How to Woo Your Bride

13| The Suitcase Revenge

 Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time, more intelligently.

Henry Ford

Chapter 13:

   Riya woke up to sunlight falling on her face. She stretched a bit, yawned, and got up from her bed. She bent down to take out her suitcase but was dismayed to find it missing. She searched the entire room and called out to Madhan frantically.

  "My suitcase! Did you see it anywhere?"

   "Oh, that. Yeah, I emptied it out for you. Everything is in it's allocated place," Madhan said, looking up from his newspaper.

   Riya barged into Madhan's room and found her suitcase neatly placed in the closet.

   How dare he, she thought. How dare he mess with her suitcase. Okay, so maybe he didn't mess with it, but he can't touch it without her permission. She dug into her front zip and was relieved to find her diary safe and sound.

   No one was allowed to touch that. Not even her mom, or Aakash.

   She found her brush in the toothpaste holder, and it made her blood boil.

   Riya knew Reshma spilled all of Madhan's secrets unintentionally, and she didn't want to take advantage of it, but maybe just enough to keep him control.

   She took her brush, and squirted a little toothpaste on it, and rinsed her mouth. Then she started brushing. In a few seconds, she walked to where Madhan was sitting, and continued brushing her teeth.

   Madhan looked at her and quickly averted his eyes. Eww, what is she doing, he thought. He turned around, trying to avoid looking at her.

   Every time Riya made an attempt to get within line of sight of him, he conveniently turned around. When she realized she had no more paste, she finally gave up and rinsed her mouth properly.

   That went well, she thought bitterly. But she didn't give up yet.

   Wiping her hands on a towel, she walked into the kitchen to see if Madhan had made any breakfast.

   "Madhan, did you make breakfast?"

   "No Riya. I didn't know when you would wake up, so I made coffee just for me."

   "How sweet," Riya muttered under her breath.

   "Okay. I'm going to make breakfast. Just wait till you taste it. You'll absolutely go bonkers."

   The sound of a stomach growl was heard from the dining table, and Riya smiled. Someone must be so starved.

   Riya looked into the fridge and spotted a shelf full of eggs.

   That's weird, she thought. Madhan hated eating eggs. Why would he buy so many then? Reshma had told her stories of how Madhan had puked for days after eating one. It wasn't that he was allergic to them, but that he hated the smell of it.

   Riya knew she was overdoing it, but this would teach him a lesson for sure, not to mess with her.

   She cracked open a couple of eggs and poured the yolk out into a bowl. Then she added a bit of oil and mixed it like batter.

   Not knowing where anything was, she searched every single shelf for a mixer, until she finally found it. Taking out the ladle, she spread a bit of batter onto the heated pan and evenly spread it out.

   After about ten minutes, she scrubbed the omelet out making a nice chunk of scrambled eggs. A good pinch of salt and pepper and her dish was absolutely ready to eat.

   Her mother had taught her the art of presentation. She took out a beautiful looking glass plate and scooped out the scrambled egg from the bowl onto the plate. When she was finally satisfied with the design, she carried the plate out and placed it in front of Madhan.

   The look on Madhan's face was absolutely worth it. He turned a shade of green, and as he kept holding his breath, his face became more bloated, if that was even possible.

   But she didn't anticipate what would happen next. Madhan took his spoon, dished it, and put it in his mouth.

   Was he that willing to not hurt her feelings, Riya thought in awe.

   "Mmmmm, this is so good, Riya," Madhan said, shoving another spoon into his mouth.

   What shocked Riya was that he actually sounded genuine.

   "I used to hate egg so much. I would puke whenever I smelled it from a little far away. But you made it so well. This is soo good. When my mother calls  the next time do pass on the recipe okay? She ought to learn from you."

   At this point, Riya didn't know whether to be ashamed or proud of herself.

   "But why do you have so many eggs in your fridge then?"

   "I use them for dandruff treatment," he said sheepishly.

    Everything made sense. That was also one of the reasons why he still had a bunch of hair on his head. Maybe she could actually learn a thing or two from him since her own hair was thinning out miserably.

   "Why don't you eat, Riya?"

   "Um, it's okay. I'll help myself to some juice."

   One last try, she thought. He NEEDS to be taught some lesson, she fumed, as she remembered how he touched her suitcase without her permission.

   Riya opened the fridge and took out a container of juice. Not bothering to take out a cup, she plopped herself onto a chair next to Madhan.

   "Should I get you a cup?" Madhan asked.

   "Nah, I usually drink out of the container," Riya said, as she took a sip from it directly. "Want some?"

   Madhan said yes and took it from her. "Jeesh Riya. We seem to be so alike. I sip out of the container ALL the time." Madhan sipped the container as well.

  "I'll be right back," Riya said, as she went to the nearest bathroom and puked.

   Ew, he sipped right out of it too. Gross, she thought, as she rinsed her mouth more rigorously. It was only after she composed herself that she realized Reshma was the one who hated drinking out of the container.

   Riya gave up. Madhan was being really sweet. She decided that he didn't deserve what she was doing to him, and was going to cooperate for a while.

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