So my dear lovelies, let's talk about your favourite movie (⁠☆⁠▽⁠☆⁠)

A thing you would have changed about the characters in this book (⁠ﾉﾟ⁠0ﾟ⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠→

Mishika's pov
"Maa, I'm full already." My protests faded into thin air with Yami maa's single glare as she served more rice on my plate.

A small chuckle flew past my lips when Papa ji pulled maa's hyperactive self down on the chair and in response maa glared at him. My heart melted along with maa's frown when he offered a morsel, his eyes shone with love.

Ever since my accident, both the moms have grown closer like new best friends in town. This morning as these two shared another of their usual gossip, Maa told about Aarav catching a fever.

I was on my toes ever since on how to get my way out of the house. However, when Mumma herself gave me permission, without even me asking, to meet him, I was left baffled.

My heart, I don't know why, was thumping so hard as my steps moved closer to his room. Our room. Upon reaching, I thanked the maid for carrying the food trolley and gave a knock on the door while she retreated. Nonetheless my eyebrows furrowed upon getting no response.

Is he sleeping ?

Giving another hard knock, I again waited, only to get his irritated answer, "Go away. I'm busy right now."

What is he even doing other than taking rest ?

Instead of knocking, this time I directly opened the door before walking inside while rolling the trolley along. A sense of familiarity washed over me as I stood inside, my eyes roaming around.

Then my eyes landed on him, who was sprawled on the bed in his loose sleeveless vest and shorts. His hair was messy like he had raked his hand through it upteeenth times. The duvet was lying by his feet, and half carpeting on the floor. My body shivered at how low temperature the A.C was set on.

He must have heard the intrusion as he frowned but when he looked up and our eyes met, I noticed how visibly he froze. "Hello husband."

Inadvertently a small smile curved on my lips as I noticed his eyes bulging, a mixture of daze and surprise evident. Taking a moment, his incendiary thronged eyes raked up and down, my appearance cladded in a simple kurti with wide jeans, the intensity in them making me squirm.

"Hello to you too, my little wife." He said, once he was out of the daze and his husky voice sent shivers down my spine.

"I brought you lunch." My eyes darted to the said lunch and I pulled the trolley closer to the bed. My palm met his extended hand as he shifted a little, making space for me beside him on the bed.

"I would rather have you burn with me in passion than with fever. So, we must sit at a little distance." Saying that, he shifted a little more, glaring at the distance between us. "You ate ?"

Humming in acknowledgement, I began serving food for him. Meanwhile I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes, only to find his line of sight still fixed upon me.

"Ain't you acting like a teenage boy ?" I teased.

"Since I'm sick today, it explains."

Holding the plate filled with food, I turned back to him. "Ain't you a little sick everyday ?"

Amusement flickers in his eyes as he grasps my chin. "For you ? Yes, I'm." My breath hitched at his declaration. "And you should stop talking to Mishti so much. I can see she is not a good influence on you, sweetheart."

"That sounds absurd." I let out a soft scoff. "How did you catch a fever ?"

"This is not called fever, sweetheart. It is called fish fever."

T H E P R E V I O U S D A Y~~~

Aarav's pov

Day 19

Not to let my mother-in-law have the pleasure of watching the horror threatening to etch on my face, I quickly pulled on the skilled nonchalant facade. Clearing my throat, I took the carry bag she had extended in my direction. The desperation I've been feeling dissolved, churning my stomach and I mentally gagged seeing the mocking 'fish market' board at the entrance.

Apart from all the days I've been pouring blood and sweat to get a reaction out of her, she chose the day when my father-in-law, who doesn't like me, is craving for fish curry.

For Satan's sake even hell would smell better than this hideous place. I fucking can't stand sea food and not especially when it's being butchered raw.

The fetid smell continued to linger in the air as I stepped further and further in the swarmed and buzzing market. It made my head throb and I was at the brink of exploding. Desperate to block the suffocating smell, I tied my handkerchief around my nose and mouth, a futile attempt.

Think of something else. Think of anything or everything other than this hideous smell.

Water. Sea. Fish. Crab. Lobster.

Fucking hell!

There are numerous workers back at my home to do these things for me. In my life of twenty-seven years, I never stepped in a place like this. But anything for my wife. Only for you Honey-eye.

By the time I walked out of that grisly place, my body was profusely layered with sweat, shooting up the gnawing bothersome feeling. My mother-in-law must have sensed my discomfort and rushed by my side, concerned and bewildered. Searching inside the other bag she was holding, she handed me a bottle of water.

Not wasting time, I began chugging on the water, my actions frantic that made me almost choke. Although instead of easing me down, I felt that water was pushing the nausea up. Snatching the polybag my mother-in-law forwarded to me, I scurried to another side before throwing up inside it.

