“Five weeks?” She prompted, knitting her eyebrows closer. Her subconscious clanged warning bells. She knew Mukund was going to turn her down, again. She clutched her phone tightly and egged him on. “Come on, what did you just say?”

“Yeah, I can’t come right now, baby.” He divulged, confirming her doubts. Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths as she tried to suppress her erupting anger. She pressed a hand to her throat and closed her eyes. Oblivious to that, Mukund continued to narrate his predicament.

“Fuck you, bastard!” She yelled, cursing him loud and her nostril flared, “What the fuck are you actually trying to do, Mukund? I married a man I don’t like at all only because you asked me and promised that you’ll come to get me the next day and now this! Are you fucking mad?”

“Baby…”

“Don’t baby me, you leech!” she hissed, “You don’t deserve to fucking have me. You told me we’ll go far away from here and you’ve left me in this hell to rot.” She sobbed, covering her mouth. Her anger transformed into angry, hot tears and flew from her eyes.

Mukund swore colorfully and exhaled heavily, “I haven’t left you, Anahita. I am just trying to correct everything.”

“And, I am fucking blind to not see any efforts in that direction.” She snapped, blotting he cheeks. “I am married. You should know this is serious. Yuvraaj already considers me his property and now, I am certified his. Do you think he will leave me alone? I have staked everything for you and you’re just averting me.”

“I don’t know why it happened with us. I really don’t know. It feels like whole world is conspiring against us.” he sounded so helpless that she could’ve believed him but she didn’t. She scoffed, letting out a mirthless laugh. “What a lame excuse!”

“It’s not…”

“If you never wanted me, you could’ve told me. I could’ve died or run away…I could’ve done anything instead of getting married to that swine.” She blabbered, desperately. The upcoming scenarios haunted her. Yuvraaj wasn’t going to stop until he had her. Her heart raced a mile in a minute.

“Just shut up, Anahita!” Mukund growled at her, “I love you, okay. And, stop testing my love every second. I know you're not in good shape but I am also not better. You don't have any idea how it sliced me to ask you to marry someone. You really have no idea.”

“Then why?” She demanded, hating to sound vulnerable. “Why can’t we…”

“Don’t go there.” He impeded her, “I don’t have answer to that. Just remember one thing, I love you. Okay? You are mine. Just mine. I want to keep it that way. By no means and under no circumstances, should you allow him to come near you let alone touch you. Do you understand?”

Anahita held herself back from retorting. Getting cozy with Yuvraaj was last thing on her mind. She’d rather chew worms than to kiss him. Seriously! “Okay!”

“That’s better!” he simpered, “These five weeks will fly in a wink and we’ll be together.” He concocted a fairytale that she believed again and her lips curved up. “I will try, Mukund!”

“I don’t want you to try. Just trust me and I will make everything easy for you.” He coaxed her and asked her to take rest. Anahita hung up, bouncing back on her back and folded an arm over her eyes. She was beyond tired; both mentally and physically to move a muscle to change. The best remedy was to sleep. Sleep like she had all the time in the world.

“Vehini…” Someone tapped on the door and she jolted up straight. “Yes?”

“Yuvraaj baba has asked us to put the gifts in the room.”

“Now?” she enquired, cringing.

“Yes. He wants us to organize them on the table and bring a set of his clothes.”

She whooshed out a sigh and allowed them to do their job. She bunched up her hair, getting up and made a bun of it, tramping to open the door. She had momentarily forgotten that her world now collided with Yuvraaj and there’s no rest and peace for her in his world. The servants quietly engaged themselves in their job and departed, nodding their greetings to her.

She padded to the dresser and perched on the Ottoman to remove the heavy veil from her head, getting rid with Mundavalya in process. Her eyes gawked at her bridal reflection and the lack of joy within her. She put the hairpiece aside and her eyes zoned in on the bright, red vermillion on her parting. She raised her hand to touch her parting, trying to believe what really happened because it was still so surreal for her. She mentally sent thanks to her mother in law for adjusting armillary stand in the maximum space where she could place her stuff.

