - 9

Evan went outside to clear his mind after what he had done. He went to the kitchen, drank some water, and then headed to the terrace, where he sat in a chair for a while, lost in thought. "What have I done !" he thought to himself. "As I was watching her talk to that boy, I was just thinking about trapping her."

He rubbed his forehead, feeling a mix of emotions, and sat there for a few more minutes. Eventually, he got up and went downstairs, but instead of going to his room, he went to the guest room and lay down on the bed.

In the morning, Riti woke up and saw that Evan wasn't there. She then realized he hadn't come to the room the whole night, as she had slept late, thinking about the previous night's scene. She got up, freshened up, and changed her clothes. Then, she felt a little pain around her neck. As she went in front of the mirror, she saw the mark on her neck that had turned a little red.

She tried to hide it, but couldn't, as she didn't have any dress with a high enough neckline. She went downstairs, thinking she would make an excuse about the mark. The mark didn't show clear teeth marks because Evan hadn't bitten her in one place, but rather in different spots.

She went downstairs to the kitchen, where Ruhi and Shivani were. Riti again asked them, "Should I help with anything?" But Shivani didn't let her, saying, "No, beta, you don't have to do anything." As she was saying that, her eyes landed on Riti's neck. "Riti! What happened here? Why is it red, beta?" Shivani asked Riti about the mark.

Riti got a little embarrassed as she was asked, and her ears turned bright red. "W-well, I-I also don't know what happened," she said, caressing her ears as they were getting very hot and red. Then Shivani asked, "Is it paining here?" and Riti said, "Just a little." Shivani said, "Maybe it's because of some insects, but where would insects come from?" She lost herself in thought.

Riti tried to change the topic, saying, "Maybe it's because of itching; I don't remember." Shivani then said, "It's okay, I'll tell someone to buy some ointment for it."  And riti nodded and quickly left from there.

After they all had breakfast without Evan, Shivani asked Riti, "Riti, did Evan not wake up yet?" Riti didn't know what to say about it. "Mom, I don't know, because as I woke up, he wasn't in the room," Riti replied.

Then Shivani said, "Then where did he go?" Just as she was saying that, Evan came from his room, changing his clothes, as he had fallen asleep in his previous night's dress. Then Shivani said, "Evan, did you wake up now? And where were you? Riti said you weren't in the room."

As Shivani said this, Evan's eyes went to Riti, and Riti got embarrassed, not looking at his eyes, and then moved his gaze to his mother. Evan said, "I was just went to do some exercise on the terrace and got late."

Shivani said, "Okay, then sit, and I'll serve you breakfast." Evan sat down, and Shivani served him. After eating, as he was going outside, Shivani said, "Where are you going, Evan?" Evan replied, "Just going outside; I have to meet someone." Then Shivani said, "Then, beta, buy some ointment for Riti; she has a mark on her neck. Don't know how it happened, maybe because of some insect. So, buy it on your way, okay?"

After hearing this, Evan looked at Riti's neck and said "okay" without any expression and left.

At noon, Riti was helping Adhya and Arun with their homework in their room. Then Arun came running in, having made an excuse to go outside. "Chachi, Riti chachi! Evan chachu is calling you," he said. Riti got scared hearing it, as she didn't have the courage to go in front of him because of the previous night's scene.

She said, "W-why, I mean, did he tell you why he is calling?" Then Arun said, "No, he just told me to call you." Riti said, "W-where is he?" And Arun replied, "In his room." Then Riti got up, scared to go, taking very little and slow steps. Still, she reached their room, and with courage, she opened the door and found Evan sitting on a chair in the room, using his phone.

He looked up to see Riti, and Riti just went a little near to him and stood, fidgeting her fingers with nervousness. Then Evan said, "Sit." As there was only the bed near her, she sat on the bed. Then Evan stood up, took a paper bag from the table, pulled out a tube, and went near to Riti. He pushed aside Riti's hair from her shoulder and applied the ointment there.

Riti tried not to make any movement, sitting quietly, not even attempting to speak. As Evan applied the ointment, he said, "I know that was sudden for you, so sorry if that scared you. But I won't apologize in the future, as you also know that we are now husband and wife."

As he said this, Riti's eyes welled up with tears, moved by his care and a little intimidated by the fact that in future they had to do that thing . She tried to hide her tears by wiping them off , but they again felling down and Evan had already noticed them.

After applying the ointment, he put it aside and used his clean hand to wipe away her tears. "I was going to ignore them as usual, but someday I know I have to wipe them," he said. After wiping away her tears,  he said,  "Don't be scared; it's not like I'll do anything to you in the near future. First, you have to concentrate on your studies." 

Riti's heart was racing, and she simply nodded her head. Evan then handed her three chocolates, saying, "Take one for yourself and give the others to Adhya and Arun." Riti quickly left the room, feeling a mix of emotions in her stomach. She couldn't help but think about how Evan had wiped away her tears, and her face flushed with a blush.

The next evening, Adhya and Arun persistently asked to go to the fair. Shivani and Agnesh suggested that they all should go together, and they would stay home. They took out their two cars and headed out.

On their way, they got separated as Ruhi and Vivan had made their own plans together. Evan and Riti understood the situation and decided to take Adhya and Arun with them to the fair.

They arrived at the fair, and Adhya and Arun became extremely excited to ride the various attractions. "I want to ride on that big wheel!" Arun exclaimed, pointing at the Ferris wheel. However, Evan didn't allow it, explaining, "No, it's not safe for children." Arun surprisingly didn't protest against Evan's decision, which shocked Riti, as she knew Arun would normally persist if it were Vivan or another family member.

Evan then took them to the rides designed for children. "Here, you can choose any ride you want," he said. Adhya and Arun chose to take the train ride. Riti and Evan stood nearby, watching them with smiles.

After taking two or three more rides, Adhya and Arun came to Evan, saying, "Chachu, I want to eat ice cream!" Adhya exclaimed. Evan took them to the ice cream stall and asked them which flavor they wanted. After buying ice cream for them, he turned to Riti and asked, "Which flavor do you want?"

Riti, being shy, was about to decline, but she couldn't, as Evan had asked for her flavor, not whether she wanted ice cream or not. So, she replied, "Strawberry." She thought to herself, "I've had chocolate flavor so many times; this time, I must choose something different." Evan then brought her a strawberry-flavored ice cream.

After exploring the entire fair and eating various treats, they all started to feel tired, except for Evan. "Chachu, we're tired now, let's go home," Arun said. Evan was already carrying Adhya, who had gotten tired much earlier. He replied, "Okay, let's go."

They headed to their car and Evan called Vivan to let him know they were heading home. Vivan replied that they would be coming home soon as well. They all returned home, and due to their exhaustion, they had a quick dinner and went to sleep early.