I better be in hell rather than this place again.

~~~B A C K T O P R E S E N T

Mishika's pov continues

He waved his hand off in dismissal, leaving me confused. Before I could ask any further, he pulled out a book from beside him. The same book to be precise that had marked the beginning of our friendship. A friendship that was devoured by tragedy.

The pages now look wrinkled, yellower than ever and the corners are twisted. It looks like it has been read too many times. Last I remember I saw it in his penthouse. "You brought it here ?"

"Hmm. A few days ago."

"How many times have you read it ?"

He abruptly stopped flickering through the pages, his eyes darting to mine. "I don't keep count for that long, Mish."

Everything happening back in my life had pushed me so deep in the abyss of pain and depression that fiction began to infuriate me. No longer it felt like a fantasy, but an illusion mocking my reality. And that's why I gave away all my books.

My chain of thoughts was impeded when he craned his neck closer, with his mouth opened and eyeing at the food. "Aaaa" Upon his incomprehensible action, my brows cocked in dubiety. "My hands are quite occupied, you see."

The expression on his face was adorable enough to fool anyone. But I could see how his eyes gleamed knowingly.

"You want me to feed you ?" My voice came out laced with scoff. "You're not a kid."

"I will read for both of us in the meantime. You won't get bored." He pressed. "I'm sick, sweetheart. A little special treatment won't hurt."

I was trying not to budge but I guess the fever got into his head. It was getting hard to ignore it anymore. "Please my highness, I beg you. And in return I promise to be at your service, to make you feel special for eternity long."

I let out a gasp when his lips unexpectedly pecked on my nose bump, taking me and my heart both at once off-guard. He needs to stop doing that. It makes my heart flutter in the most illegal way.

I guess my husband, when actually sick, is an adorable outcome.

Giving up, I began feeding him while he opened the page he was reading before as he put aside the bookmark. At first I wasn't paying attention but as he continued reading, I found myself deeply tangled in the labyrinth of fiction.

"Because my heart isn't made of ice. It is coal. It ignites, sparkling to flames under your mere presence." Chorded with his hoarse voice, the familiar words rejuvenated in my fading memory. "And even if it reaches the brink of nothingness, turns into ashes, it would be for you."

"The thriving beauty of yours enchants me, the softness against my skin leaves me enraptured. And I fell for it."

That's what intrigued me the most when I first started reading the story. The way it recited the tale of the unhappening lovers. A tragedy. They weren't just opposite but totally different. Like the scorching coal's desire for the rose, whose beauty was only an illusion.

"Not only that but also the thorns looming you allure me. And I'm ready to bleed. I fell for it too deep. Because I fell in love with you. All of you."

Stupid mind and stupid heart. It was mere ink on paper, I knew it and still at this moment, something shifted inside me. Something I couldn't name right now.

"Because you're fragile, you're strong. You're everything I'm not." The words weren't from the book anymore and neither his eyes were on the pages. "It's not you, sweetheart. It's me. I'm the coward here. Whereas you my darling, you're a warrior. So strong, so resilient."

His hand held mine, the simple touch surfed my insides with shivers. "And I am bewitched by the strong girl you were and the strong woman you've become."

"I'm the biggest jerk alive and I stand corrected for causing you pain just to push you away, just to make you abhor me more." When he pulled the plate out of my grasp, then did I realise how tight I was holding it. "You deserve so much and I want to give that all to you. And that starts with the awaiting apology."

There's no mirror in the world that ever made me feel so beautiful. But right now as I'm seeing my reflection in those charcoal orbs of his, I know I've never felt so beautiful before.

"I_" From his body posture, it was so evident how hard he was trying to break from the typical boundaries he had created for himself. "I'm sorry for everything, Honey-eye."

A bizarre tranquillity amalgamated in the air, it was filled with uncertainty but still somewhat comfortable. My mind was evaded from any sort of response. It was so unforeseen for me that it caught me tongue-tied.

Goosebumps lined my skin as my body shivered again due to the temperature. He must have noticed the slight chatter of my teeth since he instantly picked the remote from the nightstand and increased the temperature.

"So_ did I get your forgiveness ?"

Biting my inner cheeks, I averted my gaze off him while I pulled out my hand bag from the food trolley rack. "For now, you get a get well soon gift." Saying that, I pulled out a packet from it.

His eyes twinkled when I handed him the packet, the excitement palpable in his demeanour. "It's not something expensive or extra-ordinary." I laughed, trying to curb my nervousness as I sneakily wiped my clammy palms on my kurti.

"A pink shirt ?" It sounded more like a question and my expressions fell.

"You didn't like it ?"

"No.. No" He exclaimed in urgency and I gaped at him, my shoulders slumping down. "I didn't mean that sweetheart. It's just so_ umm pink ?"

"You do realise that it just sounded like colorism, right?" I shot him with a glare. "And don't you get bored of wearing black or white or grey every day ?"

"Such a sweet wife, keeping notes." I pinned him with another glare, a clear gesture that his cocky remarks couldn't get me. "Plus I do wear navy blue, steel blue or brown sometimes."

Is he for real ? My nose flared, teeth gritted as I snatched my hand away from him simultaneously taking the shirt.

"My sweet sweet Honey-eye, are you angry ?" He cooed, his expression cautious. "I loved your gift, sweetheart. Everything related to you is precious." And gently he took the shirt back from my clutch.

When he tried shifting closer, I shifted a little further, paying no heed to his coaxation. "My whole wardrobe is yours sweetheart, transform it all pink. If you want then paint the whole room pink and I won't even say a thing."

I kept my impassive face for some more time only to end up beaming at his desperate attempts to cojole me.

"Pakka ?" As I pressed, he instantly gave a frantic nod making me laugh. "By the way, the pink was Mishti's idea."

(Promise)

"That traitor in the name of a best friend." He gritted out.

Some more shrieks of laughter erupted past my throat as I noticed the murderous look on his face. And before he could get too deep into his murderous thoughts, I decided to stop him only to find his gaze fixed upon me.

"You look enchanting when you laugh." My lips parted, words clogged into my throat and I felt my cheeks burning. He definitely needs to stop his way with his words.

"Ugh" Clearing my throat, an attempt to pass over his heated gaze, I tried to change the topic. "Anyway men who wear pink look so handsome."

"Is that so ?" His eyes gleamed, countenance morphing into a childlike curiosity. "Then my wardrobe definitely needs a makeover."

Chapter Words- 2312

Something you liked/didn't like about the chapter...

Let's know each other, an author and readers catch ☕

Signing off
~T.R