Salaam everyone... How are you all?? It's so good to be back again... Thank you so much for the lovely wishes under the sorry note... :) Before you ask, how my leg is, I will answer that... It's better compared to earlier, but need to take rest for another 3 weeks because the bone is not set in its place... So owing to my promise, I'm back after a long time... I think it's been a month since I updated the previous chapter of Misconceptions, this is a long one to compensate my absence for a long time... And oh, I forgot, my college is started and with that comes to my exams too, that too in a month... :( See, this is what I call a REAL examination...

Anyways, happy reading... :D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is Radhika who woke up first the next day and Arjun is sleeping beside her like a child. Why can't he be like this when he is fully awake? He is looking cute too. Radhika is about to pinch his cheeks but restrained her hands in the last moment. What if he knew the real feelings of her? He will tease her to world's end. God!!Where did she get trapped? By the grace of law, she has to endure this torture only for 6 months, if it is more than that, she is definitely and awesomely sure that she will fall in love with this imperfect and headstrong politician. What is she thinking, again? Love? Seriously now, she is thinking about being in love with a politician. Unbelievable and absurd. How can she even think of something like that? She should always remember her past and should not fall in love with any politician.

Radhika came out of her thoughts when she saw a slight movement beside her. Arjun is moving his body in different directions and mumbling something. She couldn't hear because his voice is slurry and the words are really incoherent to even put a finger and guess them. She thought he is having a nightmare but his body came to a still and his breathing is even now. Radhika thought to wake him up and then hit the shower but remembered last night incident and decided against it. She with the stealth of a panther moved off the bed after taking away the hands of Arjun that are on her body and hit the shower. When she came out of the washroom, he is still sleeping. What is he? Twin of Kumbhakaran? He should be up by now if he needs to reach his office early. She should wake him up. Confound that!!! Why should she bother anyway? She is happy that she got the entire house to herself. She can prepare her coffee if Mr. Spoon left any groceries on the shelves. Oh!! This life is not as bad as she thought earlier. She made her way to the kitchen and thankfully there is a stock of her favourite coffee powder in the shelves. So the politician likes the same coffee brand as her, not bad at all. She prepared her coffee and went to check on her husband. And there he is, still sleeping with the mouth as wide as Ambuja cement advertisement length. She put her coffee on the side stand and went to him to wake him up.

First, she shook him so that he can wake up without calling his name. But he moved his body only to change the body posture. As her side of the bed is empty now, he got the entire bed. He pushed his hands and legs in different directions all over the bed. Now Radhika has to wake him in a different method, and what is that? She doesn't have the slightest idea, usually, her friends are not that sleepy heads, so when she woke them up by shaking their body, they got up from the bed. But here, he is only changing his body postures as if she is training him for yoga. Suddenly her eyes fell on the extra cushions on the bed; she took one of them and beat him hard with the cushion on his back. Even this didn't wake him, but he slept with his back on the bed now. Ah!! This looks like she is adjusting his body postures so that he could sleep peacefully. Next, she tried calling him near his ear by 'Mr. Politician', 'Mr. Prince' and finally 'Arjun' too. But he only smiled in his sleep as if she is singing him a lullaby. God!! This man is cute in sleep and hard to wake up. What now? He should wake up if she has to go to her work. And given the situation, he is not going to wake up anyway sooner. So she took her phone to inform Hitesh that she is going to be late but another idea struck her mind. She went near his ears and shouted, "Arjun, your wife is going to shift to her apartment." Finally, the fear of losing his reputation woke him up and he shouted, "No, she will not." The mission to wake up handsome politician is finally accomplished. DOT.

Arjun woke up from his peaceful sleep only to see his head-strong and crazy wife laughing manically. Her face became beet red because of all the laughing. She is looking gorgeous with her hair in all directions and cute pout on her lips. What is he thinking? She and gorgeous are like North and South poles of Earth. Never in the wildest dreams of any sane person will they meet. So now, focus on the maniac girl who is laughing her head off. She always laughs on his cost. This is not at all fair. He kept his head in his hands and took a long breath.

'Why did you wake me, Radhika?' asked Arjun with a groan because his head is pounding as if he was hit by a boulder.

'Because I need to wake you up.' Answered Radhika.

Before she could complete her sentence that she needed to wake him up because she has to go to her work, Arjun jumped off from the bed and started scrutinising her body from top to bottom. Suddenly he took her hands in his and started checking them that too very keenly. What is with him and this body check?

'What are doing, Mr. Politician?'

'I'm checking for the bite marks.'

'Bite marks? Of what? Or of whose?'

'Yesterday I left a spider in the washroom, remember?'