Five Weeks. Thirty five Days. Eight forty hours. Fifty thousand four hundred minutes. Three million twenty four thousand seconds of endurance and I will be able to fly free in the vast welkin like a bird. She mulled, optimistically and employed herself in unscrewing the earrings.

"Just remember that this marriage is out of convenience, darling. You will have to be strong and stay hundred yards away from your husband. Got it?" Mukund’s final words of warning resonated in her ears as she sighed and dropped the earrings beside the pool of her bangles on the vanity table.

With creak, the bedroom door opened and she raised her thick lashed eyes to the mirror again. Her lips - full and luscious, painted in red lip color - stretched up in a faux smile when her husband stepped inside. How could she not feel his presence and the scorching warmth that filled the void of the room instantly! He was the assassin of her happiness and her aspiration. His pair of warm, grey eyes - sparkling pool of liquid silver as she preferred to view them – examined the whole room before zeroing his wandering vision on the mirror and they shined in delight. Although tempted, she wasn’t dimwit to glower at him or roll her eyes.

A few days of pretension and I'll be out of this. She mused, smiling and coyly embraced his gaze with hers, working on to unfix the heavy piece of jewelry around her slender neck.

'When in Rome do as Romans do,' her rational mind advised. She watched him coming closer, bringing his heat and pulsating aura to her. He was unbuttoning his Kurta with each intimate step, keeping his eyes locked to her in the mirror. She swallowed visibly, daring not to break the contact and her breath clogged in her throat as he stood behind her, closing the moderate distance between them.

“You are still in the dress! Go and change.” He muttered, leaning in and she nimbly got up, stepping aside. He raised his eyebrow at her before bending down to keep his watch on the dresser. He straightened up and Anahita scratched her forehead. “I was going to do that.”

“You don’t want me to show you the washroom, right?” Anahita frowned, detecting if he was humoring her but he occupied himself in removing his dress that she realized it was an honest gesture of help.

“No!” She denied and he nodded, jerking a thumb toward the washroom. “There's an extra pair of towel in cabinet above washbasin. You can use that. If you want to brush, there’s an extra brush in the stand too and don’t leave the floor wet.”

“Are you ordering me?” She blurted out before she could stop. He gave her a quizzical glance and she rolled her eyes. “I don't leave the floor wet. And, just to remind you, I don’t take orders. Don’t order me again.”

“When had I ordered you?” he asked, puzzled and paused for a moment. His features softened up and he chuckled, “So, it finally started, huh? Marital life’s lovely bickering?” he inched closer to her and pushed a tendril behind her ear, running his knuckles down her cheek. “If you don't take orders, it will be fun teaching you, mou.”

“Is that a challenge posed at me?” She took the dare head on and matched his gaze. Yuvraaj shook his head, tipping her chin and pulled her closer. “No.”

She blinked at him in disbelief and he revered her face, “Husband and wife doesn’t challenge each other; they participate together. They don’t officiate, they supplement each other. They don't fight, Anahita,” he dipped down to her ear and whispered, huskily, “they make love.”

Anahita narrowed her eyes, finding her breath hitching and he moved back, dragging a palm on his windswept hair, “The whole point of saying this is to explain you that I want you to complement me, stay with me, love me and understand me because that’s what we have promised to each other while taking oaths. I will do the same but for that you’ve to get above from your immaturity. I didn’t order you. I just told you my habit. You can do the same.”

He finished and zoomed out, leaving her flustered behind. She blankly stared at the closed door and frowned. He was so intense and graved in his speech. Did he just hit his head somewhere or magically gained his brains? She wondered and shook her head. She took her clothes and sauntered to the bathroom. She needed to hit the bed, badly.

***

Muffling the turquoise quilt, Anahita yawned lazily and twisted to her left. Her sleep was wearing away and slow, distant noise of clamoring street was now becoming clear. She pushed her face more into the pillow and her tresses fell over her face. The voice was getting louder and louder that she jerked open her eyes in irritation and found Yuvraaj looming over her. She blinked, perplexed and jolted away from him. “What are you doing?”

“You were squirming, so I thought to help you with this.” He flicked her hair away from her forehead and patted her head. “Did you sleep well?”

