You and I, plus 2 years of marriage!

Two Strangers… One Lockdown!

{3}

He raised an eyebrow and a shadow of smile crossed his face.

‘Well, who stays or visits this house should not bother you much. As long as you are here, you can stay in that room and nobody will disturb you.’

Atharva had still not answered my question but he had told me all that I was entitled to know. Basically, he had politely asked me to mind my own business.

‘Thank you.’ I realized that I had still not thanked him for his rescue mission.

‘Sharini, I am doing this only for the sake of your father. I owe him a lot,’  he said and resumed washing the vessels.

***

‘Not again… Sharu! Please don’t tell me that you are still working? It is 9.15 PM for God’s sake,’ rued Atharva as he walked into the bedroom.

‘I have a Skype call at 9.30 PM with the US clients. Please change quickly and go out of the room because I need silence.’

When he did not move from the threshold, I lifted my head and took a look at my husband. He was clearly exhausted after a busy day and an hour-long metro ride. He slowly entered the room and began unbuttoning his shirt.

‘What is for dinner?’

‘Have you forgotten that the cook is on leave for this week? Please order something on Swiggy.’

His eyes met mine and there was pure anger amidst hunger.

‘Damn! I forgot. But why haven’t you ordered anything yet? I am so hungry. He will take at least half an hour more to deliver the order. What have you been doing the whole evening!’

‘Avi, if you cannot see, I am working. We have an important deliverable next week and I am really tied up. I am only asking you to order something on Swiggy and not cook. So please spare me your lecture.’

‘Well, life would have been so much better if you had learned some cooking  from your mother.’

Now, he had touched a raw nerve. He had no right to criticize me when he himself had no idea about cooking. I took a look at the clock on my laptop screen and it showed 9.23 PM.

‘The same holds true for you too. There was no agreement signed during the wedding that only I would be cooking in the house. Now, I have to take the call. Would you just take your stuff and move out?’

He picked up his shorts and went out without uttering another word. The door closed behind him with a bang.  

I could not fall asleep immediately after coming into the room. I really don’t know why I remembered this incident so vividly. We both had moved to Delhi after marriage because I had received an excellent job offer. Fortunately, he too had found a job in one of the big MNCs. Both our families were overjoyed and they had conveniently concluded that our marriage had certainly brought us great luck. But it was the first time, I was moving out of Mumbai and my home. Although, Atharva had worked in Hyderabad and Bengaluru before, Delhi was new to him. Initially, I was a little worried about running the house on my own without any support from my mother. There were days when I really wished that we had stayed with our families, but it was also exciting to be left alone soon after marriage. The first thing that I did after moving to a rented 2 BHK was to appoint a cook and maid at home. On days when they were on leave, the house almost transformed into a war-zone. He was a foodie and loved to eat home-cooked food because my mother-in-law was an excellent cook. That night was probably the first time we both had fought over food. The next day it felt like a very trivial argument and by the end of the day we were both back on talking terms. Yet now when I look back, it was indeed the beginning of a crack in our relationship.

The room was still dark when I opened my eyes, but I could hear the noise from the TV in the living-room. I took a look at the time on my phone, it was almost 10 AM. Last night, I was awake for a long time, although I don’t know when exactly I fell asleep. After half an hour, I had bathed and dressed up to get out of the room. When I opened the door, Atharva was sitting on the sofa and keenly watching the news. I walked to the single sofa in the living-room and sat down. I was contemplating if I should greet him otherwise it might just look awkward. Thankfully, he turned to me after a few minutes.

‘Hey, when did you come? I am sorry, I did not notice you walk in. I hope you had a good sleep.’

Somehow, his casual talk made me uneasy. Let us be frank that I am not any random guest at his house. I am his ex-wife for crying out loud!

‘Yeah, I slept well. I hope it did not inconvenience you that I occupied your room. I really wish that you had let me use some spare bedroom in the house.’

For the first time since our meeting after the divorce, he smiled. For a fleeting moment, I was back to our first days as a couple.

‘Well, there is another bedroom, but I cannot sleep there. And it would not have been right of me to let you sleep on the sofa.’

Last night, I had not noticed but there was indeed another room diagonally opposite to his bedroom. The door was closed, and I was instantly curious to know what was behind that closed door. He walked into the kitchen and came out with two glasses of orange juice. After handing me one glass, he sipped his juice.

‘I have sent my cook on leave until the lockdown is over. Anyway, I have prepared breakfast. It is not much but I hope it would suffice.’

We both went to the dining table where there were bread toasts and omelettes. I have to say that I was indeed surprised. He had barely even boiled eggs while being my husband. When I tasted the food, it was not that bad. Okay, I will give it to him that at least the salt was right in the omelette and the toast was not burnt. Once again after breakfast, he went on to wash the vessels. A little bit of guilt surfaced on my mind, yet I was not ready to offer him any help. My office had given us the work from home option. I went into the room and logged into my laptop. That is when I realised that I needed internet. I could have used the internet on my phone, but the network connectivity would not be that great. There were a few Wi-Fi networks showing up, although all were secured with passwords. I guessed one of them must be his home Wi-Fi. Ignoring the urge to ask him for the password, I started working using the internet on my phone. Unfortunately, a team call was scheduled that day on our Microsoft Teams application and my internet connection was too weak to support a good quality call. I had no option but to ask him for the Wi-Fi password.

Suddenly, I heard the door of the other room open and then close immediately. My curiosity unleashed its fangs and began to chew on my mind. I had to know what was behind the closed door of that room. Finally, I decided to go find out for myself. Luckily, I had a legit excuse of asking for the Wi-Fi password. As expected, he was not in the living-room, so that confirmed the fact that it was indeed he who had gone into the room and nobody else. When I reached the door, I could feel my heart pounding. I don’t know what I was scared of finding in that room. Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door. 

To be continued...