How can she forget that? Because of that, she even got a mini heart attack too. But why is he asking about that now? Is he trying to play another prank on her? If yes, then he is going to pay a lot more this time. Most probably a kick or two with her well-trained kalayaripattu hands and legs. She smirked thinking this and didn't answer Arjun's question. She came out of her thoughts when Arjun is asking the same question again and again while checking her hands.

'Yes, I remember that. But why are you asking about that now? If you are thinking to play another prank, think twice...'

Her speech is cut short by Arjun's sigh of relief when he didn't find any bite marks on her body.

'Now can you explain what that was all about Mr. Prince?'

'Prince?' questioned Arjun by quirking up an eyebrow.

'Never mind, it is your nickname that I gave to you in my office. Now please come to the point. Explain all this, will you?'

'No.'

'No?'

'Yes.'

'Yes?'

'Yes, I will not answer you now as my doubts are cleared.'

'But I need to know the reason for the entire hand check I've got now.'

'No, you don't.'

'And why do you think so?'

'As I said earlier, my doubts are cleared, that's why.'

'Wait, let me guess. Bite and spider. If I combine these two, the only conclusion I can derive is that you were thinking that spider bit me, did you? And that is a toy spider, I guess.' Asked Radhika.

Arjun must agree that this girl has got brains. That is the same reason why he was checking her, but he will not voice it out, all right. She already laughs her heart out on his cost and now she will tease him for his foolish inspection. But he is not at fault, first, he thought to use a real spider for the prank but decided against it as he didn't find one at that time. When she woke him up at the odd time, he thought the matter may be serious and also he was confused about whether he did use a toy spider or a real one. So he checked her hands for bite marks. Now that is not his fault, watching spider-man movie unlimited number of times made him think that way. And he forgot that spiders don't bite in real and the spider mentioned in the movie is a hybrid one.

Well now, why is she looking at him like that? And judging from her facial expressions, he can bet his head that she is about to laugh again. She is biting her lower lip to control her laughter. There it goes, she started laughing again. Shit!! Why did he do that? His child-like antics are becoming a fun stuff for her. And why in the name of Mary Jane Watson can't she stop laughing? See!! Again being foolish. Why should he think of Mary Jane now? Get out of my head now MJ. Wait, why should she get out of his head? She shouldn't and the girl who is laughing in front of him should get out of his house now or else he is going to squash her like an insect for sure.

'Stop it, Ms. Reporter. Enough of your laughing, you can get out of my house now.' snarled Arjun.

Radhika stopped her laughing and watched him like he has grown two heads. What is it now?

'I guess only yesterday you said that I shouldn't leave your house. Now you want me to do that. Please have firm feet in one word, Mr. Politician.' Sneered Radhika.

'I'm not saying to leave the house permanently, Ms. Reporter. You are ready for your work, I guess. So you can leave to your work.' Answered Arjun controlling his anger. She is not innocent as her face portrays her.

'Ah! Yes. That's why I was waking you up but it seems you are a twin of Kumbhakaran. I had to try many things to get you off from that bed, you know. Anyways, I need to leave or else I'll be late for my work and your house is not even near to the city let alone my office. So bye and have a great day.' Said Radhika.

But Arjun is not the one who is going to leave her for the morning dose of laughter session she had because of him.

'Radhika!'

'Yes.' said Radhika while sorting her bag.

'You know the rituals after marriage, right?'

'Not all, but some.' Answered Radhika with a hint of suspicion in her voice. What is he going to point out now?

'Does that 'some' include the sweet ritual that needs to be done on the first day of marriage?' asked Arjun cautiously. He has to be cautious with the mood swings of this reporter. If she snapped out now, he doesn't know where her kick will land on his body.

'Yes.' Answered Radhika without thinking but bit her tongue when she realised her mistake. What is done cannot be reversed; she got to know where he is going to point now. Ughh!! Why can't her tongue be controlled in front of this man?

Arjun's face is glowing like the Disney's cartoon character Rapunzel who got to see the floating lights on her birthday for the first time.

"Now now! Ms. Reporter... Yesterday you made Pawan to fulfil the rituals, yes? You will fulfil your part of your ritual today and I'm not going to leave you." thought Arjun and smirked.

But poor guy didn't know that it is going to be his punishment rather than enjoyment.

'Then, don't you think you should complete that ritual and leave to your office?'

'But I don't know how to cook Arjun.' Again a tongue slip, Arjun!! Seriously?? Now, why is he looking at her like that? Isn't his name Arjun?

'Okay, finally we are on first name basis. Alright then, you will fulfil this sweet ritual today, isn't it?' Asked Arjun sugar coating his anger on her for insulting his friend by calling him a spoon.

'But I don't know how to cook.' Said perplexed Radhika.