“How could I when I have this awful uproar in the background?” She griped, flinging the quilt away and her eyes landed on the table clock. “Eight ten. Oh my God! How long did I sleep?”

“I’d say the whole day.” Yuvraaj supplied, turning the volume down of the television and she noticed him in his nightwear. “Mom woke you up for the snacks but you weren’t even stirring that she finally gave up. I asked her that I would wake you up at the time of dinner.”

She gave him a long stare, trying to wrap her mind around his new version. This wasn’t the Yuvraaj she knew, he wouldn’t have been so docile to her, he wouldn’t let her sleep peacefully and he wouldn’t turn the fucking volume down just because she was annoyed. She was really concerned for him. Yuvraaj rubbed his jaw, propping a hand behind his head and took a glance of her. “What?”

“I don’t know why…”

“Don’t tell me you’re having that moment?” he rolled his eyes and she furrowed her eyebrows, “What moment?”

“What those girls feel in Asian drama after marriage, that ‘I don’t realize I got married today moment’.” He mocked her and Anahita found relief coursing in her veins. So, he hadn’t hit his head, he hadn’t gained civility. He was just as same. She rolled her eyes, wearing the slippers. “My memory serves me well. Don’t worry, I clearly remember everything and that bullshit only happens in drama.”

“Glad!” she heard him muttering when she walked to the bathroom to freshen up. Her stomach grumbled, making her realize that she was terribly hungry. She just had her breakfast and lunch was just for pretense where she barely stomached a chapatti. She wanted a proper meal to devour. She emerged out, dabbing her face with the towel and slid the wardrobe door. “I need some space in your cupboard. That’s full with your stuff, Yuvraaj. You need to shift.”

“What are you saying?” he yawned, trudging next to her and scratched his arm. “You can have the right side. I have already made space for you.”

“You mean these three drawers and four racks?” she waved a hand at her side of cupboard. “This won’t even comprise half of my stuff. Clear this entire section for me and more your belongings to other one.”

“Why are you so cranky?” he made a face, eyeing her and shrugged his shoulders, “Manage for now and I will make some space. You don’t have to fight over that lame issue.”

“I am just making a few things clear because I don’t have time to deal with this crap. I have enough troubles in my hand.” she muttered, pushing his clothes away and set her clothes inside. Yuvraaj supported himself on the wardrobe and crossed his arms, peeking at her impishly. “Why not – I clearly know that you’re a walking trouble. Nothing can go right with you.”

He laughed and she paused, her hand in the middle of folding her clothes.  His potential teasing hammered her already bruised ego and bitter reality bit her hard. She flung the dress away and stood to cause equal damage on him. “Of course, had anything gone right, I wouldn’t have married you. This is just my ill-fate that I am here to bang my head with you and tolerate your mean behavior.”

His smile wiped off and he straightened up, “Anahita, I didn’t mean to offend...”

“But, that’s what you always do.” She cut him off, bitterly. “I am a walking joke for you – an easy prey to hunt because you don’t even have to try for it. I am always pushed before you to insult, mock and jibe. But, let me clear it, that this thing – this entire submissive thing ends just right here. I am not your slave and I am not that vulnerable anymore.”

She looked right through his eyes, steeling herself to not waver before his excruciating gaze. He looked like he could kill her just by staring at her diabolically. His demeanor had changed, drastically and his clenched jaw was testimony of the fact.

“Done?” he enquired his voice low and dark. “Now, get out.”

He turned to leave and Anahita felt humiliated. How dare he just….she pranced to him and gripped his elbow, swiveling him around. She slammed her fists on his chest, pushing him. “How dare you?”

“Anahita…” Yuvraaj was taken aback with her sudden outburst. He stumbled back as she attacked again and angry tears poured out from her eyes, “Who do you think I am? Han? I am not a commodity that you can use and discard whenever you feel like. I already have had enough, okay? You have ruined my life. Your family has ruined my life and you want to me get out? How dare…”

“Enough!” Yuvraaj roared annexing her wrists tightly in his fists and jostled her back in the wall, crowding her space.