Vikram dropped on the couch , exhausted.
His decision to stay back in Mumbai for a day to look over the branch details was worth it.
It was doing terribly.
Vikram’s immediate attention was necessary for damage control. He scratched his chest, thinking of a way to pick it up.
He put his thoughts aside when he glanced at his watch. He had less than two hours for his flight.
He quickly packed , looking around the room if he had left anything, shutting the door behind him.
**
Keerthi was eagerly waiting for her husband’s arrival. It had almost been two days since she spoke to him, excluding him scolding at her the previous day morning.
She deemed herself shameless, waiting for him in excitement even after disastrous conversations.
Keerthi’s eyelids were drooping, sleep clouding her senses as she waited.
Twelve twenty.
He must be here any moment now. She lied down in a comfortable position, turning towards the door.
Two minutes.
Just two minutes, she said to herself and closed her eyes.
Vikram was disappointed to find his wife asleep when he entered his room. He half expected her to be up. He quietly changed, not wanting to disturb her as he made way across the room.
Keerthi blinked her eyes open when she felt the covers shuffling, to find her husband getting under them softly.
Keerthi almost laughed. She was awake now.
Vikram was surprised to find his wife looking at him when he turned towards her.
“Hi”, he greeted.
“Hi”, Keerthi wished, his sudden journey and the arguments on call hitting her with full force, as she slept straight, facing the ceiling.
Vikram assessed his wife’s mood. Though he resolved to convince her, he couldn’t. He was just so busy.
He placed an arm around her waist, pulling her closer.
“Vikram”, Keerthi chided,”Leave me.”
“Come on. I am just holding you. We can bicker all you want in the morning. Let’s just sleep now? It’s already late.”
Keerthi gaped at her husband’s suggestion.
It was amazing.
Though she was mad at him, she missed him. A lot.
She turned around, burying her face in his shoulder and draped an arm around his waist.
Vikram pulled his wife closer, their legs tangling under the sheets.
Keerthi stared at her husband’s face, smiling. Oh, how she missed him.
She ran a hand through his hair.
Vikram opened his eyes to see his wife in deep thought, her hand in his hair.
“Missed me?”, he asks.
“You are awake?”, Keerthi squeaks, as she removes her hand from his hair.
“No. Do. I don’t mind”, Vikram places her hand back into his hair, as he gazes at his wife.
He leans, pecking her lips, murmuring a “Goodnight”, against them as sleep consumed his senses.
**
Keerthi jumped when she felt her husband wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, his face in the crook of her neck, as he traced the curve of her neck with his nose.
Keerthi let her husband hold her for a little more time, freeing herself gently as she turned around.
Vikram brought his wife’s waist closer, forcing her to hold his shoulders for balance as they looked at each other.
“I am getting late”, Keerthi averted her eyes.
“No. You are not,”Vikram leaned in.
“Vikram”, Keerthi placed her hands on his chest, stopping him.
She didn’t know why she was resisting, when she knew she was craving for him just as much as he was.
But, her rational side was coming into play.
She didn’t want to succumb to his affection before talking.
Vikram’s stare hardened, looking at his wife, her face turned sideways in a frown, hands on his chest.
“Snap out of this mood, Okay?”, Vikram flared up.
He just wanted to hold his wife, having stayed away for quite some time. He wanted to give her a Kiss and tell her he missed her. He expected her to respond in same. But clearly, his wife didn’t share his feeling, determined to have a fight.
“I am not in any mood”, Keerthi glared at Vikram.
Vikram released his wife, maintaining distance. “Fine. Continue to behave like this. Come to me when you feel sane.”
Keerthi burnt holes in Vikram’s back, as she saw him walking towards the washroom, slamming the door shut.
Was she overreacting?, she wondered.
Keerthi sighed in frustration. She missed him so much. She didn’t want to fight, but she knew she can’t be at peace if they didn’t talk.
She waited for her husband to get out, as she moved around the room in boredom.
Vikram dressed up quickly, checking his mails on his phone charging bedside.
“Vikram”, she called , as Keerthi stood behind her husband.
“Yeah?”, Vikram looked at his wife distractedly.
Vikram hoped his wife didn’t blurt out nonsense. He had missed her. But she was determined to have an argument, throwing an unnecessary tantrum.
“I.. Um”, Keerthi opened her mouth.
“What Keerthi?”, Vikram snapped, making Keerthi jump.
Her husband was annoyed at her?, Keerthi wondered. When had the tables turned?
“Are you mad at me?”, clear disbelief was written on Keerthi’s face.
“You tell me. Is your behaviour justified?”
“What did I do?”, Keerthi asked bewildered.