'That's not my problem. And then, why to bother when you have YouTube in your hands? Follow the recipe and you are done. That is my word of advice for today.' Finished Arjun.

'Fine!! I will complete the ritual after returning from office. Can I make a move now?'

'With pleasure.' Said Arjun smiling.

'And my word of advice, try to control your sleeping habits or else your house will be looted very soon.' Said Radhika with a wink.

There it goes again. Arjun is fuming now, how dare she give advice to him and also about his sleeping habits. Not that he is complaining, he knew he has to take care of this habit. Even many people advised him before about this, but she is not the one who has to give advice to him. That's the end of discussion. He overslept today because of the berth he got as she slept on the other side of the bed.

(And he didn't know a thing that his hands and legs are all over Radhika while sleeping as she woke up first.)

'Now who is being Copy Kitten Radhika?' asked Arjun mischievously.

'Never mind. I'm leaving.'

'You were saying that line from a long time and you didn't move an inch. Should I think that you are actually enjoying my company?'

'Dreaming are we, Mr. Politician?'

'No. I'm just stating the truth.'

Radhika can't take this anymore; she got hold of her bag and left the house in a jiffy.

It was in the evening, she got the tablet ready with YouTube app opened with a sweet named 'Halwa'. "Halwa is an Indian sweet made with flour, lots of ghee, sugar and dry fruits." Started the girl who is teaching how to make sweet on her channel. Radhika jumped to the segment where the actual procedure of the sweet starts. She completed all the steps and was about to put off the flame, she remembered her mother's tip to add a pinch of colour so that the halwa gets a cool colour. She searched all the cabinets for the colour and got one bottle of colour with no label on it. It appeared as a colour, so she added a pinch of it. But the halwa didn't change to any cool or hot colour, so she kept adding the colour until she got to see a bright red halwa. (Guess, there is no need to explain what colour she added or she thought so it is a colour.) "But why does the colour smell like chilli powder, guess chilli powder was stored in this earlier. Mr. Spoon can't even buy separate containers for different items." Thought Radhika and patted herself for a job well done.

She freshened up and was waiting for Arjun to serve the dish. She didn't eat the dish as she is not in a mood to eat sweet that day. She bought her dinner from a restaurant on her way back home.

Arjun reached the house after a long day at work, he had to deal with all the officials at his office and the case Radhika threw light upon earlier. He freshened up and was surprised to see Radhika waiting for him at the dining table. It is not so like her, but why is she waiting for him? Ah! Yes!! The sweet. Good that she remembered as he forgot that thing in his hectic schedule.

'Good evening, I think you remembered about the sweet ritual very well Radhika.'

'Yes!! Unlike you, I'm not the person who forgets things Arjun.'

Why is she always in a taunting mode? Never mind, the sweet looks yummy. He needs to pounce on that very soon as his stomach is growling with hunger.

He snatched the bowl from the dining table; took the first bite and froze. Radhika is waiting for his compliments with a hopeful smile on her face. Why can't he put down the spoon and compliment her already?

He did keep the spoon and the bowl down only to run to the refrigerator and snatch a bottle of ice cold water. That didn't reduce the sting on his tongue, so he ran to the kitchen and put a lump of sugar cubes in his mouth. Only then the sting reduced to some extent. He now rushed to the dining table and saw a confused Radhika. She doesn't know why is he running so wild now. So her eyes are following his every step. He came back to her, caught hold of her shoulders and snarled at her.

'What is your problem?'

'My problem? What did I do now? I just prepared sweet as a ritual, I didn't do anything more than that.' Said Radhika wriggling in his arms and trying to get away from his grip.

'Oh really! Do you think I'm going to believe that? Take a spoonful of your so-called sweet and taste it, you will know what I was going to convey.' Said Arjun and released her.

As Radhika didn't know her mistake, she took a big tablespoon of sweet and put that in her mouth. Only then she got to know what Arjun was talking about.

'Sorry Arjun, I didn't know that it is chilli powder, even though I got a doubt earlier I put that in as I was running late.' Said Radhika with tears in her eyes because of the sweet (hot) and also for her mistake.

Arjun saw the truth in her eyes, so he let her go for this one. He shared the food Radhika brought from the restaurant.

The day is hellion one but the girl sleeping beside him made it look funny. He reminisced the moments that happened earlier that day when he left for the office.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

End of the seventh chapter... Arjun's professional front will be in next chapter for sure... How did you like the ritual here? I'm a Telugu girl, so I don't know much about the rituals from the Northern part of India (as if I know the rituals of the Southern part, lol)...This is the only ritual I know because of the serials... Hope it met your expectations, please forgive me if it is not...

Do let me know your views on this chapter from the comments section and also vote if you like the chapter even a little... Love you all and have a great day ahead...