“Instead of giving me a smile or hug in Hi, you chose to be silent. I had come to you inspite of your behaviour and you are throwing attitude at me?”, Vikram glared at his wife.
“What?”, Keerthi stared at her husband, eyes wide open.
“Move aside. I have to leave. Gape all you want later”, Vikram moved sideways.
“I was just a little angry. You informed you were leaving to Mumbai via text, and you didn’t even pick my call,”Keerthi began softly, their conversation was going nowhere,”And both the times we had talked, you were mad at me.”
Vikram turned around to his wife looking at the ground, her lips quivering.
“Keerthi”, he sighed. He found her reasoning stupid. His wife was a working professional too. She had to understand when he says he was busy.
Vikram tilted his wife’s chin up, looking at her,”I knew about the trip just ten minutes before you did. And I was very busy, didn’t have time to talk.”
Keerthi frowned, not satisfied with his explanation when she heard him talk again.
“I wasn’t mad at you. I was in a hurry. I had other things to do.”
Keerthi flinched. Did he mean he didn’t find her important enough to talk to her for a few minutes even?
She regretted talking to him now.
Vikram watched his wife’s face fall. He was getting irritated.
“Okay”, Keerthi said meekly, forcing a smile.
She didn’t know if they were already in that stage of their relationship yet to demand for his attention.
Keerthi gulped, planning to let it go. Her husband didn’t understand her point of view.
It was useless saying anything more. The argument would just turn into a full blown fight. She had decided, she would compromise this time. She let go of her foul mood, though she was upset. He would himself understand his words hurt, when they would become closer, as time progresses.
Keerthi looked at her husband, who was staring down at her blankly. Vikram sighed, turning around, going back to checking his mails.
Keerthi wanted to screech in frustration. There was no point being miffed with him. Neither of them were ready to understand the others’ point of view.
Vikram was mad his wife didn’t give him a proper welcome. Keerthi was upset her husband hadn’t informed him about his sudden trip and fighting with her on call. Both of them had justified reasons.
At normal times, if Keerthi was close to the person, she would have a talk. But she didn’t know if she had reached that stage where she could openly talk about her feelings with her husband. She blushed. They weren’t at that stage. The fact that she liked him so much to have expectations from him alarmed her, though she was thrilled with her discovery.
She decided to let go of the argument. She knew, none of them would back down if they got into another argument about the same issue. They were both right, in their perspectives.
She didn’t want to pull the thread too hard when Vikram was already firm in his end, it would only break. Married life was delicate, one of them had to compromise when the other was unwilling to do so, to maintain harmony.
But, Keerthi wouldn’t keep mum every time her husband seemed adamant. She would choose her fights wisely. This was one she was willing to forfeit for him. There was nothing wrong in compromising. She would let it go, this one time.
As she let go her anger, Keerthi shyly wrapped her arms around her husband’s waist from behind.
Vikram stiffened when he felt his wife’s arms around him, her front touching his back, as she rubbed her nose against his back.
“I missed you”, Keerthi mumbled in a muffled voice, burying her face further into her husband’s back, as she twitched her nose
Vikram held his wife’s interlocked hands on her stomach with one of his, turning sideways in surprise. Had his wife really said that?
“Can you repeat that?”, Vikram teased , looking sideways at his wife’s flushed face, their cheeks grazing against each other.
She attempted to slap his back, withdrawing her hands, when Vikram tightened his hold around them.
Vikram held his wife’s hand in his, bringing it to his lips as he placed a kiss on it. Keerthi blushed at the gesture, looking down coyly.
Vikram turned around, grinning, as he cupped his wife’s neck and the side of her jaw and leaned in.
Keerthi blushed, closing her eyes when she felt her husband’s lips grazing hers. Vikram pressed his lips harder against his wife’s, kissing her urgently. He squeezed her waist with his one hand, the thumb of his other making circles on the flesh of her neck, as his wife opened her mouth to him.
Keerthi didn’t have time to feel shy during the kiss, courtesy, her husband’s aggression, as he explored her mouth savagely. She clutched onto his shoulder tightly, trying to keep up with him.
Vikram brought his wife closer, as he pulled her up by her waist, his back hurting for bending so long. Keerthi stood on her tiptoes, crossing her arms behind her husband’s neck as she moaned into the kiss.
They parted, both of them breathing heavily, resting their foreheads against each other.
“I missed you too”, Vikram admitted.
Keerthi blushed. She looked down after a few seconds, following her husband’s gaze, which rested on her cleavage.
Blood rushed to Keerthi’s cheeks in embarrassment, as she realized her top had gone too low. The fact that her neck was already deep didn’t help. The soft swell of her breasts was taunting Vikram, as it heaved up and down at a rapid pace.